I received this awesome return last year. a +11,479% gain, in just one year!
You’re probably already thinking I won the lottery. Believe me, I didn’t. In fact, the chance of having a winning Powerball ticket is one out of 292, 201, 338. So, you can understand why I don’t play.
But, how did I get a return of 11,479 %?
It’s actually hard to believe, but about seventy percent of people who win a lottery or get some big windfall actually end up broke in just a few years. How can that be? Because people become so euphoric, most just lose all sense of reality. They believe that they’re invincible. But the biggest problem is that most lottery winners give away too much money to their family and friends. Once the money starts flowing out, it’s just too hard to shut it down.
When I first began my career, when Wisconsin first began its own lottery several decades ago, I sent a letter to winner in a nearby town who had won a million dollars. I followed up with a telephone call and to my surprise he scheduled an appointment with me. He was taking his payment over a twenty-year period of time each May to the tune of about thirty-six thousand dollars per year, after taxes. Of course, he wanted to buy stuff, but I talk him and his wife into putting away two thousand dollars per year, a total of four thousand into IRAs for themselves, for their futures.
We did this for two years, until I received a phone call that he would have to liquidate his accounts, because they had run out of money and didn’t have enough to make it to the next May. Nice house, nice truck, nice vacations, but no money; plus, he was still working his regular job.
So, how did I get a return of 11,479%. This past year, like all Wisconsin homeowners, I received a Lottery Credit on my property tax bill. My credit was $114.79 and I didn’t even have to play once to win. So, I didn’t even have a single penny in the game. But, say that I did; to show you the math, I’ll simply divide my lottery credit, I’ll call them my “winnings” by one penny, since I need some number to actually do the math.
My rate of return of 11,479%, guaranteed. So, every time I pass someone at the gas station or grocery store buying a ticket, I smile to myself and say under my breath, Thanks for making me a winner.
