Last night was full of hopes and dreams as the Powerball is at a record high of 900 million dollars. Unfortunately, everyone’s hopes were slightly crushed when they probably realized they did not win, but the bright side, nobody won the Powerball, which now means it is increased to possibly 1.3 billion dollars. Holy cow! I was discussing this with one of my friends last night, and he had bought a ticket. We both got excited about what life would be like if either of us had won 900 million dollars. I don’t even know where I would begin if I had that much money.

I’m not sure if winning the lottery would have more pros or cons to it. I’ve heard a lot of lottery horror stories from people who were divorced, robbed, killed or just plain ended up miserable because of the money. However, having that much money opens doors and presents opportunities to do just about whatever you want if you’re smart about it, so here are some pros and cons to winning the Powerball.

Pro: If spent wisely, you never have to work another day in your life. You could literally do whatever you wanted with your free time. Volunteer, sleep, and spend time with family, are all options for that free time.

Con: Everyone else will still be working for a living unless you want to spot him or her to sit around with you. Yes, it will be fun to never have to work again, but everyone else still will, so who are you going to hang out with during all that free time?

Pro: You can buy whatever your heart desires. You can buy yourself a new car or house. You could travel to any country you wanted and see the world. You can pay to never have to cook or clean again.

Con: People begin to ask for money favors. Suddenly you have family you’ve never heard of asking for money. People assume you can buy them whatever.

Pro: You can donate to charity generously. When you have that much money, why not help others out too?

Con: No con really for donating to charity. I guess the hardest thing would be choosing which charity to donate to, but even that can be easily decided.

Pro: You can pay for college in cash and never take out another student loan.

Con: No con for that

Pro: Knowing that if spent well and invested properly, you never have to worry about financial security again. Not having enough money has got to be one of the leading stressors in the world, so the feeling that you never have to worry about money again sounds so relaxing.

Con: If not spent well or saved properly, then you could be facing blowing all your money. According to the Huffington Post, the winners of big lottery wins are more likely to file for bankruptcy after 5 years than someone who won more modest prizes.

The likelihood of someone winning the Powerball is pretty slim to none, but in case you are that lucky winner, best wishes to you. Hopefully you experience more of the pros than any of these cons.