If you won on the Premium Bonds / Lottery

[SeptemberSuns]

I won £50 on the Premium Bonds yesterday, I was really pleased. It's not a lot of money but better than nothing. It got me thinking about winning the big prize.

A million probably wouldn't be enough to give up work and live the life of luxury but would go a long way to making life a damn sight easier! I could go part time, pay off the mortgage, or even move to a nicer area, have a nice car. Stop the worries about retirement.

It would change my life for the better no doubt, but I don't think I'd tell a single soul. My mum would tell my brother and his wife and kids and they'd no doubt expect. My partner is a tight stingy well-off person who doesn't share any of his wealth with me or even treat me occasionally. My friends are always talking about how wealthy they are.

Would you tell anyone and if not, why not? There must be others like me out there??? I'm only talking about a lottery win or PBs - winning a lot of money.

If I won a million I’d spend 1/3 (clear mortgage, credit cards, and have a bloody good holiday or 5) and put the other half in a high interest instant access account. I’d probably keep working but drop to part time for 2 or 3 years, then I’d retires. 40k interest a year + compound interest, would more than cover my bills and leave me with plenty for fun.

I wouldn’t tell anyone.

The best approach is to tell no one (or very few). Make no changes for 6 months while you process it. Take advantage of the counselling that the lottery offers to winners. Only increase spending very slowly.

If I won £1m I would pay off debt and ear mark packets for expenses I know will come in the years ahead. Keep working.

If £100m+ then put it all in trust work for a year but take more unpaid leave to extend holidays and then ease down. Then experiment with some activities that could develop in to passion.

I know what I'd do with it - house, holiday, gifts to family. Not sure if I'd tell anyone other than I had a 'nice little win'. I'd probably have to tell my lovely MIL to get her to take the money for a private hip operation. This would be the first thing I'd do once the money cleared.

We're very fortunate to have lovely close family, so we would be able to tell them.

I'd pay off our mortgage and buy a property that my parents could move in to, to give them security as they are renting. I'd give my DB and DSIL some money too as they are wanting a bigger house.

Out of £1m that would still leave about £500k, so I'd buy myself a nice new car, book a fancy holiday, chuck the maximum amount I can in to a pension each year and invest what's left.

Not having a mortgage would make a massive difference to our lives and although we'd carry on working, it would give us the flexibility to reduce our hours a bit.

I'll keep dreaming with you OP!

Oh this is interesting

"ow much interest on 1 million pounds a day? Assuming you deposit £1 million in a high-interest savings account, you could earn £123.29 of interest per day at a 4.5% interest rate. Alternatively, you could earn £87.67 of interest per day with an easy access savings account at a 3.2% interest rate.16 Jun 2023"

I'd be very happy with £123 a day for the rest of my life and could easily live on that.

We won £50 too :)

DD checks our numbers but maybe we should stop doing that in case we win BIG...

DH would retire if he won £1 million on the premium bonds. The most either of us has won is £100.

I did get a small windfall (sadly nowhere near a million :) ) when my father died some years ago. I paid off the mortgage at that point (there was about £60K left to pay off), bought my mum a new (second hand) car, bought us a new (second hand) car, bought a bit of new furniture and put the rest into savings (which we have gradually spent on holidays and another newer second hand car).

First priority should be to pay off debts and then enjoy the rest, don't just save (all of) it long-term. A rainy day may never happen!

Can you give more info on this please? What sort of investments?

The basic principle is that you invest the capital (usually stocks and bonds but could be anything) in a way that will generally generate an above inflation return. You then draw down an amount each year that leaves the capital (+inflation) untouched.

Here's the basic principle https://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/four-percent-rule.asp

If I won a million that is what I would do with (most of*) it. It'd give freedom for life. I might work for a bit longer as I enjoy my job but would salary sacrifice as much as possible from my work income so that I had a decent pension capital too.

*I would also go on a fabulous holiday

PS I know link is about retirement but the basic principle applies at any age, though you might want to be a bit cautious. If you already have a pension set up for old age then you could be less cautious.

Either way £1M would give quite a lot of freedom.

It's untaxed though so equivalent to a £31k wage, which is around the average. So if half the population can live on less, then surely it's possible to never work again?
Plus if you're a bit older so only have 25 more working years left it's equivalent to a wage of about £54k a year.
Albeit of course you wouldn't also be paying into a private pension/might not accrue enough for full state pension.

Basically I'm saying I would absolutely retire!!! Possibly go back at some point to a different job very part time. I'd rather not work than live a luxurious life - 25 to 40k of spending money a year is more than enough for me!

It's untaxed though so equivalent to a £31k wage, which is around the average. So if half the population can live on less, then surely it's possible to never work again?

I spend ages thinking about this kind of thing. The only problem with your hypothesis is that a £31k wage would rise with inflation, but interest on dwindling capital might not keep up with this as time went on

Won £100 this month, holding out for the big one, I have the full amount invested. Normally win something most months.

£100000 to 2 DC and 2 DSC = £400000
Buy a villa/property in Spain, up to = £300000/400000
Use the remaining £200000/300000 to live on.
DH (65) is already retired, mortgage is paid, I (55) would give up work.

Would also pay my remaining NI contributions!

I'd buy the house I rent and the one next door, knock them down and build one bigger one. Just a three or four bed, but that would be bigger than it is currently. I really like the site and we've done lots to the garden, so wouldn't want to move. I claim it was an inheritance.

I know someone who won a million on millionaire maker about ten years ago. They have some equity in their house as they used some of it to get on the housing ladder but spent the rest and money is now tight.

I fantasise about this all the time. A million would be nice enough to be mortgage free and some nice holidays etc but I’d still work, just wouldn’t need to work so hard and for so long! I would tell nobody!

I’d give about £300,000 to my ex husband so he could be mortgage free and could give the kids a nice lifestyle and not too much disparity between mums lifestyle and dads lifestyle as that wouldn’t be cool for them.

£425,000 pays off my mortgage.

Id take financial advice as to what to put in my pension but can imagine it probably should be about £150k-£200k as I don’t have a great pension.

That leaves £75-£125k to top up my current lifestyle with a new car, set aside uni fees for kids and some nice holidays and keep a good chunk in savings, mindful I’d like to give the kids a little step up in life as well. I might drop to 3.5 days a week in my job as well as I like my job but full time is stressful and I’d have less outgoings with no mortgage. I’d use the extra time at home for gardening, house decoration, being around for kids more generally and having time for exercise. The DREAM

My husband and I have discussed this at length over the years.

We have agreed not to tell anyone.

We would have a nice chunk in the bank, we would be able to give nice Christmas and birthday presents and palm it off as extra overtime.

We have worked really hard over the years, scrimped and saved hard for what we have, I love my home, but it needs money spending on it, but I think we will probably sell it one day and downsize, we have never spent more than £2,000 on a car, and that wouldn’t change, we’ve only had four cars in 38 years.

I would love a camper and travel the U.K. and parts of Europe, but like you, I only won £50 on Tuesday - so it’s back to work for me and my husband - Good luck everyone tonight on the lottery

Name changed for this. I have this, it wasn’t a lottery win but was a life insurance payout.

I cleared my mortgage and was left with £1m. House is worth £1m too. I put £100k for each of the kids into high interest bonds which will be their house deposits.

i have £100k in easy access accounts and just over £700k invested with a very good fund manager. I work just less than full time and live off my £50k salary. Holidays and luxuries come out of the easy access money. I don’t draw down anything from the investments at the moment. Currently I could draw down £45k a year but it’s estimated to be the equivalent of £75k when I retire if I limit dipping into it

My kids share an 8 year old car, I have a nice car on lease. We do lovely holidays, kids have all the activities and school trips they like. They take the loans for uni and I am not paying their fees although I obviously top them up so they are comfortable. I don’t worry about money at all but I nobody apart from my sister and parents know what I have, not even my children.

it’s enough for a very lovely life but not enough to start giving handouts or living as extravagantly as you might expect

As I am over 50, I reckon if I won a million I could donate some to charity and then live off the rest with the interest on top.

I am fairly frugal however due to not having much income in the first place. And have no desire for a flashy lifestyle etc. Although I would probably move, as I miss not living in a house. But I only need a small place.

Would I tell people? I am not sure. I certainly would not be telling friends and family straight away. I might be inclined to say I had won some money but not the jackpot.

I also would possibly carry on working on a part time basis.

I have heard about the 4% rule before, thankyou for sharing :). I wanted to know what specifically to invest in but I figure just stocks and shares ISA, index funds etc.?

I'd be tempted to admit to a 'smaller' win. Perhaps equivalent to most of my mortgage or something. Then I'd give some to charity and the rest to my kids. I wouldn't tell anyone the full amount though as can imagine they'd all be clamouring for money, when very few people have actually been kind when in my hour of need. They can sod off!

No I don't think I would tell anyone if I'm honest. I'd rather treat my close friends to nice treat on mecwithout explanation.

So many people have let me down in the past, I honestly think I need to get tougher on protecting myself. A friend promised me a spa trip for a year when she came into cash ( we both would have paid our own share) but when she got her cash she went with her dd and it was like our conversations had never happened. We must have had that convo about 20 times over a year or two. I think that was the culmination in a lot of events. I'd treat her but I wouldn't promise some grand gesture. 1 million who get me a 4 bed family house in my village without much change. I'd get the house and upgrade my 9 year old car. That's it

I wanted to know what specifically to invest in

At the risk of sounding facetious, we would all like to know that! The standard advice is a broadly-based index, which goes up and down with the market. However, there are always investment sectors that do better than the average. At the moment, as the first world is ageing, any index based on healthcare innovation is likely to perform okay. Or, in a developing country or region, you might decide that infrastructure is the way to go as once it's built there ahould be a steady long term payback. Just examples, and definitely not investment advice.

With a million I'd pay off the mortgage and then invest the rest, and still work but make decent pension over payments so I could retire earlier if I wish to (I love my job but have health issues)

If I won' the euro millions though the main thing I get really excited is planning how I would give at least half away to charities and similar causes. I love thinking about all the ways I could really benefit the world. It's a sector I have worked in so I have some very detailed ideas how I would do it and I really love thinking about it. I'd quit my job once they'd lined up my replacement and focus on my charity work

(I would keep enough money for a nice bit not over the top life and ensure the children have a good financial cushion, and find a way to secretly make some gifts to people I know who are really struggling)

Well it tells you in that link what the original research was based on. No-one can tell you what you should invest in in the future. I suppose the boring but safer option is a cheap global tracker possibly with a bond fund. Probably best to pay for advice if you want a tailored answer

I think it's difficult to keep totally secret, so I would probably tell people I'd had a small win but play it down