Comments on: What would you do if you won the 2010 World Series of Poker?

By: best rakeback

best rakeback — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 15:42:20 +0000

7 million dollars for such a young kid is amazing But someone told me when people win lottery after 5 years they end up being in the worse condition then before because they spend it too fast.

By: Mike Hunt

Mike Hunt — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 05:55:13 +0000

AJC,

Maybe this thought may make some sense. I had once heard there are 4 types of money:

1. Money you earn yourself and spend on yourself.

2. Money you earn yourself and spend on someone else.

3. Money that you did not earn that you can spend on yourself.

4. Money that you did not earn that you can spend on someone else.

Note that #1 tends to be spent the most conservatively I dare say- the reason is that you understand the value of the effort required to earn that money and can use that to determine the best value for money when spending.

#2 is almost as good as #1 however you are buying something for someone else.

#3 is likely what you are alluding to for the case of winning the World Series of Poker, or the lottery, or a stock option windfall, etc. When such a large sum comes in then it’s hard to ‘value’ the effort required to earn this money. And therefore it’s easy to lose perspective and blow the money on cars, boats, parties, etc. This is where you need to make some rules to help people hang on to what they got. In this case the phrase Easy come, Easy go does indeed apply.

Since the only way I will get to $6 million would be through money earned by myself it’s unlikely I’ll ever be in the Easy Come, Easy Go mindset.

Oh and for point #4 this is the most inefficient way to spend money. Tax money and political spending all fit into this category- there is no level of effort required to ‘earn’ the money and it’s not being spent directly for the politicans’ benefit so that’s why there is so much wasteful spending going on without any pain or hardship on the decision maker.

-Mike

By: Mike Hunt

Mike Hunt — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 13:04:15 +0000

AJC,

Will do, although it may take few years

By: Adrian

Adrian — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 13:16:12 +0000

@ Mike – Having been in both situations, let me know how YOU feel when you get there

By: Mike Hunt

Mike Hunt — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 12:16:01 +0000

Adrian,

I’ve got $1.3 M cash in hand and don’t have an itch to blow it now. So I don’t see that changing much with $6 million…

-Mike

By: What would you do if you won the 2010 World Series of Poker – Part II?- 7million7years

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 10:23:04 +0000

[...] Last week I gave some unsolicited advice to those who may have finished 6th, 7th, 8th, or 9th in last years’s World Series of Poker – Main Event – pocketing a tidy sum in the range of $1.2 to $1.5 million. [...]

By: Adrian

Adrian — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 10:20:19 +0000

@ Mike – Let us know what you decide once you get that $6 mill. check

People have a tendency to do strange things once they actually have that amount of money in their hands … part of my job – as I see it – on this blog is to give you some ‘rules’ that will help keep you out of trouble when that fortunate day arrives!

By: Mike Hunt

Mike Hunt — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 07:41:18 +0000

Adrian,

I don’t know- If I won 1, 2 or even the #1 spot of 6 million I wouldn’t change my life just yet. I could still just do what I’m doing for another couple of months / years.

Now if I came across $50 million cash in hand I’d be itching to hang things up a whole lot quicker!

-Mike

By: Adrian

Adrian — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 05:55:21 +0000

@ Ryan – Good luck with that waiting thing … oh, and I think you can throw that ‘normal life’ out the window (esp. if you win!)

By: Ryan @ Planting Dollars

Ryan @ Planting Dollars — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 05:05:46 +0000

I’d probably wait a good six months to year before making any major decision and continue to life my normal life. After which it would most likely be the strategy you suggested of investing in real estate with a buffer and living off the income.