To think winning £110M overnight would solve a lot of problems but bring a whole set of new ones?

[SereneFinch]

Someone in the UK won £110M last night and I was just thinking about how they’re feeling this morning.

All your money worries are gone, you can buy a nice house, quit your job etc.

But I wonder if those problems are replaced with new ones. Some people in your life might be jealous. Or expect handouts and get angry about who gets what.

And then your DC. Do you tell them they still need to do their homework? That they’ll still need to have a job/career one day?

I’m not saying it wouldn’t be great, I'm just wondering if it swaps one set of problems for another.

I’ve already planned for this situation.
I would get the first flight to the Maldives, and spend 10 days considering my new reality, and making a proper plan. I’ve hypothetically allocated about £100k for that trip. 😂

It would create comfort, yes, without a doubt, but would it solve real problems for a person? I always think of that Russian oligarch's daughter who killed herself in her Knightsbridge mansion, A-student, having performed in the Festival or Royal Albert Hall the week before. And how her distraught dad fought tooth and nail to change her death certificate to say 'misadventure' rather than what really happened.

My point is that it’s possible to spend some or all of that money with nobody knowing.

On a more personal level, you could explain acquiring some assets or moving up the ladder a bit in terms of property by lying that you’ve had an inheritance. Or you could become a buy to let landlord, invest in businesses, go away on expensive holidays by lying that you’ve gone away to look after sick relatives. There are so many things you could do to stay on the down-low with this amount of money.

Perhaps I should do the lottery. I'd really enjoy being a secret Santa type who left gits for people who are struggling. We've done it once and it's more difficult than you might think. I still dont know if the intended recipient actually got it as it was under cover of darkness left at their home when I knew they were out.

I volunteer for a grant making charity and I absolutely love getting to tell someone we have agreed to fund their request. It's the best feeling.

Both my daughters have a strong work ethic, DD1 in particular and she really values her independence. They recently moved into a flat together and I offered to help with the deposit and got a furious response.

I would really feel I had failed as a parent if either of them were to be found on Rich Kids of Instagram.
Plus I've seen a few rich kids go downhill with pointless lives and drugs etc, not to mention many in the public eye. Brooklyn Beckham (not saying he does drugs, I wouldn't know) is a picture of a wasted life imo and honestly, he must get so bored surely?
Now that mine are older I daresay they might choose to set up some foundation or something to pursue particular causes that interest them rather than going off the rails with it but personally I'd want them to carry on in their current jobs that they love so best not tell them for a while.

Some wealthy families fail spectacularly with their children, the revolting 12th Duke of Marlborough being a prize example, he's currently on bail for DV, strangulation of his ex wife and coercive control, he's utterly drug raddled and probably doesn't have many of his few brain cells left.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/feb/05/duke-of-marlborough-court-controlling-coercive-behaviour-charges

However some families do seem to get it right, in particular the Grosvenor's.
I'm sorry I can't do a share token for the Times article about Lady Edwina Grosvenor, but she is very impressive and from my memory of reading the article when it came out, has personally funded a considerable part of her charitable projects.

AI Overview:

Lady Edwina Grosvenor is a leading English criminologist, prison reformer, and philanthropist who has dedicated over two decades to transforming the criminal justice system and supporting vulnerable women and children. 1, 2, 3]
Key Motivations & Early Beginnings
Childhood Impact: In multiple interviews, she shares that her dedication stems from two formative experiences before age 16. At age 12, her parents took her to a drug rehabilitation center on Hope Street in Liverpool, where she met heroin users. At age 15, she volunteered at a homeless and family support shelter called Save the Family. 1, 2]
Early Prison Exposure: During her gap year at age 18, she visited Central Jail in Kathmandu, Nepal, where she helped remove innocent young children from the prison environment, sparking her lifelong commitment to prison reform. 1, 2]
Major Charitable Work & Projects
The Clink Restaurant Chain: In 2009, she became the founding investor and an ambassador for The Clink, a charity and fine-dining restaurant chain operating within English and Welsh prisons that trains serving prisoners in catering to reduce reoffending. 1, 2]
One Small Thing: In 2014, she launched her own charity, One Small Thing, with the mission to redesign the justice system for women and their children and bring trauma-informed care into the sector. 1, 2]
Hope Street: She spearheaded Hope Street in Southampton, a pioneering residential community designed as a community-based alternative to custody for women in the justice system, allowing mothers to stay with their children and access vital local support

www.thetimes.com/uk/crime/article/lady-edwina-grosvenor-hope-street-interview-d329njmd9

I can see how it would mess a lot of people up, especially as a lot of folk see it as the ultimate success and achievement, but unless all that money can buy you peace of mind, then you could still be miserable, lonely, depressed, with a new set of problems that money can't fix.

If you use it wisely and try to do everything in moderation, I think it could be a nice problem to have, but I certainly don't think it brings happiness. Sometimes the opposite... When you see people with enormous wealth but in bad health; I'm pretty sure they'd give it all up in heartbeat to have their health restored, or if they're particularly old, perhaps to buy back more years.

*Friend, late 50's, parents well off, had private school education, never applied himself to school or work. Always said he "didn't need to - the inheritance comes to me!" Parents die, he got nothing and his kids are now sitting on £250k each!

I wouldn't stop working. And I already answered "how" I would invest in my child further up.

I feel that I would be put out of my siblings won such a large amount and didn’t give me some . I know that sounds grabby and probably why it could bring problems with people who have gone no contact with friends and family and suddenly win life changing amounts , especially if they get to hear about it somehow or guess that they are suddenly rich. I bet the fall outs could be epic with some people! It could be a minefield unless you said ‘oh , it wasn’t that much ‘ but people can check now what the jackpot is.
Im in a syndicate , so I’d say we had to share a lot of it if anyone found out who I didn’t want to know.
Hiding things is so hard these days as you can look up things ( that new house they have was up for millions !)
You’d have to be careful.

Brooklyn beckham is only 27, harsh to say his life’s been wasted already given he’s tried his hand at a couple of things (modelling and photography) and not got into trouble.

”strong work ethic” is fine, but I think it would be really bloody depressing to dedicate 40 hours a week to some corporate bollocks when your parent has access to enough money to cover several generations. They could set up a charity, an animal sanctuary, humanitarian work, research that no one wants to fund. All badly or unpaid stuff that still has worth.

id set them up with a property and salary from a trusf fund rather than lump of cash so they can’t waste it accidentally.

No, sorry, I literally could not think of a single downside to getting £110m overnight. Of course I'd share with people who are currently in my life, and where we both make an effort to keep in touch.

I'd also not go public as I'm not an attention seeker.

If anyone who doesn't bother with me now found out I'd won money, and came begging, they would be told where to go.

I have 25 quid until invoices are paid on Wednesday. I'd love to have whatever problems suddenly winning over a 100 million brings with it.

I wouldn’t tell my DC if I won the lottery. I would just tell my partner and we wouldn’t tell anyone else. We would have to plan very carefully about the way forward first.

I think this sort of money would be hard to keep secret really.Its like u move into a house .Pickle Cottage(I know I know but its my favourite innit!) Kids go to a private school, and your car gets an upgrade or 3. People will talk

Steady! Can already tell this has gone to your head! 😆

I’d be very worried about security which would take the edge off a win this big - you couldn’t really announce it. I wouldn’t want to live in a big, secluded house either as I wouldn’t want live-in staff or security personnel constantly there.

I’d give all family members a million so that’d get rid of about 30 million. Then i’d treat good friends (pay off mortgages, go on all expenses holidays together). I’d give another 30 million to charity. We’d give up work and travel a lot in style and I’d get a beautiful house by the sea with a home gym and employ a part time housekeeper and chef and a personal trainer. I’d also retain a mansion flat in London with a concierge. Dc would probably enjoy doing ‘hobby’ jobs like tennis coaching or work in an art gallery part time.

Id happily deal with those problems over mine

My dad always said he could habe won lottery and no one would know... just dont tell anyone!

If anyone finds themselves with massive problems after winning £110m, I'll gladly take a few mill off their hands to help them out.

I read this book based on a recommendation on a MN thread about lottery wins. I spent the whole time I was reading it going “no, no, no don’t that”

My plan is not to tell anyone, select a team of solicitors, accountants etc to help me invest the money so it grows, sort out wills, LPAs etc. Then slowly upgrade my life to nicer home etc but not a mansion, donate 10% of the income to charity and help out specific people. My big expense would be travel which I already do but it would be upgraded. Eventually I would admit a smaller lottery win e.g. £14m but not the larger amount.

For people who say £111m isn’t a lot it’s all relative. To those of us on average incomes it’s an obscene amount but to a billionaire it’s a drop in the ocean.

A couple near me won one of the highest ever Euro jackpots.

They were caught up in all the excitement and went public with it the following day.

They had to abandon their house almost straight away for their own security, the local Royal Mail depot ended up agreeing to destroy all post sent to the house as they were getting sacks worth everyday from all over the world begging for money including lots of pictures of seriously ill children from countries with limited medical provisions.

Luckily their neighbour (a friend of mine) had a key to their house and was keeping an eye on the place but even the neighbours were being hassled by journalists trying to dig up dirt on them.

Their grown up daughters SM was trawled through and to this day, certain scummy media outlets (DM) are still running stories about the daughter as she was in a planning permission battle despite it being 10+ years since they won.

They could never return home either and moved far away.

Moral of the story, don't ever go public.

One thinks that, until your friends and relations start holding out the begging bowl, and never feel that you've given them enough, and are never grateful because "she's got so much, she won't even miss it". Expectations of dinners out, cars, houses, holidays and school fees from every direction. Gradually you find all your relationships have become transactional: the ones who haven't stayed friends with you in hopes of a windfall have cut contact out of resentment or because they don't like how the money has changed you.

Well that would be an astronomical waste of money.

Don't tell her then. We have family that won a few million and the kids still don't know 5 years on. They're in the south east so it paid off their mortgage and created a nest egg that means that one of them could retire early and the other just works part time and it's given them choices to have nice holidays, afford private six form and not worry about university debt. The kids are so humble and grateful about having these opportunities but seem to think it is down to careful pension planning and still believe that the family needs to be careful with money, which I don't think is unhealthy.