What if you win a lottery?

Most of us have certainly wished to have won a lottery because it’s an easy ticket to fulfill many dreams. Isn’t it? But rarely do we think about how we should use this prize money.

Planning and prioritizing are important to ensure that the prize money is put to the best use. Listed below are simple and easy ways in which you could prioritize and use this prize money:

– Track your income and expenses – Continue to keep a track of your income and expenses. Remember, the money won in a lottery is, after all, temporary. You should have a realistic approach before putting this money to use for meeting your routine expenses.
– Pay off your debts first – The next important step is to pay off your debts. Start taking small and consistent steps and gradually, you would be debt free. This would also help improve your credit report and hence, your credit score.
– Create an emergency fund – This should be your top most priority after having cleared your debts. If you already have started maintaining an emergency fund, then it is a good practice and if not, then you should start immediately. Emergency funds can be life saving as they could keep you going in case of unforeseen events.
– Invest in different avenues – After setting aside funds for emergency purposes, start investing. Understand your long term and short term goals and invest accordingly. Investments will help your money grow and facilitate you to reap benefits in the future.

So plan and prioritize before you use that prize money. And yes, let’s keep hoping that you and I win a lottery soon.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Satish Mehta is the Founder and Director of www.credexpert.in – a credit and debt counselling company that provides end to end customized counselling to individuals by handholding them through their credit life cycle.