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

I wouldn't tell anyone, I also wouldn't spend it stupidly.

I think if I won a lot here’s where I’d run into difficulty - I and my family only need x amount so the right to do is give to charity yes?
Ok great - so which charity do I give it to ?
War torn country?
Famine stricken country?
Abandoned animals?
Children’s cancer?
Any cancer?
Other ailments that aren’t as well known and therefore don’t get as many donations?
Helping the homeless?
Local schools so kids have a better future?
Endless go fund me appeals that I see every day on social media?
And so on.
Do I give all the money to one group with the hope of making a huge difference or do I give smaller amounts to various groups ?
What happens if I give X amount to my local charity and find out 6 months later the organization pocketed it ? Do I just rent a hot air balloon and drop notes from the sky and whoever gets it gets it ?

Ideally I guess with a big big win , invest it in something that will give a good amount of interest so the money keeps coming and can keep on helping people while I continue to live my simple but adequate life with a decent holiday every now and then

But then people would know I had a lot of money

But what the hell! If any production company want to contact me about this, please feel free

@Saltyauntiepoop

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

My mum would have every scammer and religious nut job this side of Elvis finding ways to work on me, my husband, my DC.

She would sell sad face stories to the papers about how she is destitute and I heartlessly refused to buy her a little flat because I am so awful. The reality would be something like I had refused to do some dodgy financial thing so she could avoid taxes.

Some other family members are the sort who would openly judge absolutely every penny they could see I had spent.

I could see some of the fervent nice family members suddenly deciding I should fund their proposed vegan hats business and if I don't then moan to everyone about how I am evil. If I also fund a thing they disapprove of then go on and on about it forever.

My teenagers might decide they don't have to bother so much about exams now. They might be spoiled by never hearing/believing "no, we can't afford it."

I can see how it could ruin a life.

Yeah I don’t really need the glory of friends and family knowing I “sorted them out”. I’d rather them not know I did so that they don’t have to feel grateful to me or anything. That’s why I’d do it in secret.

I think I would do a loft extension. I honesty can’t think of anything else.

Don’t be a dick and don’t go public !

Are there any lottery winners on MN who can let us know how the lottery win has affected your life.?

Yes, come on you lottery winners! Tell us how to hide the wealth but still have fun.

I would tell family but not how much

I also think sharing the wealth would make you happier than just using it all on yourself

I have always said if we won I would buy properties for my immediate family, take everyone on a big holiday etc.

Although not a lottery win DH is set to inherit many millions when his grandparents pass so we have been thinking a lot about what to do with that kind of money as they're both in declining health unfortunately.

I think the key is not to change your life too much. So, if I won stupid amounts, I would:
Buy myself a nice 4/5 bedroom house in a nice part of town.
Buy one for my sister and brother and their families.
(this would be around 1.5million total).
Put around 100k in savings for retirement so I don't have to worry.
Give the bulk of the rest away to load charities (eg food bank and hospice- they could do so much good for so many with a couple of million each!)
When the bulk amount's gone to charity, my life is as it was- except I now have a big, mortgage free house and enough money to not have to worry too much about the future. I would probably work part time and go on lots of holidays.

I wouldn’t tell anyone- not even DH (he’d fritter it!).

I would stage it as a series of smaller wins/inheritances, so that I could buy a house with land, and treat the people I loved, without creating expectation.

A good deal would go anonymously to charity.

Put around 100k in savings for retirement so I don't have to worry.
Give the bulk of the rest away to load charities (eg food bank and hospice- they could do so much good for so many with a couple of million each!)

I would suggest financial advice in this situation. £100k is not very much to find retirement. You could live for many many years.

I would admit to winning some but not a lot. I'm good at keeping things quiet anyway, so I could get away with this, I think.

I'd quit work, but would just say I was quitting to go to uni as a mature student, something they've already been hearing about.

I don't have an overlap between work and home, so it would be easy for me to be vague about what I was doing. I'd admit to close family that I'd won enough for a house and uni and a reasonable car. Pretty sure I'd get away with it.

I think I'd cope with it fine to be honest. I'd have to get a financial advisor but I wouldn't go public. I'd treat my family and friends but I wouldn't give any to strangers.

My dad says he wouldn't tell anyone not even me just mum.

But surely me and close friends will realise when they suddenly go on a ££££ spending spree

DP and I have thought about this a lot!

No publicity.
Never admit to winning more than £10million.
Donate to and become involved in charity work.
Find an absorbing hobby.
Buy a nice house on a hot Med island
Buy a small flat in London
Significantly upgrade our main home and cars
Invest for the DC

I’d also want to pay off the mortgages of several friends and cousins.

Posted too soon...

I'd give money away anonymously, and would set up funds for my DC and DB's DC.

I have decided that if I ever win big I will keep 'only' £999,999. Give the rest away to charity. I will tell extended family i've had a windfall of a six figure sum. and try to give them a few thousand each (assuming they'll take it). Then pay off mortgage, sort out pension investments (including a little holiday cottage), put money in accounts for the kids, have a nice holiday, buy a not very extravagant car & reduce my hours at work.

Personally I’d never go with the publicity, can’t think of anything worse than doing that staged photo op with the giant cardboard cheque and popping champagne bottles!

I can think of a lot of things that are worse

As another poster has said I’d be good to the people that have helped me at my lowest and been happy for me when things were good.

I’d love to win it for obvious reasons but also imagine the people that have been in your past, ex boyfriends, ex husbands, people who’ve shit on you, people who don’t like you! Imagine how pissed they’d be

I always wonder how much money I could actually use... I reckon I'd spend a million or so on a nice house, and then keep another million or two for living costs and pension.

I'd pretty much give the rest away - make sure my parents had a decent standard of living, and give some to my sister and close friends. Then I'd support charities.

I'd make sure to spend in local businesses, and possibly set up some support for small businesses and entrepreneurs (like my own personal Dragons Den).

I wouldn't hide the fact that I'd won, but I wouldn't tell people how much. I've never been interested in things like big cars, fancy holidays and yachts, though I'd probably buy the full range of Harry Potter Lego.

Basic rules of any windfall, inheritance, savings - you don't spend more than 4% of the capital in a year. You look at it as an income, not money to get rid of!

If you want to help your cousin's brother-in-law's children (eyeroll) or otherwise squander money, you do it from your income.

If you look at that Euromillions thread, you'll see why people go broke. They're itching to sabotage themselves. It's a simple but essential mindset difference.

@The80sweregreat

I've heard the conspiracy before that the really big winners are staged and it's all ' in house' with the lottery people to keep us spending our money on tickets!

What would the point of that be?

8 billion pounds was spent on National Lottery tickets last year. About half is spent on prizes. This is pretty common to lotteries across the world. Why would you risk 8 billion pounds in turnover by allowing a catastrophic cheat mechanic into the game.

Buying lottery tickets is a pretty dumb thing to do - an idiots’ tax. But believing in a lottery conspiracy is even dumber.

A friend once said to me if she or any one of us won the lottery, we need to immediately change our Will to state that, if we were murdered, the whole lot would go to charity and no one would be left a penny! A safety net apparently.

I think I would have to play down what it was. Tell people I had won a couple of million so was getting myself a better house and going on more holidays. I would want to help out friends who I know are struggling with mortgages but would be aware of how much that could change friendships (ie they would either be so grateful or could turn resentful or could get overwhelmed by greed).

Thing is I would want to enjoy it! There’s plenty of people in my life who I would want to share it with, but like many I would want to fly first class on multiple holidays a year, move into a bigger home and renovate it exactly how I would like and do my food shop in M&S. And on my HLTA salary it would be bloody obvious that something didn’t add up

@premiumshoes

*Put around 100k in savings for retirement so I don't have to worry. Give the bulk of the rest away to load charities (eg food bank and hospice- they could do so much good for so many with a couple of million each!)*

I would suggest financial advice in this situation. £100k is not very much to find retirement. You could live for many many years.

It would be fine for me. I have a decent pension. I'd just like a safety net. I live very simply and without rent/mortgage, my outgoings would be tiny.