Lotto winner giving it all (well mostly) away

c_man

Ah now this is a story that made me smile - http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/irish-lottery-winner-im-giving-away-33m-30481414.html An unemployed woman up North won E34 million on the Euromillions and is planning to give most of it away (and indeed has begun) to try and re-vitalise her area.

"I know what it's like to have nothing," she said. "That's why I'm giving it away – I can't miss what I never had."

Fair play.

userod

Sure why wouldn't she.

She'd probably lose her unemployment benefits if she kept it.

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

whomitconcerns

userod wrote: »

She'd probably lose her unemployment benefits if she kept it.

Fair play to you making a negative out of that story! You tell 'em!

I do love the biting social commentry on this site sometimes! (Sarcasm....)

c_man

Patww79 wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

Are you implying there's a Brewster's Millions scenario afoot?

Banjo String

userod wrote: »

Sure why wouldn't she.

She'd probably lose her unemployment benefits if she kept it.

You just broke the 'don't be a dick' rule.

She reckons 1.25m is plenty enough for her.

Fair play to her.

TheDriver

Why play the blasted thing if you don't want the winnings???

Mountainlad

userod wrote: »

Sure why wouldn't she.

She'd probably lose her unemployment benefits if she kept it.

And we all know that 33m is nothing compared to said benefits...

KungPao

Madness! I'd keep every cent and get a solid gold house and a rocket car.

Banjo String

TheDriver wrote: »

Why play the blasted thing if you don't want the winnings???

She did want the winnings. She just spent them on other things and other people rather than herself.

Personally, I'd not be as generous and thoughtful, but hey, whatever floats the boat.

sentient_6

€34 million is an mad amount of money, if she held on to a ~€2/3 million she'd live well for the rest of her days. Thats still giving away over 90% of it!

TheDriver

Imagine the amount of beggars arriving at her door expecting hand outs. Friend won a modest amount on winning streak and they were hassled constantly, people expected them,to be loaded with piles of cash.
if i won, i would keep it a secret

Cantremember

Her education in money and people is about to begin. I feel sorry for her.

beyondbelief67

I bet people will still have their hand out to her even with her giving so much away and keeping so little for herself, well done to her .

Cantremember

sentient_6 wrote: »

€34 million is an mad amount of money, if she held on to a ~€2/3 million she'd live well for the rest of her days. Thats still giving away over 90% of it!

It all depends on your definition of living well.

Dr Turk Turkelton

I can actually hear John O'Shea rubbing his greedy little hands in glee at this.

Maphisto

To me, she makes total sense. If you won that huge amount would you want to move away to some secuded rich person's getto? She wants to stay where she is (probably where she has lived most of her life, her friends and family probably live nearby) and use the money for some good causes and to do up the town.

Maybe she's the sensible one.

OhHiMark

Sounds like she's well on her way to being broke within the year. 12.5m is in no way enough to revitalise an entire town, but she's going to try, and she's going to lose all her money doing it.

dmc17

TheDriver wrote: »

Why play the blasted thing if you don't want the winnings???

She did want the winnings. She actually did more with her winnings than most winners

Banjo String

Thread needs tunes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mr_uHJPUlO8

Slicemeister

TheDriver wrote: »

Imagine the amount of beggars arriving at her door expecting hand outs. Friend won a modest amount on winning streak and they were hassled constantly, people expected them,to be loaded with piles of cash.
if i won, i would keep it a secret

I did, no one ever knew the better.

Dirty Dingus McGee

People like that shouldn't be allowed to play the lotto.Winning the lotto is a time to be selfish and spend needlessly.

This is what I would do if i won the lotto.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMjYY3tbX1k

Harry Palmr

fair play to her - we live in a world where governments are basically broke and banks won't lend money to anyone other than the rich. If every big euromillions winner invested 80% in their local economy using investment networks a huge amount of good could be done in forgotten parts of the economy.

Cantremember

Harry Palmr wrote: »

fair play to her - we live in a world where governments are basically broke and banks won't lend money to anyone other than the rich. If every big euromillions winner invested 80% in their local economy using investment networks a huge amount of good could be done in forgotten parts of the economy.

I think parts of the country and sectors of the economy are declining for reasons that are too big to be turned around. Putting up hanging baskets and having a festival in a small village is window dressing.

OhHiMark

Harry Palmr wrote: »

fair play to her - we live in a world where governments are basically broke and banks won't lend money to anyone other than the rich. If every big euromillions winner invested 80% in their local economy using investment networks a huge amount of good could be done in forgotten parts of the economy.

The thing is, it's so rare for an area to get a Euromillions winner that 80% of their winnings aren't going to do much for the area. A lot of the money will be lost in lawyer fees and things like that and the balance won't be enough to do much, despite people's best intentions. The jackpot is a huge amount, but in terms of changing a town for the better, it's minuscule, and people would be better off being a bit selfish and just helping people close to them.

Wibbs

Invested yes, give away no. Her money would go a lot further and last longer and do more good if she held onto the principle, or most of it and set up trusts and the like running from the interest and investments based on the principle. That way she could grow the overall investments into her local area. That amount of money generates money, diluting it by giving away large chunks of it doesn't. The rich get this, the non rich usually don't.

Harry Palmr

Cantremember wrote: »

I think parts of the country and sectors of the economy are declining for reasons that are too big to be turned around. Putting up hanging baskets and having a festival in a small village is window dressing.

OhHiMark wrote: »

The thing is, it's so rare for an area to get a Euromillions winner that 80% of their winnings aren't going to do much for the area. A lot of the money will be lost in lawyer fees and things like that and the balance won't be enough to do much, despite people's best intentions. The jackpot is a huge amount, but in terms of changing a town for the better, it's minuscule, and people would be better off being a bit selfish and just helping people close to them.

I'm talking about seed capital. From many acorns if just one big oak grows then you have a success. Could be some whiz bang next gen thing based on polycabonates or nano tech that takes off. Or more prosaically a new games consol!

Maphisto

OhHiMark wrote: »

The thing is, it's so rare for an area to get a Euromillions winner that 80% of their winnings aren't going to do much for the area. A lot of the money will be lost in lawyer fees and things like that and the balance won't be enough to do much, despite people's best intentions. The jackpot is a huge amount, but in terms of changing a town for the better, it's minuscule, and people would be better off being a bit selfish and just helping people close to them.

A or B

A) You're right. Let's all shoot ourselves.

Maybe she's a wise auld gal. Maybe rather than some huge town pi$$up she uses it to pump prime some stuff. Maybe sponsor two kids jobs at the local Supervalu, maybe go halves with said Supervalu to clean up and fence off a little park. Maybe baby.

RobertKK

Why didn't she invest in a variety of solid stocks/shares that give an average lets say 3% return dividend.
Lets say €30 million invested at 3% dividend and forget how the share prices go whether up or down...
Before tax every year she would receive €900k.

Over time she would have a lot more money to give away if she wanted, without giving away the initial winnings.

c_man

RobertKK wrote: »

...and forget how the share prices go whether up or down...

Hmm, what exactly was your job during the boom years?

Cantremember

Harry Palmr wrote: »

I'm talking about seed capital. From many acorns if just one big oak grows then you have a success. Could be some whiz bang next gen thing based on polycabonates or nano tech that takes off. Or more prosaically a new games consol!

I don't want to appear rude but the reality is that those things are funded in a structured way at high tech universities by major R&D budgets. This poor lady is trying to buy back a sense of her home community. Sure there will be a temporary buzz but there's no point trying to revitalise those that are terminally ill. Sometimes you need to let go.

RobertKK

c_man wrote: »

Hmm, what exactly was your job during the boom years?

Dairy farming, farming wasn't cool then.

The economy tanked and farming became fashionable since it actually produced something needed in bad times as well as good.

Shaun Plays Games

That story has made my day

takamichinoku

Well she sounds lovely and I hope it works out. Definitely pretty concerned for her cos it sounds a bit worrying. Be interesting to see whether someone's going to step in and help her handle the resources better or screw her out of half of it, cos presumably a few will try to the former and a heap will try to do the latter.
There's bound to be a few other incidents of things like this with lottery winners though, surely? How'd they turn out?

Certain parallel's to that Chris Rock rich vs wealthy bit running through my mind.

Mrs Garth Brooks

She's 48 and she's keeping 1.25 million
herself. That really does sound stupid.

Does she not know what a million can get you nowadays....not a lot. Half a million on a brand new house, at least. A lifetime of bills to run said house. One holiday a year. Live a little.

I don't think she thought it through properly... I did, and I didn't win anything. I wouldn't tell a soul, not even family.

omerin

I think and hope she sees sense and does not go ahead with this. Otherwise the funds will be wasted on "expenses" and consultants or are Charities more ethical in the North?

In Lonesome Dove

I think that lady is lovely and very kind and it's very noble of her to think of her community.

I always thought that if I won a large amount like that in the euromillions, I would keep a bit to help myself and family because the family home is a run down shack and for the most part I would probably do the same as that lady.

After what went on in Ireland for the past couple of weeks, if I won millions in the euromillions, I would like to fund a music hub in Ireland. Somewhere away from the capital.

donegal__road

HardLuckWoman wrote: »

She's 48 and she's keeping 1.25 million
herself. That really does sound stupid.

Does she not know what a million can get you nowadays....not a lot. Half a million on a brand new house, at least. A lifetime of bills to run said house. One holiday a year. Live a little.

I don't think she thought it through properly... I did, and I didn't win anything. I wouldn't tell a soul, not even family.

I think that much of the money that she is 'giving away' she is actually investing in start-ups.

citytillidie

She has invested more money in Strabane than Investbelfast sorry InvestNI ever will

Lapin

Exactly.

She's not actually giving away €33 million as the newspaper headline would have us believe.

After keeping a float of 1.25M for herself to live on, she is investing half the remainder on projects in her home town and is effectively now a property develepor.

If she gets a return on her investments, she may in fact realise far more than the 1.25M she kept in her own pocket.

Good luck to her. And I also hope neighbouring Lifford gets a twist from the developments across the bridge. Both towns need a break.

Sam Kade

HardLuckWoman wrote: »

She's 48 and she's keeping 1.25 million
herself. That really does sound stupid.

Does she not know what a million can get you nowadays....not a lot. Half a million on a brand new house, at least. A lifetime of bills to run said house. One holiday a year. Live a little.

I don't think she thought it through properly... I did, and I didn't win anything. I wouldn't tell a soul, not even family.

She looks years older than 48 either way she will be broke in a few years.

AlekSmart

RobertKK wrote: »

Dairy farming, farming wasn't cool then.

The economy tanked and farming became fashionable since it actually produced something needed in bad times as well as good.

That rather old-fashioned notion of "Producing " stuff, particularly ordinary everyday stuff,used regularly by ordinary everyday people has not been fashionable in the NEW Ireland for quite a while now.....

Successive Gubbermints,once free of DeValera's shadow,developed a great affinity for snake-oil salesmen and coloured-smoke vendors,particularly if they had a forren accent and a laptop.

In the interim,the native son,particularly one with a grá for manufacturing,repairing or modifying mechanical,or other "dirty stuff" was firmly directed to the exit.

Which explains why most young Irish bulb-changers and tap-washer replacers are 5,000 miles distant,as their aged parents struggle to pay an Eastern European young-lad to perform those very tasks.

However,we still lay claim to having "most favoured nation status" with Google,so all MUST be well after all ?

darkpagandeath

I can see this going well.... All the scroungers, clingers on Nigerian generals all wanting a slice. Tbh i would not know who to give it to. I would be reluctant to give it to a charity (most lost in Admin). Same with the local council, just giving it out to randomers ?

Hotfail.com

userod wrote: »

Sure why wouldn't she.

She'd probably lose her unemployment benefits if she kept it.

It would take 3477 years to make that much money through social welfare down here....

8101 years going by the UK's unemployment benefits...

AlekSmart

Hotfail.com wrote: »

It would take 3477 years to make that much money through social welfare down here....

8101 years going by the UK's unemployment benefits...

Wow Hotfail...you most definitely are a Statistics BEAST....speechless in admiration of your ability (Others will be along soon to worship at your feet )

Hotfail.com

AlekSmart wrote: »

Wow Hotfail...you most definitely are a Statistics BEAST....speechless in admiration of your ability (Others will be along soon to worship at your feet )

I try

Google helps.

Sam Kade

Hotfail.com wrote: »

It would take 3477 years to make that much money through social welfare down here....

8101 years going by the UK's unemployment benefits...

Pity she wasn't awake during maths class in school like you ah well it's the towns gain