If you are wealthy what do you day dream about?

[Cocteautriplet]

Every week I have my little ritual of buying one lotto ticket looking at the jackpot and daydreaming what I’ll spend it on: a 4 bed detached house in the New Forest, less stress for my partner, private school for my three children, a round the world trip etc…

I’m realistic that I’m very unlikely to win but the daydreaming and planning gives me a lot of joy and entertainment. It got me thinking if you have your material needs more than comfortably met what’s on your imaginary wish list … do you dream of working less, of being healthier or having a better body, romance or are your dreams more outward facing … an end to world conflict, better economy etc?

This is not meant to be a goady post … I acknowledge that most people work extensively hard to afford a comfortable lifestyle and good on them … I just want to know how my focus /daydreams will change when I win the lottery this evening 😉

If you don’t mind me asking , what is your diagnosis?

See the Wispas had a layer of a very nice month fondant.

Much nicer than just minty chocolate. That said, I had some mint Buttons last week and they were nice.

Used to love a Mint Wispa dunked into coffee.

Not sure I would call myself wealthy, but I would say I am comfortably off and have most of my material needs met. Every day I dream for one of my DC to be healthy, happy and have an easier life; she has a chronic condition and depression. Also dream of being less lonely; for various reasons I don't have many friends, and my ( very small) family is in another country.

I do also dream of the world being a better place.

I meet a lot of wealthy people in my line of work. Think 4 bedroom apartment in Mayfair just as a base for London rich. But I met a lot of them because they have lost a close family member / or are sick themselves which puts wealth into perspective for me.

My Dad is also very wealthy runs a business so still has stress. His wife has no worries and literally daydreams about how to spend money. £700k extension , fancy holidays , clothes . But it's not so much day dreaming as she just does it.

I know it’s a cliche but it is 100% true. Money can’t buy happiness. I wish everyone truly understood that.

I think people do understand that. But they also understand that money does buy choices and independence and autonomy. If you have enough of it, it also buys freedom from the need to work.

Interesting how different people's view of 'wealthy' is

I don't want to give up my work though. DH plans to in about 3 years, but I plan to keep working until I drop. It gives me purpose.

I dream of my non verbal 6 year old being able to speak to me and share his thoughts. I also dream of living until I'm 100+ so I can always be here to protect and care for him.

I don't know how wealthy you mean - but me and DP earn nearly 200k a year combined and the budget for our next house is around £1m, but in London so everything is still pretty small.

I dream about having the freedom to do things I love each day - writing and painting - and also achieving all the accolades I'd love to at work. I'd love to live multiple lives/careers - including being an artist! I also really, really want to lose 10 pounds. I dream about that and having a nice figure again (probably quite vain of me!) Then I dream of achieving all my desired work successes.

Oh... I also sometimes dream about falling in love with DH again, we got together very young but I dream of meeting eachother as adults and falling in love all over again.

I always have lots of problems in life... So money hasn't made me any happier than when I was earning £25k a year in my first job. In fact I felt loaded then as I'd never had my own money before 😂

It's all relative. We have 2x1% salaries so are clearly more well-off than most but not wealthy to the point where we don't need to work. So that is what I dream about - not needing to work. I used to love my job. I no longer love it but it does have some good points. However I've come to resent the time it swallows up - time I would rather spend on other things.

A childhood of dreams for my kids, set something up for other kids in the area.
Travel, organic food, luxury items.
Being able to help others. Health and good teeth!

Health is wealth 🤑
I don't dream big, I'm content with what I have, I thank God that I have a roof over my head and food on my table and a family of my own ❤️ the grass is not always greener on the other side, we must water our own and thrive 🙏

We are very comfortable, but we have been broke, I think only having one couple to dinner for my 40th and suddenly realising that the only way we could afford it, was to cash in the Sainsburys vouchers we were saving for Christmas now that was a particular low point.

Since then we have bunged money into pensions, retired, debt free and mortgage free, I have inherited a six figure sum and yet I struggle to spend our monthly disposable income.

My two siblings bought themselves very and I mean very expensive handbags, I had to be forced to buy myself an ipad.

We went to the farm shop today and as we were going in DH said do you want any cheese and I said no, I didn't finish the last lot, and anyway it is too expensive, DH just said can you hear yourself and rolled his eyes.

So in conclusion when we were broke, we aspired to not being overdrawn, then to having some fluidity, then to comfortable and yet the one constant in all of that has been what cars we would buy if we win the lottery.

I think in general it is human nature to constantly aspiring on some level.

Apologies for that first paragraph it is very clunky.

If I won the lottery I'd open a special school just outside my la. It would be specifically for children with autism, who are minimally verbal. It would have many onsite ot's, slt's, ep's, a dietitian, physio etc. Specially built with sensory needs in mind. We would also employ a solicitor who deals only with tribunal's to help parents whose children would be a good fit for the school go through the process.

If I won the euro lottery I'd also employ a solicitor to help any parent that needed it to get through tribunal locally - I suspect there would be too many.

Disney world trips every school holiday.

A bigger pot in ds trust for when we're no longer here so he never ends up in an inpatient facility due to lack of funding.

I live in a top floor fkat - Love to be able to buy a house with a garden! Only achievable with a lottery win!

I can't do the euromillions because every time I do I genuinely think I'm going to win and then I'm so disappointed when I don't! I wonder if everyone feels that way.

I've got so used to not having much money that if I ever do get a small sum I won't know what to do with it anyway!

We are wealthy by MN standards.

But if I had millions I would pay for my kid's uni so they didn't need to start out with debt.

Buy them homes so they were sorted there.

Go on more holidays and fly business class.

Buy a new car, our old reliable is still reliable but I am entranced by some of the tech in the new ones but just can't justify the expense.

I would replace all the carpet downstairs with tile with underfloor heating, get a flash kitchen, hire a gardener and a cleaner 2x a week so my house and garden were always lovely. Right now I am lucky enough to have a cleaner for a few hours a fortnight which keeps us from drowning but with millions I would never do housework again.

We both enjoy our jobs and lives otherwise so I don't we would change much there, would definitely buy more toys for ours and the kids hobbies!

I suppose we’re wealthy by some standards: we have a £1m+ house, put the children through private schools, have had some great holidays, eat in Michelin starred restaurants etc. If something breaks we fix it or buy another one.

Our monthly outgoings are high though and we need to work to pay them. Our house isn’t selling despite being on the market for several months.

I dream of selling, downsizing, retiring and spending time on cultural and artistic pursuits and some travelling. Because what I don’t have is the time or headspace or energy for that and frankly, after 40 years of FT work, I’m knackered beyond belief. And until the house sells I can’t stop.

Some people would consider me wealthy because, I have a home, job, family, friends & health

Stop working

Sell possessions

What I dream about is back packing & camper vaning round the world, meeting interesting people & seeing new things. I would also like to help on a dinosaur 🦕 dig. I would like to help grow corals for marine conservation. I would like to continue to horse ride, swim, scuba dive. I would like to join some expeditions too. I would like to slow down & enjoy the moments

I dream of the kids leaving home and being free to go on adventures and see the world, by myself, with family and with friends. Having a tidy house and happy, healthy children and being free to pursue my own academic and job interests - I’m currently a busy SAHM. Winning the lottery so I can provide for my kids and not have to worry about their future (we are relatively wealthy but not that wealthy!) Setting up philanthropic businesses that help the world and women in particular!
My kids have ASD and ADHD so I hope that they will be able to live happy lives but I worry about their mental health. I don’t daydream about this though as that would be wishing a life for them that won’t come true, either because it would be ignoring their issues or - more hopefully - because they may go on to achieve things that I cannot imagine.
Relative wealth has allowed us to bypass long waiting lists and therapy that has doubtless helped us to survive to this point.

Money can’t buy happiness and that’s a lesson you can’t learn until you have it.

Billions would be great so I could build my own futuristic house wherever I wanted. Have lots of nannies for childcare whenever I needed it. Go on holidays without the children because of said nannies.

We have a nice life though but there is always somewhere more you can go with it. It’s just an endless hamster wheel.

A good nights sleep - as I am a wealthy insomniac

We probably look very wealthy on paper. Big house - a real dream house with a wonderful garden. Child in private school. Lots of holidays.

I dream of having the time to enjoy it all. I live in constant fear of a cancer recurrence, and the medication I take to prevent that makes me feel awfully unwell and zaps my energy. And what energy I have is eaten up by work. I don't even remember the last time I stopped work at 5:30 pm. It's so full on, and this dream house is a total money pit!

May I ask why you do it then? You don't sound all that happy.

Why not down size to a more affordable house.
Move school at the next break point.
Reduce hours / change jobs and enjoy the life you have?