Here in the village of Wellington, Florida, it’s not hard to encounter members of the elite 1% – those who control 40% of the nation’s wealth. They’ve been occupying this former Everglades ‘swamp land’ in growing numbers since the 1980s. That’s especially true in the ‘season,’ which has just begun. The attraction is the reputation of the village as the world’s winter headquarters for the equestrian world – jumping, dressage and polo.
This year Bill Gates and family will winter here. They recently rented a house for $600,000. (Psst, Bill, we would’ve happily sold our house to you for that price.) Other in the 1% league who winter here include Bruce Springsteen, Madonna, and Tommy Lee Jones, who owns a polo team.
So considering that intro, it was interesting to read today about someone from the other 99% in Wellington, who hasn’t had such a luxurious lifestyle. Yamil Bravo has been out of work for six months and is several months behind on his mortgage. Notes Bravo’s wife, Evelyn: “Every day we lived in fear of what tomorrow was going to be….Now it’s like we can plan a future. There’s a second chance.”
That’s because Bravo bought a quick pick lottery ticket at a convenience story and won the Florida Lottery Mega Money drawing – a prize of $1 million. Bravo isn’t even close to the 1% league, but he’s been given a second chance in life, he said, and now he can sleep at night. He added: “This gets things going in the right direction.”
Yep, sure does. Bravo! A little synchro there.
Yay!
A synchro too, as i was just telling Mark about a friend who is jobless and his partner just kicked him out, so as of today, he is also homeless. We just said he really needs a lottery win and bang! i clicked on here. 🙂
If you’ve got a lottery in Australia, tell him to buy a ticket. I’d say this synchro bodes well!
fantabulous! bravo!!!
Love it!
Oh how wonderful! Dont’cha just love it when someone deserving wins big! Here in our town, one of my son’s friends was on the verge of losing his house, couldn’t make the last two payments because his company closed and he’s job-hunting, (good luck with that!), and he won $30,000 on a $2.00 scratch0ff Friday. Whoop-Whoop! He’s a hard-woking young man and this was just so fine….said it saves his house through the holidays and beyond, hopefully until he gets another income from a new job. Also means his children won’t go without Christmas. He plans to do some volunteer work at the soup kitchen for the homeless to Pay It Forward. Sometimes the old Universe does come through for us! 🙂
Good story, Math!
now this is good to read…
Good way to start the day, isn’t it?
Bravo! A good news story. $1 million doesn’t get you into the elite nowadays, how times have changed. I read recently that in the UK you need about £14 ($20) million to enjoy a millionaire’s lifestyle. My savings accounts don’t quite reach that level unfortunately.
Ditto!