That pile of gold you didn't know you have...

[samhexum]

If anyone has watched Antiques RoadShow? After anyone quoted a significant money value, almost 100% will say, "Oh Wow." I have changed channels in order to avoid doing myself in!!!

 

This should cover him for a while.

 

A broke California man is resting a little easier after he found out that his old family-heirloom blanket was actually a Navajo weaving from the 1800s worth $1.5 million.

 

Loren Krytzer was barely scraping by on disability checks after he lost his leg in a 2007 car crash and living in a shack in Leona Valley when he found out the blanket that had sat in his closet for seven years was worth a bundle.

 

He was watching PBS’s “Antiques Roadshow” when he saw a throw just like the one his grandmother left him and learned it could be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. So six months later, he put it up for auction.

 

The bidding started at $150,000 but eventually netted him 10 times that — $1.5 million. Oh Wow!

 

It “gave me a new lease on life,” Krytzer told CNBC. “It truly did.”

 

Now he’s taken his wife and three daughters on a vacation to Mexico, invested a share of the windfall in stocks and bonds, bought himself a 2012 Dodge Challenger SRT8 souped up by the custom mechanic made famous on MTV’s “Pimp My Ride,” and scored two houses — including one worth a quarter-million dollars.

 

But the blanket money is also presenting some new snags: namely, a king-sized tax bill — and some johnny-come-lately relatives.

 

“It’s not like it was 40 or 50 years ago,” he said of his tax burden. “If I’d have gotten $1 million 50 years ago, I’d be rich right now. I would literally be rich. We’re getting taxed to death here. I can’t afford it. I’m from California, I grew up here, but without working, it’s just hard to survive.”

 

Krytzer lost his disability as a result of the windfall, and now he’s on the hook for $10,000 to insure the homes and pay Uncle Sam his due on the property.

 

And then there’s his long-lost relations.

 

“I had people calling me and bugging me and stuff,” Krytzer said. “People you haven’t seen in years — family members that don’t talk to you. You get some money, and they’re like, ‘Where’s mine?’”

 

Still, Krytzer says his life has definitely taken a turn for the better. He and his family are mulling a move to Idaho, where things are more affordable and they can stretch out their newfound safety net.

[+ sniper]

He will be back in a shack in three years at the rate he's going. Two houses? WTF?

[+ sniper]

Also, disability isn't means-tested. He may have lost MEDICAID, meaning his health insurance is no longer free, but that shouldn't be a problem for him.

[+ nycman]

He bought a custom car?...

 

Moron...he’ll be poor again within a year.

[LADoug1]

Statistics show that lottery winners and also those who realize a windfall blow through their money quickly. Sad but true. I hope hope this isn’t the case here.

[+ sync]

I can remember when a million $US was a lot of money, not so much anymore.

[+ sniper]

It's not a lot, but it's enough for him to spin off $30k of income, which is likely more than his disability checks, in perpetuity. Or less and allow it to grow.

[MikeBiDude]

“It’s not like it was 40 or 50 years ago,” he said of his tax burden. “If I’d have gotten $1 million 50 years ago, I’d be rich right now. I would literally be rich. We’re getting taxed to death here. I can’t afford it. I’m from California, I grew up here, but without working, it’s just hard to survive.”

This part caused me to LOL. Seems like as he sees is, it’s not his personal responsibility to manage his windfall, it’s becuase of taxes he’s going to spend through it all...

[+ nycman]

This part caused me to LOL. Seems like as he sees is, it’s not his personal responsibility to manage his windfall, it’s becuase of taxes he’s going to spend through it all...

And then he will go to jail for not paying his taxes......

 

Moron

[Kenny]

This part caused me to LOL. Seems like as he sees is, it’s not his personal responsibility to manage his windfall, it’s becuase of taxes he’s going to spend through it all...

 

Yes, he’s spending like a drunken sailor so that he can complain about being over-taxed. A proud Murican.