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The lottery jackpot is larger than ever, and long lines are forming to buy tickets. But if your goal is to get rich, there’s a far better approach than playing the lottery.
Consider what happens if you spend $50 a month on tickets for 10 years: that’s $6,000 gone. The odds of winning Powerball or Mega Millions are roughly 175 million to one. That’s about as likely as being struck by lightning or dying in a plane crash. You might win a small prize now and then, but it’s extremely unlikely you’ll ever hit the jackpot — and over time most players lose money.
People buy tickets because they believe they have a real chance of winning. I often see hopeful buyers at the supermarket and the drugstore. Neighbors I knew used to spend $75 a week on the lottery and even used a gadget to pick numbers; they won occasionally, but never enough to make up for what they spent. Studies show the average lottery player gets back about $0.47 for every dollar played. That’s a losing game, and it hurts lower-income households the most, since they play more often but can least afford the losses.
If you want a practical alternative, try this simple plan:
– Save the money you would have spent on tickets. Use a jar or a separate account and put every lotto dollar there.
– At the end of each month, transfer that money into a savings account and don’t touch it.
– Keep it up every month without excuses.
For example, if you spend $20 a week on the lottery, that adds up to $1,040 a year. After two years you’ll have $2,080. With modest interest, after three years that total could be about $3,100. After ten years, you could have roughly $11,000 — a guaranteed payoff from not buying tickets.
If your goal is long-term wealth, regular investing beats hoping for a windfall. Start early and put a fixed amount into an investment account each month. For instance, beginning at age 25 and investing $500 a month at an average annual return of 7% could grow to about $1 million by age 61. You don’t need to be an expert: use retirement accounts like a workplace 401(k) or a Roth IRA, pick a simple mix of stocks and bonds, and resist the urge to withdraw when something urgent or tempting comes up.
This isn’t a quick-rich scheme — it’s steady, patient saving and investing. It leverages compound returns and repeated contributions, which over time build real wealth.
The men at the drugstore who scratched off tickets in the checkout lane? They lost. Their small bursts of hope cost them cash and left them with nothing to show for it.
Have you ever played the lottery? What was the outcome?
