What if you won the lottery?

The average person's answer would likely be: "I would spend it!"

However, that likely would land them in jail if they spent it before they paid their taxes on it.

So, if you study what happens to most people who win the lottery it isn't really a very pretty picture if they didn't get financial counseling and weren't educated in how to invest it, pay taxes, etc.

Because if you are lower income and don't understand how to handle a lot of money it can bring havoc or death into your lives.

So, dreaming about having money is one thing. But actually having it and learning to hang onto it and grow it is an entirely different thing.

Many people can get lucky and start a business or discover oil on their land or create an app for Iphone that Apple buys or an app for Android that Google or others might buy. But, then what do you do?

Unless you have a relative or friend who advises you or unless you already have a degree in Economics or something like that, you may just be screwed.

Because money is power but unless money is properly directed and controlled it can easily lead to alcoholism or other problems.

Some people need to be working at a job and having someone tell them what to do like their parents did.

Other people like me that really won't work for because I'm very independent in my thinking and actions. So, you have to really understand yourself when money comes into your life or it can really be a disaster for you and your loved ones.

So, maybe where you are might be better unless you go to school and learn how to handle money if you ever get rich. Learning to handle money absolutely correctly often takes several generations of study of this sort of thing.

This is why so many people make money but so few learn to invest their monies properly so it can benefit thousands of people ongoing including themselves and their families.

One hint for people new to money: The more diverse your investments are (if it is well thought out long term) the more likely your money will grow long term and be something good for you and your family and everyone you know on into the future.

For example, the real problem with the stock market as an investment is unless you can afford to live without the money you are investing and can leave that money in blue chip stocks with large dividend returns for years and years, likely you shouldn't be a long term investor in the stock market.

So, it's sort of a catch 22 kind of situation where if you can't live without the money you put into stocks you shouldn't invest but if you can't then you can't invest safely.

Take a look at the market right now and imagine someone who invested at it's peak (over 18,000). Their stocks just devalued about 2,000 points. If you look at the stocks as a ratio (which is possible) then each point is a dollar. So, if they had invested 18,000 dollars, for example at the peak their stocks are now worth 16,000 dollars approximately. If this was you would you be happy? I think not. But, If you invested at 6500 or any value up to 15,000 dollars for your investments you might still be happy. But, the person who invested at 18,000 will have to wait 6 months, a year or 2 years before he or she can sell that stock to make a profit won't they. So, if you suddenly need that money to live, you not only lost 2000 dollars on your stock you also lost your investment in the market. So, this is why you should not invest in the stock market long term unless you can live without the money for 1, 5, 10 or even 20 years. The dividends have to be enough for you. This keeps you from having to pay capital gains taxes on anything but your dividends.

So, imagine buying in at 18,000 dollars, then selling at 16,000 dollars and how you would feel? This is what is happening to many people all over the world who couldn't afford to stay in the market long term.

I think it was said that the richest Chinese man in the Chinese Stock market lost between $1.6 billion and $3.6 billion in the recent Chinese stock downturn. But, that isn't entirely realistic because it is only on paper. For example, if he doesn't sell those stocks and they gain that money back in the next couple of years he won't have lost anything because he rode out the bad times in the Chinese Stock markets. So, if he doesn't sell likely he will just get richer IF the Chinese market recovers in the next few years from all it's problems.