A lottery winner who bagged a life-changing $29million Powerball jackpot has revealed he nearly lost it all - after an underage co-worker tried to claim his prize.
Timothy Schultz was 21 when he was working in a petrol station in the Midwest when he decided to purchase a Powerball ticket in 1999 while working with his co-worker Sarah Elder, 20.
He was just over the legal age of being able to purchase a lottery ticket and had sold himself the $1 lucky dip ticket.
When Timothy's numbers came up he couldn't believe he had become a millionaire but his delight was soon put at risk by his colleague Sarah.
The worker claimed she contributed $0.50 to the winning ticket and was entitled to a share of the money.
Sarah challenged the legitimacy of the whole prize despite her not being legally able to buy a ticket due to her being 20.
Lottery commissioner Ed Stanek said at the time of the dispute: “If part of the sale were to an underage person, all or a portion of the prize would be forfeited."
A court hearing was scheduled between the pair but fortunately for Timothy his co-worker decided withdraw the claim just a day before the appeal.
The pair agreed a settlement and the amount was not revealed by either of them as part of the conditions.
He said: "Most people were supportive and happy for me, but I did receive stacks of letters from people asking for money.
"It was difficult to trust new people — that they didn’t want me for the wrong reasons. It felt like some people viewed me as a walking, talking ATM machine."
Timothy, who now hosts a podcast and a YouTube channel, admitted one of the biggest mistakes he made is not seeking support from financial advisors.
He told CNN last year: “The average lottery winner that comes across millions of dollars … the average person does not know what to do with that kind of money unless you have an education or a background or experience dealing with that kind of money.
“I had no idea. I was a gas station clerk at 21-years-old when I won.”
The podcaster said the main question he gets asked is if money makes you happy.
He said: “The general consensus is that money can buy time and time is sort of invaluable, if you have the stress of debt and you’re doing something you don’t want to be doing … which can in a sense buy happiness."
Timothy believes, although money can make you happy, it does not fix all problems.
He added: “If you are a very unhappy person before you win the lottery and you come across mass amounts of wealth, after the high of winning wears off — because it will come down — then you still could be unhappy."
