It may be "virtually impossible", but I have done business with MANY lottery winners. So although the odds of it happening to you may be very low, the odds of it happening every week is 100%.

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Originally posted by a1abdj:
It may be "virtually impossible", but I have done business with MANY lottery winners. So although the odds of it happening to you may be very low, the odds of it happening every week is 100%.

I’ll be sure to contact you tomorrow!

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I’ll be sure to contact you tomorrow!

Although I may not hit the winning ticket, every time one of them contacts me I'm also winning the lottery to some extent.

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Originally posted by egregore:
^^^ We can quibble about the exact amount or the semantics of standard vs. high yield , but they are out there. I have one myself.

No, you posted "exact amounts." I want to know the name of the bank where you have a savings account that returns 4.5%.

You said, "There are all kinds of banks offering 3.5-4.5% APY on savings accounts, FDIC insured, no minimum needed to open."

Show me one FDIC bank offering those rates on savings accounts. Not even high yield MM accts are offering those rates.

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Originally posted by Biker_dude:


The odds of getting struck by lightening are 1 in 15,300. The odds of getting struck by lightening twice in a lifetime are 1 in 9 million.

That shows what long odds are, viz. a virtual impossibility.

The odds of winning powerball are 1 in 300 million.

In my finite math class at Cal State the teacher talked about the cali lottery. IIRC, the odds were 1 in 14 million. Again, virtually impossible. Yet, he confessed, he played every week. Ironic.

I don't know if this still holds true: there have been groups when the payoff reaches a certainty of profit against the odds, that they buy all the combinations.

quote:

Originally posted by a1abdj:
It may be "virtually impossible", but I have done business with MANY lottery winners. So although the odds of it happening to you may be very low, the odds of it happening every week is 100%.

I guess the odds are pretty good of doing business with a lottery winner when you're a safe business that the odds of being a lottery winner yourself. That makes you a winner in my book.

Same with lawyers who specialize in helping lotter winners.

Couple bucks for a lottery ticket every few years is nothing.

Think Rodney Dangerfield in Caddyshack. He'd be my role model if I won.

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Originally posted by egregore:
^^^ We can quibble about the exact amount or the semantics of standard vs. high yield, but they are out there. I have one myself.

It's kind of funny what qualifies as "high-yield" these days, as if almost keeping up with inflation is high yield...
https://www.nerdwallet.com/m/b...eEAAYAiAAEgJCjPD_BwE

But I don't think you can equate buying a lottery ticket with a savings account.
Yes, I get it... you are better off with money in the bank. Unless you win.

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But I don't think you can equate buying a lottery ticket with a savings account.

Who's equating anything??

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Originally posted by Biker_dude:

quote:

Originally posted by egregore:
^^^ We can quibble about the exact amount or the semantics of standard vs. high yield , but they are out there. I have one myself.

No, you posted "exact amounts." I want to know the name of the bank where you have a savings account that returns 4.5%.

You said, "There are all kinds of banks offering 3.5-4.5% APY on savings accounts, FDIC insured, no minimum needed to open."

Show me one FDIC bank offering those rates on savings accounts. Not even high yield MM accts are offering those rates.

Oldest kid got into Fifth Third Bank money market account paying 4.75%. The offers are down to 4% now.

They don’t list them on the site (53.com) unless maybe you have a login, we found it through junk mail. But it’s there.

Openbank is offering 4.2% today.

American Express High Yield Savings Account

The current rate is 3.4%, out of the 3.5-4.5% range, but when I opened it in 2022 it was ~4.2, again within the range. Not a lot of money, but it's high yield compared to sub-1%.

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Originally posted by sourdough44:
Just shows how low the odds are. I’ve never bought a lottery ticket in my life, so I guess I could never win.

I’m not sure that meaningfully reduces your chance of winning. The lottery is a tax on folks who don’t understand statistics.

I don’t understand why we are quibbling about yield as I only buy lottery tickets “for the childers don’t you know!”

BTW the jackpot is up to $1.6 Billion or $753 Million lump sum.

"Lump Sum"
Net? Or gross?

Take the lump sum but cash it next year so the feds don’t have to be paid until 2027. If you live in a state that requires your name and pic be disclosed get a real good lawyer and set up an entity and have the ticket cashed in the corporate name. Cash value net of taxes is like 600mm. Get real good legal and CPA advice. After setting up my family and several really close friends, I’d start giving away the rest.

$3.00 is cheap for a whole lot of fantasy.

My feelings as well.

...aaaaaaaand.....
Rolled over again! $1.7 Billion now.

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Originally posted by Expert308:

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Originally posted by P250UA5:
Went to buy a ticket, got there 12 minutes too late.
We only play when it's over 1B. What's $2 in that case?

$2 lost.

Guess you were right

Snobbish objections to putting down a few dollars on a lottery ticket simply demonstrate ignorance of what people get out of the purchase.

For that expenditure the buyer gets the pleasure of imagining a different life, a bit of entertainment that doesn’t require a 100" teevee to enjoy and is healthier than consuming beer and pizza while slouched on a couch watching the 100" teevee.

Americans spend vast amounts of money on other nonessentials, and while the chance of winning anything substantial is extremely low, it is not zero—just as the chance of being severely injured or even killed by doing other things we spend our money on is not zero.

I haven’t purchased a lottery ticket in probably a couple of years, but I don’t look down my nose at those who do any more than I look down at people who spend money on other nonessentials. And of course, I’m referring to reasonable limits, not selling the kids into slavery or even starving them to raise the money.