A lucky person who bought a ticket in Arkansas will take home a whopping $1.817 billion Powerball jackpot, which has a cash option of $834.9 million.
The Christmas Eve prize is the second-largest U.S. lottery jackpot ever won and the largest Powerball prize this year, according to a news release from the Multi-State Lottery Association.
You’d be better off contributing that ticket’s cost as a contribution towards an index or money market fund. Reliable returns compared to that ticket lol
There’s also the entertainment value of the ticket.
No no, I understand the improbability and don’t play, which means I’m better than everyone who does. Quit having fun. Right? Right?
Not only do you recognize the improbability but also the carelessness of throwing that $2 away instead of buying $2 worth of stock which would allow you to retire 3 minutes earlier 35 years from now.
Nah, there’s nothing wrong with having fun. It’s just that you’ll likely never experience the win in your lifetime, so I’d rather use that collective money over time to buy a couple steam games or something, ya know?
Nah that’s fair. It’s just nothing you do in a game will ever matter, so I’d rather use that extra time to daydream and talk to my friends and family about what we’d do as billionaires, ya know?
Fair enough.
The odds of $5 into an index fund turning into $700 million are in fact lower than the odds of winning the Powerball. An occasional gamble in the Powerball is not going to end my retirement plans any more than the occasional latte or avocado toast.