Winning the Lotto

I think I’d keep very quiet about it, and just give my four children a big sum, donate some to a charity, and keep the rest for me. I wouldn’t help my wider family, because I’m not very close to them, and there are so many of them I’d be sure to miss somebody out and that could cause problems. I’d travel all over Europe by first class train and stay in lovely hotels. I’d have a small suitcase and buy clothes in each city, donating the used ones to charity ( I love shopping.) If it was a huge amount I’d like to open a social enterprise providing training and work for disadvantaged women, making children’s clothes to sell in a shop in my local area, which is overrun with cafes now. I’d also start a children’s story centre, like the one in Bethnal Green. I’d open it in a deprived suburb.
You can see I’ve daydreamed about this! (A lot.)

Too stressful to sort out so I don’t do the lottery! I’m happy as I am.
?

It’s such a huge amount so plenty to go round.
I would probably divide into 3 equal shares between myself and my children and leave it up to them to decide what to do there share.
I would give to my sister and brother enough to enable them to have a great retirement and do the things that they probably would like to do but never otherwise be able to
afford.
Next would be my favourite charities , of which there are several, and a few other ones that I currently am unable to support financially
I would update my house and wardrobe and book a lovely long holiday, traveling First class of course .
And then, I would enjoy the fact that I never need worry about money again.
As you can see I have given this a lot of thought . Now all I need to do is buy the winning lottery ticket ???

I’d give each child enough to make them comfortable, without having to worry too much about money again, providing they were sensible.

I’d give the business a big cash injection so we wouldn’t have to keep worrying about cash flow.

I’d give a large sum to the local hospice, which is always struggling, and then I’d give a lot of thought to how I could help other people, maybe individually rather than throwing money at charities.

Obviously I’d spend some on myself, I may not move house, but I’d make a few changes.

I would send each of my school age grand children to a school of their choice, they all have different interests, and I’d love to see them getting opportunities to follow their dreams. The oldest one, I’d buy a little flat.

Hope I’ll have enough!

We have two children and one sibling each. I would give a large sum to these four and leave it to our siblings to give to their children/grandchildren as they saw fit.
Donations to a few favourite charities.

It's too mind boggling to think about..
I'd prefer less, really.

That's just too much money for anyone
I do agree with your friends way of thinking OP
Very wise and a fair way to distribute the winnings
I think if that happened however she would suddenly be inundated with visitors.. Mainly from those who haven't made any efforts to see her before and many fall outs

Buy daughter and my mum a house. Send grandson to private school. Built a catio. That's about it. I don't have a lot of material wants.

Hence don't do the lottery.

I don't do the lotto but if I did I would keep quiet about a win, wouldn't tell a soul.
Our extended family think we are rolling in money anyway so I would just carry on as normal. I would pay school fees and college fees for bright children that might otherwise miss out.

I would establish a charitable foundation and fund it with at least £150 million of the £170 million. I would then discuss with my children what to do with the rest. Larger houses for both children would be on the cards and a cushion of money, to protect them from the worst life could offer, but both have careers they love and a satisfactory standard of living, as have we. I would also make sure DGC got through university without debt and had the wherewithal to buy their first home. After that - all to the charitable foundation.

Properly invested £150 million plus should provide a good income to distribute to charitable causes every year for the foreseeable future.

I only dream of winning the lottery so I could be the 'Secret Millionaire'...... I would absolutely LOVE to go around handing money out to various causes like they do on the programme.

Winning for myself? Nah....I think a few thou would keep me happy, no wish for a bigger house, bigger car or more holidays than I have at moment ...and I am being totally honest!

I would remember the people that have helped me out when I was in need.

£1 million would do me fine - just to pay off the mortgages (3 children) and a bit for myself...

I would tell people I won but lie about the amount.

I would say I won a few hundred thousand. Enough to explain how I was able to treat myself, my friends and family and also enough that I could offer help if needed, but not so much that it would cause problems with people asking for big pay outs

I would not use it to withold and punish people who had dissatisfied me like the OPs relatives. TBH if a relative won the lottery and asked me to prove my worth to them I would tell them to keep their money and would want to see even less of them

You might have had a little glimpse of insite there OP as to why your friends family keep her at arms length. People who are dicks to their family often appear kind on the outside to others they are less close to. Street angel house devil style. That it would even occur to her to use a win to punish people and "bring them down a peg" says a lot.

Do the people who say they would spend it on charities not themselves play the lottery?

If so WHY?

You could DD your lotto ticket spends straight to the charities in the first place.

I would put a lot of the money in properties for my family to live in and rent out so they would have no future money worries, establish a trust for the grandchildren's future education and housing needs, give some to friends to make their lives more comfortable and give loads to charities I thought worthy and go round secretly doing good deeds. I'd have a few holidays, employ a cleaner and finally retire but I'm happy where I'm living now so wouldn't want to move. I wouldn't go public so would play down the amount ( and the number of houses I bought!)

We have a family syndicate. It costs me £1 a week. I donate considerably more than £1 a week to charity. I do not think they will miss that £1. Much of that £1, will be donated to charities by the Lottery Fund anyway.

Notanan

I agree, if I was asked to justify my worthiness, I’d tell them to stuff it!

Talk about power going to your head!!!

notanan, the phrase as cold as charity and deserving and undeserving poor come to mind, when interviews and proofs of worthiness are demanded. Would applicants have to produce bank accounts, references from the Vicar and have to prove they had sold the piano? So Victorian.

The OP does give the reason her friend would act like this, but, if you do not have an ongoing relationship with people, just do not tell them and do not give them anything. Is it really necessary to humiliate them as well?

I know a couple of people who have won the lottery, not £170 million but several million each. Both people have said that it has caused more problems in their life than they ever had before and not made them happy. So maybe there is a downside to suddenly having so much money.

I would keep very quiet about it until I had time to get my head around it, but would definitely give a lot to my sons and help my mum as soon as I had done that, or instantly if the need arose.

That said, people might quickly suspect something because I would definitely go on an instant spending spree to replace our currently broken-down old car, broken vac, broken lawn mower and half-broken sofas, get the cooker repaired, do something about the 'dodgy' new fridge-freezer and equally dodgy replacement new washing machine (its predecessor was part of the pre-Christmas safety recall), and get a potentially very expensive intermittent problem with our crackly landline fixed. To name but a few!

I would go down the charitable foundation route too. It does seem that after a year that big winners are not any happier than they were before. Having said that, I would be happy to test the theory!

Thats why I think the half truth is the way to go. I think saying you won say half a mil is enough to justify your spending on yourself and your closest family, but also low enough to be able to say its more or less gone after a house move and a couple of gifts so you dont get 3rd cousins twice removed coming begging.

You could even say your new bigger house was part win part mortgage and that you also bought a small rental flat which now keeps you in holidays /treats etc