NY brothers wait 6 years to claim $5M lottery prize because they worried about “negative influence” on their lives

These guys have their heads on straight:

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) — Two brothers from central New York have claimed a $5 million lottery prize for a scratch-off ticket they bought at their parents’ Syracuse store six years ago, state officials said.

Andy Ashkar, 34, of Camillus, and Nayel Ashkar, 36, of Cicero, came forward March 1, just 11 days before the top prize in the “$500,000,000 Extravaganza” scratch-off game would have expired, New York Lottery said.

The agency said the younger brother said he waited so long to claim his prize because he was concerned the windfall could “negatively influence” his life if he didn’t plan properly before being publicly introduced as the winner. Andy Ashkar also told lottery officials that he also didn’t want the windfall to influence his engagement and subsequent marriage.

Awesome decision. I dunno why it would take you six years to plan properly, but still.

When you live your whole life at one level, suddenly finding yourself on another level can really screw things up, even when it ought to be a good thing. That doesn’t only apply to money, and it doesn’t only apply to suddenly having more money.

I do wonder what sorts of planning they did, though.