Advisor who has worked with 2,000 lottery winners reveals the most common mistake he sees
When it comes to winning the lottery, for many it’s a dream.
The whole idea of the lottery is that it will change your life for the better. For just £1.50, you could win millions and totally uproot whatever life you are currently living.
What often comes to pass though is that lottery winners are instead hit with life problems aplenty.
Old family members ringing up, confusing tax implications, or just not knowing what to use it on and misspending it, there are so many potentially negative alleys to go down.
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This can be helped by advisors who help you spend the money after you win it, one of which recently spoke to the Daily Mail and recounted his experiences.
Andy Carter works as part of a team of National Lottery advisors who give people financial advice on how to spend their new fortunes.
Every winner is offered a sit down with a one of the advisors, and he said that 90% take them up on that.
Carter stated that, if you win the lottery it’s like Captain America’s super soldier serum, it doesn’t change you necessarily, just accentuates who you already are.
Spend unwisely already? A lottery will make that worse? Are you a canny penny-pincher? You’ll probably spend your money well and make it last.
He also revealed though the worst money mistakes he had seen from people who he had advised.
The most common mistakes he said was to be too generous.
He said: “Winners want to help everyone out and this generosity comes from a good place. But people should work out what they need first. For example, if they have children under 30 and want to help them out with a house purchase, can they afford to do that and give up work themselves?”
He even said that he had cases where people would be hiding the win from their partners.
He described meeting a man in his kitchen who was anxiously pacing having booked the appointment when his wife went to the shops.
The man had supposedly won ‘a few hundred thousand pounds’, with Andy saying: “He told me: ‘We’re very happy but our money is separate — it’s just the way we operate'.”
The advisor said that, in general, those that cope best are the ones who speak to those close to them, namely family and friends.
Finally, when asked how under-30s operate when they win he said they would usually exhibit a more socially conscious nature, adding: “They are very financially cautious and switched on.”
Topics: Lifestyle, Money, National Lottery
Michael Slavin