When people daydream about winning the lottery, they usually fantasize about the houses, vacations, and cars that they will buy for themselves and their families. I used to daydream about that as well but I’ve heard too many horror stories about people who end up worst off after a big windfall. A lottery win means that you didn’t work hard to achieve your millions so the saying “easy come, easy go” really applies here. Investment planning is crucial when you come into money all of a sudden. Regardless if it’s a lottery win, inheritance, or if it falls out of a truck, you need to consult the services of an experienced financial advisor. If your financial advisor executes the job well, not only can you live comfortably off the income of the principle, you can continually grow your principle with the magic of compounding. Never leave your eggs in one basket and diversification is the key. A financial advisor will invest your funds into a wide assortment of riskier money market securities and low-risk bonds and GICs. To diversify even further, I’d recommend having more than one financial advisor to keep them honest and have them compete against one another. Yes, it’s true that I do play the lottery even though I know I won’t win it but there is always that chance. “You can’t win if you don’t play.” That’s what I used to holler at people when I worked one of those money wheels at the fair. The odds of winning the big lottery here in British Columbia is one in 14 million. Name anything remote and you are way more likely to achieve it than win the big one but it’s still fun to play. You can get struck by lightning a whole bunch of times before you win the lottery. I don’t mind blowing two dollars for the super slim chance of winning the big one. It’s sad though when I see people blow $100 on a draw because that’s a sure sign of a gambling problem. If I ever win though, I wouldn’t do anything impulsive, just put everything in a six-month GIC and plan things out. After six months, I’d probably travel for a year and visit all the major tennis tournaments around the world. Dreams are good but daydreaming too much will land you in the poor house so I better be careful as well.