How to manage a million pounds

Tonight, as part of the Euro-millions lottery there will be a draw for the UK Millionaire Raffle. In theory, 100 millionaires could be created assuming all the winners claim their prizes. A million pounds, it sounds such a lot of money…

What would you do if you won? There was a time when you could have put it in the bank and lived off the interest. In the old days you could have bought an whole estate of houses for a million quid. How times change! Things are so expensive now and getting more expensive as prices rise and rise. That is inflation and money doesn’t buy as much as it used to. A million pounds won’t even buy a mansion. The inflation rate for June was 2.9%. That means that if I win a million tonight, it could lose it’s buying power by £29,000 or more in the first year alone. That’s more than average earnings. That’s over 500 quid a week I would be losing as the Bank of England devalues my million!

I don’t think I’ll be buying a mansion and a super car. I read somewhere about buying a beach home on a private island with a boat to get to it. It would be a very small island and a very small boat for a million quid. A small beach hut would be easy to clear though. Right?

I am a practical person, most of the time. A small house will do me. I could stay where I am. I live in a small house. I think I would have the garden landscaped. I looked at the lawn earlier. That would create a little work for local tradesmen. I would have the house redecorated too.

If I’m having the drive block paved. I could consider a new car to put on it. My car never breaks down though. Why change it? It’s only 16 years old… I could have it re-sprayed and customised, it would look better than new!

I’ve just bought a new camera, but I wouldn’t mind a full frame camera with all those filters and lenses that the professionals have. I could use some money to have an exhibition and have some pictures printed really big!

There are some local charities I would like to become involved in and money would help make those more successful. There are a few people I would like to help too.

My million isn’t going to last long if I keep spending it and inflation keeps eating away at it. I am quite good at investing on the stock market. I could probably make 100,000 a year investing it; 50,000 at least. I could probably do everything I want with returns on investment without spending the million. That sounds like a good idea.

They say money makes money. Look at J. K. Rowling, she wrote a book under a pen name Robert Galbraith and as soon as people knew it was her, sales of the book soared and she made loads more money. I wrote a book. If I was a millionaire, I suppose I could get it edited and get loads of free publicity from all of Fleet Street and beyond. They would probably ask me to be on the BBC!

I wonder if people would flock to my website to read what I was doing with my million? Maybe, I could charge people to subscribe? I could make another million like that! I’m not greedy, but they do say people appreciate things more if they have to pay for them.

I suppose many people would have overseas holidays, but I’m not that keen on travel. I haven’t seen all of this country yet either! I don’t think stressing out in airports would make me any happier and a luxury cruise would worry me. No, if I am going to have a holiday, I would prefer something relaxing.

The community I live in is important. I thought the recent carnival improved community spirit a little. In the old days they had an annual fair. Occasions where people have an excuse to get together, improve communities. I would try to support things like that. Happiness is about being contented in the place you live. I might not be able to change society as a millionaire, but maybe I could make the community I live in a little better. A million quid isn’t that much really, is it? The jackpot is forecast to be around 13 million; that sounds unlucky, but I’ll risk it…

What would you do with a million pounds? Please share your thoughts in the comments box. You can also follow me on Twitter. I’ll need a new phone when I’m rich, so I can tweet all the latest news!

Related articles

• There is a lot more stimulus on the way (moneyweek.com)
• Hidden Millionaires: Lessons From Unconventional Money Management (quicken.intuit.com)
• Pound drops over fears of Bank of England stimulus (thisismoney.co.uk)

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