AD / If I Won a Large Amount Of Money – Would I Save It, Or Spend It?

Make sure you read to the end to enter a competition to win £50 credit at Lottoland!

It’s one of those questions that’s fun to think about isn’t it – what would you do if you won the Lottery…?

A lottery win definitely conjures up immediate images of floating on a unicorn inflatable in the sea on a tropical island, cocktail in hand with my boyfriend feeding me icecream…

Asking what a money blogger would do with a big sum of money is definitely a good question to ask, as we are generally pretty sensible with our money, but we also want lots of it! Also, just because you are sensible with your money doesn’t mean that you don’t want to buy things.

For myself personally, money is all about balance – this is generally my approach with most things in life too – I think we should make decisions that are both naughty and nice.

An example of how I do this is with food – I will try and eat healthily most of the time, but if I fancy something like nachos or a chocolate pudding, you can bet that I will have it every time.

In my opinion, it’s about being smart and making decisions that are good for you (e.g. eating healthy food is good for your body and health), but also allowing yourself a treat without feeling guilty about it – but also not going crazy and looking like Bruce Bogtrotter with his chocolate cake in Matilda.

With that in mind…these are the things that I would be sensible/smart with in terms of what to do with the money from a big windfall:

Invest It

I would have to invest the money in order to see it grow, because I’m not the sort of person who would just spend all of their money in one go and not think about the future.

What would be the point in buying a bunch of stuff if you have to end up selling it all because you can’t afford the bills in your new mansion?!

I’d want to make money out of the money that I had, so it would go straight into the best investing accounts that I could find, and I wouldn’t touch it, so that it could grow into an even bigger pile of money.

Just to mention though – a lot of people think that investing is only for rich people, but anyone can invest their money pretty easily, and a lot of people are doing this to grow their money and for retirement.

Premium Bonds

I would have to put some money into Premium Bonds – the maximum that you can put into them is £50,000, and you are able to win money on the money that you have in your account.

The winnings obviously aren’t guaranteed, and you don’t win tons of money, but for me I wouldn’t want to leave all of my money in investing because of the risk – I’d feel much more secure with some of it in other places too.

Savings Account

With that in mind, I wouldn’t just put my money into stocks and bonds, but I would also keep some in a savings account with a high interest rate.

Same reasoning behind it again – I would want to make sure that I had money in various places so that I felt more secure knowing that I didn’t have all of my eggs in one basket. I wouldn’t want to make it too confusing though – I wouldn’t want to have to then pay someone to manage it for me!

Rental Property

This is something that I actually want to do with or without a big lottery win, so it’s absolutely something that I would do with the cash to be smart with my money.

I do believe that money can be made from savvy investment in rental properties – where you buy a house and rent it out to people to cover the cost of the mortgage and some extra money on top too.

Depending on how much of a win I had, the more money that I could put into the house – going into debt is never a good thing, even if it is mortgage debt (in my opinion).

Cash flow My House

I am currently working towards some goals, and then I am going to start saving for a house – so if I had a big cash win then this would definitely help me along my way!

As mentioned before, I don’t really like mortgages because they are debt – if you don’t pay your mortgage, your house will be taken off you…which I’m not a big fan of. Obviously the best thing to do is to buy your home outright, but most people don’t have the money to do this (unless you’re my mum!), hence the acceptance of mortgage debt in society.

Depending on how much money I had, I would want to either buy all of the house in one go, or put a HUGE deposit down on it, so the mortgage was tiny and I could pay it off ASAP.

Getting a house is a huge dream of mine and I’m trying to be sensible and get a small house to start off with, with the intention of selling it on and purchasing a ‘forever’ home – but with a money win I could get the forever home first!

Now I’ve got the ‘sensible’ purchases out of the way, here are the things that I wouldn’t be too sensible on – pure indulgence right now!

Buy loads of the latest clothes

I have reached the point in my journey where I am pretty content with what I have, and am at peace knowing that I cannot afford to buy new clothes all of the time.

Now, that doesn’t mean that I don’t want to buy them – on the contrary, I would like to buy new clothes all of the time and frequently see things that I would like to buy, but inside my head I have to remind myself that I am working towards goals that are more important to me than the latest fashion choices.

The good thing about winning some money would be the fact that I wouldn’t feel guilty about buying some new clothes and looking faaaabulous darling. What I tend to do now is regularly have clearouts of my wardrobe and sell a lot of my clothes on eBay or other selling sites. I could still do this if I bought myself some new clothes – my wardrobe is pretty bare at the moment!

I can’t imagine myself buying expensive clothes though – I am a big fan at the moment of Missguided because their clothes fit me really well (I have a bit of an odd body shape – low body fat but lots of muscle on my bottom half – years of playing sport does that to you!) and some brands don’t fit me very well.

Missguided is really cheap as well, so I would be happy to buy a lot of things from there and not feel bad about it. I’m not someone who is bothered by a label.

Go on lots of holidays

I think the first thing that I would do would be to go somewhere on holiday! I’d obviously have to bring the whole crew, so that would be a lot of money wiped out straight away, ha. Only bonus being that there would be lots of family and friends there to help look after my daughter 😉

There are loads of places that I want to go to holiday, but are a bit out of my price range. Why is it that the most amazing places seem to be on the other side of the world?! I’m talking about:

  • The Philippenes
  • Bahamas
  • Thailand
  • New Zealand
  • Australia

And so on and so on! There are some really amazing places that I would love to visit – and some that are closer to home as well.

I’d have to take my daughter to Disney as well of course!

I asked some of my fellow money bloggers what they would do with a big cash win too, and this is what they said:

Nicola – The Frugal Cottage

I would invest quite a bit and get some passive income going in the form of dividends  then pay off the house, buy a new car, help friends and family and a fab holiday somewhere. Deciding what to spend the money on would be the hardest part!

Emma – Mums Savvy Savings

After a large win I would pay off our mortgage so that my husband can change jobs. Then it would be private school for my youngest, I couldn’t move the teenager as he would refuse at this stage! Next would be a cosmetic surgery for me and then an indulgent holiday for the family.

Laura – Savings For Savvy Mums

I’d pay off my mortgage so I had more deposable income to spend on doing things with the kids. My husband would quit his job so he could be at home more and we’d set up our eBay business together.

Clare – My Money Cottage

I’d sell our rental property and buy our forever home with a bedroom for each of the three children and an office for me. I’d also use some of the money as a fallback and set up as completely self-employed. I’m wary about losing my guaranteed income from my job at the moment! If there was enough left we’d have a fortnight somewhere hot and sunny.

Victoria – Lylia Rose

I’d buy another property as an investment to rent out. I’d use the rental income to pay off my current mortgage a lot quicker with the aim of owning two properties mortgage free as quickly as possible. The rental income will then top up our income and give us more freedom once the mortgage is paid off.

Raimonda – Cosmo Mum

If I won a lottery, I’d be looking to invest the money into buying holiday apartments in Spain, Italy and maybe Malta. I’d rent the apartments out, but would have a few weeks a year booked for myself and family.
I would also buy a cafe and gift it to my husband as it’s his dream to run a little Italian cafe but I don’t think he’ll ever risk his savings to do it!
And of course pay off our current mortgage, buy a slightly bigger house near the sea in Edinburgh.

Pete – Household Money Saving

I would buy a villa in Florida. It would give me a cheaper holiday every year, plus a rental income.

Eileen – Your Money Sorted

I would buy a holiday cottage to rent out, pay off our own mortgage, then buy a camper van to start our round the world adventures sooner than planned!

Emma – Bee Money Savvy

I’d buy a house! Student life hasn’t been too kind to my home fund and I’d love to get out of the (expensive) renting cycle for good!

Sam – Money Nest

I would invest enough to live off but not enough to be lazy! Then I’d give the remainder away.

Paula – Mummy Vs Work

I’d pay off our debts/mortgage – get bits done in the house and then have 2 weeks in Disneyworld Florida no expenses spared!

Fiona – Savvy in Somerset

I’d pay off our mortgage, buy our ‘forever’ home and maybe invest in a property for rental and a couple of properties abroad for holiday rentals for a long term income stream.

I also have a fab opportunity for you to win with Lottoland – enter the competition below for the chance to win £50 credit to use at Lottoland! Please note the following rules:

  1. All Competition participants must be 18+
  2. Competition prize is £50 worth of credit to play with Lottoland

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This is a collaborative post.