The Fiddler on the Roof Effect

Most American's live paycheck to paycheck. In 2010 the Kansas City Business Journal reported that as many as seventy-seven percent of American's are stuck in that rut. So if you're waiting for payday before you can go to the grocery store again, you can gain some comfort from knowing that you're not alone.

It stands to reason then that most American's are of the belief that they will never fall into the category we think of as being, “wealthy.”

There's the rub. Because lottery tickets fly off the shelves of your local store at a dizzying pace, and while you may not have hit that big number yet – somebody has. In fact, somebody becomes a lottery millionaire on an astoundingly frequent basis. More than 40 states allow lottery's within their borders, which means that almost every state is producing multiple millionaires each year.

I'll call this the Fiddler on the Roof Effect. Like Tevye, most of us dream of our own personal rags to riches story. “If I were a rich man,” was a hit for a reason. It appeals to our fantasies, and for at least a few of us, it actually happens.

Surprisingly enough, waking up one morning to find you have a whopper of a bank account balance is not always a good thing. Not on a personal level, anyway. While we may wish for riches, most of us don't have a very good handle on how we would deal with a sudden, massive infusion of cash. Whether it comes from a lottery win, a lucky trip to Las Vegas, or being the last contestant standing on a reality television show, handling your money well is a whole lot harder than most people think.

Remember Richard Hatch, the million dollar winner from the first season of, Survivor? Tax troubles introduced Mr. Hatch to a less than first-class tour of prison facilities in Massachusetts, Oklahoma, and West Virginia.

Imagine! You can go from rags, to riches, to prison, all based on good luck, bad luck, and a lack of good financial planning. It's happened before and it will almost certainly happen again.

Might there be a hit song someday called, “I wish I hadn't won that,” taken from an alternate version of Fiddler on the Roof? Maybe. Let's just hope you get the help you need, should you ever be so lucky to be holding a winning ticket.