What Must a Candidate Win a Majority of to Become the Us President?
Everybody needs money to survive. It's a fact we may not like, simply it's however a fact. Another inescapable truth is that nearly of united states of america could use more money for the things we need as well as the things we simply want. That probably makes the hope of winning the lottery audio like a dream come true, but the reality is much more complicated than that.
Consider this cautionary tale of a woman in desperate need who won an unbelievable corporeality of money. The choices and mistakes she fabricated after winning ultimately resulted in losing it all. Her story reminds us all to never forget that coin doesn't buy happiness.
Run across Marie Holmes
When she was 26, Marie Holmes was living a difficult life in North Carolina. She was a hard-working, single female parent of four with two depression-paying jobs. On top of this, one of her children had just been diagnosed with cerebral palsy.
Because of her child'southward special needs, Marie was forced to quit both of her jobs to treat him full time. Plainly, the $188 million lottery windfall seemed like a Godsend when Marie won, only unfortunately, she fabricated a series of poor decisions that resulted in her losing it all.
Marie'southward Original Plans
Marie made some promising comments most what she planned to practice with the lottery money — $127 million later she chose to get it in a lump sum. "First I'm going to pay my tithes, because I wouldn't have none of it if it weren't for God."
"After that, I'g going to gear up accounts for my kids…I'm going to buy a business firm for me and my kids, then brand sure my family is all good." Marie besides told WGN-TV, "I don't have to worry about the word 'struggle' no more and neither do [my children]."
The Waiting Game
Although nearly lottery winnings are not life irresolute, lottery jackpots are huge, and there are rules for claiming those winnings. If a person wins less than $599, the establishment that sold them the ticket pays them their winnings. However, there is a lengthy process involved in claiming large lottery winnings.
The ticket has to be verified by a scanning motorcar. Adjacent, there is a waiting menstruation for the money to be awarded, and the winner must fill up out some identification paperwork. Last, the winner must decide if they want all the money in a lump sum or have information technology dispersed in installments for 30 years (on boilerplate).
Choices, Choices
One of the more difficult choices when a person wins millions of dollars in a lottery is whether to get the money in a lump sum or in installments. The dilemma occurs because in that location is a large punishment for getting all the coin faster in a lump sum.
Marie had the selection of collecting the unabridged $188 one thousand thousand over 30 years or forfeiting $61 million and collecting the remaining $127 million much sooner. Financial experts commonly recommend taking the lump sum and investing the coin. That allows you lot the opportunity to make money on your winnings instead of the land. Marie chose the lump sum.
Uncle Sam's Cutting
Many people don't know how much taxes people take to pay out of lottery winnings in the U.S., so we'll pause information technology downwardly for you. Although the entire tax amount wasn't reported in Marie Holmes' case, she definitely paid millions to the government.
In the U.S., lottery winnings are considered income past the IRS, on both the state and federal levels. Therefore, Northward Carolina would accept taken 5.viii% of Marie'due south $127 meg, and the Federal Government would have taken anywhere from 25% to 39.six%, depending on tax bracket and other factors. Most people pay the highest rate.
Setting an Example
When Marie won the lottery, she had plans that all sounded very honorable. She said she would donate first to her church and then move out of her mobile dwelling and purchase a new house for her children. She also planned to set college funds for them.
Marie told NBC, "All the struggle that I e'er went through, information technology was all for [my children]. I want them to understand that coin doesn't modify you, only it tin can help you lot." The public brutal in honey with Marie subsequently hearing about her history of poverty and difficult knocks before she became wealthy.
Could She Handle It?
The reputation that Marie had in her hometown and elsewhere was that of a difficult-working, single mother who, according to her family unit and friends, "understood the value of a dollar." At one point, she had 2 jobs — Walmart and McDonald's — to support her iv children. Therefore, nobody expected her to make poor decisions about where the money would get.
Of course, no one took into business relationship that Marie was inexperienced and uninformed nigh how to handle large amounts of money. When she started deciding how to spend the lottery money, the public viewed her equally immature and irresponsible.
Financial Advisor, Please?
When people who aren't wealthy win a lot of money, it's highly recommended that they seek professional person help most how to manage the coin, including what Non to practice with it. The average American has absolutely no experience handling big amounts of money.
Financial advisors warn that even titanic amounts of money can disappear quickly if it isn't invested wisely. In the case of Marie Holmes, it seemed like her heart was in the right identify and she was doing what she thought was right, just some adept communication definitely would have helped her out.
The Bad Judgment Begins
The first thing dubbed a poor judgment call by the public was the $xv,000 Rolex that Marie bought her boyfriend, Lamar "Hot Sauce" McDow. The sentry was more jewelry than a timepiece and was reportedly "dripping with diamonds."
That same boyfriend ultimately toll Marie much more than. The Port City Daily reported Lamar was a gang fellow member and a drug dealer after he was arrested and charged with "conspiracy to traffic in opium or heroin" in April 2016. He connected to get arrested throughout their human relationship, and Marie spent millions on his bail and defence.
The Saga Continues
Before being sent to jail on drug charges in 2014, Lamar McDow lived with Marie Holmes and her children in her trailer. When he was released from jail after serving his judgement, he lived in the $350,000 abode that she had purchased after winning the lottery.
According to the Daily Mail service, of the original corporeality of $188 million, Marie was left with about $88 million later on deciding to take her winnings in a lump sum and paying taxes. This is still a very large corporeality of coin, but a loss of $100 million is obviously very significant.
Leeches Coming Out of the Woodwork
Predictably, lots of people immediately started asking Marie and her boyfriend for money after they heard she won the lottery. The people included friends, family members and numerous others, all requesting various amounts of money for all kinds of reasons. Unfortunately, this feel is common for lottery winners.
Marie and Lamar were constantly harassed for money handouts, and it became very stressful for them. Marie was quoted as maxim, "When money comes, there are more problems," according to reports.
Racial Intolerance in Their New Domicile
Another problem that plagued Marie and her family in their new life in their new dwelling was harassment from neighbors due to racial prejudice. The neighborhood that Marie moved into with her family unit was an intolerant, primarily white community, and much to the family's chagrin, the residents were not interested in changing.
Co-ordinate to Lamar, "Ane neighbor ready a photographic camera to record everything nosotros were doing. If I was driving down the road and going at the speed limit, they would wave at me for going as well fast. They did not want us at that place. They were prejudiced." Lamar reported these disturbing events to the Daily Post.
The Church Donation
Marie stayed truthful to her word, which was reported in a press release every bit "The first thing she promised was to tithe — give a tenth of her winnings to clemency." Marie donated a full of $700,000 to her hometown church building, Pleasant Colina Missionary Baptist Church, located in Shallotte, NC.
The church building reportedly used the money for much-needed renovations. Marie told the press the church was an important role of her life and her organized religion and that she had been attending that particular church since she was a child.
Pastor Disaster
Unfortunately, a different pastor made contact with Marie and her family with an evil ulterior motive. Pastor Kevin Matthews claimed that "God led him to them," and although they certainly regretted information technology afterwards, Marie and her family believed him and allowed him into their lives and their dwelling house.
Before long after meeting Marie, Pastor Matthews asked her for $ane.5 1000000 then he could build a retreat. Co-ordinate to him, Marie verbally agreed to fund the project, although there is no testify to support that. He then went ahead and began construction on the retreat using his ain money. Marie did not contribute.
Wicked Intentions
Citing a exact agreement in which Marie allegedly promised to donate $1.5 million for his retreat, Pastor Kevin Matthews appear publicly that he was suing Marie Holmes for $10 1000000. The amount of money named in the suit was inexplainable, considering the amount he was allegedly promised was much less.
The public believed Pastor Matthews was existence ungrateful and greedy. His behavior seemed unbecoming of a Christian leader to virtually people of faith. The justification for his lawsuit was that he had a verbal agreement with Marie for a money donation and bounty for "emotional distress."
Public Outrage
Equally soon every bit the media defenseless air current of the lawsuit, they uncovered that Matthews did non appear to exist affiliated with whatsoever church. This led to a astringent, angry public backlash. People shamed Matthews for being a fraud and trying to scam a nice lady out of her rightful winnings.
One YouTuber, "Donald the Repentless," was and then mad about this that he put out videos entitled, "F*** Y'all Pastor Kevin Matthews." Public opinion was clear that this and so-chosen "pastor" was nothing only a coin-grubbing scam creative person preying on a overnice lady to become his hands on a lot of undeserved money.
To Height It Off: Infidelity
In more bad news for Marie and her children, the media reported that her ex-convict swain was beingness unfaithful. Unfortunately, it was also reported that she herself paid Lamar'south mistresses hush coin to go away instead of getting rid of him.
In more reputation damaging news, a video surfaced on Facebook of a woman who claimed that in add-on to Lamar cheating on Marie, he was also stealing coin from her to pay prostitutes for "sexual favors." Unfortunately, the video went viral, as juicy gossip often does.
Powering Through
Instead of withering nether the scrutiny of the media and the public, Marie decided to take desperate measures to amend her circumstances. She gathered her strength and took matters into her ain hands by turning to a well-known life coach to get some advice about how to meliorate her life.
Marie contacted Iyanla Vanzant, who has her own show advising people about their relationships on the Oprah Network. Vanzant is a renowned author and motivational speaker with a huge post-obit due to her reputation for irresolute people'southward lives for the better.
The Truth Revealed
In another surprising twist, when Marie went on the Iyanla: Fix My Life talk show, her mother, Fontella, came out and revealed that the numbers she chose for the winning lottery ticket were actually hers and that they had a very special meaning.
"I kept dreaming about your blood brother that we lost. His birthday, he was the third child, he'd accept been 25 that yr. Those were the numbers." When Marie asked her mother why she didn't merits the money for herself, Fontella replied, "I just wanted you to better yourself for the babies."
The Scoop on Lamar McDow
Lamar "Hot Sauce" McDow was fortunate plenty to stay in Marie's good graces long plenty to fight jail three times, to the tune of millions in bail and legal fees. The start time Marie bailed him out, information technology cost her $three 1000000 in bail money.
Before a year had passed, Lamar was arrested once more, and Marie bailed him out once more for $six million. The third time Marie bailed out Lamar, it was $12 meg. You lot would think she would have been repulsed by his criminal behavior, but she just kept spending the money, resulting in widespread criticism.
Misery Loves Company
Marie was warned by many people that if she continued her relationship with Lamar, she could end up with criminal charges herself. Unfortunately, that's exactly what happened. I night, Lamar violated his parole curfew. When the police came, they discovered marijuana in the house.
Tragically, Marie was arrested for possession in front of her children. Marijuana remains illegal in Northward Carolina, merely there is a significant racial bias about who is criminalized for it, according to the ACLU. The same number of white people as black people use marijuana, merely blacks are 3.73 times more than likely to be arrested.
The Boyfriend Defense
Lamar eventually got angry at the people criticizing Marie for spending her money bailing him out of jail, and he lashed out. To the Daily Mail, he asserted, "We are a couple, and I am the father of her youngest child. This is what people practice for each other."
Lamar went on to say, "She has the money, and she tin practise what she wants with it. If I had that money, then I would practise the same for her. People are merely jealous because of how much she won, and people want to see me locked in jail."
The Wolf Pit
During the taping of the Iyanla show, the bad headlines just kept rolling in. Marie's family and even former friends started accusing her of actually stealing the lottery ticket from her mother, despite Fontella freely admitting on goggle box that she had given the ticket to Marie.
To add to the stress and drama, Lamar went to jail at this time on a 7-twelvemonth sentence for charges related to possessing and selling heroin. True to form, Marie persisted in pushing forward and moving on with her life, demonstrating her force and resilience.
A Goal Met
Despite poor taste in partners, Marie did make some skilful decisions almost what to do with some of her money. She ended up giving $nine.vii million to various charities. Office of that money went to the brand-new Marie Holmes Foundation, which was established to provide for children in need.
Marie's foundation provides necessities for underprivileged children. Information technology too holds community events, which are how some children become their school supplies and their Christmas presents. The foundation helps struggling young mothers like Marie was before she won the lottery.
Practice Christians Gamble?
Marie was raised a devout Catholic, and she leans heavily on her Christian organized religion. Some people criticized her for playing the lottery at all, considering it tends to be frowned upon by the church. People have mixed opinions when information technology comes to Christians gambling.
1 pastor said this to the Christian Postal service: "You can't be against the lottery, merely your youth department is doing a RAFFLE! Same affair, pastor. Same THING!" The stigma remains about gambling being an irresponsible money-waster. Others argue that there is nothing specific said virtually gambling in the Bible, so it's okay when it'southward non driveling.
The Root of All Evil
Other religious people, such every bit ane pastor cited in the Christian Post, pointed out that the Bible says that money is where evil originated. He scolded Marie for buying the lottery ticket and went on to say, "Outset, nosotros must guard confronting our love of money."
It should exist noted that when the Bible does mention "casting lots," it'south not usually talking about material gain, simply about God. In an example of this, Proverbs sixteen:33 states, "The lot is cast into the lap, only its every conclusion is from the Lord."
Some Friendly Advice
We recommend that others read the unfortunate story of Marie Holmes in case they find themselves in her shoes. It's not at all piece of cake to go from rags to riches, and similar versions of her story have happened to others.
It's important to sympathise tax laws for the long term, the rules of the lottery and investment options if you ever detect yourself in the position of receiving a large windfall of money. Be sure to hire a good professional financial practiced to help you decide how to manage your coin to avoid reckless decisions.
A Cautionary Tale
If you e'er happen to discover yourself in the unlikely position of winning the lottery some things to watch out for include government laws, lottery rules, state and federal taxes and your previous unpaid debts. These things can help you lot summate your expendable income.
It may be unwise in the initial excitement to promise lots of charitable giving, like Marie did, without kickoff doing the math to run into what your take-home corporeality actually is. Multiple millions of dollars may seem like an enormous corporeality, but every bit Marie discovered, it's piece of cake to burn down through it quickly if y'all are uninformed.
Further Drama
Some think that Marie had a run of terrible luck after she won the lottery, while others recollect she brought her woes upon herself with poor decision-making. A few retrieve the truth lies somewhere in the eye of those two blackness-and-white judgments.
Aside from spending millions on her boyfriend — who somewhen ended up in federal prison anyway — Marie also made some other questionable decisions later winning the lotto, such as buying her swain a business organization of his own and ownership her mother a business firm. She too had harassment charges filed against her for allegedly calling a woman repeatedly to threaten her.
The Bottom Line
The catastrophe of this story is mostly grim, although Marie Holmes did do some positive things with a lasting affect earlier the last of her money was gone. She didn't seem to realize that she would be under a microscope with the media and the public.
Here are a couple more tips, but in instance you ever hitting it big: Don't trust anyone asking for coin, even if they seem to take a very respectable social status (like the pastor who sued Marie Holmes). Retrieve the good that coin can practise, but don't forget the bad. No matter what, don't brand bold promises immediately after winning.
Source: https://www.reference.com/business-finance/what-not-to-do-if-you-win-lottery?utm_content=params%3Ao%3D740005%26ad%3DdirN%26qo%3DserpIndex
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