How do you stop your life being ruined by a lottery win??

[Foliageeverywhere122]

Inspired by the euromillions thread!

Ever the optimist, I started thinking about how exciting it would be if I won...and then started thinking about all those news articles you see in the daily fail about people who claim their lives were ruined by it.

So how do you actually enjoy a lottery win? Has anyone won (or inherited) a large sum of money and has advice? :D

Tell people that you’ve won the lottery but a much smaller amount, say £20,000? Splash it about a bit to keep everyone happy, pay off your mortgage or move to a better house bought outright. Invest the rest and spend it gradually.

You'd have to be pretty well off to start with to hide a £100m win.

We don't own our own home, we don't drive. If we won the lottery we'd need to buy at least a 4 bed house, learn to drive and buy a decent sized car. We couldn't pass that off as anything other than a windfall.

If it was one huge week I might hold out and tell people after a smaller win but I think the only answer really is sharing it.

Even if I could pass of the house and car as "I win a competition", "the mortgage dealer is on crack", could I come seeing my sister struggling to buy or my friend struggling with homes that don't meet their child's additional needs?

I think the bitterness of having to lie about everything would eat you up.

However DH would keep drawing and writing and I'd look at opening a small business I could dip in and out of

I’d check the winner amounts and choose to say that I’d won on a week where it was around £2mllion - or might have to say £1mil which is 5 plus bonus looking at the latest results. My plan for £1mil is simple - pay off mortgage, then £250k flat in trust for each child rented out until they are old enough to live in it or sell it and get mortgage on a house.

We love our house so wouldn’t move, without paying off a mortgage at £1k/month we could get away with having flashier holidays without suspicion. I could then quietly choose what we do with the multimillions to do some good. I have a fantasy that probably wouldn’t work about buying a crappy boarded up property I’ve seen, Converting it into basic rooms with a bed and sink, wipe clean surfaces and employing security and cleaning staff, and having homeless rooms available on the basis that you talk to a counsellor that would be there to in the evening and morning. My fantasy world is nothing like reality and I can see how it wouldn’t work but in my head it’s a great idea

I think the bitterness of having to lie about everything would eat you up.

you genuinely have to do what makes YOU happy.
I wouldn't be bitter at all. NO ONE (apart from my boss and the tax man) has a clue how much exactly we earn, how much we have already paid. No one knows how much we spend to go on holiday - after all, a beach is a beach

It's pretty obvious we earn more than the minimum wage, but no one would know about a ridiculous influx of cash. So I think I should win really

People get funny around me, I remember Oprah saying how one family member was really bitter about the car she bought them as it wasn't "good enough". I would help people (I already do even if there's little I can do), but not make them resent me about it.

Imagine your kids are set up for life, no more worry about paying for their education, their 1st car, their wedding, their 1st home. If you use it wisely, money is one of the greatest blessings in life. It's not all, but it wipes out so many problems and gives you freedom.

Even whilst we were all stuck in lockdown, the really rich were jetsetting across Europe whilst having access to the best medical care should they need it...

@bossyrossy

Tell people that you’ve won the lottery but a much smaller amount, say £20,000? Splash it about a bit to keep everyone happy, pay off your mortgage or move to a better house bought outright. Invest the rest and spend it gradually.

I wish £20000 would pay off my mortgage

How do you stop your life being ruined by a lottery win?

I'll tell you on Friday.

I don't actually have much family or friends so I'd give them all a million or so and then swim in my cash filled swimming pool. I'd probably not specify the amount I won except to my best friend.

Not that I want a swimming pool. I don't even want that big a house. I'd only have to clean it! I have people in my house so wouldn't want a cleaner.

I'd give a lot to charity. Set up trust funds for my kids. Buy my oldest his own place. Probably buy somewhere with an annex for my second who can't live independently so he can still have a bit of freedom but I'm still on hand to help out. I wouldn't want a really flashy car, I'm happy with the one I have so would probably keep it for a bit.

A nice holiday with my kids would definitely be a priority.

And now I'm off to Rightmove to decide which house I want.

This is so true. Someone I know won 10 million. He was splashed all over the tabloids, other guys targeted him if he went out and would try and start fights etc. His life was literally hell for quite a while. Felt sorry for him. I saw him after he'd won and he thanked me for not selling him out to the papers as many of his "friends" and ex partners had done.

I think starting your "business" is an excellent idea.

There must be a lottery winner around here: she has a "shop" with a few shabby-chic pieces of furniture, and said shop only seemed to be randomly opened a couple of hours a week! (pre-lockdown). We always assumed it was the bored wife of a rich banker, maybe it was just someone cleverly using their business as an explanation for a sudden windfall.

Share it wisely with friends and loved ones so you keep the equilibrium and keep your friends.

I would keep it secret and use it to enhance my life, not change it dramatically.

So I wouldn't be buying a huge mansion and a really expensive car, I would buy a nicer than average house in an area that I like and a couple of overseas places. Knowing that I had security and the choice to live my life how I want would be enough for me. I would then use the money to help out (secretly) people that I know are in desperate need of it. So for example, if I heard that someone was at risk of losing their home, I'd secretly step in and pay for it. You know how sometimes on here you here of women who have had the dirty done on them by their husbands but they are financially dependent? How nice would it be to secretly step in and help to get them set up in a new life? I smile just thinking about it

Basically I would constantly be on the lookout for people that were in desperate need of help and be their guardian angel. Be able to do this would give me more pleasure than living like the Kardashians.

hear

@SantaClaritaDiet I suspect your not a one income family with a take home below 30k living in tenured accommodation with no car. Of course people wouldn't believe we could suddenly afford to buy a 4 bed house and a large car (3 car seats and 6ft husband). If you're already well off people will trust an influx of money is hussy hard work and investment

Of course not SleepingStandingUp
but you would still have the choice to either delay any obvious spending (just splash on food, hair dressers, clothes allegedly "second hand" and luxury holiday)
and start a "business"

or lie about the actual amount, have an "inheritance" from someone and have just enough money for a deposit and so on. No one needs to know you are 109 million richer! I genuinely believe the risk of people being resentful and jealous is not worth it, apparently most people are not grateful for gifts, just bitter they "only" got xyz when you have so many millions.

When I win I let you know how I handle the money, I am guessing it will be very painfree

I honestly don't think you can. It's why I don't play.

I would admit to a much smaller win or anonymously gift family/friends money and pretend I had also had an anonymous gift of £1million! That way I could donate without people knowing it was me and be able to explain away my new house, car, etc.
I wouldn't feel comfortable in a massive mansion, it's not what I'm used to so it wouldn't look obvious to outsiders that we'd come into money.

Unfortunately, my family (especially DM), are major gossips and I don't think I'd be able to trust them to keep schtum.

The first of many. I wouldn’t tell anyone until i have personal finances then family sorted out. The begging bowl would come out from long lost ‘friends’ especially

There's a huge difference between the UK lottery, where you might get a million or two, and the Euro Millions, where it can get up to 100 mil easily.

With one million I'd buy a nice house (where I am, you can get a perfectly nice 4-bed detached for around the high 300K mark), and I'd put the rest in the bank. I would carry on working, doing what I do now.

100 mil though... Different kettle of fish! I'd buy the same house in my hometown as I'd get with the 1 mil, but I'd also get a couple of mil crash pad in the centre of London. Pre-lockdown, I'm often there for the theatre and the like, and I'd love a more permanent place to stay for a couple of months a year. I don't think I'd be interested in having a place abroad... That's what 5* hotels are for.

@SantaClaritaDiet

I think starting your "business" is an excellent idea.

There must be a lottery winner around here: she has a "shop" with a few shabby-chic pieces of furniture, and said shop only seemed to be randomly opened a couple of hours a week! (pre-lockdown). We always assumed it was the bored wife of a rich banker, maybe it was just someone cleverly using their business as an explanation for a sudden windfall.

There's a restaurant near us which serves terrible food and is always empty. We could never understand how it was still going. I had wondered if it might be some Money Laundering scam, but you've got me thinking now. Maybe the owner won the lottery...

I would love to have won one of the lotto prizes some time ago (might have been on a scratchcard) which was £40,000 a year for life. Mega millions would cause too much stress, I think.

@SantaClaritaDiet

Of course not SleepingStandingUp but you would still have the choice to either delay any obvious spending (just splash on food, hair dressers, clothes allegedly "second hand" and luxury holiday) and start a "business"

or lie about the actual amount, have an "inheritance" from someone and have just enough money for a deposit and so on. No one needs to know you are 109 million richer! I genuinely believe the risk of people being resentful and jealous is not worth it, apparently most people are not grateful for gifts, just bitter they "only" got xyz when you have so many millions.

When I win I let you know how I handle the money, I am guessing it will be very painfree

Def agree about leaving it a few weeks and being less than honest about how much. I guess it's the difference between "what would happen if you were rich" and"what would happen if you were richer". £1million would change our lives, for friends of ours it would enhance their life.

I don't think anyone would believe my coffee / book shop was doing well enough for me to tell my friend I was buying her a house!

The kids and I thought through this carefully as it’s bound to happen soon - so based on 100 mill:

1. stay in our house but do all the things we want to it.
2. all kids (about 10) in family get set up for education and some money for houses etc.
3. all adults, including me, in family have mortgages paid off and enough to do what they like, retire early in major style, build a business etc. This is probably the halfway point.
4. people who have been there through the shit times all get money towards kids education, mortgages paid, new cars. We know who these people are so this was an easy list.
5. both schools get kitted out and foundations set up to help families in need in the long term
6. any leftovers go to local causes

Overall strategy is spreading it wide

I’ve said we wouldn’t tell the papers and would buy a house near to where we currently live so school and work is still easy.

I would like to make both sets of parents mortgage free and would then gift some to siblings, but they’d only get the one lot, as I’m not a bank and if they choose to flush it down the loo then that’s their choice but I’m not being a mug and providing an extravagant lifestyle as a given. I wouldn’t tell friends and would just say we’d been gifted the deposit for a house and used the saved £££ on rent to buy a more reliable car.

If my in-laws won they’d bend over backwards to help one SIL who actually has the best set up and needs the financial support the least/none at all. They’d even feel guilty using a big win to make themselves comfortable because of it. It’s all guilt based.

My parents on the other hand won a chunk of money last year. They have properties (some jointly owned) already and are mortgage free on their ‘main’ property.
Mortgage free place and holiday home are because they’ve had inheritance from both sets of parents.
Last years win was definitely just ‘fun’ money and they gave me 1.5k of it. It paid for 3 night/4 day at a U.K. holiday place (we’ve had 1 holiday in 10 years), I shared a few hundred between my children’s bank accounts and I put some into a h2b ISA that I already have.
The thing is my parents tied themselves into knots considering using the full win as a deposit to get a buy to let for my sibling to live in, as they’d once again muffed up a relationship and had to move out of the flat they were renting with their partner. With the view that they could live in it at the very low mortgage repayment cost - lower than renting from anyone else!! They even went to viewings together!! The plonker said no!! and after 6 months was/is in a semi relationship with the ex again

But they couldn’t even consider giving us an extra 3.5k (so a total of 5k) to buy a better secondhand car, unless we made it some sort of car share (they both have their own cars?!?) And really they couldn’t just give us the extra because they’d have to do the same for my sibling. The funny thing is I wasn’t to expect a flat. 🤨🤔

I sound really bitter in my post really though I’d like to make everyone comfortable and also support small charities and be able to look after animals. I just don’t want anyone think I’m a cash cow.
Until I reached my early 20s I wanted to have a small holding where children who’d never left the city could have an experience like they would if they visited somewhere like godstone farm.l but I’d pay for it all, make it magical.

I never do it because I don’t want to win.

Should I ever change my mind, I would leave the country.

@FrankskinnerscRoc

I never do it because I don’t want to win.

Should I ever change my mind, I would leave the country.

You'd have the country rather than play the lottery? Extreme ...

I'm off to check my results