So, you have won the lottery! Page 3

Quote: keewik @ 19th March 2014, 8:36 PM GMT

People don't like to be beholden to somebody, makes them feel inferior so the friendship's ruined.

I remember reading one article about a lottery winning couple and them complaining that even though they paid off all their friend's mortgages, none of them kept in contact or wanted to remain friends.

No doubt, the article left out the bit where the lottery winning couple never let their friends forget about it or went a day without mentioning it. I bet every argument ended with 'Yeah, well who paid for your house?'.

Not necessarily. The minute one person starts 'donating' to another The balance of the relationship is no longer equal. I'd certainly hate a friend to give me a massive sum of money. We all, or most of us, have our pride.

That's the 'curse' part.

I enjoyed reading RC's 'blowing of the money' thesis.

Not that I would do any of those things......but I did like the thought of the yacht moored in Monaco while the Grand prix was on. I would do that.

Quote: zooo @ 19th March 2014, 1:08 PM GMT

I would love it too. People who let winning the lottery ruin their lives are fecking morons.

I would tell as few people as possible. Give my family and best friends some money.

I assume you have never won a huge amount on the lottery, so have no idea if it would ruin your life, so don't assume they are all morons.

You say you would tell as few people as possible, but then say you would give friends and family some money.

So how do you propose to keep your win quiet if you are going to give money away to people? Almost certainly someone would phone the local paper and "announce" we have a big lottery winner in the area so word would soon get round.

Let's just look at one scenario how it would change your life.

Suppose currently you go down the pub a couple of nights a week with your best mates. You have been friends for years and you all earn about the same amount, so you take it in turns buying rounds of drinks.

Then you win the lottery, so the first night you go in you buy everyone in the pub drinks all evening.

The second night you go in you decide you have already bought them all a drink, so now you go back to buying rounds.

All your mates sit there and say "so you have got 5 million (or whatever) in the bank and you expect us to buy you a drink".

So you buy them drinks all evening the second night.

And so it goes on, and the others never buy a round again. But soon you are known as a flash git who is just flashing his cash around. It becomes a little nasty.

So after a couple of weeks you stop going to the pub, and all those mates who you have been friends with for years are no longer your drinking mates.

So you have now lost all your best friends.

And so it will go on. And you will have lost everything you have built up in your life.

It can be a curse.

Quote: keewik @ 19th March 2014, 8:36 PM GMT

If you want to give it to your friends, do it anonymously.

Nice idea, but how would you implement that scheme? You could post them all plain brown envelopes stuffed with cash, but that might perturb them. What's needed is to arrange for them to think they've genuinely won the dosh.

You wouldn't need any friends with a Cyborg Reg Varney

You think lottery winners are looked down upon at millionaires places (restaurants, Monte Carlo etc.)?

Kinda like, "you're not a real millionaire (self-made new money, or well-bred old money), just a lucky chancer".

I'd feel I'd have to dump half as capital for a new business, and be successful in doing so, to legitimise my wealth a bit.

Quote: Nogget @ 20th March 2014, 10:17 AM GMT

Nice idea, but how would you implement that scheme? You could post them all plain brown envelopes stuffed with cash, but that might perturb them. What's needed is to arrange for them to think they've genuinely won the dosh.

I think if your going to start a business, or a charitable foundation, then employing them in some capacity is the answer. For sure that idea is not without its own problems, but it would have to be something they are capable of doing.

If their a plumber/builder/whatever working for someone else, help set them up in business as a 50/50 partner.

Quote: Renegade Carpark @ 19th March 2014, 4:03 PM GMT

Decent private yacht, you're looking at a minimum £10 million spend, staffing it will cost you another £600,000 a year and a berth at Monaco for the Grand Prix, that's at least £2 million. So in one weekend, I could spend 10% of the prize winnings.

Donald Trump says the second best day of a mans life is when he buys a yacht.
The best day is when he sells it.
Renting is a better option.

PS - RC My fee for this advice is £10,000.

I'd start my soup restaurant and call it 'Soup For You'.

Quote: Guilbert @ 20th March 2014, 10:07 AM GMT

I assume you have never won a huge amount on the lottery, so have no idea if it would ruin your life, so don't assume they are all morons.

You say you would tell as few people as possible, but then say you would give friends and family some money.

So how do you propose to keep your win quiet if you are going to give money away to people? Almost certainly someone would phone the local paper and "announce" we have a big lottery winner in the area so word would soon get round.

Let's just look at one scenario how it would change your life.

Suppose currently you go down the pub a couple of nights a week with your best mates. You have been friends for years and you all earn about the same amount, so you take it in turns buying rounds of drinks.

Then you win the lottery, so the first night you go in you buy everyone in the pub drinks all evening.

The second night you go in you decide you have already bought them all a drink, so now you go back to buying rounds.

All your mates sit there and say "so you have got 5 million (or whatever) in the bank and you expect us to buy you a drink".

So you buy them drinks all evening the second night.

And so it goes on, and the others never buy a round again. But soon you are known as a flash git who is just flashing his cash around. It becomes a little nasty.

So after a couple of weeks you stop going to the pub, and all those mates who you have been friends with for years are no longer your drinking mates.

So you have now lost all your best friends.

And so it will go on. And you will have lost everything you have built up in your life.

It can be a curse.

I don't drink in pubs.

I would have a swimming pool in my house

Quote: zooo @ 20th March 2014, 3:12 PM GMT

I don't drink in pubs. Just in the local park, shop doorways and occasionally I'll fish out the secret stash hidden in the cistern

I'd buy one of these:

Image

Size DOES matter!

Quote: Lee @ 20th March 2014, 4:08 PM GMT

and occasionally I'll fish out the secret stash hidden in the cistern

Mmm, toilety.

Moonshine?