Ball Til You Fall

While I was on Facebook yesterday, I read an article about a woman who won $10 million & was broke within 5 years. Chances are, she did the following: Went on a shopping spree, took expensive vacations, hooked up so-called "family & friends", and the list goes on. To be honest, $10 million isn't a lot of money considering what's left after taxes. If you win $10 million dollars, you're left over with $5-$6 million after taxes. From there, so-called "family & friends" come out of the woodwork and you decide to break them off a little something, then you go on vacations and buy luxury clothes & cars. You're lucky to have $2 million left over, if that. If you're fiscally conservative like myself, I'm thinking of how to grow that $10 million. I may want to leave that money to my family should something happen to me, but I digress. Khrystle Nichole (a Facebook friend) posted a real quote (I'm paraphrasing): "If you want someone's true colors, give them liquor and a large sum of money". Then, wait for it...wait for it.

She's right. Alcohol & a large sum of money is truth serum. If you want to find out a lot about a person, give them a large monetary amount and alcohol and watch the truth flow like rivers of living water. I have a theory as to why some people ball til they fall: They're not used to having anything, so when they get a little change, it flows out just as fast as they got it. Going out and buying homes, luxury clothing and vehicles, etc; that's all crazy to me. From time to time, I comment on threads asking "What would you do if you won millions of dollars?" I always respond with: Tithe 20% to my church (10% off the top, the other 10% as an offering.), invest a portion, and set up a trust fund for my nieces. I don't need to take lavish vacations or buy luxury cars because those things don't define me. I will say this much: If God sees fit to bless me with multi-millions of dollars, I will bless those who God lays on my heart to bless. Those who I knew since day 1, they'll get a little something, but other than that, I wouldn't do anything different than what I do now.

This whole "Ball Til You Fall" mentality that people have when they win the lottery is exactly why many people end up broke within 5 years, and some sooner than that. They're not used to having money, they attract the wrong crowd, and they're overcompensating in some way because a lot of people who came into millions of dollars, have come from nothing. They're not trying to go back to poverty, so in some way I understand why they ball til they fall. They want to have fun, even if it's for a little time.