Family blows $10M windfall in 10yrs

[MagickMan]

That's what most people do, that's why this story is news.

Actually, that doesn't appear to be correct.

As much 70% of all lottery winners will squander away their winnings in a few years. Most people who come into large sums of cash, after living in low income situations all their lives, can't handle the responsibility and possible change in lifestyle. Then there are the vultures who come after you, wanting a piece of what you won or inherited. It can be irritating and you either learn how to tell people to fuck off quickly or you get picked apart.

 

[Sureshot324]

Going through $10 mil in 10 years is honestly not that impressive. If it were 2 years then that might be something.

 

[JMapleton]

Going through $10 mil in 10 years is honestly not that impressive. If it were 2 years then that might be something.

That's not the intent of the story. The moral of the story is the irresponsibility of a supposedly intelligent person inheriting and then blowing a lot of money.

 

[tcsenter]

I don't know, the guy got the money in 1999. He could have gotten burned in the tech stock market bomb (like everyone else did) and then later got burned by the real estate bomb (like everyone else did). Sounds like he may have let some builders or contractors string him along for a bit as well.

I'm not saying that accounts for all his losses nor am I letting him off the hook entirely, but he could have been looking at his situation based on an erroneous assumption that millions of reasonable persons made - that real estate was a relatively safe place to put a lot of your money. His largest expenditures and the largest hit he took (according to the article) were in real estate.