How would you invest a very large sum of money?

[GoingBacktoSchool123]

If you were awarded a multi-million £ bonus how would you invest it? No debt needing to be paid off.

I would probably invest in some houses and then employ a financial advisor with advice on some medium and high risk investments as I wouldn't know what to do with it otherwise 😂

Pay for some proper investment advice as you’ll be able to afford it with that amount.

Global equities, with an emphasis on thematic funds and skewed towards the US, with an ESG threshold.

I'd split it into four. Invested...

• a three bed house in an area with decent public transport links, to let out.
• a stocks and shares Isa invested in U.K. stocks and shares.
• an isa invested in green technology
• split the remainder between paying off loved ones mortgages, increasing pension fund, university fund or pension fund for any children, fun.

Firstly, I would buy myself a nice villa some place warm and sunny.
My second thought would probably be how to mitigate IHT (but that may just be my age).
I would most certainly not put everything in one asset class (as someone upthread suggested).

@ForensicAccountant
Global equities with a skew toward US stocks is far from a single asset class. Those companies are present in pretty much everything you buy and everything you invest in.

I'd invest in property. I'd look at saving options such as bonds where you could not lose the original investment amount and I'd invest some myself.

Multi million? I’d buy an island in the Indian Ocean to holiday whenever I wanted.

First principle: invest some, share some, and spend some. I'd set aside 20 percent for the share and spend portions. Have some fun and make someone else's life a little easier, given you have plenty.

Second principle: match your investments to your tolerance for risk. Is this your only lump sum? Are you retiring soon, or young? Can you afford for your portfolio to reduce in value before it rises? These aspects will determine what you do with the remaining 80 per cent. Pay off any debts first (obviously) unless it's very cheap debt or gives you a tax advantage.

I'd see if you can join a high net worth investment syndicate somehow. I don't know what's available in the UK but where I live we are involved in property syndicates and one that focusses on angel investments for early stage growth companies. High risk but high reward. These operate like little clubs and are often about "who you know" but a financial adviser may be able to help. Otherwise, yes, ESG tagged stocks have performed well over the past few years.

Good luck. Fun!

I'd buy fields/woodland

I’m currently on an island in the Indian Ocean. I’m a bit bored to be honest .

@Magnited

Global equities, with an emphasis on thematic funds and skewed towards the US, with an ESG threshold.

This sounds very clever but I don’t really know what it means. I know I sound super thick but I’m really not - just haven’t been in this position before.

Syndicates sound interesting and I do have an inkling who in my circle to ask.

Assuming this is a serious question, not one of those idle musings just for fun, you need to talk to an IFA.

Look for one who works on a fixed fee basis, not a percentage, as that will be an eyewatering amount of money.

No-one can answer that question without a lot more information about your age, circumstances, lifestyle attitude to risk etc.

Done right it can set you up with an income for life, minimise tax etc. You also need to think about whether or not you want to help other members of your family, eg pay off siblings mortgages or whatever. Also whatever flexibility you need, such as you could probably spend all of it on a not very impressive property in London or another major global city, but unless you actually want to live there, it's not necessarily a good investment.

I would give some to charity too. Maybe buy an organisation a minibus?

@GoingBacktoSchool123

Avoid syndicates. There could easily be some dodgy character in the syndicate selling products that are investing in nothing.

Go and see an investment manager - they used to be called stockbrokers but these days they are better organised into large teams with lots of shared data and back room analysts. They only put money into investible companies and most of those are traded on regulated stock exchanges. You will be buying shares in companies like Microsoft, Apple, Diageo etc, value stocks. More likely they will put you into funds that invest into those companies plus take some speculative risk in smaller cap companies who are likely to be industry disruptors to spread the risk. Thematic funds are those that assemble portfolios into themes and may include a Healthcare, Wellbeing and Senior fund - targeted at an ageing yet affluent population. There will be others that look at green energy and may spread the fund across industry transformers plus R&D companies, typically university spin-offs. The key here is to go to a large firm who will deal directly in quoted companies, investment trusts and funds. Do not try to do it yourself or join a syndicate of amateurs - you will lose money and time everything wrong. There are reasons why many people stay rich and the main one is they take quality professional advice.

Honestly for that sort of money you really need to seek and pay for professional advice. It can pay for itself many many times over.

Give a lot to charity, it will make you feel amazing

Buy a sailing boat. Spent a lot on safety equipment for it. And decent training.

Put lots in managed funds (but get advice on the fund itself and it's manager first), so it sets up a funding stream.

Put life into storage and jump on the boat to get out into the world. (Which would also require sinking a few thousand into provisioning before we leave the docks - both food and boat parts).

The fact you say a "multi million £ bonus " suggests you would already be on a pretty spectacular salary and that this isn't a one off windfall like a Lottery win.

Therefore I expect the advice would be different.
Obviously, the number of people who have any idea what to do with that in reality is vanishingly miniscule, so I wold get professional advice and not ask on an internet forum.

If OTOH, this is a musings thread about what we would all do in some sort of fantasy, then get back to me, I have a list.

Sextoys. Just a whole heap of sex toys.

I agree with the above poster about getting an framework of how much you want to save/spend/give away. I agree that a financial advisor who works on a flat fee up-front basis is a good idea for any funds you want to invest.

A lot of what you do depends on the amount I think. Is it 2-3 million? 5-7 million?

If it were me, assuming something in the region or 3-4 million, I’d probably take 10% off the top straight away to give to charity. Then I’d put 40-50% into investments, most of which would be earmarked for retirement and our kids’ education and launch (university, house deposits etc), 30-40% into holiday properties to be run by a management company as rentals when we don’t need them (say, 500k
on a little pied a terre in London, and then if possible a modest ski chalet in the alps and a small villa with a pool somewhere warm). The properties could pay for themselves as rentals when we’re not using them and then be sold on when we are older retirees and can’t travel so much. The last 10% I’d use on lifestyle things like new car, family gifts, house upgrades, some nice holidays, etc.

I do enjoy spending money I don’t have. 🤣