What would you do if you were rich enough that you didn’t have to work?

[Fearlesssloth]

Say a mystery long-lost aunt left you a few million in her will. Would you give up your job, go part-time, be a SAHM if you have kids? If you chose not to work what would you do with your time?

£5m would not be enough to completely give up work right now. Not with young DC around

£10m yes.

£5m would be sufficient if there were no DC or they were already out of education. I wouldn’t tel them about the windfall. Just tweak my lifestyle “retire early”!!

I come from a pretty wealthy family and could easily have not worked without putting too much of a dent in the money pot but it would drive me crazy and so I work my NHS job part time. Everyone laughs at me for being super cheerful at work but because it's only a small portion of my week it's a lot easier to be enthusiastic! Plus being at work means I see lots of new people and challenge my brain which is good for my mental health in buckets.

The rest of the time I go to the gym and spend time making myself healthy food (as, no matter how wealthy your family, genetics can still send you stupid health conditions which I have to deal with sadly, but it's much easier when you have more time).

I have cousins who work because they have to and cousins who have never worked at all because they don't and of the two sets the ones with jobs and purpose are much much happier and better adjusted. The ones who don't work seem very unhappy and have WAY too much time to feud with each other and be mean about their friends.

Money really can't buy you happiness, yes it takes away an awful lot of the stresses but ultimately friends and rewarding jobs seem much more important and lead to better lives overall. At least in my small study set!

£5 million would make about 200k interest a year.

I wouldn’t give up work for a few million. Can’t think of anything less satisfying than spending half my life in a spa. I’d seriously sort out my house, have a cleaner a couple of times a week have nice holidays and help the dcs get on the property ladder.

I would never bother to work again!

Get twice weekly blow drys, a cleaner and a gardener...

I think I would have productive mornings (exercise and admin jobs, prep dinner) and chill in the afternoons. Would probably volunteer once a week. And go on lots of weekend breaks/ travel.

Although I was a SAHM for a couple of years and did not love it!

I’d volunteer at a local school, have regular facials and haircuts abs exercise every day. And tidy up.

I took a year off work which accidentally turned into 3. I travelled away from home for 325 nights, slept in, volunteered, hiked, learned an instrument badly, learned diving, killed a lot of garden plants, napped, read more books than I ever have since being a kid, took up craft hobbies some of which I kept up and some I didn't, planned a novel.

Felt at a loose end, beginning of the year so have started applying for jobs again. It's going to painful after a nice break but I'm hoping for the best. I'm not rich enough to quit work forever but I'm also frugal enough to know how to live off savings when I need a break and know there'll always be another job to apply for.

My parents died aged 60-70 so I'm very conscious of living a good life whilst still healthy enough to appreciate it!

I don't need to work for the money but I always have, albeit part time self employed so I can dictate my hours somewhat. I've always worked around 20-25 hours a week and will always do so.

This is going to sound silly, but I don't want this to happen to me. I need the purpose of work and still have ambitions of what I want to achieve. If I had the money not to do it, I think it would undermine me a little bit. I would pay for a bigger house and a housekeeper, gardener and free up all my time that way.

I wouldn’t work but would probably volunteer for a charity I had an interest in for one or two days a week. I would cook, exercise, read, pamper myself and travel, all of which I do now but I would do a lot more of it. I would probably travel around the world seeing live music and sporting events.

I would do what I do now with more help. I’m a SAHM as DD has high needs. With that kind of money I could hire good quality help with her for respite as well as more help around the house.

That would give me more time for my voluntary stuff. Possibly even enough to get the (low cost) playscheme and out-of-school-care that folded when I had to walk away post covid back up and running.

It doesn’t need to be a regular paid job to be a commitment that requires effort imo, just something that keeps the brain going.

I would aim to do voluntary work in my field, use my skills but without the financial pressures (street vet/overseas neutering programmes etc) perhaps study for a degree that I would enjoy (maybe classics).. Take back up a musical instrument and get to a level where I could join an ensemble. Help out with ballet shows and school trips. Have a tidy house.

I don’t need to work financially but doing so gives me a good structure and gives the dc a good example to follow. Also I do enjoy the extra money plus I actually like my job!
I like the routine and the accountability. We aren’t ‘rich’ as in multi millionaires but are comfortable. I didn’t work when the dc were young and I filled my time when they were at pre school and school, visiting and helping older relatives, gym, swam, lunched with friends or dh, spent time with mil at her allotment, looked after nieces and nephews, listened to readers at my dds school, all in all was just a very enjoyable and fulfilling time in my life.
Now I’ve written that I’m wondering why I work again now 😂

I think that I would still go to work, but perhaps cut down to a day or two less (or just go to half-days if I had children, with a PT nanny or something, as my working hours don't do well with childcare/school hours). Most of the time, I quite like work, and it gets me out and gives me more of a sense of purpose. However, it's long hours and long stretches at a time. If I cut down a day or two, then I could spend a bit more time at home, getting on top of the DIY and gardening, and doing much more cooking things from scratch.

I'd probably have to spend quite a chunk of that money doing my house up, and paying other people to do the bits that I can't do, e.g. fencing and electrics. My dream house and garden will cost me a fortune, so it is currently a very long work in progress. Oh, and I'd do my current car up, sell it, and buy something a bit more grown-up. Then the rest would remain in the bank until I found something to spend it on!

I'd buy a bigger house, set my daughter up with one to. I'd get a personal trainer, and volunteer in the local cattery or pet rescue.

Is also do my full food shop at M&S! 😉

I'd buy a bookshop. I'd have students who need extra cash working there part-time and I'd pay them really well.
I'd get writers to come and do book signings and have story time for preschoolers.
The top floor would be art supplies. There would be a display area where local artists could show their work.
I'd have a very reliable shop manager so that I could waft around festivals and garden shows in the summer.

Run my own dog / animal sanctuary, grow my own fruit & veg in my massive cottage garden, have family over in my sprawling country cottage (preferably by the sea), home educate my kids.

I am probably in that position as in not desparately needing to work anymore and waiting to retire.

I haven't figured out what to do when I retire but will probably work part time at my current job to keep up with technology, have a finger on the pulse of the wider world and mentor/work with younger people for their energy and ideas.

I wil also volunteer now that I finally have the time to give back and pay it forward.

Do more exercise, tidy/renovate the house, develop photos on my and the family's phones. Travel and eat out more.

It sounds mad but I’d probably still work. I only work term time on part time hours anyway, so I’d still have loads of free time to do what I wanted. But my job really helps give me a semblance of routine and structure in my life. I also like it and the people I work with so why stop doing something I enjoy?

I’d definitely be going on many more holidays, day trips and meals out to all sorts of different places. With that kind of money the extra cost of going during school holidays wouldn’t matter and I’d have many more options. I’d fill up my kids jisa’s every year and open pensions for them both and start adding to those. Would fill up my own savings accounts etc too as well as dp’s.

Would probably buy a new or barely used but not extravagant car, ours is 2012 plate and fine but if I had the money I’d definitely get a newer car.

The most important thing would be to buy a house outright. Nothing over the top but with at least 3 bedrooms, 4 would be nice but not essential and in the town we currently live in. Then probably spend a fortune on renovations/furniture. That would be the main goal before anything else. All pretty boring really but sets us up for a comfortable life.

Get up, swim, bake, cook, garden and go on holiday a lot! 😍

What do you do?

Omg I have so much I'd want to do! In no particular order:

Stop working for exh in a nanosecond.
Let dh (who turned 60 yesterday) know he can retire whenever he wants (immediately, I'm sure).

Bin off all my piano pupils I don't like - very few tbf.

Continue teaching all the lovely ones free. (Nothing at all to do with ability, by the way. I know exactly who I'd keep.)

Get my house absolutely beautiful and landscape the garden, no expense spared. Then I might rent it out for a tiny amount to a women's charity and buy somewhere a bit bigger. With a spare room or several and a garage. And by a river.

New cars all round. Pay off both dds student loans and give them both 500k or so to buy a home.

Buy my brother and his lovely gf a house so they can live together and not struggle with two too-small places due to work constraints.

Put every possible convenience in place for my elderly parents, including a home if they wanted a different one. Buy a really nice flat close to them so I can spend more time with them.

Visit my elderly relatives a few hours away more.

Go on several holidays a year.

Join a lovely health club and go all the time. Overhaul our general health and diet because I'd have the time, headspace and money to do so.

Invest plenty so we could be completely financially secure and take care of private medical/dental needs.

Explore learning new things, creative writing and interior design appeal for a start but there are loads of others.

Go to see lots of films, gigs, concerts.

Omg it's going to be so much fun. Overall key words are overarching financial stability, and choice about how to spend my time. What a dream.

Fml. It's almost Monday. 😭😭😭😭😭😭

retire, and focus on my allotment.

I'd travel and dabble in artistic pursuits. I had two great aunts who did exactly this between 1895 and 1914, when they succumbed to cholera or some other ghastly disease in Naples.