Happy New Year.
I like many of you have been busy both enjoying the mild Midwest Winter along with these past few weeks working on packing away our Christmas décor, putting the house back in order as well as working on my new year’s resolutions. It seems year after year, each of my resolutions have an important need in my life, however as the year moves forwards, life gets in the way and my resolutions take a back seat. This year I am trying something new; I have written action steps; define my intentions and visualized what my resolutions actually look like. My goal is more forgiving not as rigid and even allowing myself to dream a little as the year marches on.
This week, the Power Ball had reached the largest jackpot in U.S. history at a whopping $900 million prior to last night’s drawing. I typically do not play the Lottery (not because I don’t gamble but more) because of the time to stop and buy a ticket. This week was different; totally different. Knowing that my chances of owning a winning number were 1 in 292 million, I still allowed myself to dream and joined in the office pool. Besides, I knew I could not be the only person in the office that decided the odds were not in our favor and have to show up to work as the sole employee on Monday morning. The bottom line is that the money I committed to these tickets meant I would have to forgo a lunch out once this week and that my friends was an easy decision.
I then decided the option to have to pack in lunch for a second day was so easy, I purchased additional tickets for myself and family. Then I spent all afternoon planning my finances, listing my debts, browsing the sales catalogs for all the purchasing I would be making in the next several weeks.
Instant Retirement, pay off my mortgage, payoff my parents mortgage, buy a new car, buy my parents new cars, secure my kiddos college fund, build a new wing at my kiddos school, donate to a local charity near to my family, move to a year round warmer climate, pay cash for my new house, pay cash for my parents’ house, and then travel, travel and travel more!
Even after countless hours of day dreaming, understanding my financial wishes and praying for a winning lottery ticket, I still struggle with comprehending owning that much money in my lifetime. Even knowing I would provide an un-imaginable amount to charity, I would continue to give back to others but would be challenged with how to do this effectively and without people taking advantage. The idea of money never having an impact on any of my life time decisions again is overwhelming. For thing is for sure, I would consider myself very fortunate and I would spend every day of the rest of my life grateful for my cup runneth over. The news that no one held the winning ticket this weekend is a double-edged sword … Now the jackpot is over 1 billion dollars and the question remains, to play or not to play. Will you?
