If you had Billions of Pounds - what would you do?

Germanshepherdsmum

MerylStreep

I realised some time ago that some people don’t realise how big a billion is. So just incase there is someone who doesn’t know how big it is, this equation sums it up.
One million seconds = 11 days.
One billion seconds. =. *31 years*

It seems pretty clear that some have difficulty in grasping what £1bn is, let alone several £bn.

It seems pretty clear that some have difficulty in grasping what £1bn is, let alone several £bn
It would be best if most of it was given away, in fact!

I know exactly how to spend my £1m Premium Bond win (when I get it 😁) but that is peanuts in comparison to £billions!

MerylStreep

I realised some time ago that some people don’t realise how big a billion is. So just incase there is someone who doesn’t know how big it is, this equation sums it up.
One million seconds = 11 days.
One billion seconds. =. *31 years*

It seems pretty clear that some have difficulty in grasping what £1bn is, let alone several £bn.

Family first of course.
And then some - the same amount for each regardless of job - for each staff member at the school I taught at along with a contribution to the school fund.
My local hospital, museum and stately home are always in need of lots of money to keep them going, so a sizeable donation to each.
Then donations to Smile train, Sightsavers, UNICEF and Medicin Sans Frontiers and St Martins in the Fields social centre as they are charities I support already.
After that anything would go to research in to Motor Neurone Disease and Parkinson's Disease - nasty things both.

Apart from family the donations would be anonymous.

I'd stay quiet !
My house needs an extension and a lot of improvements /repairs - so I would like to move as I'm not keen on the area .

A garden is crucial .
A holiday would be nice .

I'd open trust funds for my children and grandchildren .

And then , I'd like to help children with cataracts, river blindness and cleft palettes .
Refugee children .
Those without water basic health care etc .

There are so many worthy causes ...the list is endless .

I realised some time ago that some people don’t realise how big a billion is. So just incase there is someone who doesn’t know how big it is, this equation sums it up.
One million seconds = 11 days.
One billion seconds. =. 31 years

Billions of pounds ? No thankyou.! I just want about £50 million; £5million for each of my children and grandchildren children. The rest would pay for a top of the range Nursing Home for Moi, if and when I need it. I won’t bother about leaving for charity, since all of you are doing that anyway. So for me, charity begins at home 😂

Buy each of my 2 daughters their own house.

Brilliant! Except I'd be your neighbour on the next island! Can't stand having p*xy neighbours!

After helping the family and favourite charities, I would endow scholarships so that nobody with talent is prevented by lack of money from having the training and opportunities they deserve. Some of the scholarships would be academic, some in the performing arts and music. I’d love to do that.

The charities which are dear to my heart. I would have my hip replaced privately because then I could afford somebody to live in 24/7 and take care of me.

Get rid of my car and probably travel around in an Uber. I do not need my own chauffeur, he would be idle a lot of the time.

Go to a local supermarket and pay for a few folk's groceries if I thought they were struggling.

Pay somebody to redesign my rear garden.

Make sure nephews and nieces were mortgage free.

After immediate family are sorted, it would be local charities, the hospice, the charity I volunteer for, giving medical lifts to those who need them and a bereavement service.
I’d also finance a befriending service for all ages.
We don’t need much, but private medical care and enough for a decent care home would be funded.

Not really sure! Sort family out certainly!!

But immediately anyone asked for money - they would be ignored and not even added to a list of potential charities or people that I would help.

I was reading an article about lottery winners and the big thing that seemed to crop up was the begging from all and sundry.

I would buy this and give it a lot of thought.

www.sandemanyachtcompany.co.uk/

I can tell you what I wouldn't do - spend a large sum on a trip in a tiny submersible to look at the wreck of a ship..... in fact, I'd pay more or less any money not to do this. I have no adventurous bones in my body.

I would form a charitable foundation and place most of the money in that in order to make sure as much as possible goes to charity, rather than being swallowed by tax. It would specialise in helping small charities and those charities supporting unpopular causes, like helping recently released prisoners, and their families, heritage subjects.

With billions it would be possible to invest really significant sums of money into medical research projects that make a difference, endow a research institute.

I would immediately hand money over to my children and put some in trust for my grandchildren.

I already have a nice house and an adequate income, so probably wouldn't keep much for myself.

www.sustrans.org.uk/

DH and I used to speculate about winning the lottery and how we'd keep it quiet but somehow do the things we'd like to see happen.
We had got as far as reopening the railway when we realised we wouldn't have nearly enough.
However rich individuals are, the big important things need government backing.
I guess joining a pressure group would be a start and as I've supported sustrans
sustainable transport since its inception, I look at the results of where my small contributions have gone and am usually pleased.

Help my family and people who have been good to me over the years. Buy a little house in a pretty area. I would give to the charities I support now - The Teenage Cancer Trust (since we lost our nephew), Cancer Research as cancer is such a scourge, RNIB and the NSPCC. I would buy made to measure shoes! Then have a think about what else to do with it.

LRavenscroft

I would get a little cottage in the country with an acre of garden and restore it. Plant an orchard and grow native species, have a small wild flower meadow and grow lots of herbalists plants like pot marigold. With the rest of my money I would buy rundown houses, shops and factories and re-purpose them for young people/families who wanted to make a go of buying their own place/starting a business and rent them out at favourable rates with the end purpose of the young people/families being able to buy them at reasonable rates once established. Oh, and I would definitely support my local animal shelter to help with wildlife and rehoming dogs and cats whose owners had died and needed a happy retirement during their final years.

You’re thinking like me, except for the country cottage. I’d also start a charity to support teenagers who are leaving care and going to University.

Give the RNLI a shedload, with quite a lot specifically targeted at swimming lessons in Pakistan and Bangladesh, where 40 children a day drown.

Create a genuinely significant high-risk social investment fund, targeted at filling the current development gap, but give it to one of the existing expert organisations to manage. I may have to commission someone to check my forecasts on return on investment first…

Invest more in micro-finance initiatives in developing nations, particularly those focused on supporting women entrepreneurs, and education

Work with some specific funding bodies, in this country and elsewhere, to allow them to further test different grant funding models, particularly core and long-term grants.

And invest a couple of million Euros in Cyprus, as it has the fastest investment to citizenship, and thus EU rights, programme.

I also think help for children overseas with cleft palates, eyesight problems that could be rectified with a bit of money, wells for clean water, overworked donkeys in hot countries…..all sorts of stuff like this.

biglouis

I would buy my own island and have everything flown in so I didnt have to put up with any bl***y neighbours.

My thought as well, and have as many big dogs as I want

Like everyone else I would make sure my family was secure, buy a cottage with a small garden for us and the dogs then charitable donations.
The Salvation Army has always impressed me with the work it does so they are top of my list followed by Sense and Dogs Trust. There are so many people needing help out there it's difficult to know how to begin.

Oreo - let us know when you receive the billions! Enjoy!
Lots of good ideas on the thread so far. I realise I'd have to focus even if I had multi billions . But there are some famous very rich people - Bill Gates, Warren Buffet and probably more - who really do use their money to make the world a better place. Impressive ! I doubt if having even one super yacht (and some of them have more than one!) actually makes billionairs happy - or any happier than the rest of us when we see our friends and family. And we don't have to worry about the butler stealing the spoons!

I reckon it would be impossible to keep a huge influx of wealth quiet. Back office staff in banks, accountants and the like would get to know and ignore client confidentiality for a payout from the tabloids. I couldn’t bear the resulting begging letters.