Powerball now only $40m

[seepy83]

Let's put that $4 a week into a low-load aggressive growth mutual fund that makes 9.7%.

Over 40 years of playing the lotto, so you can dream, you have given up over $100,000.

You can only hope that your investment makes 9.7% over the next 40 years. That's a gamble, and a pretty aggressive expectation.

I would rather buy the lottery tickets. In 40 years, that $100k that you might make with compound interest under ideal circumstances won't have that much value. Honestly, $100k in today's terms really isn't that much money and it isn't going to make that much of a difference in someone's life. In 40 years, for all we know, that $100k could be the cost of the average mid-sized sedan. ..real big life-changer there!

 

[Dr. Zaus]

Your math is absolutely horrendous. You can only hit that $100k if you invest all the lottery money you would spend over the 40 years up front.

Not to mention you didn't factor in inflation. $100k 40 years from now is $29k in today's dollars

=FV(0.097/52,52*40,-4)
outcome: $101,318.53
cost: $4 a week

Not to mention you didn't factor in inflation.

historically 3%, which can be taken from the annual rate of return. If it's higher then the valuation of stock will also go up as the base-line upon which the valuation is drawn will also increase.

=FV(0.067/52,52*40,-4)
$42,096.58 in today's dollars. At a present-day-value investment cost of $4,844.33.
=PV(3%/52,52*40,-4)

9.7% over the next 40 years. That's a gamble, and a pretty aggressive expectation.

According to Ibbotson Associates, the long-term historical average annual returns for U.S. large-cap stocks has been 9.8 percent.

I don't think an aggressive growth low-load mutual fund is much of a gamble at all.

$100k in today's terms really isn't that much money and it isn't going to make that much of a difference in someone's life.

Even dropping how aggressively you invest the money during retirement to only a 6% return 100k is an extra $1,000 a month for a over decade.

=FV(6%/12,11*12,1000,-100000)
remainder: $6,838.69

So by giving up on 'dreaming' you can have a realized dream of adding a total of about $140k to your lifetime earnings.

 

[Train]

ya find me a fund that compounds interest weekly.

 

[seepy83]

Again...playing the lottery isn't a retirement plan. When I buy a lottery ticket, it's 1, 2, 4, however many dollars, that I would have spent on something else equally as frivolous like a movie or a drink at a bar.

I'm under 30 years old and have about $50k worth of investments in my 401k today. If I stay at my current job I'll also collect a nice pension when I retire. I think that I'll be living pretty comfortably in 40 years.

For me, life is not about amassing wealth, because nothing is guaranteed. I could die this year or 80 years from now. No matter what happens, I'll never regret the insignificant amount of money that I've played in the lottery.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

I read recently that the poor are vastly disproportionately more likely to buy lotto tickets. This is not surprising, since part of the reason they are poor is because they are dumb or at the very least financially illiterate, which leads them to hail mary type approaches such as lotto games. This is also why a huge number of them end up bankrupt inside of a decade. The lotto is an amazing psychological study on human idiocy.

Well now you're not invited for a ride in my gold plated helicopter when I win, you negative Nancy.

 

[JEDI]

free raffle tix for buying powerball (till feb 29).
drawing on March 1st

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2216626

all free raffle tix have sold out.

there was 400k left on sun 2/5.

guess news of a weds $250M lotto jackpot got ALOT of people to play.

u get 1 free raffle tix per lotto tix, not per $2 spent. so its better to get five $2 tix, than one $10 tix.

 

[l0cke]

Bought 2 tickets today. First time playing since I turned 18.

 

[SillyOReilly]

Sarcasm fail. I have no plans to pay the stupid tax, as any jackpot that large will increase the number of players and, therefore, the chance for a split pot.

You're correct now. Your sarcasm did fail.

 

[sportage]

I don't need it. I'd just spend it on ipads and chocolate, get fat and dumber, end up declaring bankruptcy, then buying more lottery tickets.
Besides... all us forum members "look" rich. That's what counts.

 

[oogabooga]

Again...playing the lottery isn't a retirement plan. When I buy a lottery ticket, it's 1, 2, 4, however many dollars, that I would have spent on something else equally as frivolous like a movie or a drink at a bar.

I'm under 30 years old and have about $50k worth of investments in my 401k today. If I stay at my current job I'll also collect a nice pension when I retire. I think that I'll be living pretty comfortably in 40 years.

For me, life is not about amassing wealth, because nothing is guaranteed. I could die this year or 80 years from now. No matter what happens, I'll never regret the insignificant amount of money that I've played in the lottery.

Honestly, the time I enjoy thinking about what I would do if I won the Lottery is probably better bang for the buck entertainment wise than most of the crap I spend money on. A dollar provides a long way in terms of entertainment.

 

[QueBert]

I read recently that the poor are vastly disproportionately more likely to buy lotto tickets. This is not surprising, since part of the reason they are poor is because they are dumb or at the very least financially illiterate, which leads them to hail mary type approaches such as lotto games. This is also why a huge number of them end up bankrupt inside of a decade. The lotto is an amazing psychological study on human idiocy.

I worked at a few liquor store and we had some poor people who played the lottery twice a week. I'm no financial wizard, but I believe even if they didn't play the lottery. They'd still be poor, seeing how they spent around roughly a whopping $104 a year on tickets. We even had one who hit 5/6 numbers and ended up getting about $90k, not bad considering he had spent maybe $1,000 over 8 years. I'd say people who spend a dollar on a Snickers bar are even more stupid than a lotto player, but what do I know?

 

[Mike Gayner]

Honestly, the time I enjoy thinking about what I would do if I won the Lottery is probably better bang for the buck entertainment wise than most of the crap I spend money on. A dollar provides a long way in terms of entertainment.

Well said.

 

[FelixDeCat]

The winning number will be: 2-5-22-30-51 and PB 13
Pls send me a 1% cut if you play it and win. I'm too lazy to go to the store. Thanks.

 

[Thump553]

=FV(0.097/52,52*40,-4)
outcome: $101,318.53
cost: $4 a week


historically 3%, which can be taken from the annual rate of return. If it's higher then the valuation of stock will also go up as the base-line upon which the valuation is drawn will also increase.

=FV(0.067/52,52*40,-4)
$42,096.58 in today's dollars. At a present-day-value investment cost of $4,844.33.
=PV(3%/52,52*40,-4)


According to Ibbotson Associates, the long-term historical average annual returns for U.S. large-cap stocks has been 9.8 percent.

I don't think an aggressive growth low-load mutual fund is much of a gamble at all.



Even dropping how aggressively you invest the money during retirement to only a 6% return 100k is an extra $1,000 a month for a over decade.

=FV(6%/12,11*12,1000,-100000)
remainder: $6,838.69

So by giving up on 'dreaming' you can have a realized dream of adding a total of about $140k to your lifetime earnings.

You are completely ignoring the effect of taxes on your mutual fund investment. Even if you just buy and hold the fund's activities generate taxable income for you every year.

 

[RavenSEAL]

Went ahead and payed my stupidity tax, at least .01% of it is going towards the education of my future children!

 

[Krazy4Real]

I'm going to buy some tickets later today as well. Why the heck not? If I win, I'll send you all cookies.

 

[RavenSEAL]

I'm going to buy some tickets later today as well. Why the heck not? If I win, I'll send you all cookies.

 

[BladeVenom]

I'm going to buy some tickets later today as well. Why the heck not? If I win, I'll send you all cookies.

I want Springerles.

 

[Krazy4Real]

I want Springerles.

You got it. Is this site ok to order them from?
http://thatcookie.com/springerle.html

 

[BladeVenom]

You got it. Is this site ok to order them from?
http://thatcookie.com/springerle.html

That will probably work. I've bought them from a local bakery before, but as you can see, if you don't make them yourself, they are kind of expensive for cookies.

Now all you need to do is win.

 

[zinfamous]

You got it. Is this site ok to order them from?
http://thatcookie.com/springerle.html

I would like a pallet of Neiman Marcus cookies, plz.

http://urbanlegends.about.com/od/fooddrink/a/cookie_recipe.htm

 

[zinfamous]

oh, by the way guys: it's "poor tax"

not "stupid tax".

 

[Svnla]

I bought 2 tickets and don't like the $2/ticket at all. They should leave $1/ticket alone.

 

[Doppel]

Buying a ticket every drawing is not idiocy, or stupid, or anything like that. It is one of the cheapest forms of entertainment out there. The dream of winning is WELL WORTH my minimal waste of money.

To find entertainment in that is the idiocy.

 

[l0cke]

Looks like I'm still a poor college student. Will play again if no one got it this time.