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

Camelot tell winners that if they don’t go public and cooperate with that stupid champagne photo shoot, they will be hunted down and papped, which will be worse for them

1. Has this ever happened?
2. How would the paparazzi find out?
3. Why would tabloid readers be interested in photos of someone they don't know from Adam, who denies having won anything?

I would hate to win a lot of money as in euromillions style win. The jealousy, disruption, being asked for money all the time..

I think a million would be nice. Go PT at work, buy a nicer but not ridiculously expensive house or do up current house, upgrade the car and have a couple of decent holidays. Rest in savings.

I would tell the lottery people to shove it and do a bit of phoning round for a nice financial advisor or accountant or whatever myself! Can't be that hard with the internet at my fingertips and banks would be banging the door down to help out I'm sure?
It's a bit off if they throw you to the wolves but doesn't surprise me really. They are a business after all.

I would lie about the amount so friends or even family don't keep coming back for more. I dont use social media much but would definitely not be posting anything to show my wealth etc.

I havent travelled mushc so I'd just go spend a few years travelling, people csnt follow you if they sont really know where you are and your not posting on social media.

Keep it secret and no big changes for six months.

Work with specialist advisors that the lottery works with and will introduce you too when you win.

Buy appreciating assets.

I think the main mistake a lot of the winners make is not consulting a financial advisor of some sort. It's easy to think a million pounds is infinite money and you can do what you want forever. But once the mortgage is paid off/a house is bought, there really all that much left and if you've never had more than a couple grand to your name, you just don't know how to handle it.

How the hell would your life by ruined by that? What a stretch.

These threads come up on here every now and then and always have lots of people saying they'd keep it a secret. I guess I'm lucky to have a nice family (and friends, although there's less luck involved in that!) but I don't think it would be a problem at all. Depending on how much I won, I'd share it around a bit, buy everyone a house, maybe, and that's that. Buy myself a big house in the sun, a few cars, invest/save some to live off the interest and donate a lot.

I know someone who won 6million ish. It has turned them into money crazed beings who seeks to make the most - the interest alone is eye watering! It has in different ways fractures every relationship in the family as they have tried to buy and bribe everyone into doing what they want. What a waste - I would ah e had a bloody good time sharing it around and making my cat cafe free to eat in:)

I always dream about winning the lottery, I know lots of people have struggled but honestly almost (if not all) my problems would be solved with a big lottery win 🤣 i would love to choose my dream home and lovely holidays. I would tell family and friends but I wouldn't go public on the news/newspapers. I couldn't sit there with all that money in the bank and not help family out and my family would definitely question how I could afford my new mansion when I get it! (I will win one day 🤣)

I have it all planned out if I won a million. I would tell nobody. Would buy a beautiful house with no mortgage. Put a sizeable amount away for lavish holidays (not to be splashed all over social media), put a chunk in each child’s savings account and continue life as we are with more eating out, day trips, nice outfits, cleaner, gardener etc and would cut down my working hours. More than that and I would inform a select few people and give them a sizeable amount of money.

DH and I have a plan for this.
We would buy land and re wild it, maybe open a family campsite close to it and spend time teaching the value of nature. We would run it not for profit and make sure that it was fully inclusive/accessible.
Maybe offer work opportunities/training for young people with learning difficulties.
We both have experience of similar schemes so not too unachievable for us. We just need the win

Camelot tell winners that if they don’t go public and cooperate with that stupid champagne photo shoot, they will be hunted down and papped, which will be worse for them

Maybe in the early days, or for the massive Euromillions winners, but surely the media interest waned in the rest years ago?

I have never bought a lottery ticket, so I am probably not the person to answer this, but if I won I would set up a charitable foundation and make running it and deciding what good causes to support my full-time job. I think it would be hugely fulfilling and a lot of fun.

My df had a big win about 20 years ago. Under pressure from his dw he dumped me and my dc.
Nice big house and zero family..
Sounds like a loser not a winner to me.
Much rather have my life!!

It would change you. People may say it wouldn't and it would be fine for a while but eventually things would creep in : better car or more gadgets or more exotic holidays. I would love someone to write a piece and interview the big winners. The young Scottish lady I said about wasn't happy : she said she lived it up for a while but it caused so much resentment from her peers. She became very depressed.
That would be so hard for me : even if you helped out people they might still be jealous and fall out with you.
It is the root of all evil in my book.

I always thought I’d help people without them knowing it was me. So I’d find a way for them to get some money from me with them thinking it was a competition or some shares a relative left them. Maybe a happy birthday card addresses to someone else every year with £1k in it.

As for me, I know I’d not waste it. I’ve been poorer than poor, I‘d be too scared to spend a penny.

I really think it depends on your priorities. I do know of a couple who won the Irish Lotto. They paid off their mortgage and did some basically upgrading of their house over the next few years. They have done nothing flashy. They still worked up to retirement age etc. 95% of their life has not changed. Their kids hold down normal jobs/rent houses etc.

I know of another family who had a large but not lifechanging amount
They are very flashy, spend money on the latest trend etc. They would pay for everyones meal in a restaurant. Money is running out and so are the so called friends.

Jack your job in, buy a nice house, go travelling but don't give any money to anyone, not even friends or family, and make it clear at the beginning that you won't do this and certainly don't publicise yourself in the press.

You wouldn't have to actually lie about how much you'd won at all. If you win £100m, you just tell your nearest and dearest "I won £1.36m on the lottery" (I'd go for a non-round figure) or even "I have just had a big lottery win and am now the proud owner of a bank account with £1.36m in it". A lie would be to say "I have won a grand total of £1.36m on the lottery"; but putting it one of the first ways would be completely true as you have won the amount you said - it just so happens you've also won a lot more as well (maybe in a different account)!

I have promised the dog that if I win the lottery I’ll pay someone to dress up in a squirrel suit and run around the garden for her. It’s the only way she’ll ever catch a live one.

Oh I have often thought about this.

On my side of the family, there is only my sister, her husband and daughter. I would make sure my sister a hefty amount so she could buy the house she has always wanted, and put some money by for my niece. My 2 close friends (who are also like sisters to me) I would give a hefty amount too.

DH’s family well if it were up to me I would only give one brother and one sister (he has 3 brothers and 3 sisters and his mum). If it were up to me I would give the rest fuck all we never see them anyway and they are so 2 faced!

My 2 kids I would make sure were set up for life. The oldest cannot find permanent employment so I would buy a flat for and a car but he would only get an allowance every month (equivalent of working at minimum wage for his age) and he would need to pay his bills (except mortgage and car payments).
The youngest is still at school so would still be living at home, he is working towards going to Uni so I would be able to do that for him.

The rest I would out into charity.

I dint even know if I would move house, I love my house, so I would get it decorated exactly the way I would like it.

Both DH and I would give up our jobs and go on holidays. I wouldn’t change anything else.
It wouldn’t make much of a difference to my life except the travelling but it would make a massive difference to my kids, sister and friends’ lives.

You can see I’ve put a lot of thought into it lol . Oh I would buy myself a lovely designer handbag.

Tell them to go fuck themselves.

Haven’t RTFT but I think it depends on what kind of person you are and how much you win.

Back when normal lottery wins were £5-6million - it’s easy to see how people end up depressed and worse off in the end. Some people with this amount of money would go nuts - buy a massive home, few flash cars etc and generally flash it about and then when their left with a massive home they can’t afford to run, and a load of cars on the drive that they can’t maintain it feels like a long way down.

For me, if I won the jackpot euro millions, I’d go for no publicity but would share it equally amongst close friends and family. So, say I won £80m, and there were 8 family units (including us) that we wanted to share with, we would get £10m each. That way, everyone you know and love are in the exact same boat. You can live similar lives and share experiences with each other. And nobody needs £80m!!

If we won say, £5m... I wouldn’t go that crazy. Modest but nice house, one nice car and investments so you could actually live on that win for the rest of your life - as well as leaving something for future generations.

I think it’s ultimately greed that gets people.

Can you tell I’ve thought about this A LOT... I don’t even play the lottery

@The80sweregreat

The couple that won a huge amount split up and he ended up with a younger woman. It doesn't always bring happiness!

If you mean the Bayfords she gets everything she deserves. She has treated so many people appallingly.

And that brings me on to my win. I wouldn't go public but equally I don't know how I could buy a new house/car without raising suspicion. I suppose the answer is to relocate, I wouldn't uproot the kids though so that's out of the question. I would be worried of all the negative press, people selling stories and beggars that come along with huge wins.

I'm still up for it though 🤞🏻