Won A Million - Clueless

castle96

I have a similar 'problem', but I am 67, no debts/mortgage/3 kids all 40 ish/5 grandchildren/single/small pokey house (but town central/OK/cold but can now turn up heating). Had my own money. Ignore house (got to live somewhere), £150k in bank, £12k income... Was fairly happy with that then my Dad dies. £350-400k coming shortly.
Can do 'whatever' I like, cruise/car/house, but what do I NEED. Did buy a new car (first ever 'only £18k' ! What/phew. Still collect coupons, buy reduced. Nothing wrong with that - they way it was years ago and should be now. So I suppose I can call myself a half millionaire. If others pre-decease me I am a millionaire.
All a nice feeling, but I miss/feel guilty for no work (health not brilliant), the days are long,... Everyones situation is different. I have NO problems compared to the guy sleeping on the streets/mental health problems.. Q of perspective. Suppose I will 'just' enjoy spending on minor frivolous things, insisting I pay for family meals/outings. When I think of the NEED for money when I had a young family.. pint of beer or leccy bill !
Would be nice to have someone to share it/things with now. (Just me ad lovely cat). Everone situation different. Here's to those that have some money and commiserations to those that don't and have problems. Charities need money, but you never know where it goes.
Bit of a rant, but I've just had some wonderful beer at 7.3% (not that that's anything to do with it !). Door closed, nice meal on, fire on, tv on... ZZZZZzzzz soon. Hope I wake the next day

Cakeguts

I don't want to be miserable but a million is not what it used to be. I actually don't think that it is enough to retire on and have a comfortable life. It might seem like a lot but keeping it and investing it for when you do want to retire would I think be a better option. You have a very nice nest egg there.

Reaper

luckylucky11111 wrote: »

Didnt go public so keeping between myself and wife is incredibly difficult however I am determind not to tell anyone else.

That's too much of a burden and people will get suspicious when you start spending money.

My advice is to tell people you won on the lottery but you got a much smaller prize such as £50,000. That can explain a new car, generous gifts etc without attracting too much attention.

Kernel_Sanders

luckylucky11111 wrote: »

Havent touched any of the winnings yet even though Camelot have given me very helpful advice on what I can do.

1. How much interest are you getting on the million pounds right now?
2. How much interest are you paying on the credit card and loans right now?

happyandcontented

I know someone who won a Million and you would never know it if you met them, they haven't changed a thing about their lives. The money is in the bank.

gardner1

Cakeguts wrote: »

I don't want to be miserable but a million is not what it used to be. I actually don't think that it is enough to retire on and have a comfortable life. It might seem like a lot but keeping it and investing it for when you do want to retire would I think be a better option. You have a very nice nest egg there.

Depends on location,age,house etc.......personally for me age 55 up here in Northumberland i'd retire like a shot

gardner1

downinja wrote: »

I suspect you could retire, but would you want the same lifestyle you have at the minute?

40 year old

£1mil over 25 years = £40k which is basically what you earn

Invest it well enough to deal with inflation, pay no interest on loans/mortgage and you could manage.

But would you want to? I wouldn't.

I would rather carry on working and be on the equivalent of £80k, nicer house/car/holidays.

It would last longer than 25 yrs even if interest rates stayed at 2.3%

Alistair31

gardner1 wrote: »

Depends on location,age,house etc.......personally for me age 55 up here in Northumberland i'd retire like a shot

Indeed. I’m late 20’s and with what I’ve currently got, living in a low cost area and with no plans for kids, big houses or cars, weddings etc , I could and would retire on a win of £1m.

Alexland

gardner1 wrote: »

Depends on location,age,house etc.......personally for me age 55 up here in Northumberland i'd retire like a shot

Nice - we are 30s and our £1m net worth is mostly in property and pensions so another 20 years of work for me

For the OP - have you considered getting £50k each of tax free Premium Bonds while you wait until you can ISA wrap the money?

Alex

zagubov

There were threads on this kind of topic since I joined this forum years ago. Another vote for keeping shtum about the winnings even to your kids. Or saying you got a much much smaller win.

My mind would be abuzz with ideas in your lucky circumstances. Paying off all cards, loans and finance deals, paying extra into your pension

Are there penalties for paying more into your mortgage? If you're unsure about paying off the mortgage, is it worth considering switching to an offset and sticking the cost of the house in there and transfer it across at regular intervals?
And if your home is leasehold do you want to buy the freehold to give you more options?

And I agree it would be crazy to quit working. You need at least a part-time job to keep from being bored but you can be more flexible about what work you want to do, so make sure you're doing a job whose hours or conditions aren't stressing you. There's no point landing a windfall and then working yourself into an early grave. Whatever you do, take advantage of your work pension opportunities.

Can you now afford to move somewhere further from your current work where you can get a better house for your money? Especially if you're not commuting every day of the week?

Can you invest in a junior ISA for each child? They can also have adult ISAs as well at certain ages. If your kids might eventually go to college/uni is it worthwhile buying a property they can live in while they study and partly support themselves by taking in lodgers? Don't let them be owners by the way, that might restrict their options later.