Winning a lottery is like…well, winning a lottery. Your chances are usually pretty slim, but if you do win, you might win a lot. So why not give it a try and buy a ticket for mega millions online for a chance to win. But what if you actually won? And won big? There are a number of people who have ended up broke, worse off than they were before, just a few years after the big win. So what could you do with the unexpected winnings, the smart things?
My personal recommendation would be first use the money for what you need right now. Maybe you need to pay your back rent, maybe you need to pay for your car insurance, maybe you need to pay back some money you have borrowed from your friend, money he/she never expected to see again. After those things are done, let the money sit for a while, maybe a month or two, so that you could get used to having the money in the first place, and only then start using it somehow.
A few things you shouldn’t do with the money is gambling. You already have enough money, so you shouldn’t use it generate more this way. As the most realistic outcome is that you will lose some or all of it.
But a good idea is to invest in real estate, real estate market in the long run is one of the safest investments. So that even if somehow you manage to waste all of your money later, you still have something to lean on. Right now it might also be a good time to invest a bit (a bit, not too much) in cryptocurrencies. While some people might compare it with gambling, there’s a a good chance that in the long run it will actually be an investment, not a gamble.
Buying jewellery, a very expensive car, spending 100x times more when going out compared to what you were used to before, all of this doesn’t make much sense. You managed to go out with 30 bucks before, you don’t need to spend thousands now.
Invest is some start-up businesses. There are lots of different sites listing startups looking for angel investors. While many of them might fail, a few of them might become very successful companies.
The main thing, don’t waste your money, do something that you wanted to do before but never had the money for it. You may want to spend a year traveling the world. And no, you don’t need to stay in $1000/night hotels. Yes, you can try it for a night or two, but the $50/night ones are usually good enough. While you have the money, your needs haven’t grown that much, have they?
By the end of the day, just be smart with your money!