Winning the lottery or making your own fortune – what’s your dream?

I’d been putting off getting my hair cut and highlighted for the last three months because I was humming and hawing over whether I should spend the money on getting it done, or pay it off my debts. You can imagine how bad my hair was looking when I finally decided it needed to be done! Hedge backwards whilst in the midst of a hurricane springs to my mind.

The other reason I was humming and hawing over getting my hair sorted out was that I totally hate getting it done. Years ago, I’d have gone to my favourite salon on a Saturday afternoon, enjoying being pampered with a head massage along with my hair cut (and a complimentary glass of wine).

These days, I get a mobile hairdresser to come to my home because where I go, my little girl is by my side – literally. The hubby works away so much and I don’t have the luxury of free babysitters near me. It’s got its perks – I don’t have to travel for one, I can still have a glass of wine if I wish and my hairdresser is as cheap as chips. More on that subject in a minute! But I hate having to sit still in my home for 3 hours (yep – 3 hours) when I could be doing stuff! Like catching up on chores, selling stuff on Ebay and more indulgently, blogging and reading my fav PF blogs. And then there’s the tiresome trundling up the bathroom to have my hair rinsed out. Urgh.

So anyways, I took the plunge and decided to book in my usual hairdresser a few evenings ago and sat diligently throughout the ordeal process, making the usual chit chat about the weather, holidays (hers), family, the issues we’re currently having in daily life etc etc.

And as usual, I tried not to let the green eyed monster get the better of me because inevitably, I got to thinking (whilst chatting about her fabulous holiday on a cruise) about her win on the lottery. Yep, you read it right, my hairdresser won the lottery! Not just a tenner (scoring 3 matching numbers), or £65 (4 numbers), I’m talking a share of the jackpot – in her case, a couple of million pounds – in excess of USD $3 million (all 6 numbers).

Say what?! Why is this lady still working, I hear you ask?

Because she’s smart. Because she knows that a couple of million pounds can be spent pretty easily these days. She carries on with hairdressing to keep her ‘hand in’ so to speak and I think that’s why she doesn’t charge much. She’s told me that winning the lottery has changed her life in the way that it’s presented her with opportunities to do the things that she never thought she would. Such as amazing holidays, the chance to invest and basically, to be financially secure.

She did give her up hairdressing salon, but this lady is business minded all the way. She has a good property portfolio and a wealth of ambition to boot.

When she first told me her about lottery win, I was gobsmacked. Like jaw droppingly gobsmacked. In every possible way. I mean, it’s everyone’s dream isn’t it, to win the lottery? I won’t go into the details of what happened when she won the lottery because that’s her story to tell but oh my, I sort of felt like I was there with her when she told me how one day she watched her numbers appear on the TV screen.

Have you dreamed of winning the lottery?

Even though in the UK, the chances of winning the lottery are approximately 1 in 14 million, I still play it. I don’t go mad like some people do, I just play one line per week. And I confess, I used to daydream about winning the lottery on my way to work. So much so, that I used to arrive at work having not realised how I’d actually got there! Oh the thought of what I would do, how I would tell my boss to stick her job and just not turn up the next day, then go out and buy houses for all my immediate family members – after paying off the debts of course!

Upon reflection, I think if I ever won the lottery (whilst in my former job anyway), I’m fairly sure that my conscious would have taken over and made me serve out at least my notice period for fear of leaving the company in the lurch. But I’d definitely make sure my family were sorted financially at the earliest opportunity!

Winning the lottery or coming into a great big fortune of any kind like having access to apps to win real money would open a lot of doors for most of us wouldn’t it?  It would give us options certainly to make some significant lifestyle changes should we wish. It could change our lives for the better… but also for the worse.

Does winning the lottery = financial freedom?

In lots of cases, yes it seems so. Some lottery winners like my hairdresser use the money to make their lives better, for the long term. But you may have read about people out there who have come into a great big fortune via winning the lottery or getting their inheritance for example and have totally blown the whole lot on fast cars, clothes, accessories, parties, clubs and even drugs and gambling. Some people don’t actually know what to spend their money on and therefore just fritter it away. In case you fancy reading more about blown lottery winnings, Business Insider published an article earlier this year on 19 lottery winners who lost it all!

Earning our own fortune and wealth on the other hand may not mean getting a great big lump of money like winning the lottery but it could actually make us more financially secure in the long run. Becoming wealthy through hard work definitely doesn’t happen overnight and involves all sorts of creative thinking along the way, some expert knowledge, hard business decisions and maybe just a little bit of luck. Plus the chances of being able to earn some sort of wealth by ourselves are much more likely than the extremely slim chance of winning the lottery!

Perhaps earning our own fortune is more likely to make us appreciate money and give us accountability, even if we’re not that successful at it? That’s got to be a good thing in any case! What about the sense of achievement we’d get from succeeding in making our own money if we managed to do so? An almighty feeling I should think.

Don’t get me wrong, if I won the lottery, I’d be saying, “Thank you very much Camelot!” and be halfway to the bank before you could say ‘Lotto’. I hope I’d spend it just as wisely as my lovely hairdresser. But if I had the chance of making some real cash by myself (and maybe someday I will)… I think I’d want to at least try to make my own fortune.

Would you rather win the lottery or earn your own wealth – and why?

Related posts:

• Increase your happiness – and your wealth: just say no!
• Do you wear the pants in your relationship with money?
• A little perspective goes a long way.

* Photo credit – Stock Xchng – Yacht