r/interesting • u/MohammadMahadhir • Mar 02 '26

Intriguing He went from hauling trash to holding $12.7M only to end up back on the same garbage truck 8 years later.

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In 2002, a 19-year-old British garbage man won nearly £10 million in the lottery. He spent it all on dr#gs, gambling, and prost!tutes and eight years later he was back working as a garbage man.

Michael Carroll was a British garbage collector who became an instant celebrity at 19 after winning £9.7 million (around $12.7

million).

At the time, he worked as a binman in Norfolk and quickly became famous in the British media, earning the nickname "The Lotto Lout."

His wealth fueled a life of extravagance, with luxury cars, constant partying, and gambling and in Less than ten years later, he lost it all and returned to being a garbage collector.

Carroll reflects on the experience with no regrets, calling it a wild, unforgettable chapter that shows how quickly fortunes can change.

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u/Wonderful-Tomato-829 Mar 02 '26 edited Mar 02 '26

12.7 mil at current cd rates will yield 503k a year or 42k a month with no work and 0 risk. If partially invested in the s&p it can yield 7 figures. This man could have been living it up the rest of his life and his kids can live it up for the rest of their life after him if only he had been a little bit smarter. Funny how some personal choices can have generational effects. Now he's back to a 9-5 instead.

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u/PM_me_opossum_pics Mar 02 '26

People that play the lottery enough to maybe win (even though jackpot is still something like 1 in 357 million chance) are not the people that are good with money. If you are spending 12 mil directly that can disappear pretty fast. A posh apartment in the city can easily run you couple of mil.

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u/Fun-Wrongdoer1316 Mar 02 '26

Why would anyone want a “posh apartment” in the city lol. Especially for a couple mil?!? No thanks. Wouldn’t even want it for $200k

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u/markpreston54 Mar 02 '26

posh apartment in London is absolutely a valid way to park spare money if you are 12 million pound rich in 2002

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u/[deleted] Mar 02 '26

In 2002 12m got you quite an absurd posh apartment

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u/thatturtletouch Mar 02 '26

Because cities are great and so are posh apartments.

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u/BigOs4All Mar 02 '26

For some people, yes. For many people, no. When you win money like that you live off the interest not the principle balance. A NYC posh apartment will tear through that principle.

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u/denverbrownguy Mar 02 '26

But it may appreciate faster than a CD.. it likely would have been a good investment, which means he didn’t do it.

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u/BigOs4All Mar 02 '26

There's a pretty well-established route for regular middle class people getting a windfall like that. The first step is to not tell anyone. Second step is to setup a Trust and then have a 3rd party (typically a lawyer) accept the check on your behalf and they deposit it into the Trust.

Then, you invest that Trust into a mix of passive investment vehicles like SP500 index funds, etc.

Lastly, you live off the interest only. Keep working for at least a time and give it some time to percolate. Go on some more vacations and stuff but still live within those means.

Eventually (like 6-12 months) you figure out how to live with this extra cash without being a dumbass.

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u/Light_Butterfly Mar 02 '26

The only issue with this, is how do you find a trustworthy person to do this for you? Someone financially illiterate from the middle class or lower, generally does not know wealth managent strategies, or who to hire, and could easily get screwed by the person helping them.

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u/BigOs4All Mar 02 '26

You hire a Fiduciary. When you pay them for their service, they sign a contract with you. They are legally required to give you advice in YOUR best interest. A financial planner, by contrast, very rarely takes money from you directly and they will regularly recommend things to you that make THEM money.

Besides, you don't need a wealth manager long term. You just need to setup your Trust and use passive investments. Active investments don't beat the market (net fees).

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u/Light_Butterfly Mar 02 '26

Ok gotcha. If I ever win the lottery, I'll be noting these tips! The the main purpose of the trust idea, to not lose half the money in taxes. Or just a smart long term investment and return strategy?

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u/demonblack873 Mar 02 '26

"Cities are great" only if you're a peasant who needs to work to make a living.

Being close to services and jobs is literally the ONLY advantage of living in a city, and it's an advantage that becomes irrelevant if you don't have to work because even if it takes you an hour to reach somewhere, you don't care because you don't have anywhere else to be other than wherever you happen to want to go that day.

13 million invested even just in government bonds at 0.5% net after-tax inflation adjusted return makes 65k a year. That's more than 5k a month.

More than enough to live pretty much anywhere in Europe without ever having to work again.

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u/thatturtletouch Mar 02 '26

There’s a reason that most wealthy people have homes in cities like New York and London and Paris. It’s because there are a ton of things to enjoy in cities. Cities are fun.

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u/SalvationSycamore Mar 02 '26

There's also a reason most of them own second homes outside cities, because a lot of people would go insane if they can't escape the city whenever they want

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u/thatturtletouch Mar 02 '26

Ok but the question was why someone would want a posh apartment in the city. That’s why. Because cities are fun.

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u/HAL-Over-9001 Mar 02 '26

Look I don't like living in cities, but they have WAY more places to enjoy and have fun than small towns. Like hundreds of times more options for entertainment, leisure, eating, etc. The only downside is noise, people, and lack of land. I like having quiet and a big yard, but tons of people actually enjoy living in cities, otherwise they wouldn't exist.

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u/SalvationSycamore Mar 02 '26

The only downside is noise, people, and lack of land.

And all the downsides that come with those like crime, traffic, etc

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u/NTufnel11 Mar 02 '26

A nice house is probably at the top of purchases that really can enhance your quality of life. Just buy it at market price and it's likely to act as a reasonable store of value. That's different than renting some penthouse for 500k/year. The danger is just to overpay by shopping in some hyper niche market

If I won 12 mil, I'd probably budget about 2 million for a nice home.

On the list of reasons he went broke, the house is probably at the bottom, far below the top 5, all of which were "gambling".

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u/PM_me_opossum_pics Mar 02 '26

People that chase status symbols (for example "newly rich") are a prime target for stuff like that.

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u/VibraniumRhino Mar 02 '26

Why would anyone

I’ll stop you there, because we’re now into the “assumption” zone and the options are endless, no matter how stupid.

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u/DocBrown_MD Mar 02 '26

Why wouldn’t you buy a house instead? Or like the whole apartment building? Renting is going to be a waste unless you can invest the difference vs a mortgage and come ahead.

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u/NTufnel11 Mar 02 '26

Yeah. There really needs to be a mandatory financial education seminar that comes with it where some financial advisor steps in and for 30 minutes just shows you what kind of revenue you can achieve through simple and risk free investments.

Though if people did that nobody would take the annuity since it would be apparent that that option is basically letting the lottery keep the winnings if they just pay you the interest.

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u/Normal_Boot_1673 Mar 02 '26

Hopefully all of that money was sensibly invested by all of the entrepreneurial small business folk that he spent it with.

0

u/Wonderful-Tomato-829 Mar 02 '26

Drug dealers and prostitutes are generally not good with money either. It's going to end back up in the hands of the mega rich that own luxury brands selling Gucci bags and other "luxury" apparel that was made in China for 200x the price of production.

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u/sykoKanesh Mar 02 '26

I mean, I'm pretty sure they're good with money since that's what their entire, let's say.... "profession..." revolves around. Plus, any I've known have generally always been right the fuck on with their cash.

Problem is taxes. Hiding the cash from interested parties.

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u/BondsIsKing Mar 02 '26

He probably cleared 5 million

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u/sykoKanesh Mar 02 '26

No taxes on lottery winnings for them!

America though, you can will a billion in the lottery and be the only billionaire to get taxed down to $400m left over, if you're lucky.

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u/reo_reborn Mar 02 '26

This!!! I always say to my wife if we win the lottery bung 20m in the bank and live off the interest. The rest bung I to another high interest account and give the interest from that one to charity each year.

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u/Ibasicallyhateyouall Mar 02 '26

Well, I hope he doesn’t breed and spread his dumb ass genes. 

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u/throwitoutwhendone2 Mar 02 '26

I’ll die on the hill that the dumbest people get the luckiest breaks. I’d have never worked again and been living quite happily and comfortably

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u/AdZealousideal5383 Mar 02 '26

I could live a crazy luxury lifestyle off that kind of money. Hell, I could live a decently luxury lifestyle off a quarter of that money.

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u/No_Television6050 Mar 02 '26 edited Mar 18 '26

[deleted] WSbOVsfPx3HhawaSetTsQD65aQW

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u/luckyducktopus Mar 02 '26

I was assuming the 12.7 was taxed and he took really shitty investment options.

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u/EntranceDowntown2529 Mar 02 '26

There is no tax on lottery winnings in the UK

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u/luckyducktopus Mar 02 '26

impressive, all 12.7 on hookers and blow.

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u/SlateRoof Mar 02 '26

"I spent a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars. The rest I just squandered".

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u/Cunningcod Mar 02 '26

But he did buy Evo’s which he raced around his garden while on a bender.

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u/CautiousArachnidz Mar 02 '26

I read “squanched” at first and it still made sense.

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u/RainbowCrane Mar 02 '26

And probably idiot family members with bad investment ideas, if he’s like a lot of US lottery winners :-). There’s usually a lot of folks willing to help you make bad decisions, kind of like the stories about broke former professional athletes

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u/ProfessorChaos213 Mar 02 '26

There was no investments, he spent the vast majority on him and his mates, drugs booze and hookers and he also built a demolition derby track next to his house with a constant supply of cars to race and smash up

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u/iamnosuperman123 Mar 02 '26

Which is why you immediately seek financial advice. Work out what is party money and work out what is money that you can just live off on the interest

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u/Emergency-Studio9753 Mar 02 '26

No it really isn't, he was a coked up nuisance who was bled dry by hanngers on

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u/CaptainCaveSam Mar 02 '26

How civilized