I won a million now what?

[HopefulMummy90]

Hello
Name change for this. I won 1 million in the lottery. I know is not a lot but it's a lot for me. The lottery company are sending someone to see me but I'm very anxious thinking about the future.
I'm a single mum, I don't have savings and I rent a HA small flat. I'd like to buy a small house so my child can have a garden but my ex partner is jealous and dangerous, I'm afraid of his reaction if he knows I have now some money...
I don't want to leave my job as 1 million is not a lot. Where I live a 2 bedroom flat is 300K and a 3 bedroom house 500-600K..
How can I improve our lives without people knowing I won the lottery ( specially my ex)? Anymore financial tips please?

Thank you.

1. Do not tell anyone - and I mean anyone

2. Keep your job

3. Independent financial advisor

4. Do not make any large spending decisions until you’ve done #3

Nobody would ever assume that you had as it's so massively unlikely. If you want to explain it away you can say you've had a pay rise, or an inheritance. No need to specify the amount.

But don't say anything at all to your ex. I understand it's a massive change for you and you want to do the right thing. Definitely take the financial advice professionals the lottery company will no doubt introduce you to.

Don't actually SAY 'I have a mortgage' though... that sounds so suspicious!! People will assume you have one. ' I finally got a deposit together' would work. Which is true... a lovely 100% deposit, and the rest!

Congratulations OP x

The lottery people will advise you about where to put the money initially.
You have a separate problem if you have a dangerous ex and need to address this with the police or a domestic violence organisation.
I don't see how you can keep your win secret unless you hardly use any of it! You could do that of course: invest the money, use some of it each month for small treats and appear to keep the same lifestyle. You'd need to stay in your HA flat to avoid suspicion, but I doubt they'd let you move into another of their homes with all that money in the bank so DC still wouldn't have a garden.

In your position I would stay put for the time being and use the money for counselling about dealing with your ex before making any changes.

Congrats! Definitely take advice from financial advisors. I know someone who won a few million on the lottery. The advice they got was to take out a mortgage and pay it off with the interest from the capital sum so that way they’d still have the original capital but that was years ago and with house prices and interest rates different it’ll probably be different advice now.

Don't tell anyone. Not even your child. It will get out. It will be really tempting to tell everyone - do not under any circumstances.

Don't take the lottery's financial advisors - this usually comes with publicity conditions.

Buy a realistic property outright. Freehold. You don't need to tell anyone the circumstances of the move. Don't chuck all or most of the money at it, you need to remember you have to meet upkeep and ongoing costs so buy something appropriate to or slightly better than your current circumstances.

Unless you really hate your job, don't quit it. If you do want to have a change, you can look for other part time work later. For now, don't let on that anything has changed.

Put at least a third away into savings. Stocks and shares will get you a better long term return, but if you're not confident dealing with this then max out cash ISAs every year, use premium bonds, use long-term savings deposits which lock the money away for 2 / 5 / 10 years. These will get you a better rate and it means you can't go mad and spend it all. They would be particularly good for long-term planning for your child if you want to save some money for them for university or a deposit.

Pay into your pension, if you have one. Bear in mind there are limits to the tax benefits for this so it would be worth taking advice.

Agree I wouldn't tell anyone.

OR,

Tell them if anyone suspects that you won 50k and it's enough for you to get a mortgage on a bigger place (or whatever).

I'm always amazed how much some of my friends spend on things, I do wonder if some of them have won the lottery 😂

Buy a place and tell people you are renting, saw you had to leave the HA place as the neighbours were terrible, also say you got a pay rise.
Aside from buying a property start investing heavily in a pension.
If your ex starts harassing you make a note of harassment and report him, your financial situation is NOBODYS business and you really don’t need to explain it to anyone

This is heart warming - you sound very worthy of the win and it will change your life massively .

Deffo get advice about your ex. Presumably he has access to his child .

Don’t feel you have to rush. Take your time, and congratulations

Congratulations OP
I think you should share some with your family as well as the advice about buying a property. No rent or mortgage will be a brilliant position to be in

I'd be tempted to look at how much interest you'll get each month from a chunk of that (after buying a house/upgrading your car if you drive and if it needs a newer one) with a view to taking the interest each month as extra 'wage' so to speak, and leaving the chunk in savings. I'd put some extra into pension as people have said, I'd put a chunk for DC for a house deposit and also a uni fees fund. First thing I'd do though is look at what YOU need-in terms of, if finances have been tight, have you been managing with knackered boots in the winter cos you couldn't justify the cost of a brand new pair as yours were alright and DCs needs come first? Take a few hundred of it and buy yourself some better quality but still needed stuff IMO

What's wrong with St James Place?

This only makes sense if you put the 1mil in a 0% interest account and only withdrew £25k per year, which nobody with half a brain cell would do.

At the absolute minimum, even if you didn't want to invest, you'd put it into the highest interest rate account you could. Even if only 4% and paying tax on interest, the interest would still be more than your £25k annually, meaning the money would constantly replenish and after forty years you'd end up with considerably more than your original million saved.

If you instead bought a home out of that million you'd then be in a position to save/spend the thousands of pounds of rent/mortgage you'd previously spent of your £25k salary on holidays/car instead. And you'd have a million pound house (which again probably would have significantly increased in worth) to 'set your kids up.'

Of course you could still live frugally if you wanted to, but you wouldn't need to.

Congratulations! I would set up a Junior Stocks and Shares ISA for your child (to be accessed at 18) and also set up a Junior SIPP (pension) for them - they'll definitely thank you for that when they're older :) best of luck (and also definitely agree not to tell anyone!) xxx

How wonderful OP. It will be life changing for you.

Keep it a secret. Tell no one. Even the closest of friends and family can turn when money and jealousy is involved.

I would buy a property. Secure a home that belongs fully to you for your and your child’s future security. I'd keep it modest but nice and perhaps tell people it's still a Council home that you were very lucky to secure.

If you feel you can take on being a landlord perhaps buy a second property to let out and provide an income. Either way invest the balance and enjoy spending some. If you go on holiday you don't need to tell people where you actually went. Do it slowly and discretely to avoid speculation.

Congratulations.

Congratulations op.
What a lovely thing to happen. This is going to make such a difference to your life. I’d feel the same about my ex as well. Things that would worry me would be if something happened to me how would I ensure the house and money stay with my child and not inadvertently going to him.
ask all these questions from a solicitor when you make your will.
I also agree buy a nice home where you are, nothing mad (council tax will keep that in check!) and tell no one how you got the money. Inheritance from a random uncle or aunt for the deposit or house swap - although that one your likely to accidentally slip up on when talking about building work or maintenance.

and proper financial advice, I think national lottery help with that???? You can plan for uni, driving and house deposits for your child.

how completely wonderful. Remember to breathe, take your time and have a little guilt free splurge

I actually would tell your daughter you won something on the lottery just not how much or significantly down play the amount. If you suddenly go on an extravagant holiday or a shopping spree (& frankly, why wouldn't you!) it will be obvious the money has come from somewhere and raise more questions than it answers.

Otherwise I be looking to get some financial advice and likely spending as follows:

1. Set a reasonable sum aside for some treats - nothing too extravagant but things you might not have enjoyed before like an abroad summer holiday, a shopping trip with your daughter, a nice watch.
2. Buy a house. You may actually want to get a small mortgage purely so it's showing as mortgaged on the land registry and for credit reasons
3. Max out pension contributions for 2 or 3 years
4. Use your annual ISA limit for a few years
5. Putting some money in trust for your daughter and/or pay into junior ISA getting her enough to cover uni or a house deposit.

Could you buy a flat or house in a new development where it’s partly social housing, and tell your ex that where you live is one of the social housing homes.

Nad congratulations! It sounds as though you deserve some good luck.

I would buy a house - ultimately that means you are keeping the money, just swapping cash in the bank for a less liquid asset. And it will increase in value, save you rent, give you security and give you something to enjoy living in. You can sell it in the future/leave it to your DC and get the cash back at any point - so still an asset. I’d get something as nice as I realistically could without arousing suspicion !

Then invest the rest in an ISA first and then a mix of equities/bonds/fixed term deposits to top up your income. Pensions are probably less of a priority if you have an NHS defined benefit scheme and are a lower rate tax payer. I wouldn’t get another property personally - too much hassle. Enjoy !

Bad idea. Don't share it with your family. Two major reasons for this: firstly, it will then be public knowledge that you have a lot of money which you want to avoid, and secondly you will be the tight bitch when they want more and you have to stop giving them money. Then there'll be the arguments about how the money is split. Nothing ruins family relationships like money.

This isn't to say you don't help your family if they're struggling, of course not. But if you tell them you've won the lottery and start giving them cash lump sums it will be a disaster. If you want to provide for family, decide how much you want them to have and then sort out a trust arrangement and let the trustees deal with it. Don't put yourself in the position of being the one handing out money because you'll get the grief when you stop.

Buy the house, with a mortgage, invest as much as possible, live off half the return on investment alongside your wage and enjoy comfort and the knowledge that your old age will be safe and your child's future. Bliss.

@HopefulMummy90 Congratulations. You seem very sensible and the lottery people will be best to advise you.

As pp have said do not tell anyone, buying a home is a very sensible way to spend some of the money. I would also keep daily spending at roughly the same level as now for two reasons a) as you know £1m is not a lot to last a life time b) it stops people getting suspicious.

As pp have suggested saying you won the house deposit means the money has all gone on the deposit so you don’t have any left and you can say money is tight now you have a mortgage.

What I would do is make sure I had a will and LPAs in place so your DC are looked after if anything happens to you. This is worth spending £1k on legal advice to get it right. Again the lottery people can advise you.

My last piece of advice is work out what makes you contented, for me it’s fairly simple things like having a coffee in a cafe with a lovely view and a good book. I know I can always afford to do that so I consider myself fortunate.

How fabulous and not a little bit stressful!
I agree with everyone who has said don't tell anyone.

And come up with excuses ready to use if you buy something that is out of character. Do you have a secret great Aunt who leaves you a bit of cash to explain away a new car if you go with that as an idea?

There are houses locally whose sold price doesn't appear on the land registry for various reasons - I am not sure it's open to the general public though for this sort of reason but legal advice might help with that.