{"id":650349,"date":"2026-05-18T13:09:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T13:09:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/650349\/"},"modified":"2026-05-18T13:09:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T13:09:11","slug":"always-take-the-lump-sum-woman-who-chose-1000-a-week-over-1-million-has-reddit-and-x-deeply-divided","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/650349\/","title":{"rendered":"“Always take the lump sum”: Woman Who Chose $1,000 a Week Over $1 Million Has Reddit and X Deeply Divided"},"content":{"rendered":"

The internet is divided after a woman rejected $1 million for weekly payments of $1K. Users online wonder whether she\u2019s made the right financial call, sparking debate on Reddit and X.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A user on the forum shared a snippet about 20-year-old Brenda Aubin-Vega. She won the top prize<\/a> in the Loto-Qu\u00e9bec Gagnant \u00e0 vie game in 2025, according to USA Today.<\/p>\n

She was presented with both options and chose the latter: $1K per week for life. The story resurfaced when a Redditor shared a news clip about the decision, asking fellow users whether she had made the right call.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The user asked on Reddit: \u201cDid she make the right call?\u201d Many internet users flooded the subreddit with thoughts<\/a> on her decision. One Redditor claimed, \u201cHardly matters. That is life-changing money regardless.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The next user mentioned, \u201cLump sum (a large sum of money) is vastly better financially. But some people cannot be trusted with receiving that much cash all at once.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

A third commenter wrote, \u201cAt 20 years old, the $1 million is probably the better choice financially. $1000 per week sounds great and adds up to around $52K\/year, but inflation will slowly reduce its value over time.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Another commenter wrote, \u201cWith this choice, she has less to worry about being used as a piggy bank by everyone around her.\u201d One more person suggested, \u201cUsually, it\u2019s 20 years. In terms of payout, they\u2019re almost equal after taxes. I\u2019d have taken the lump sum.\u201d<\/p>\n

A final one said, \u201cYoung and smart beyond her years. She isn’t going to blow it like so many others.” Similarly, many on Reddit debated her decision. <\/p>\n

They brought up tax, inflation, and more to justify why they thought she made the right choice. The conversation moved on to X as well, with many sharing similar thoughts.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Users on X had similar thoughts as Redditors who reacted after the woman rejected $1 million<\/p>\n

A similar forum on X called \u2018Raindrops Media\u2019 reshared the story<\/a> on their account, sparking similar reactions as Redditors. A person responded, saying, \u201cThe education in this country is to blame. Always take the lump sum.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Another suggested, \u201cShe could be making much more by leaving it in a high-yield savings account, CDs, or portfolio investments.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0A third one said, \u201cShe definitely made the right call. That million can easily disappear in 2-3 years\u2026\u201d The same user added, \u201cSteady dependable revenue for life is the smartest move.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Another commenter pushed back on the weekly payment choice, writing that it, \u201cignores inflation and lost compounding.\u201d The same one suggested an alternative, \u201cIf she took the tax-free $1M and invested it, by age 40, it could be $2.65M at 5%, $3.87M at 7%, or $6.73M at 10%.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

A final one said, \u201cAt 20 years old, choosing a guaranteed weekly income over a lump sum you might spend badly is actually the right decision, especially if you have no financial infrastructure around you yet.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Many continued to weigh in on the woman\u2019s decision on the internet a year after her victory. Aubin-Vega has not commented publicly on how she has been managing her weekly payments.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The internet is divided after a woman rejected $1 million for weekly payments of $1K. Users online wonder…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":650350,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[28,147,530],"class_list":["post-650349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-business","tag-personal-finance","tag-personalfinance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650349","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=650349"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650349\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/650350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=650349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=650349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=650349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}