Kaban ni D_BystandeR: DILI TIAWNG PANGHITABO SA MGA NAGPAKADAUG UG LOTTO

Feeling blue about losing the $656M Mega Millions jackpot? Cheer up. Behind the lottery frenzy and hoopla, I've seen enough miserable winners over the years to conclude this: If you're not prepared to handle the pitfalls that follow a sudden windfall, you're probably better off without it. 

 First, if you become a winner, you should be prepared to gain a lot of new friends and lose others, especially if you chipped in with a group to buy the winning ticket. Witness the McDonald's employee in Maryland who claimed to hold a winning  Mega Millions ticket as an individual, the New York Post reported, even though she also bought tickets for several other people as part of a restaurant pool. If true, she could be the latest of many targets in group lottery lawsuits.   Advice: If you play with friends, keep careful records. As film-maker Samuel Goldwyn is said somewhat inaccurately to have stated, an oral contract is not worth more than the paper it's written on.   Another hazard: impulse buying. 

One legendary case was the late William "Bud" Post III, who died six years ago at age 66. He won $16.2 million in the Pennsylvania Lottery in 1988. Within three months, according to an obituary in the Washington Post, he was $500,000 in debt after buying a liquor license, a lease on a Florida restaurant for his brother and sister, a used-car lot and its fleet for another brother and a twin-engine plane, although he did not have a pilot's license.   Along the way, a brother tried to hire a contract murderer to kill him and his sixth wife; a landlady forced him to give her one-third of the jackpot, and he was convicted for assault at his dream house in northwestern Pennsylvania after he fired a shotgun at a debt collector. He went bankrupt, came out of it with only $1 million free and clear and reportedly spent most of that too. Message: Invest wisely.   Excessive generosity also can be a hazard, judging by the widely reported story of Janite Lee, a Korean immigrant who won $18 million from the Missouri Lottery in 1993. Besides new houses and cars, she generously doled out dollars to educational programs, community services and political organizations and dined with President Bill Clinton and other VIPs. Alas, in 2001, she filed for bankruptcy with only $700 reported to be left in her bank account. Sad.   Yet, if this sounds like the sort of problems you'd like to have, there are important lessons from the suddenly wealthy who managed to avoid unhappy headlines.   

One, catch your breath. Take a little time to employ competent advisers and figure out what to do with the new cash sensibly. You'll have plenty of time to blow your money later.   Second, do something nice. Some lottery winners have set up foundations to improve the lives of others. Then they maintained a very low profile to keep others, including the media, off their backs.   Also: Avoid impulse buying, which is good advice for all of us.  And remember: Wealth isn't everything. It's only better than its opposite, which is no money at all. What's more important than money, I realize as I grow older, is time. Time is, indeed, like money, as the old saying goes. Wisely use it - or lose it.

(Bug-os ang  pasalamat sa KAHAYAG ngadto sa nagsulat niining  artikulo  nga si JOHNNY LOVE. Nagtakuban siya sa pangalan, "D_BystandeR".  Natawo siya sa Sugbo apan anaa na karon manimuyo sa Illinois sa tinipong nasod sa Amerika. Ang kusog nga koneksyon sa kasayuran pinaagi sa internet kanunayng naghaling sa iyang kadasig  pagtuki sa mga nagbukalbukal nga hisgutanan dinhi sa atong nataran. Usa siya ka magsusulat nga gradwado sa kursong komersiyo padulong sa pagka accountant sa University of San Carlos kaniadtong tuig 1961.  Nahimo siyang miyembro sa usa ka hugpong sa mga batan-ong magsusulat nga gitawag ug STUDENT PRESS.  Nahimo usab siyang   Associate Editor sa basahon  USC-JPIAN sa tuig 1962-63. Magtatampo usab siya isip magsusulat sa nasudnong magasin,  "Philippines Free Press" ug sa mga nag-unang peryodiko dinhi sa dakbayan sa Sugbo sa lunhaw pa ang iyang pangedaron. Nahimo siyang mamumuo sa usa ka pribadong kompaniya sa dakbayan sa Sugbo, ESCANO LINES, sulod sa napulo ug duha (12) ka tuig  dayon niyang tapon  ngadto sa NAPOCOR  ug nahimong kawani sa kagamhanan  sulod sa bayente dos (22) ka tuig. Niadtong tunga-tungang bahin sa tuig 2000, nilalin siya ngadto sa tinipong nasod sa Amerika ug sulod sa napulo (10) ka tuig, nagtrabaho siya sa  buhatan sa kagamhanan sa nasod sama  sa  UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE (USPS).  Karon sa pangedaron nga 67,  gihuptan gihapon niya ang walay pagkutat nga kadasig ug walay busganan nga kaikag sa pagpaambit sa iyang nahuptang abilidad  ug kabatid sa panulat.  Dili niya mapugngan ang kaugalingon sa pagpaambit sa iyang mga hunahuna labi na kon molambigit kini ug hisgotanan nga makadani sa iyang mga mata.Kinutlo ni D_BystandeR kining maong paambit gikan sa pamantalaan Chicago Tribune, nga nigawas kaniadtong Abril 4, 2012)