He Won the Lottery 4 Times...$3.2 Million Was Only The Beginning

A book needs to be written about this man. Maybe one day I'll get permission to actually tell his story using his real name, but for now, we'll call him Sam.

Sam is my dad's childhood best friend. They grew up together in a small town in the Middle East. Sam had very little money growing up. He was in foster care with his little sister. A true rags-to-riches story.

My dad still tells me about how Sam sometimes wouldn't have enough money to go to the movies with his friends. Instead of going home, he'd tell everyone to wait while he went to look around for money. And the weird thing is, he was completely convinced he'd find it.

Sure enough, a few minutes later, he'd come back with enough money to buy a ticket.

Apparently this happened ALL THE TIME.

He'd find gold rings in elevators. Wads of cash on the ground. Once, my dad says Sam suddenly told them to pull the car over because he'd spotted money on the side of the road.

It was bizarre, to say the least.

Fast forward several years. Both men eventually made their way to Canada in their twenties looking for more opportunity.

Sam got married and had two kids.

Then he played the lottery.

He won $3.2 million.

But believe me when I tell you that's not even the craziest part of this story.

He bought a home, bought another property, and started a business. That business went on to become an enormously successful plastics manufacturing company.

And then...

He won the lottery again.

And again.

AND AGAIN.

Four lottery wins in total.

The other prizes were roughly $100,000, $80,000 and $30,000.

His family is now set for generations.

And apparently the luck hasn't stopped with him.

Just recently, Sam was celebrating his son's 50th birthday at a casino with his son and adult grandson. Sam gave his son $200 to play the slots.

His son won more than $32,000 on his first go...

Guys. I'm not making this up.

So what does any of this have to do with your finances?

Well...

Lady Luck is real.

Some people are born into the right family. Some people meet the right person. Some people buy the right property at exactly the right time. Some people happen to meet the person who introduces them to an opportunity that completely changes their life.

And apparently some people win the lottery FOUR TIMES.

Luck matters.

But when I look at Sam's life, luck isn't the only thing I see. He also made a few really important decisions.

First, as my dad puts it, "he married right."

He had a supportive wife and a father-in-law who helped him get his start in the plastics business.

Interestingly, Sam asked my dad to join him.

My dad said no.

At the time, my dad was doing well in sales. He also had a wife and three children depending on him. Walking away from a reliable income to start a business that may or may not work didn't feel like a risk he could take.

And this is where I think things get interesting.

Because in investing, we talk about two different kinds of risk: risk tolerance and risk capacity.

Risk tolerance is psychological. How comfortable are you with uncertainty?

If your investments fall 10%, are you losing sleep and checking your account every morning? Or can you tolerate the ups and downs that come with investing for the long term?

Risk capacity is different. It's about how much risk your actual financial situation allows you to take.

Someone with significant savings, low expenses and no dependants may have much more capacity to take a career or business risk than someone supporting a family of five with very little financial cushion.

Neither person is necessarily braver. Their circumstances are different.

My dad had the opportunity to join the business that eventually became enormously successful.

He didn't take it.

Knowing what we know today, it's easy to say, "Imagine if he had."

But that's hindsight.

At the time, he made the decision that made sense based on the information, responsibilities and risk capacity he had.

And I think there's a much bigger lesson in that.

You can't manufacture Sam's lottery luck.

But you CAN increase what I like to think of as your luck surface area.

Meet people. Go to the event. Apply for the job. Start the business. Make the investment. Ask the question. Take the meeting.

Put yourself in rooms where the things you want are more likely to happen.

At the same time, build enough financial stability that when an opportunity does show up, you actually have the capacity to take it.

Build savings. Invest. Protect yourself. Keep your expenses manageable. Increase your income. Give yourself options.

Because we can't control when we're going to get lucky.

But we can make decisions that give luck more places to find us.

And when you're making those decisions, understand both your tolerance for risk and your actual capacity to take it.

Then leave a little room for Lady Luck.

Karen

P.S. If you'd like some help understanding how much risk makes sense for your financial situation and building a plan around it, you can book a call with me below.👇