Life After the Lottery

While there are some scattered stories of how lottery winners’ lives have gone wrong after a win, one study indicates that a majority of lottery winners end up happy, healthy and wealthy. Some of the studies include:

• In 2006, the Journal of Health Economics surveyed lottery winners in Britain and found out that lottery winners eventually show better psychological health.
• Florida did a study on lottery winners that shows only about 1% of the winners go bankrupt in a given year.
• Britain did a study that found that 44% of lottery winner’s earnings were spent within five years, but only a few actually blew their winnings in a lifetime. This depends on how much the winnings were as well.
• University of California did a study showing that overall happiness of lottery winners went up after they won, but then went back to pre-winning levels within a few months.

Overall, these studies indicate that the winnings only exaggerate your current situation.

See Robert Frank, Will Winning the Lottery Ruin Your Life?, The Wall Street Journal, Mar. 20, 2012.

Special thanks to Jim Hillhouse (Professional Legal Marketing (PLM, Inc.)) for bringing this article to my attention.