Very few of our clients do the lottery, or at least few admit to doing so. The numbers simply don’t stack up in favour of a win. I’m told that if you buy a mid-week ticket that wins the jackpot you are more likely to be dead before the end of the week than collecting the winnings. That said, another big winner was recently announced. This time a Mr. & Mrs. Caswell, (both in their 70’s) from Bolton, picked up nearly £25m which they intend to share with their family.

It will be interesting to see how the family cope with such sudden enormous wealth. I do hope that they manage to secure some good advice! I wonder how many people would wish to go public about their winnings which, let’s face it, probably attract an awful lot of interest from people wanting a share of the winnings. I note that several of the lottery millionaires have elected to remain anonymous and wonder why others choose to go public. Perhaps the smell of celebrity is rather intoxicating; perhaps there is even a sense of guilt and needing to appear to be “like the rest of us”. I suspect that such publicity cannot be an aid to thoughtful, wise decision-making and it is perhaps not surprising that big winners quickly find themselves asking the question – can I really trust this person?

Tuesday, 16 June 2009