Why You Should Invest in the $330 Mega Millions Jackpot
The Mega Millions Jackpot Lottery climbs to $330 million (update: now $355 million). I shocked some of my colleagues at CBS MoneyWatch when I revealed that I'd be buying a ticket as part of my investment strategy.
Sure, I know the odds of winning are lower than me being elected the next president when even I wouldn't vote for me. And I understand that there is no statistical difference in the odds of me winning whether I buy that ticket or not.
I'm buying that ticket for the same reason every other human being buys one . . . for a shot at getting instantly, filthy rich, and I'm not ashamed to admit it. Hey, even CBS MoneyWatch editor at large, Jill Schlesinger, says it's okay to buy that lottery ticket.
I'm also buying it because it helps me to keep my investing dull. Buying broad index funds and rebalancing over time is definitely the path to reaching my financial goals, but not the path to filthy richdom. So this $1 investment gives me a delusional hope for riches that my core portfolio could never give me.
The odds of me or anyone else winning $330 million are astronomically slim, yet I'd argue even those odds are much higher than expecting to profit by putting my hard earned money in the hottest investments of the day or following the advice of Goldman Sachs.
Thus, my $1 is truly an investment. I'm going to strike it rich - you'll see! And to show my loyalty to readers, I'll fly out anyone that posted comments to my blogs to my new home in Aspen on my new private jet. I've got a great feeling about it.
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