Tag: Lottery

Give the gift of improbability

December 15, 2025

Once again, the Missouri Lottery is running commercials with the tag line of “Give the gift of possibility.” Keep in mind that I would rather have the money you spend on this. Read the disclaimer on the ticket telling what the odds are. If you give me the few dollars you would spend, I will put it in my IRA, and in a few years, it will be worth something.

I like to remind players of the lottery that this is a self-imposed tax. I was happy when you voted for this many years ago. I am also pleased each time you approve a gambling issue on the Missouri ballot. It never costs me anything and may keep the legislators from increasing my taxes.

I have purchased lottery tickets when the prizes have increased to multiple millions of dollars. I believe God blesses me. He has given us prizes in drawings. I’ve never won if I had to pay for the chance to win. There is a difference between what is possible and what is probable.

Your probability of winning these games is in the millions to one. You are more likely to be hit by lightning or by a satellite falling out of orbit. If you want to give me a gift, then give me the money. Once, I was in a family gift exchange where our suggested limit was ten dollars. I received a gift that I knew had only cost one dollar. I felt cheated. At least at the end of the day, I had something.

When the receiver scratches off a losing card, they are not the only losers. You have lost the respect and possibly even the friendship of not just the person you gave it to. You may also offend everyone who hears what your present was.

I know that some of the scratcher’s cards cost more than a few dollars. I’ve been told that ten- and twenty-dollar tickets are given as gifts frequently. That makes it ten or twenty times as bad because you gave the money that you could have given to me to the government.

May I suggest that you burn that bill and put the ashes in an envelope with a note stating that before you burned it what it would have been worth. I think I will start making some gifts like this and keeping them with me, and when I open a gift with a lottery ticket in it, I will hand them my gift. When they thank me, I will return the sentiment.

I have participated in gag gift exchanges before. If you haven’t, the idea is to give something humorous or of little to no value. This would be a perfect time to give lottery tickets or envelopes with burned paper and a note that tells them you burned a one-hundred-dollar bill. These will both bring a laugh, rather than a groan.

©Copyright 2025 by Charles Kensinger

The Lottery is my retirement plan

June 4, 2025

Is this your attitude to estate planning? Do you play the lottery in your state or wager in other ways regularly? In my state of Missouri, the lottery began on January 20, 1986. Do the math. If you purchased one ticket each week from that day to this, you would have spent over $2,000. That does not sound like much over thirty-nine years.

I know some people who “invest” ten or twenty dollars out of each paycheck. That puts you out of pocket up to more than $20,000. Check the lottery website for your state. Statistically speaking, if you put that amount in the bank for the same period, you would still have the money. It would be earning interest.

Do you have that much in your retirement fund? Why not? Ten dollars a week is less than one meal out at most restaurants. Do you smoke, or drink coffee, sodas, or beer? Could you give up that much of those for your future? We don’t think about it that way.

If your employer offers a matching plan on a 401k account of up to four percent of your annual wages like mine did this would take away about $2,000 each year from your salary. They added that to my investment. I quit buying vending machine food at work and saved that much. I could pay my bills with forty dollars less each week. That would be $90,000 by the time you retire. Add the interest to that.

Remember that some accounts compound interest daily. At 5% in 45 years, you would have more than double what you put in, as interest in your investment. The amounts will vary. Check with your company or bank for a return on what you can afford. I think you will be surprised. A financial planner can help you as well. Make sure you get their charges in writing before they receive your money.

Some people will offer unheard-of returns from speculating on a wild shot. These are usually no better than the lottery. Before-tax money may not be the way you want to invest. That money may not be able to be removed before you reach a certain age.

The mantra to remember is to start early in your career and invest what you can from every paycheck. Most of us do not start saving on our first part-time job in high school or college. A friend of mine taught his children by buying them a used car when they turned sixteen. He and his wife required a payment like a loan company would charge on that purchase each payday. When their child decided they needed to finance another vehicle they would give them a check for the money that had been paid to them plus the interest earned at the bank.

That amount was how much the next purchase could be. These students learned it was better to pay themselves and let the bank pay them than pay interest to loan companies. I wish my parents had done that for me.

Think about how you spend, invest, or waste the money you earn. Wisdom does not have to come with age. Begin wisely and things will get better for you as your responsibilities increase. Do not learn it the hard way like I did.

©Copyright 2025 by Charles Kensinger