response 25 of 66:

Feb 5 04:28 UTC 2006

No, kids are not considered an asset, in financial terms anyway.

My allowance started at a nickel a week when I was about 5, gradually
ramping up to a buck or so eventually.  A fair amount of it got saved,
since this was back when a child could take his money into the bank and
open a passbook savings account with a small balance and not get hit
with monthly maintenance fees.  I wasn't expected to pay for clothing or
lunch or the like out of this, it was purely discretionary (although
there's an expectation of having enough for Xmas gifts and the like.)

Most chores were just something you do by virtue of living at home, but
I'd get $2 for mowing the lawn and a bit of money for some of the other
larger tasks.  I do think it's important to provide kids with a way to
learn that the way you get money is by working and not by whining.  I
think that's a more important lesson than teaching about patience and
compound interest, although both certainly have value.

response 27 of 66:

Feb 5 15:01 UTC 2006

I have heard a lot of people say that parents shouldnt pay their kids to
do household chores because chores are part of the responsibility of
living in a household. Also, that children paid to do chores will
develop a sense of entitlement about chores...i.e. that they should be
compensated for doing chores. All I can say is that I was occasionally
paid for doing chores and I dont currently expect someone to pay me
whenever I sweep the living room floor. On the other hand if I were
married, I might expect my husband to put out everytime I cooked dinner
;)

response 29 of 66:

Feb 5 19:54 UTC 2006

I agree with #27; I was only paid for doing chores that weren't "ordinary" --
mainly lawn-mowing. 

response 31 of 66:

Feb 5 20:23 UTC 2006

I should mention that on occasion we had our allowance suspended when we did
something wrong; it would be restored after an apology (with interrogation to
try to make sure it was sincere; "I'm sorry you think what I did was wrong, but
it wasn't!" didn't cut it). We also sometimes had our allowance suspended when
we did something that cost our parents money (we once broke something in a
store, so they had to buy it) until they had been reimbursed (though I think
usually we only had to pay half).

response 33 of 66:

Feb 5 23:21 UTC 2006

I had some chores paid, some unpaid - regular stuff, like laundry and
cleaning, involved a point system so that everybody (including mom & dad) had
to do something.  Lawn mowing, snow shoveling, etc. paid on an hourly rate.
We ended up putting in a fair amount of work fixing the roof one summer, again
hourly wages.

response 35 of 66:

Feb 6 00:30 UTC 2006

We were never paid for anything we did as housework.  I liked snow shoveling.
We had no expenses except for our own hobbies.

response 37 of 66:

Feb 9 22:10 UTC 2006

28 Apr 1997 Lottery millionaire Michael Allen is bludgeoned to death in a
Lewiston, Maine motel room. 
22 May 1999 Billie Bob Harrell, Jr. commits suicide. In June 1997, Harrell
won $31 million in the Texas state lottery. 
4 Sep 2001 Patrick Collier randomly wins $1 million at a McDonald's in Holly
Hill, Florida. "I'm getting a Harley and a couple of houses." Two weeks later,
Collier is arrested for allegedly choking and punching his fiancee in the
face. 
19 Dec 2001 British lottery millionaire Phil Kitchen is found dead on his
couch. Kitchen had apparently drunk himself to death (whiskey). 
11 Jul 2002 British lottery winner Dennis Elwell dies at work, shortly after
telling a coworker that he had drunk cyanide. 
21 Apr 2003 $25 million lottery winner Richard Krenzer is stabbed six times
by Randall Hillyard and his son at the Swillburg Stop Bar & Grill outside
Rochester, NY. 
29 Jun 2003 Lottery millionaire Jody Lee Taylor is arrested in Collinsville,
Virginia for attempting to run over a sheriff's deputy. On the night of his
arrest, Taylor was driving naked down the wrong side of U.S. Route 58 with
his headlights off. 
5 Aug 2003 After lottery millionaire Jack Whittaker passes out in a West
Virginia strip bar, a burglar steals his briefcase containing $545,000 in
negotiable bonds. The money is located in a trash dumpster the next morning.
13 Sep 2003 The London Telegraph reports that 16-year-old British lottery
millionaire Callie Rogers has lost her boyfriend, fought with her father, been
mugged, and been accused of stealing someone's man. "Some days I don't even
want to leave my house because people just scream abuse at me. Two months ago
I thought I was the luckiest teenager in Britain. But today I can say I have
never felt so miserable." 
15 Sep 2003 In his Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey home, lottery millionaire
Oscar Cordoba repeatedly stabs his wife and her mother with a kitchen knife,
killing the mother-in-law. 
17 Oct 2003 In a program entitled Living with the Lottery Lout, ITV1 reports
that British lottery millionaire Michael Carroll has completely alienated his
neighbors in Swaffham, Norfolk by periodically staging loud, impromptu
demolition derbies on his property. 
18 Nov 2003 An English court issues a bench warrant for lottery millionaire
Satish Patel, charged with defrauding the government for three years' worth
of unemployment claims. 
6 Jan 2004 After getting banned from Billy Sundays Bar and Grill in St Albans,
West Virginia, lottery winner Jack Whittaker reportedly threatens to have the
manager and his family killed. 
20 Jan 2004 Lottery winner Jack Whittaker reports that shortly after dawn,
somebody broke into his SUV in Scott Depot, West Virginia and stole a bag
containing $100,000 cash. 
25 Jan 2004 Lottery winner Jack Whittaker is arrested for drunk driving in
Nitro, West Virginia. Police allege the millionaire blew a .190 blood alcohol
on the breathalyzer. 
Apr 2004 A judge rules that broke Virginia lottery millionaire Suzanne Mullins
owes $154,146.50 to the People's Lottery Foundation, a Florida lending
institution specializing in loans to lottery winners. 
26 Jun 2004 At his Longmont, Colorado home, state lottery millionaire Kevin
Lee Sutton allegedly shoots Cristobal Lopez in the head with a .22 caliber
pistol. Lopez survives and Sutton is later charged with attempted murder. 
20 Jul 2004 In Minneapolis, MN, lottery millionaire Victoria A. Zell
reportedly crashes her SUV into a truck on the way home from a bar, killing
passenger Joshua Schmidt and paralyzing Amity Dimock from the waist down. 
7 Aug 2004 Incarcerated serial rapist Iorworth Hoare wins $12.9 million in
the British lottery. 
13 Aug 2004 The nonprofit group Equine Protection of North America files suit
against New Hampshire lottery millionaire Mary Ellen Sanderson for failure
to deliver on an alleged $70,000 annual donation pledge. 
24 Aug 2004 An Arizona bird refuge, The Oasis Sanctuary, files suit against
New Hampshire lottery millionaires Mary Ellen Sanderson and former husband
Jason Sanderson for failure to deliver on an alleged $100,000 annual donation
pledge. 
Sep 2004 Minnesota lottery millionaire Victoria A. Zell is arrested for having
allegedly violated the terms of her bail and possessing 0.7 grams of
methamphetamine. Zell had also reportedly wired $500,000 to a Canadian bank.
10 Oct 2004 Seattle police officers shoot California lottery millionaire Rick
Camat to death in a parking lot near Qwest Field. Officers claim that Camat
refused to drop his pistol, but Camat's brother claims the cops give him no
instructions to do so.(**This one's my favorite and proves the old adage that
winning the lottery is dangerous...cuz it turns you into an a$$hole) 
2 Oct 2005 Having spent his $10 million prize in just seven years, Winnipeg
lottery winner Gerald Muswagon hangs himself. Notable events in his monied
spree include a high-speed chase in 2000 and a sexual assault arrest in 2002.
28 Oct 2005 Million dollar jackpot winner Christina Goodenow is arrested after
Oregon police discover that she had purchased the winning ticket with a credit
card stolen from her dead mother-in-law. Police searching her home discover
her stash of methamphetamine, but find no trace of her first $33,500
installment. 

response 39 of 66:

Feb 10 04:46 UTC 2006

He's the one that kept giving his 14 year old granddaughter wads of $20's in
sums of $10k.  Busted for DUI in NITRO

response 41 of 66:

Feb 10 14:44 UTC 2006

Well, just in case anyone around here wins the lotto, there happens to 
be a website out there with advice to lotto winners:

http://www.note.com/note/pp/jackpot.html

response 43 of 66:

Feb 10 16:47 UTC 2006

And by "loser-ish" you mean of low socio-economic class, right?

response 45 of 66:

Feb 10 16:51 UTC 2006

The only two people we know who regularly buy lottery tickets are one person
who gets drunk every day (harmlessly to others) and one who leaves closet
doors open because of ghosts but is drug free.  Logical people don't invest
their money in something that pays -50%.

response 47 of 66:

Feb 10 17:48 UTC 2006

I've been gambling by exercising stock options in a privately held company.
The lottery probably would have been a better investment.

response 49 of 66:

Feb 10 18:13 UTC 2006

IF YOU ALWAYS DO WHAT YOU ALWAYS DID -
YOU'LL ALWAYS GET WHAT YOU ALWAYS GOT!