How Much Money Did Matt Fraser Win
Everybody needs money to survive. It's a fact we may not like, just it'due south still a fact. Another inescapable truth is that most of us could use more money for the things we need as well as the things we just desire. That probably makes the hope of winning the lottery sound like a dream come true, but the reality is much more complicated than that.
Consider this cautionary tale of a woman in desperate demand who won an unbelievable amount of money. The choices and mistakes she made after winning ultimately resulted in losing it all. Her story reminds us all to never forget that money 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, unmarried female parent of four with two low-paying jobs. On height of this, ane of her children had just been diagnosed with cognitive palsy.
Because of her child'southward special needs, Marie was forced to quit both of her jobs to care for him full time. Obviously, the $188 million lottery windfall seemed like a Godsend when Marie won, only unfortunately, she made a serial of poor decisions that resulted in her losing it all.
Marie's Original Plans
Marie fabricated some promising comments near what she planned to practise with the lottery money — $127 million after 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'grand going to set up upward accounts for my kids…I'k going to purchase a house for me and my kids, then brand sure my family is all good." Marie also told WGN-TV, "I don't accept to worry nigh the word 'struggle' no more and neither practice [my children]."
The Waiting Game
Although virtually lottery winnings are non life changing, lottery jackpots are huge, and in that location are rules for claiming those winnings. If a person wins less than $599, the institution that sold them the ticket pays them their winnings. However, in that location is a lengthy procedure involved in challenge large lottery winnings.
The ticket has to exist verified by a scanning motorcar. Next, there is a waiting flow 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 it dispersed in installments for thirty years (on boilerplate).
Choices, Choices
One of the more difficult choices when a person wins millions of dollars in a lottery is whether to become the money in a lump sum or in installments. The dilemma occurs because there is a big penalty for getting all the money faster in a lump sum.
Marie had the choice of collecting the unabridged $188 million over xxx years or forfeiting $61 meg and collecting the remaining $127 million much sooner. Financial experts commonly recommend taking the lump sum and investing the coin. That allows y'all the opportunity to make money on your winnings instead of the state. Marie chose the lump sum.
Uncle Sam'due south Cut
Many people don't know how much taxes people take to pay out of lottery winnings in the U.Southward., so we'll interruption it down for you. Although the entire tax amount wasn't reported in Marie Holmes' example, she definitely paid millions to the government.
In the U.S., lottery winnings are considered income past the IRS, on both the country and federal levels. Therefore, N Carolina would take taken v.viii% of Marie'southward $127 one thousand thousand, and the Federal Government would accept taken anywhere from 25% to 39.6%, depending on tax bracket and other factors. About 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 home and buy a new house for her children. She also planned to gear up upward college funds for them.
Marie told NBC, "All the struggle that I ever went through, it was all for [my children]. I want them to sympathize that money doesn't change you lot, but it can assistance you." The public roughshod in dearest with Marie after hearing virtually 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 hard-working, single female parent who, according to her family and friends, "understood the value of a dollar." At one point, she had two jobs — Walmart and McDonald'due south — to support her 4 children. Therefore, nobody expected her to make poor decisions near where the coin would go.
Of grade, no one took into account that Marie was inexperienced and uninformed nearly how to handle large amounts of money. When she started deciding how to spend the lottery money, the public viewed her as immature and irresponsible.
Financial Advisor, Please?
When people who aren't wealthy win a lot of money, it'south highly recommended that they seek professional assist about how to manage the money, including what NOT to do with information technology. The boilerplate American has admittedly no experience handling large amounts of money.
Fiscal advisors warn that fifty-fifty titanic amounts of money can disappear rapidly if information technology isn't invested wisely. In the instance of Marie Holmes, it seemed like her center was in the correct place and she was doing what she thought was right, but some adept advice definitely would have helped her out.
The Bad Judgment Begins
The start affair dubbed a poor judgment call past the public was the $15,000 Rolex that Marie bought her fellow, Lamar "Hot Sauce" McDow. The sentinel was more jewelry than a timepiece and was reportedly "dripping with diamonds."
That same swain ultimately cost Marie much more. The Port City Daily reported Lamar was a gang member and a drug dealer after he was arrested and charged with "conspiracy to traffic in opium or heroin" in April 2016. He continued to get arrested throughout their relationship, and Marie spent millions on his bail and defense.
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 afterward serving his sentence, he lived in the $350,000 home that she had purchased afterward winning the lottery.
According to the Daily Mail service, of the original amount of $188 million, Marie was left with near $88 meg later deciding to take her winnings in a lump sum and paying taxes. This is still a very large corporeality of money, but a loss of $100 million is obviously very pregnant.
Leeches Coming Out of the Woodwork
Predictably, lots of people immediately started asking Marie and her boyfriend for money afterward 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 information technology became very stressful for them. Marie was quoted every bit proverb, "When money comes, in that location are more issues," according to reports.
Racial Intolerance in Their New Dwelling house
Another problem that plagued Marie and her family in their new life in their new home was harassment from neighbors due to racial prejudice. The neighborhood that Marie moved into with her family was an intolerant, primarily white community, and much to the family'southward chagrin, the residents were not interested in changing.
According to Lamar, "One neighbor fix a camera to record everything we were doing. If I was driving down the road and going at the speed limit, they would wave at me for going besides fast. They did not want us there. They were prejudiced." Lamar reported these disturbing events to the Daily Mail.
The Church Donation
Marie stayed true to her word, which was reported in a printing release every bit "The first thing she promised was to tithe — give a tenth of her winnings to charity." Marie donated a total of $700,000 to her hometown church, Pleasant Hill Missionary Baptist Church, located in Shallotte, NC.
The church reportedly used the money for much-needed renovations. Marie told the press the church was an important office of her life and her faith 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 it later, Marie and her family unit believed him and allowed him into their lives and their home.
Soon after meeting Marie, Pastor Matthews asked her for $ane.5 million so he could build a retreat. According to him, Marie verbally agreed to fund the project, although there is no evidence 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 verbal agreement in which Marie allegedly promised to donate $1.5 million for his retreat, Pastor Kevin Matthews announced publicly that he was suing Marie Holmes for $10 1000000. The amount of money named in the adapt was baffling, considering the amount he was allegedly promised was much less.
The public believed Pastor Matthews was being ungrateful and greedy. His behavior seemed unbecoming of a Christian leader to most people of faith. The justification for his lawsuit was that he had a verbal understanding with Marie for a money donation and compensation for "emotional distress."
Public Outrage
As presently as the media caught air current of the lawsuit, they uncovered that Matthews did not appear to be affiliated with any church. This led to a severe, angry public backfire. People shamed Matthews for being a fraud and trying to scam a prissy lady out of her rightful winnings.
One YouTuber, "Donald the Repentless," was so mad about this that he put out videos entitled, "F*** Yous Pastor Kevin Matthews." Public opinion was clear that this so-called "pastor" was nothing but a coin-grubbing scam artist preying on a overnice lady to get his easily on a lot of undeserved money.
To Top It Off: Infidelity
In more bad news for Marie and her children, the media reported that her ex-convict fellow was existence unfaithful. Unfortunately, it was also reported that she herself paid Lamar's mistresses hush money to go abroad instead of getting rid of him.
In more reputation damaging news, a video surfaced on Facebook of a adult female who claimed that in improver to Lamar cheating on Marie, he was likewise stealing money from her to pay prostitutes for "sexual favors." Unfortunately, the video went viral, as juicy gossip often does.
Powering Through
Instead of withering under the scrutiny of the media and the public, Marie decided to take drastic measures to improve her circumstances. She gathered her strength and took matters into her own hands past turning to a well-known life coach to go some advice nigh how to improve her life.
Marie contacted Iyanla Vanzant, who has her own show advising people nigh their relationships on the Oprah Network. Vanzant is a renowned author and motivational speaker with a huge following due to her reputation for changing people's lives for the better.
The Truth Revealed
In another surprising twist, when Marie went on the Iyanla: Fix My Life talk bear witness, 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 pregnant.
"I kept dreaming near your brother that nosotros lost. His altogether, he was the third child, he'd have been 25 that year. Those were the numbers." When Marie asked her mother why she didn't claim the money for herself, Fontella replied, "I just wanted you to amend yourself for the babies."
The Scoop on Lamar McDow
Lamar "Hot Sauce" McDow was fortunate enough to stay in Marie's good graces long enough to fight jail three times, to the melody of millions in bail and legal fees. The starting time time Marie bailed him out, it price her $three 1000000 in bond money.
Before a year had passed, Lamar was arrested again, and Marie bailed him out once more for $6 million. The third fourth dimension Marie bailed out Lamar, information technology was $12 million. You would call back she would have been repulsed by his criminal behavior, but she merely kept spending the money, resulting in widespread criticism.
Misery Loves Company
Marie was warned past many people that if she continued her human relationship with Lamar, she could end up with criminal charges herself. Unfortunately, that'due south exactly what happened. One 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 North Carolina, only in that location is a pregnant racial bias nearly who is criminalized for information technology, co-ordinate to the ACLU. The same number of white people as black people employ marijuana, but blacks are 3.73 times more probable to be arrested.
The Swain 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 male parent of her youngest child. This is what people practice for each other."
Lamar went on to say, "She has the coin, and she can exercise what she wants with it. If I had that money, and so I would do the same for her. People are just jealous because of how much she won, and people want to encounter me locked in jail."
The Wolf Pit
During the taping of the Iyanla prove, the bad headlines just kept rolling in. Marie'southward family and even former friends started accusing her of really stealing the lottery ticket from her mother, despite Fontella freely admitting on tv that she had given the ticket to Marie.
To add to the stress and drama, Lamar went to jail at this time on a seven-year sentence for charges related to possessing and selling heroin. True to form, Marie persisted in pushing frontwards and moving on with her life, demonstrating her forcefulness and resilience.
A Goal Met
Despite poor sense of taste in partners, Marie did make some good decisions about what to practise with some of her money. She ended upward giving $nine.7 meg to diverse charities. Function of that coin 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. It also holds community events, which are how some children get their school supplies and their Christmas presents. The foundation helps struggling immature mothers like Marie was before she won the lottery.
Do Christians Gamble?
Marie was raised a devout Cosmic, and she leans heavily on her Christian organized religion. Some people criticized her for playing the lottery at all, because it tends to be frowned upon by the church building. People have mixed opinions when it comes to Christians gambling.
One pastor said this to the Christian Postal service: "Yous tin can't be against the lottery, simply your youth department is doing a RAFFLE! Same thing, pastor. SAME Affair!" The stigma remains about gambling being an irresponsible coin-waster. Others argue that in that location is nothing specific said about gambling in the Bible, so it's okay when it's not abused.
The Root of All Evil
Other religious people, such equally one 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, "Start, nosotros must guard against our love of money."
It should be noted that when the Bible does mention "casting lots," it's non usually talking about material gain, simply about God. In an example of this, Proverbs sixteen:33 states, "The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord."
Some Friendly Communication
Nosotros recommend that others read the unfortunate story of Marie Holmes in case they find themselves in her shoes. Information technology'southward not at all like shooting fish in a barrel to get from rags to riches, and similar versions of her story have happened to others.
It'due south important to understand revenue enhancement laws for the long term, the rules of the lottery and investment options if you ever observe yourself in the position of receiving a large windfall of money. Be certain to rent a good professional financial expert to help yous decide how to manage your coin to avoid reckless decisions.
A Cautionary Tale
If you ever happen to find 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 tin assistance y'all summate your expendable income.
Information technology may exist unwise in the initial excitement to hope lots of charitable giving, like Marie did, without first doing the math to come across what your accept-domicile amount really is. Multiple millions of dollars may seem like an enormous amount, but every bit Marie discovered, it's piece of cake to burn through it quickly if yous are uninformed.
Farther Drama
Some think that Marie had a run of terrible luck afterward she won the lottery, while others call back she brought her woes upon herself with poor decision-making. A few think the truth lies somewhere in the heart of those 2 blackness-and-white judgments.
Bated from spending millions on her beau — who eventually ended upwardly in federal prison anyhow — Marie also made some other questionable decisions after winning the lotto, such as ownership her beau a business of his ain and ownership her mother a house. She also had harassment charges filed against her for allegedly calling a woman repeatedly to threaten her.
The Lesser Line
The ending of this story is mostly grim, although Marie Holmes did exercise some positive things with a lasting affect before the terminal of her coin was gone. She didn't seem to realize that she would be under a microscope with the media and the public.
Hither are a couple more tips, but in case you ever hit it big: Don't trust anyone asking for money, even if they seem to accept a very respectable social status (like the pastor who sued Marie Holmes). Remember the good that money can do, merely don't forget the bad. No thing what, don't make 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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