Book excerpt: The world is an increasingly complicated place, but one rule has held true for centuries: People who have financial security control the destiny of people who don't. People who are financially secure live longer and healthier lives. They have the freedom and independence to pick what they want to do for a living, where they want to live and to create a financial legacy for their families and causes they support. So why do so many people who "have it made" run through their money and wind up broke? Why do the majority of lottery winners, injury victims, professional athletes and people who receive an inheritance run through it all so quickly? A better question: How do you keep it from happening to you? How do you protect your retirement, injury settlement or inheritance in a way that will keep you financially secure for life? In his fourth book, best-selling author and financial guru Don McNay offers concrete solutions to those questions. McNay draws upon his internationally recognized expertise on what to do when you win the lottery and his 30 years experience as a structured settlement consultant to show people how money can provide them with happiness, security and peace of mind. Although McNay has a strong academic background with two master's degrees and four financial professional designations, the book is written in a style that everyone can grasp and understand. He breaks the book into five sections, based on the five rules of thumb that he gave to lottery winners in his 2008 bestseller, Son of a Son of a Gambler: Winners, Losers and What to Do When You Win the Lottery. McNay said that his book is about financial freedom. "Real freedom means stability, security and independence," he said. "It means never running out of money. It means never having to work at a job you hate, because you can't afford to quit. It means never becoming a slave to your creditors. It means having control and stability in your life." Life Lessons from the Lottery: Protecting Your Money in a Scary World is the road map to finding that kind of freedom.