Mar 1, 2007

Lottery Winner Buys Bikes

An Idaho Powerball jackpot winner decides to spend his money wisely instead of splurging it all on a solid gold house and a rocket car.

Brad Duke, 34, a manager for five Gold’s Gym franchises in Idaho, pocketed a lump sum of $85 million after winning a $220 million Powerball jackpot in 2005.

He does not want to end up like most Powerball winners in the past who would quickly run through his money. Instead he smartly assembled a group of financial advisers to help him achieve more wealth through diversified investments. He did not splurge on much. The first indulgence was a trip to Tahiti for him and 17 of his closest friends. After that he bought bikes including as $12k BMC! This is especially cool when you consider that he bought a 2002 Jetta worth $15k. So he basically has spent more on cool bikes than a new car. No shocking green Lamborghini for this lotto winner. Just a red and black BMC Time Machine perhaps?

You had to have treated yourself to something.

I bought bicycles. I’m probably own upward of 17 bikes. I also bought a 2002 Jetta. I gave my 2005 Jetta to my nephew. So it’s the exact same car except for his is white and mine is black.

Here is a list of his investments:

# $45 million: Safe, low-risk investments such as municipal bonds
# $35 million: Aggressive investments like oil and gas and real estate
# $1.3 million: A family foundation
# $63,000: A trip to Tahiti with 17 friends
# $125,000: Mortgage retired on his 1,400-square-foot house
# $18,000: Student-loan repayment
# $65,000: New bicycles, including a $12,000 BMC road bike
# $14,500: A used black VW Jetta
# $12,000: Annual gift to each family member

CNN Money

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  1. 1 Cyclocosm - Pro Cycling Blog » Unibet Rips Me Off, ASO’s Finger on the Button Pingback on Mar 1st, 2007 at 11:08 am

    [...] As imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, I accept this plagiary with good humor and officially license The Cartel in reference to the Grand Tour organizers under the terms of the GPL. The last line of Unibet.com’s somewhat long-winded polemic, however, may prove devastatingly portentous. ASO President Patrice LeClerc announced today that if ProTour teams skip Paris-Nice – as they’ve been ordered to do by the UCI – those teams will probably have to skip the Tour de France, as well. Apparently, The Cartel thinks that a Tour de France disputed by FdJ, Cofidis and 18 French continental squads would be less embarrassing than a ProTour without any three-week races. The whole mess is kind of like mutual assured destruction, except with Kruschev thinking America would be worse of than the USSR if both countries were reduced to smoldering nuclear wasteland. My only hope is that the ensuing annihilation of humanity’s interest in cycling will allow it to be taken over by a race of super-intelligent apes, who will no doubt do a better job running the sport than those currently in power. In lighter news, Alessandro Petacchi, reigning sprint master since 2003, seems to have recovered his edge. The speed merchant had been beaten badly by Tom Boonen at Qatar, and even lost a few group gallops to second-tier sprinter Danielle Bennati before his recent success. Meanwhile, the sprinter with the most TdF wins in recent memory displayed that the management of his squad has improved their fashion sense since last year. And an Idaho Powerball winner proved that it’s not best to splurge on the clothes, or the cars, or the house – if you’re going to go big, go big on the bikes. [...]

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