1. Win the lottery
Most people dream of hitting the lottery just once, but Las Vegas resident Joan Ginther hit it an unbelievable four times. According to ABC News, Ginther won the Texas lottery four times over the past 17 years, winning $5.4 million in 1993, $2 million in 2006, and $3 million in 2008. Her biggest score came in 2010: a $50 scratch ticket that was worth $10 million. Lucky or just unfair?
2. Inherit a fortune
Inheriting wealth can be emotionally difficult (and the feds will come for their share), but it is another way people have gotten rich without much work. Christy Walton—the widow of John Walton, a son of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton—inherited her husband’s fortune after his death in a plane crash in 2005. Her estimated worth of $22.5 billion makes her one of the world’s richest people, according to Forbes.com.
3. Bet on the right horse, with free money
Texas software entrepreneur Glen Fullerton won $900,000 in the Kentucky Derby this year. What’s even better: He didn’t bet his own money. Fullerton, a novice gambler, won a $100,000 sweepstakes sponsored by Churchill Downs and CNBC to bet the lot on any of the horses in the field. His pick, Super Saver, with 8-to-1 odds, earned him the prize, reported nationalpost.com.
4. Get a hole-in-one for $1 million
It is a challenge even most pro golfers would fail. Jason Hargett, a restaurant manager and father of four, was a last-minute replacement in a $1 million hole-in-one competition at the Mark Eaton Celebrity Golf Classic in Utah in 2009, and he almost opted out because of a sore wrist, reported ESPN. Fortunately he decided to stay in. Hargett sank the ball with his brother’s 9 iron to win the prize.
5. Buy and hold
Long-term stock investments can pay off. Lake Forest (Ill.) resident Grace Groner worked as a secretary at Abbott Labs (ABT) for 43 years. She bought three specially issued shares of the company’s stock for $180 in 1935 and held on to them over the next seven decades, reported wsj.com. The shares split several times, and she reinvested the dividends. By the time Groner passed away this year at age 100, she had 100,000 shares valued at about $7 million.
6. Your bank adds a few extra zeroes to your account
Would you take millions if you had to live as a fugitive? New Zealand couple Leo Gao and Kara Hurring were managing a failing service station in Rotorua. Last May, Gao requested a NZ$100,000 overdraft from Westpac Bank. Instead he received NZ$10 million (or about US$6 million at the time) due to a typing error, reported the New Zealand Herald. Gao transferred part of the funds to various accounts in China and Hong Kong. The two left the country, and their debts, and have been on the run since. They are reportedly in China now, according to news website stuff.co.nz. Westpac Bank has recovered all but NZ$3.8 million. (The worker who botched the transaction was fired last August after she made a second error keying in a loan amount, although the second mistake did not result in a loss for the bank.)
7. Find treasure in your basement
Everyone dreams that their junk at home has not only sentimental value but also huge dollar value to collectors and eBay trollers. This is rarely true, but one family recently discovered a copy of Action Comics No. 1, dated June 1938, in their basement as they cleared the house in preparation for foreclosure, reported ABC News. The comic—the first to feature Superman—has an estimated worth of $250,000 and is expected to help the family keep the house.
8. Get lucky at a yard sale
Those mildewing boxes at your neighbor’s next garage sale may contain more than meets the eye—hundreds of millions of dollars more. Take painter Rick Norsigian, who bought 65 glass-plate negatives at a yard sale 10 years ago that were purportedly taken by photography legend Ansel Adams in the 1920s and 1930s. While the authenticity of the negatives is being challenged, Beverly Hills art dealer David W. Streets estimates the value of the find could be $200 million, reports latimes.com.
9. Marry Old Age Rich
Love trumps all, romantics say, so there’s no harm in enjoying some of life’s luxuries along the way. Who knows this better than Melania Knauss, a Slovenian model who married Donald Trump in 2005 to become the billionaire developer's third wife? Forbes.com estimates Trump’s net worth to be $2 billion. The couple signed a prenuptial agreement, reported nymag.com.
10. Divorce a Beatle
Divorce is messy and emotional, and there’s hardly anything easy about it. Yet in some cases, one party comes away with a big chunk of change. Difficult? Yes. Lucrative? Sometimes. After four years of marriage, Heather Mills was granted about $50 million in her divorce proceedings with former Beatle Paul McCartney in 2008, reported cnn.com.
11. Be born rich
Some people are born with sliver spoons in their mouths, others also get an army of servants, palaces, and, oh, a kingdom to rule. The world’s royal are still among the wealthiest. Take Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei, for example, who is estimated to be worth $20 billion, according to Forbes.com.
12. No toy gets left behind
One California woman sold her late husband’s collection of 275 Transformers toys for $1 million on eBay in 2007. Some were never removed from the box, reported gizmodo.com. The husband and wife started buying the Hasbro figures and accessories from 1984 to 1987 as he was recovering from a motorcycle accident.
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