What If You Don’t Win The Lottery
I’ve got a buddy who always says the same thing for any financial question. No matter what is going on he always says that “when I win the lottery”. He will talk about moving to a new house, but again, when he wins the lottery. He says he will get caught up on his bills when he wins the lottery, and of course, when asked how much he plays the lottery, he says occasionally. I always ask him what if you don’t win the lottery, what are you going to do then. Unfortunately, he hasn’t come up with an answer for that one yet so I figured I would help him out and look at some things he can if he doesn’t win the lottery and wants to get out of debt, back on track, and not rely on winning some far-fetched prized to get the things he wants.
The problem isn’t hoping for something great to happen, and in fact it’s good to have hopes, but when the hopes are holding up things in life than it’s time to look for ways of getting things today without having to hope for something tomorrow.
In my buddy’s case, he likes to spend money, even money he doesn’t have. Plus, he like a lot of nice things and like to go places a lot. However, he will run up credit trying to get those things and hopes that someday he will be able to pay it all back with one large lump sum. However, this is not reality. The reality is that if you want something you have to earn it and work for it. In addition, by using up all credit available means that there is nothing for a rainy day or emergency that may come up.
If something were to come up for my buddy, he would be forced to take a loan or cash advance. This can be a problem because he is already on a limited budget, and uses all credit available so that no other credit can be extended to him. Now when things like his car breaks down, which seems to happen a lot of with his older BMW, he is forced to borrow money that he doesn’t have. In addition, because he is borrowing money that is not the best of credit terms, he is putting himself deeper in debt waiting for his lottery hope.
Having this kind of hope may hurt some financially. A person can’t count on winning the lottery to save them from financial ruin. Having a solid plan to save money, lower expenses, and use less is the only way to truly get ahead and not have to rely on winning the lottery some day to get the things you want.
What to do to no rely on winning the lottery:
- Make a list of bills and expenses that need to be paid each month. Evaluate the list to see if there are things that can either be reduced in price, consolidated, or paid off to lower bills.
- Make a list of things wanted and prioritize them into the most important down to the less. This will give you a sense of the items that truly matter to you and where to focus the efforts to obtain it.
- Seek information about ways various ways to get the item that you want. For example, if a person wants a new house, there may be some programs out there to help them get the house of their dreams.
- Looking at various ways to save money and reduce spending. This could mean eating out less, buying less clothes or shoes, going out less, and other ways to reduce spending.
All these things will help people reach their financial goals regardless if you don’t win the lottery.
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