LiveWorld Transcripts

California Lottery presents

Milt Laird
California Lottery Winner

June 29, 2000

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Malibu: Have people or friends treated them any different since they won?

Milt: No, our friends have not treated us differently, partially because of the California lottery's publicity about the win. At the time, it was the biggest win in their history. But we had many television and radio interviews, and always mentioned that I was a CPA and a financial planner. When people realized we had experience in handling large sums of money, they didn't try to take advantage of us. We had only one request from a relative for funds in the ten years, but we have tried to share our good fortune voluntarily with our old uncles and aunts who need help. We have learned, however, not to bring up the lottery quickly when we meet new people. After we've developed friendships with new people, we're not shy about sharing our good fortune. If we don't do that, people may think that the lottery winner should be somehow punished or something. We don't bring it up quickly; we bring it up carefully. But with that one caveat, to wait until the people know us, we have had no problems with discussing lottery winnings.

Xiannie: How did you feel when you first won the Lottery? Where you nervous?

Milt: No, we were not nervous when we won the lottery - again, because of my profession. My job was to advise people on how to handle large sums of money. We had many wealthy clients, and I had been doing this for over 25 years, so it was just a change of focus from their money to our money. We weren't nervous, just pleased to be able to do things for ourselves and others that we couldn't have done before. I did have good sound advice from Merrill Lynch and the banks and others, many of whom I had worked with before. When you have a windfall from any source, it's important to have good people who are competent and honest to advise you.

Mantica: Do find that you are a celebrity now that you are a lottery winner? Do you find that you get special perks?

Milt: No, we don't seem to get special perks anywhere. One exception perhaps, because of the amount we have invested, the financial firms and banks have special services for us. But it's just because of the amount of funds they're handling for us, not that we won a lottery so they can do more to make it easy for us, like a higher credit card limit, lower interest rates on loans, free checking, etc. But when we travel, they're not aware that we're lottery winners so we don't get a special cabin on the ship, or special treatment at hotels. The checkers at the grocery store check our groceries the same as anyone else's!

Drendle: What kind of car do you drive?

Milt: We have two automobiles. Mine is a 95 Lexus LS400 with 100,000 miles on it. It runs fine, and I don't plan on trading it in any time soon. My wife drives a Lincoln Navigator, and it's useful for driving around the vineyards. It's fairly new - we bought it last October. Before I won the lottery, I drove a Ferrari! We liked that car a lot, but it was too expensive to drive in LA, so we gave it to the San Diego Auto Museum.

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