Luck is for Losers

For those of you new to Free Money Finance, I post on The Bible and Money every Sunday. Here's why.

The following is an excerpt from The Root of Riches.

I once led a Bible study attended by six couples who lived in Dallas’s most expensive neighborhood. At one memorable session, the wife of a successful corporate lawyer said she felt that they “did not have as much as other couples in their neighborhood.”

The woman said this with a tinge of bitterness in her voice. She obviously wanted more than her very wealthy peers.

She went on, to her husband’s embarrassment, telling the entire group that every week she pins her hopes for a financial windfall on “six lucky numbers.” She admitted to buying a lottery ticket in hopes of striking it rich in order to keep pace with her neighbors. She was obviously controlled by an upscale version of “Keeping Up With the Jones.”

Besides the error in her judgment, I should mention here that I don’t believe in random luck, karma, or that anything in the world is outside of God’s sovereign control. Proverbs 16:33 says, “The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord.”

Despite everyone’s discomfort (but hers), it was a “teachable moment.” As gently as possible, I shared with her that this plan was a terrible idea, as her husband quietly nodded his head in agreement. I explained that gambling, and lotteries in particular, are for those who are mathematically challenged. Let me prove it.

Researchers have determined that a person who drives 10 miles to buy a lottery ticket is three times more likely to be killed in a car accident while driving to buy the ticket than he is to win the jackpot. Yet, even with nearly impossible odds of ever winning a dime, one out of every four Americans believes their best chance of getting rich is by playing the lottery.

The Bible aptly describes those who are willing to put common sense aside in the pursuit of wealth:

People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. 1 Timothy 6:9

There is a danger in interpreting this verse too narrowly, assuming that it applies only to business failures, financial losses or economic disasters. The warning covers financial success as well.

Comments

[Jules]

The best way to make money is not to bank on hope, rather bank on good investments and savings.

[RB Boren]

Ah yes, a tax on people who are bad at math, so said Anon.

[Mike Hunt]

I cannot say luck is for losers since I have been very lucky to have great opportunities in my life.

However I have no urge to win the lottery. Better the money go to someone else who needs it much more than us. Also I liked this quote in the article:

Researchers have determined that a person who drives 10 miles to buy a lottery ticket is three times more likely to be killed in a car accident while driving to buy the ticket than he is to win the jackpot. Yet, even with nearly impossible odds of ever winning a dime, one out of every four Americans believes their best chance of getting rich is by playing the lottery.
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If you are lucky enough to beat the slim odds to win the lottery, you might be just as 'lucky' to be struck by lightning or come down with a rare disease.

If you apply symmetric thinking to this situation, both are equivalently likely outcomes.

-Mike

[Largebill]

Understand all the statistical odds and the mathematical unlikelyhood of winning the lottery. I would never suggest it to anyone as an investment strategy. Having said that, I play the Mega game each week with my wife and my birthday and our anniversary. Way I look at it is, we pay lots of taxes with little to no chance of any positive return the lottery is at least a voluntary tax with a tiny chance of a return. Beyond that, I find thinking occasionally about what I would do if I won a large jackpot to be therapeutic. I know there is almost no chance of winning, but I spend some time thinking about setting up a scholarship for my extended family or helping to grow a charity I'm active in locally. The amount I spend on lottery tickets is a very small portion of my budget. I have my investments divided up into some that are very conservative and earn dividends, others that are less conservative and based on an expectation of growth. The lottery is on the far side with no expectations and an extremely low chance of payout.

[bobsmith]

I personally beleive in luck and effort all rolled into one.

[mysticaltyger]

I wonder what it was in this woman's past that was the source of her dissatisfaction???? All the rational explanations about the lottery are not going to change her attitude. You have to get at the emotional roots of the problem? What does she think winning millions in the lotter is going to bring her that she doesn't already have???