After I linked to a post of mine on Credit.com about miserable lottery winners, I was directed to this book, Money for Nothing: One Man’s Journey through the Dark Side of Lottery Millions, by Ed Ugel. After listening to a This American Life story about him, I had to get the book.
This American Life producer Alex Blumberg talks with Ed Ugel, who had a very unusual dream job: he bought jackpots from lottery winners. When you win the lottery, your prize is often paid out in yearly installments. And Ed would offer winners a lump sum in exchange for their yearly checks. He’s talked with thousands of lottery winners, and the vast majority, he says, wish they’d never won. Ed is writing a book about his years in the “lump sum industry” called Money for Nothing: One Man’s Journey through the Dark Side of Lottery Millions. It comes out in September 2007.
Money for Nothing: One Man’s Journey through the Dark Side of Lottery Millions