Nothing feels better than winning the lottery and knowing that all that money will pay off your debts and bills and allow you to live a more comfortable lifestyle.
After you indulge in your new toys such as a house, car, yacht, or private island, you might have a desire to help other people in your circle of family and friends. Spreading such joy can be a great feeling.
Removing debt
In that vein, you might want to help them out by paying off some or all of their debts. You’ve gone debt free yourself, so why not let mom and dad, brother and sis, your best friend, or even your kids discover how freeing not having debts can be.
You are not buying them anything, but simply paying off bills, loans, and such so that more of the money they make they can keep.
A reasonable update
Maybe you feel that they also, or instead, could use something new in their lives.
Maybe they live a bad neighbourhood, or live in an apartment or a rundown shack. Perhaps a new house might be in order. It’s not going to be a big one, but a nice cheap little bungalow that meets all their needs.
And are they still driving that 1996 car that needs work every month just to keep it on the road? You don’t have to buy them a Porsche or Ferrari. A used car one to three years old fully maintained and certified can be a windfall that they are not only not expecting, but might just make their daily work commute and weekend shopping trips more pleasurable.
Depending on your desire of generosity, you might also take care of all the oil changes or small maintenance issues for them.
A little treat
You might also want to give them some money so they can spend a little on themselves.
But how much should you give and how should you give it? This is a very personal thing to consider, but regardless of the amount of money you wish to bestow, you have the option of either giving it to them all at once, or in smaller amounts over time.
With friends or family members who you know are careful with their funds and have good money management skills, you might want to give them the entire amount up front in a lump sum.
With those who are a bit more spend thrift, you might break up the amount into smaller sums so that they can enjoy some money without blowing through the entire amount you want them to have.
Be firm
One of the more important things to stress to anyone you want to help is to let them know, nicely but firmly, that you are not a bank and you are not going to be making loans or giving handouts willy-nilly.
Paying off debts, buying them houses or cars to make their lives easier, or giving them an amount of cash, is your desire to help them out from the joy of your good fortune. But the money you have won is yours to create a better life for yourself first, and to help those you want second, if you feel you want to do that.
And don’t help them out right away unless it is an emergency situation. Take care of yourself first and foremost.
Get your house, car, private jet bought, built, and used before you take care of others. This will give you time to be settled into your more comfortable life and for others to realize that you are serious in not just handing out money or goodies to whomever asks.
This attitude may seem selfish but once people, even your third cousin twice removed that you never even knew you had, find out about your win, they will be coming out the woodwork to try to partake of some of that money.
Letting everyone know you are not giving out your win is important to protect it, but whether you won millions of dollars in the lottery, made it through hard work most of your life, or inherited it from Aunt Matilda after she died, is totally inconsequential.
Your money is your money and no one is getting one cent from you unless you decide whom or who not, is getting any or benefitting from it.
Spreading the joy is about your desire to help others, not their desire to feel that you are obligated to do or give something to them.
Spread your joy appropriately to those you feel deserve it and will appreciate the gesture. You will feel fantastic for helping them out and knowing that your good fortune is benefiting those deserving people in your life.