The Lottery Question

Winning the lottery has incredible appeal; however, we should all be careful what we wish for.  There are stories out there of many people who go through the money quickly, relationships that change for the worst and in some cases, the loss of personal purpose.

 
In my work as a Wealth Advisor, I have had the opportunity to meet and work with lottery winners, people who have inherited large sums and of course, people who despite having great wealth, still have the same desire to win a lottery.  I have found it instructive to help people dig a little deeper to get clear on what underline benefits they would gain by a windfall through my Lottery Question Process.
 
The key part of my question is not what you would do if you won a lottery but rather:
 
“How would you change the way you spend your time if you won the lottery?”
 
We all should take a timed 3 minutes to write off the top of our heads on how we would change the way we spend our time: at work, at home, during holidays, time spent with friends and family, etc.
 
Once we have that raw material, we then dig a little deeper by going through the 5 key questions about what activities would I:

1. Stop doing completely?

2. Continue?

3. Increase?

4. Reduce?

5. Start doing?

After some discussion and analysis, many people quickly realize that once on paper, many of their desires don’t require a lottery win to begin to act on.  For the items that do require additional resources or significant changes, there are often ways to transition towards them or plan for them through traditional financial planning techniques.
 
The Lottery Question gives us all permission to acknowledge some of our basic dreams, which provide the raw material for lifestyle adjustments that are within reach.
 
By the way, how much was your Lottery Win amount?
 
 
 
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