Just wanted to share this 2 articles from TNP with U
people...
Source : http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/news/story/0,4136,161996,00.html?
HE does odd jobs to make ends meet, claims welfare benefits and
lives in a £15 ($40) a night guesthouse.
It's all gone now: Ex-British soldier Peter Kyle, who hit
the lottery jackpot of £5.1 million, is seen here in an undated
screen grab with his wife and son.
It's hard to believe that just three years ago, ex-British
soldier Peter Kyle hit the lottery jackpot of £5.1 million.
Today, the 55-year-old divorcee has squandered all his winnings
and is virtually destitute, reported The Daily Mail. It is claimed
he also owes money.
A source told The Daily Mail that Mr Kyle lost his money after
making a string of ill-advised investments.
He now lives in a budget guesthouse where he earns his board and
lodging by doing odd jobs for the owner.
The source said: 'He had a golden opportunity to turn his life
around - and then blew it. He took some bad advice from bad people
and handed his money over too readily to them.
'Now he's got nothing and even owes cash.'
Mr Kyle won his fortune in February 2005 and splurged on a
£550,000 house, a £40,000 Mercedes, a £40,000 Range Rover and
another vehicle. He also gave money to his two children, aged 23
and 14.
Mr Kyle has refused to talk to the British media.
These days, the former Royal Artillery gunner calls a
£15-per-night guesthouse in his hometown of Plymouth home. It is
next to a sex shop and opposite a tattoo parlour.
A source told The Sun: 'Pete has been working at the hotel for a
few months just to get by. He has his own room, marked private, and
he spends a lot of time there.
'He shuffles around and cooks breakfast for the punters and is a
general dogsbody for the owner.'
Reports say Mr Kyle has been claiming benefits for several
months, and in January, an anonymous creditor secured a county
court injunction against him in Northampton for £590.
The huge house he used to own on the outskirts of Plymouth has
been repossessed, say neighbours.
The current owner is believed to be a builder who did work for
Mr Kyle on the property but was not paid - and later negotiated a
deal to buy it.
But some ex-neighbours of Mr Kyle believe he got his just
desserts.
Said Ms Moira Johnson, 50: 'Some people do get what they deserve
- he really is a nasty piece of work. I had a run-in with him once
when a friend of mine was stuck and I needed to take them a car
battery charger.
'I knocked on his door and he started screaming blue murder at
me right in my face, calling me every name under the sun. His
language was appalling. No one liked him around here and everybody
had had some run-in with him at some stage. We were very glad when
he left.'
Mr Kyle has also been accused of refusing to give financial
support to four of his siblings. They suffer from Huntington's
disease, a rare genetic disorder which attacks the neurological
system.
His ex-neighbours also described him as an arrogant spendthrift
when he first won the lottery.
Said one neighbour: 'He was very into his flashy cars.
'This is a narrow private road and normally neighbours wait and
let each other pass, but he would always barge down and force you
to reverse. He was arrogant and foul-mouthed - not a very nice man
at all.
'I sensed he was a bit of a loner, though. There weren't many
visitors and I think he was single.
'It doesn't surprise me that he has lost his money, because he
did a ridiculous amount of pointless building work and drove
top-of-the-range cars. We never mixed with him at all.'
Source : http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/news/story/0,4136,161995,00.html?
MONEY can't buy you happiness.
Picture: AFP
And going by past examples, lottery winners rarely end up happy.
Instead, many of them end up in the dumps.
Take Billie Bob Harrell Jr. In 1997, he hit the US$37 million
Texas jackpot only to end his life less than two years later. Or
Juan Rodriguez, who won US$149m in a New York lottery in 2004 but
lost his wife soon after. Then there's 19-year-old Michael Carroll
who pocketed £10m in a British lottery in 2004 but ended up with a
string of drug offences.
Mr Stephen Goldbart, co-director of the Money, Meaning and
Choices Institute in San Francisco, says two out of three lottery
winners lose or spend all their winnings within five years.
He told CNN: 'The average American lives pay cheque to pay
cheque. So when they come into sudden wealth, they have to learn
the financial ropes of planning.'
Dr Steven J Danish, professor of psychology at Virginia
Commonwealth University in Richmond, has counselled lottery winners
for over 12 years.
He told The Boston Globe that almost all of his patients have
had serious problems after collecting their winnings. After the
initial shock passes, a sense of guilt often arrives, along with
the hoards of people asking for money, which is often the biggest
source of stress, he said.
Psychologist Cary Cooper told BBC News that those who are
dissatisfied with their lives beforehand are not rescued by
money.
And those who quit work may find themselves isolated and at a
loose end, especially if they've started a new life far from their
old social circle.
Before Mr William Post, 63, cashed in his winning ticket for a
US$16m Pennsylvania Lottery in 1988, he knew it would bring him
trouble.
Mr Post's younger brother was arrested for hiring a hit man to
kill him. He claims other siblings pestered him to invest in
various business deals that fell through. A former girlfriend also
sued him for failing to share his money.
Now, he lives in a three-bedroom home. Legal fees and taxes ate
up the rest of his winnings. He lives on US$450-a-month Social
Security payments and food stamps, but he's not complaining.
He said: 'I've got peace of mind and you never realise how
valuable it is until you lose it.'
