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Original poster

What would you do with £1 million?

191 replies

Disneyblueeyes · 17/04/2023 21:49

If you were made a millionaire tomorrow, what would you do with the money?

Anyone ever thought about it? 😁

OP posts:
QueenBitch666 · 27/07/2023 16:55

Crucible · 17/04/2023 22:02

One million would be absolutely wonderful. 2 flats, one for my brother and one for my sister. The remaining 500k all on rescuing dogs and paying rescue vet bills all over. I'd be happy with that.

This. We could set up an animal sanctuary together

FrenchFancie · 27/07/2023 16:59

Pay off the mortgage
pay for DD to go through private school
outspurce my life admin - so cleaner and cook.

retrain to do my dream job.

SpaceRaiders · 27/07/2023 17:19

I don’t think 1 mill is as life changing in the way it used to be. I’d give bro and SIL 250k towards a house, 400k would go into our mortgage and the remaining 350k would be invested to cover school/university fees and house deposits.

FussyPud · 27/07/2023 17:22

Buy a large bungalow and decorate it. Car. Bank the rest for rainy days.

Namechanger355 · 28/07/2023 00:41

SpaceRaiders · 27/07/2023 17:19

I don’t think 1 mill is as life changing in the way it used to be. I’d give bro and SIL 250k towards a house, 400k would go into our mortgage and the remaining 350k would be invested to cover school/university fees and house deposits.

life changing in the sense that it should pay off virtually all mortgages with some change at least

but yes i dont think its enough to stop working and live a life of luxury for ever more

PretendUsername · 28/07/2023 07:02

I'm happy to see most people would use part of the money to help their family in some way. I had this conversation with my sister years back and she was genuinely shocked that I would pay off my mothers mortgage as well as hers. "Why would anyone do that? It's your own money, that's weird, why would you use it on other people?"

That was the first inkling of who she really was and her full selfishness came out over the years. We are now estranged (her choice not mine, but I'm not sure I'd want her back now!). I always remember that conversation, it was meant to be a light-hearted chat and it turned so sour. I'm pleased that I'm not actually a weirdo for wanting to be somewhat altruistic.

Paddingtonsmarmlade · 28/07/2023 07:16

knock my house down and build a better one with another bedroom and bathroom and a big kitchen.

passports for my kids and a lovely all inclusive holiday somewhere beautiful

lots more books (which I'd now have room for in my bigger house)

Blossomtoes · 28/07/2023 08:04

Give our kids half between them. Then have some amazing holidays.

FoodFann · 28/07/2023 08:08

Pay off mortgage.
A couple of house extensions/improvements.
Honeymoon (4 years too late)
New car
A few new outfits.
A new sofa.
The rest on kids school

decaffonlypls · 28/07/2023 08:27

New house
Help family out
Donate to charity
New car
Private school

blobby10 · 28/07/2023 08:35

Pay off mortgage,
invest as much as possible in ISA and pension
set aside enough to pay for DC weddings if they want one as their dad won't

Buy a micro caravan for me
new kitchen
new stuff for house
Lump sums to DC for a deposit on house or flat.

BadgesforBadgers · 28/07/2023 08:40

It's a great amount to discuss, life changing for some but not for others.

Very welcome, would make a huge difference but not a 'stop working 'amount unless you are 5 years off retirement.

I'd pay off the mortgage - £100k

Nice new automatic car and bespoke driving lessons for nervous drivers - £30k

Home improvements/extensions- £70k

Holiday fund - £50k

DC's uni fund - £50k

Possibly go p/t at work - £200k to cover wage drop until retirement.

Deposit for DCs house when old enough £50k

Charity/sponsorship- £15k

Rest goes in investments for proper retirement.

LizzoBorden · 28/07/2023 08:41

I became CONVINCED a few weeks ago that I’d won the lottery (which I rarely enter but I’d seen two magpies that morning, iykyk). At 3am I had my typical peri insomnia and was looking at emails. I had an ‘exciting news about my ticket!’ mail… but the app was down for me to check my online ticket. However I could see the amount of winners, and I was sure as sure can be that one of the 1m ones was me.

For an hour or so I wondered about what I’d do with my million. It was a really delicious hour. I settled on paying off my huge mortgage, putting house deposits in trust for dd and sds, and taking a year out to travel. And that was it spent.

I had actually won about £2.50.

Soubriquet · 28/07/2023 08:42

Pay off all my debts
Buy a house
Buy new clothes for all the family as we desperately need them
Go on holiday
Save the rest

JaukiVexnoydi · 28/07/2023 08:46

I think about it regularly.

£1m isn't enough to give up work totally but I would go part-time.

I could buy a good size house in a nice area for about £600k. Would spend £100k maximising insulation/triple glazing/instal solar panels and a charging point for an electric car. Would buy a good plug-in-hybrid car.

Invest the rest for long term income.

CoffeeRevelsForever · 28/07/2023 08:51

I think about this every month when the Premium Bonds are drawn. Like most people, I'd buy a house outright and living mortgage-free would be absolutely life-changing. More in savings, more for university fees, more for holidays. I love my job and would carry on as I am, but DH could reduce his hours or have the freedom to do something different. To take away the worry about money would be a huge luxury and utterly blissful.

As an aside, I am fascinated by statistics on how many lottery winners burn through all their winnings and more within five years. I guess it's really easy to overspend!

mondaytosunday · 28/07/2023 09:10

@CoffeeRevelsForever I think what they do is give too much to family, go on a big holiday, buy an expensive house and car but forget about the long term cost of upkeep.

Stephisaur · 28/07/2023 09:36

Pay off the mortgage

Pay for the extension

Pay off Credit Cards

Go back to Hawaii on holiday

Get a dog

Pop the rest into savings

Realistically, not having to pay for the mortgage would make such a difference to our finances that £1mil could truly be life changing for us.

Hoppinggreen · 28/07/2023 09:42

If it’s “just” 1 million I don’t think we would change our lives much to be honest.
Pay off the rest of the mortgage, probably buy another house on the coast, have a once in a lifetime holiday and stick the rest in our retirement fund.
I would still work and so would DH - but he might take a bit of time off between contracts

OnlyYellowRoses · 28/07/2023 11:18

Buy a nice family home, round here a 3 bed would be about 300K for a decent one. Then I wouldn't have the horrible insecurity of renting all the time.
Buy a car that's not held together with cable ties and duct tape, nothing flash, just a 3 or 4 thousand one that went from A to B. Don't care what make/model.
I'd put a lot aside to make sure the children had a good foot up when they are adults and could maybe help them get on the housing ladder / be secure.
Probably also treat them to a proper holiday, where they get to go on a plane to somewhere hot where we can try new foods / see different cultures together.
That's it, just simple things really.

StoneColdAlibi · 28/07/2023 11:31

Pay off mortgage - £200,000
Works in house/decorating - £100,000
Pension - £200,000
Nice car - £80,000
Put away a sum for each of the kids - £200,000
Buy rental property for ongoing income - £150,000
Let DP retire early to work on creative stuff
£70k to splurge on holidays and frivolous stuff

llamadrama16 · 28/07/2023 18:36

We would pay off the mortgage (would take half the £1m), book an lovely holiday to my home country, then invest the rest. DH would probably love to buy some nice new bottles of fancy wine and go out for some naice meals with friends.

Genevieva · 28/07/2023 18:44

A million probably isn't enough for this, but I would set up a secondary school for 11-16 year olds that didn't do GCSEs and instead did other accredited courses that are less exam heavy like the IB. The kids would have lots of opportunity for collaborative work, for spending time outdoors an doing creative things and for developing those interactive life-skills that are so important for growing into an adult that hasn't been inured by our school system so that they can go out into the world as productive and confident adults. This is to rescue the third of school children whose experience of GCSEs is one of being told they are failures.

Allhailkingcharlie · 28/07/2023 18:54

I'd keep my house but but next doors. Knock it into one massive house exactly how I want it. I'd buy a brand new car and then keep the rest to just live. Then go on a nice holiday and take all of my family.

headcheffer · 28/07/2023 19:01

Pay off debts including our help to buy loan. Keep our mortgage as it's on 1.9% Grin Do up our house so it's perfect, because it needs decorating and a small alteration to a massive room would give us an extra bedroom AND a big home gym. Put our kids through private primary and secondary. Go on a luxury holiday and hit some things off my bucket list, including buying a Chanel handbag. Then I would whack the rest in an investment portfolio.