FARK.com: (1620488) In 1992, a married couple won $5.5 million in lottery. Two years later they blew through $1 million and divorced. In 2001, the now ex-wife died of heart failure. Now, the bank is about to foreclose on a $480,000 house and the husband has nothing: "hese folks could have dropped their money into a low cost balanced index portfolio at one of the major brokerage houses that would have charged them .15-20% per year for the service, and drawn $220k per year (before taxes). If the primary investment vehicle is high qualified dividend paying stocks, they'd pay a max of 15% in taxes on the income. Buy a nice house and cars with loans that are below current investment return rates and keep that money working for you. Buy a high deductible (5-10k/year) blue cross plan and pay your little boo-boos out of pocket.Live large until you drop."