[zozbot234]

Most people don't even understand the notion of a random windfall, financially. It's something you should just put in the bank and literally forget about, unless you have high-interest debt to pay off or the like.

Drawing down on a windfall should be a very serious decision, not something done casually. That money you're spending on pure consumption is not coming back, ever, so only use it for experiences and endeavors that will meaningfully improve the life of yourself or whoever you care about.

[hinkley]

We didn’t have a lot when I was a kid so I didn’t understand this when I was suddenly making more than my dad. We ran up huge debts and it took a couple years of hard work and heavy discipline to pay it all off, then a couple more to be anywhere where we thought the money should make us feel like.

Those images of rock stars and athletes are fundamentally exploitative. The odds you will continue to make that kind of money going forward are tiny. The odds that you can re-make that kind of money without having to compromise your ideals are virtually nonexistent. Anyone who encourages you to spend it is not your friend.

You were lucky enough to get it the first time, if you blow it there might not be a next time. And I think in many cases the people who struggle their whole lives never learned that, which why they are down instead of OK. Get a little money it goes to steak or AC or a pool, or something else with additional lifetime costs. It would never go into preventative maintenance that actually saves you money later on.

[bityard]

/Should/ be yes, but we repeatedly see people who come into a windfall blow it all almost immediately on fancy cars and vacations and end up worse off than when they started. (See: professional athletes.)

I'm doing okay but I worked for what I have. I'm pretty financially savvy compared to the median person and even /I/ can't say with 100% certainty that if I ran into $55 mil somehow that I would be able to save/invest it all responsibly.