Why Lotto winners, and the rest of us, shouldn't lie to the children about money

Thursday, 5 March 2020

Sudden wealth through lottery wins does not seem to create horrible, lazy Swedish children who don't apply themselves at school.

The recent $50 million Lotto jackpot had me, like a lot of reporters, chatting to folks about the chance of scooping a fortune.

I was surprised to be told by one Lotto employee that the majority of winners say they don't tell their children for fear it would ruin their work ethic, or that they would blab the secret at school.

Parents worry big lottery wins could end up turning their children lazy. (Video first published February 2020)

I was surprised. For a start, I wouldn't want a great big fat lie- even a lie of omission- at the heart of my family.

But also, I really can't see a sudden input of wealth changing my children into lazy good-for-nothings, and having had a chat with my children found they couldn't either.

* Lotto's Linda Evangelista effect means $42 million is good for sales

* Why you should hope your friends or neighbours never win Lotto

* $38m Powerball: Why professors of statistics play the lottery**

Now the Lotto winners know their children, and it's their business what lies they tell them, but I found myself wondering whether science might show whether they were right to worry.

It wasn't to be for you, but if the two big winners who split the $50 million jackpot on Saturday have school age children, the chances are they will keep the win secret from them.

The fate of the vast majority of Lotto tickets. I assume the tiny minority of winners get laminated, or frramed.

I went in search of any evidence that sudden wealth ruins children.

While there does not appear to be a body of science on the impact of sudden wealth on the children of suddenly enriched people, the Swedes had the closest I could find.

What they found was pretty cheerful for lottery winners and their children. Money does make a life more satisfying, and the impact on the children is positive to negligible.

'We find that wealth increases health care utilisation in the years following the lottery and may also reduce obesity risk,' the Swedish researchers, who had a very large and stable bunch of subjects to study.

'The effects on most other child outcomes, including drug consumption, scholastic performance, and skills, can be usually bounded to a tight interval about zero.'

In other words, it doesn't change much at all about your children, which is logical. Unless winning a big chunk of money would make you a worse person, why would it do so to children?

If they were horrible and lazy before, the money won't change that. If you have managed the trick of having pleasant and diligent children, a dollop of money won't change that either.

There is no secret to raising children, no matter what baby whisperers and the baby industry claims.

The science is established. There can be fewer more studied fields.

Here's the rocket science list of how to raise capable children: Value them. Love them. Play with them. Read to them when they are little. Care about their opinions. Talk with them. Listen to them. Have ambitions for them. Expect diligence and help them achieve it. Give them the opportunity to achieve things. Value their educations. Pay especial attention to maths and English. Ensure they get enough sleep.

I am a believer in being open with the children on money, and I've found that comes naturally, if you have a chatty two-way conversational relationship. Nobody is born knowing about money.

Whether you tell them exactly how much you still owe on the house, or have in KiwiSaver, is far less important than including them in conversations about your mortgage and KiwiSaver strategies.

GOLDEN RULES:

* Don't lie to the children about money

* Money skills and ethos are learned

* Lotto is not a financial plan