Fisher: More money, more headaches for you





Fisher: More money, more headaches for you

What you never think about when you're playing the lottery is that too much money can be a burden.

There has been a lot of research about whether rich people are happier. Generally, the answer is yes. It doesn't take a doctorate to figure out that leisure, comfort and the ability to do what you like are pleasant ways to live.

But other studies have found that this maxes out at about $75,000 for a single person per year: Once you're earning that much, money's not going to buy you any more happiness. This goes along with my own theory, culled from watching rich people spend their money, that you need enough to have food and shelter without stress. After that, it's a free-for-all.


I saw a documentary called "The Curse of the Lottery" that showed winners who self-destructed after they won millions. Their daily routine – i.e. get up and haul your rear end to work – was suddenly interrupted and they couldn't adjust.

Their families also suffered: Kids who couldn't afford drugs beforehand became addicts, couples who'd been married for 30 years divorced. Hopefully, the person who just won $12 million last week at an AM PM market in Garden Grove won't fall victim to the curse.

And the moral of the story is: Don't play the lottery. Or if you do, give me your winnings. And keep in mind that bumper sticker you see around town: "The lottery: A tax on people who can't do math."

I don't talk about this often because it was a long time ago, but I used to help handle money for celebrities. I worked for one of the more famous business management firms in Beverly Hills, which paid the bills and generally held the hands of all sorts of music and entertainment clients.

You never knew who was going to walk into the lobby – members of bands like the Go-Go's, KC & the Sunshine Band, the Fifth Dimension, the Police and actors like Linda Gray of "Dallas," as well as producers and directors. The firm had clients like Barbra Streisand, Neil Diamond and Neil Young.

My first day on the job, I was depositing a half-million-dollar royalty check for a celebrity, and writing a personal check for $35,000 to buy a new turbo Saab, and I remember thinking, "Who are these people? Why do they get to have all this money when I'm eating potatoes every night and living behind an alley?"

I'd grown up poor, reading novels about people with money who played squash, and always wishing I could be one.

The interesting thing was – once I was around money all day long, seeing the excesses of the stars, I no longer envied them. Did anyone really need to buy 200 pairs of shoes in one day? And would it really keep you from missing your husband, who'd just walked out on you?

A mansion is more lonely than a shack when you live there by yourself. And some stars owned mansions they never visited.

Having all that money meant endless opportunities for people to rip you off. Celebrities have to trust other people to manage their money, and they're not all honest.

It also becomes impossible to tell who actually likes you and wants to be your friend versus who just wants to mooch off your largesse.

That's why celebrities with money tend to hang around with other rich people, because at least they can feel like they're less likely to rip them off or be sycophants. Or they just accept the sycophants and pay people to keep them from being lonely.

The problem with that is, if you lose your money for some reason – your album doesn't sell, your brother-in-law doesn't run your studio right – you suddenly can't keep up with the lifestyle.

When you're rich, you can't stop at Vons and buy a bunch of daisies for someone's birthday.


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