I’ve been going over some facts and figures regarding my much-maligned retirement plan, which is, experts have said, not a retirement plan at all but a mindless game I’m playing with myself and my financial future. That could be true, but I’m not a financial wizard so I can’t say if my lottery-playing plan is a brainstorm or a bust. And by the way, I never said that I have THE secret to winning the lottery — I said I have MY secret.
I’m just waiting for it to pay off.
Here’s what I’ve concluded……..
When I purchase tickets for large POWERBALL or MEGA MILLIONS jackpots, I’m not expecting to win, I’m hopeful. Hopeful that my blowing of $5 or $6 per week will at least entertain and amuse me if not garner me BIG BUCKS. That’s part of the secret: don’t expect to win. Don’t stress. Just have fun with it. Same with Lotto…..with odds of winning at 1 in about 7,000,000 — it COULD happen — but likely won’t.
Just recently however, I’ve begun doing something that is either a wise move or a grand delusion: buying a HIT 5 ticket. Now, I don’t just buy the ticket (setting me back $1), I’ve discovered myself actually letting it seep into my mind that I might possibly WIN. Sure the jackpot amounts are smaller, but hey, less buck$ for Uncle Sam that way, right? And the odds — they’re on my side too (well, more so than Lotto that is) at 1 in about 575,000.
Do I have special numbers that I play each time? Heck no. Again, I want to keep it simple and spend as little time and money on this distraction as possible, so I let the computer or automated machine pick. I have a friend who says that sometimes he doesn’t check his tickets for days or even weeks – reasoning that, if he doesn’t check them – then he doesn’t know that he didn’t win. And if he doesn’t know that he didn’t win – he might have won (or so he has chosen to think).
I spent $5 this weekend and I won $1. Sure, you could be a financial stickler and say that the result is that I’m down $4. I say that I’m preparing to re-invest that $1 and hopefully parlay it into $100,000. That’s the amount currently in the Jackpot. The odds of winning are ZERO if I don’t buy a ticket.
Wish me luck!