The lottery

In 2002, a man named Jack Whittaker won over $300 million in the lottery. He was already a millionaire at the time, but like many other lottery winners, his life took a turn for the worse. He did donate 10% to churches and even more to charity, but he had a bad habit of leaving cash in his car and getting it stolen, he blew a lot of it on casinos, his house got robbed, and his granddaughter got killed, presumably for drugs or money.

I was surprised when I read it because rich people seldom play the lottery (except when the prize is high, and I'll get into that in a minute). Especially someone like him.  Jack lived simply.  Not many people knew he was wealthy. Self-made rich people tend to be very calculating with their money and know that the probability of winning is so low as to be non-existent. You'd be much better off just putting the money in a savings account. One reason most lottery winners tend to lose all their money within 3 years is that they overspend. Friends and strangers ask them for money, and many oblige. They buy luxury stuff that only makes them happy briefly. It strains their relationships.

Do you know what the difference is between someone who made $30 million and someone who won it? The first had to work for his/her money and the second was simply given it. Money you earn is much more difficult to part with.

Poor people play the lottery regularly, while rich people are more calculating and only tend to play when the prize is very large: http://www.businessinsider.com/how-rich-people-and-poor-people-play-the-lottery-2012-3

I still buy a lottery ticket every now and then, in spite of knowing that the lottery is a "stupid tax". If you ever win, make sure you set aside a good portion of it into low-cost investments (diversified index funds are my suggestion), and feel free to splurge the rest. Just make sure you can actually cover the whole cost of that house/car/island with the remainder and not have to dip into your investments.

Fitness

You know what I'm into?  Fitness.  As in, fitness whole burger in my mouth.

Lol, so punny

On a serious note, fitness is extremely important, not just for your health, but also for looks.  A fit girl with an ugly face will almost always be considered more attractive than a fat girl with a pretty face.  That's because something like 90% of looking attractive is about being fit.  I don’t see it so often here in California because people are more image-conscious, but in Georgia, I’d often see fat girls plastered in makeup or with a deep tan because they thought it would make them look pretty.  As the old saying goes, you can’t put lipstick on a pig.

Oh, wait

What people fail to realize is, like a lot of things, fitness doesn't happen overnight.  (Except when I go for fit'ness burger in my mouth.  That I can do in like a minute.)  You need to take small steps.  People who only work out 10 minutes a day but stick to it for several months will see better results than those who go hard once or twice a week.

Cutting back on sugar also helps tremendously.  For the past decade, my weight would fluctuate between 180 and 195 lbs.  I thought I was pretty fit, but I did have a little chub.  A few months ago, I took some medication that had a side effect of appetite suppression, which helped me to lose about 20 lbs.  So there I am at 165, feeling better than I had in years, and I decided to keep the weight off.  So far, I've managed to stay under 170, and it feels good.

I'm 5'10, by the way.

So in summary, stop whining about being fat, work out REGULARLY (even if it's just walking around the block), eat less, cut out sugars and be patient!

Also, if you're a girl, use the time you spend tanning to work out.  

Rappers and wealth

I was at a hookah bar in Temecula last night with a couple of friends from work, and they had a 300-inch TV on the wall playing hip-hop videos.  We watched it for an hour or so, providing commentary the entire time.

Every now and again, I'd see a rapper I'd never heard of come up flaunting his wealth in the form of cars, jewelry and houses, and I wondered how much he was worth.  So I looked him up.

I discovered that the lower the rapper's net worth was, the more he tended to flash.  Case in point; Young Thug.

I'd never heard of him, and the mumbling that passes for rap in this video means his career will last about as long as Sisqo's.  If you don't know who that is, don't worry.  The kids these days don't either.  He had his 15 minutes of fame in the early 2000's.

What about Soulja Boy, remember him?

He came to prominence in 2008-ish and faded like a particularly noxious fart in the wind.

Anyway, Young Thug's net worth is $500,000.  Half a million. Like, he probably wears a third of that around his neck.  On the opposite end of the spectrum, take a look at Diddy and Dr. Dre.  When was the last time you saw them flashing anything in their music videos?  A couple of decades ago, maybe?  That's because they don't have to. They are worth about $700 million each, easily making them the richest men in hip hop.

T.I. used to be all about the bling, but he's toned it down somewhat, and for good reason.  He's worth $50 million.



Then there's Rick Ross, who's still into showing off, but he's only worth $35 million

I wonder if he has tattoos under his tits

I'm not saying that you shouldn't buy flashy stuff if you have the money.  All I'm saying is that most people who feel the need to show off, tend not to be that rich.  An inferiority complex, if you will, kind of like how people with small dicks tend to drive Hummers and purchase large firearms.

Dan Bilzerian, in case you weren't aware

There's a big difference between being wealthy and rich.  Wealthy people think about the future and have no need to prove to others how rich they are.  Warren Buffett is one of the richest people in the world (worth over $70 billion), and he drives a 15-year old car.

Your face when you realize your $25 million ain't shit