IamA The guy who did an AMA on winning £1million on the lottery a year ago AMA!

What's the best thing about being rich?

Not having to budget for nights-out and paying for activities. We still have a budget but in general we can say yes to an invite without having to plan our finances around it.

[deleted]

me and the wife

Do you even lift?

Yes, I started using a personal trainer twice a week in Feb 2013. So now I do a back and leg day, chest and leg day and 2 cardio days per week.

Do you have any regrets or do you think you made the right decisions with the money?

I regret that we can't give much away if we want to be responsible. They say you need to invest all of it etc which we did an ok job of doing.

Hopefully smart investments.

Surely he invested in the almighty doge.

Much increase

Do you feel like you have enough money?

Yes and no. I know we have enough money, we have no mortgage and we have a house rented out which pays the bills on our own house. But it doesn't mean we can live lavishly, we live really well but I can't affort to run a Lamborgini etc.

[deleted]

No I didn't because our household income hasn't really changed because I quit work. So any extra money that my investments make just means we have the same spending power as before.

Obviously we have it quite easy but my friends are all the same, I think I've been very lucky there. I have friends who are skint but we don't act any different to each other.

why did you quit your job?

I was having a bad time there anyway but the £1mill was an overwhelming amount that needed a lot of time and care to decide where I was to spend it. So I took the opportunity to take a break, invest the money, fix-up some houses and try flying. Now I'm back to looking for a job in my field (Electrical).

How you thought about starting your own company? If you have enough left over from your other expenses, having that start up capital would be great

I have and the rental houses is sort of my own company. I have no passions that I want a career in. But I have skills that can be profitable. So we are looking to expand on the properties. We plan to get more houses on buy-to-let mortgages so that we can have about 6 houses, 2 owned fully and 4 with mortages. So in the future our tenants would have paid for us to own those houses.

What are the chances of a property bubble? Could your portfolio be too heavily property based? What if it went belly up in the near future?

That's why I'm keeping nearly the same amount it investments. So if one side goes bad I still might have the other side.

How are you investing it? Who gives you advice? Return rates?

It's with a firm who camalot (UK lottery) set you up with. I did get a lot of advice from many places first before settling. It's invested in a low risk portfolio of various (over 400 I think) companies.

My return this year was 3.2%. Last year in my ama I did say I would get more but that was based on a different portfolio. I wasn't allowed into that portfolio because when you invest here (UK, but might be the same elsewhere) they do a risk assessment of you to decide if you can afford the risk (not sure if it's since the banking crisis). Because we hadn't invest before they would not let us invest in the riskier portfolios. The one we wanted returned over 9% annoyingly.

Other investments are the rental houses. One returns 7%ish and the other I've just finished doing up will either rent for a 7.5% or sell for a £20k profit.

Wait, who doesn't let you? It's your money, is it not? So why is it up to someone else to decide where you invest it?

I got £1k last year when I turned 21, and over the course of the year I have made about 12% using a mutual fund (sounds similar to yours, in a big pool that's invested in around 400 companies).

If I won that kind of money, I'd stick some of it in there and make a hell of a lot more than I am now...

All the investment companies do a risk assessment. You probably didn't have one because if they lost your £1k it wouldn't make you homeless etc. Whereas with large amounts I guess they need to be sure that they cannot be blamed for losing someone's life savings.

Thank you.

How did you decide on the right advisor to listen to? If you didn't have Camelot to help, how different would your choices have been?

If they didn't help I would have probably use my bank. All the banks have a investment person for "high net worth" clients. So it'd be the same investment style (invest in a portfolio of many companies) but just through a high-street bank.

So you make £32K a year off your investments. Is that all profit, so it speak? Do you have to pay tax on that? If not, then I wouldn't even bother working 9 to 5.

No, this year it's worked out about £10k due to when we invested etc. But the investments in portfolios aren't guaranteed so it can't be relied upon. I very rough rule with long term investments is over a 5 year period you'd have 3 good years and 2 bad ones.

Yes that's all taxed. Rental income is normal income tax and if it "flip" a house (sell for profit) it comes under capital gains tax (unless I sell a few then it becomes and income tax).

I see. You'd think a million would return more than that. It's almost a bit depressing really. Well, not that depressing. But sort of underwhelming.

He isn't really getting return on a million though, seeing as a good chunk of it would have been used to pay for his house. At least he has no mortgage outgoings though, so that should work out as a pretty massive saving.

Exactly

EXACTLY, if I invested the full £1m in a normal savings account at the time I could have got 1.7% so £17k but I obviously wanted my own house and other shiny things.

Interesting. I once heard a stat that stated "If you put £1M into a traditional deposit-type bank account, the interest alone would be the equivalent of a £70,000-a-year salary". And, that's always been my go-to answer to the question "What would you do if you had/won a million pounds".

It seems - and let's be honest, it's hardly a scientific stat anyway - that it is maybe an outdated way to look at things; maybe it was based on some interest rate decades ago.

Plus, if I'm reading correctly, you've not put the base mill into investments anyway?

Before the financial crash 2008 you could get about a 5% return in the UK but now it's between 1% and 2%.

What's the most awesome thing you've bought so far?

I made myself a cinema room, I've got reclining leather chairs with cup holders, surround sound and a projector. I think that is my favourite.

We did also go to the Maldives where we had a villa in the ocean with a jacuzzi and steps right into the ocean. It was great but we could have gone to the same island for about £3k and it wouldn't have changed the experience much, but we spent £7k

Got any films? Y'know, actual 35 mm films?

No, that would be cool. But I've got a digital projector. A problem when buying the projector is that they aren't reviewed much so picking one was tough. I ended up with a BENQ w1070 because it does 1080p and 3d.

How have you as a person changed with the money?

I'm more careful with how I spend. For example before I won I wouldn't set a budget for small events like a night out, I'd just keep getting cash out of the ATM all night and not control my spending, spend the rest of the month poor. Where as now I have a clear idea of what I'm spending on the night-out.

I'm really conscious of my spending.

Didn't you just say you used to set a budget for nights out but don't have to anymore..?

No vice versa, when I was poor I would just keep spending as the fun kept going. Whereas now I'm more controlled even though I can afford to keep spending.

Would you say that money has become more important to you now?

Yes, I'd like to say I'm humble etc but in reality I want more money!

Hmm, bit of an insight into why rich people are stingy. Quite the transformation there. Do you think it's a good thing you are more conscious of (in the grand scheme of things) low cost night outs?

The nights out a more expensive but I have a budget which I stick to, whereas before I wouldn't really care.

Conscious yes, but are you saving? It's fair to reason that even a millionaire needs to think about saving because one million will pay for one child in the US. Damb, our children are expensive.

Every year our plan is to always save more than inflation so our money is always growing.

What was the first thing you did with the money?

I covered that in the last AMA, I bought a sack of dog food (I didn't even have a dog) and the wife bought a jumbo bottle of Ribena blackcurrent juice.

I bought a sack of dog food (I didn't even have a dog)

Well I guess people can celebrate however they like...

It was for my sister (her dog) who was out with me shopping.

[deleted]

No. We don't have the time to fully care for a dog.

[deleted]

She does still have the same full-time job, I took time off to invest and set up some rental houses etc. Now I am looking for work again mainly out of boredom.

what is the worst thing about being rich?

I don't like the assumptions that I can afford EVERYTHING. Due to me leaving work we have about the same expendable income as we did before. So sometimes I feel like we seem tight with our cash when in reality it's just living to our income.

So I think there is an expectation to act rich.

What brought you back to Reddit after a year?

A few requests last year to come back and see how broke I am. Then someone PM'd me with a reminder.

What do you spread on delicious delicious toast?

The tears of orphans queueing at my door for food. I hoard their tears so they can't lick them for sustenance.

Have you given thought on pursuing passions or hobbies that time working didn't allow

I did and have. I wanted to be a pilot when I was younger so I tried that. After learning to fly I realised I like it but not for a job, especially since meeting a pilot with 10 years experience who just got promoted to £21k per year (co-pilot for big company). I had 19yo apprentices on more than that when I was working.

How about going somewhere interesting to do a low-paid flying job, like a flying doctor service in africa, or flying taxi in alaska or some tropical islands?

I read that AMA and I would love to do things like that. But I have things here that mean I can't really leave. I have a child from a previous relationship that I have every two weeks. So I can't really live in a different country and maintain a good relationship with him.

do you pay child support? if so, did the amount go up after you won?

I do and it is based on the same formula as before I won. So it only works it out on income, not what you've got. I pay more now and also pay more on that because I used to get a discount for how far away my child lives and how many nights I have them. But I stopped claiming the discount now.

Has the mother of the child tryed to get any money out of you? Or anything of that sort?

No, that's all sorted through the CSA so it's a non-issue. They tell me what to pay.

I really respect you for not claiming the discount anymore.

Also a question, it's pretty personal so please don't answer if you don't want to:

Has winning the money changed anything in your relationship with your kid or his mother? I can imagine it's hard to not spoil him too much when you only get to see him every 2 weeks.

It was hard, especially at Christmas, the only thing with the mother is that she thinks I should pay more so she went over my head to the csa to ask for more money. They told her that I could legally pay less and legally they can't take more.

Did you have family members you didn't know about coming out of the woodwork?

No but I discovered some cousins a few months before the win. We've been trying to catch up etc. So when I first met up with them I had a dirty clapped out car and worked as an electrician. Then they come to visit me and I have a new Jaguar and a house beyond and electricians income. So that was fun, mainly watching them clearly wanted to question stuff but where too polite to.

you should've just subtly hinted that you deal cocaine or something crazy like that. quickly running ahead of them in your house to slam a door shut. scales sitting out on the kitchen counter. that type of shit.

Lol I will do that when new people come round.

Can't read Jaguar without hearing Clarkson. What model did you go with?

xf sport but only got the 2.2d, I should have got the 3ltr

Have you done two chicks at the same time yet?

One is trouble enough!

How many people have asked for money

One, he didn't get any.

[deleted]

Paid off my sister's Uni loans. We fund several charities on the pay monthly basis, rather than lump sums. My wife thinks it's more important for charities to have regular dependable donations rather than one-offs. I can see her point.

are you more or less happy with life now as opposed to before the win?

More, I was ashamed before the win. We (SO and I) worked hard but had barely scraped enough together to get a mortgage. Just before the win we had to move in with my mum while we waited for the house sale to happen. So I felt really bad, we had just married and had to move in with my mum, it's not the life I wanted for my SO. Don't get me wrong, we didn't need to live with my mum, it was just convenient between houses but it didn't feel good.

Have you suddenly become more attractive to women after winning the lottery?

I don't think they notice, it's not like I wear a sign.

have you started using Double ply toilet paper? i would kill for that kind of luxury!

I have to admit, we do buy a nicer brand of toilet paper, we'd buy the budget stuff before. No more papercuts for me

Beside overspending on your home,What is one thing you regret buying or doing since winning?

Really NOTHING. I regret not buying things like a sports car and I really want one. It is a bit of the motivation to want to get back to work full-time. I want an Aston Martin DB9 or a Lamborghini gallardo but if I traded my Jaguar for one of them I'd need to add about £20k, that's just for a second-hand one. I couldn't afford to run one realistically.

It's good to have goals at least, it must be boring to have everything that you want!

Goals are good, life would get pretty dull if I didn't have ambitions.

How many years before you expect a substantial return in your investments so you can buy any sports car?

I'll buy one when I get a job, my wages should more than cover running costs.

Would you say that the extra money has made you any happier?

yes, more due to lack of stress. My life is more complicated but because I know that I'm secure financially I'm am not stressed.

Would you say that you feel luckier after winning the lottery or the same? cause ive seen on t.v. people who win the lottery once feel like their luck in everything has gone up.

I don't but I do feel more confident, so maybe their "luck" is just them seeing things more positively and taking more opportunities. I feel like I have more opportunities now which could be interpreted as good luck.

Does the 'pressure' of 'surviving the month' (I read that you spent much money on night-outs and then you tried to live as inexpensive as possible the rest of the month) is gone and / or replaced with the pressure to not invest too much money?

I find myself, having some money, always a bit loosey when it's about buy-decision, when my bank account is filled more than I need to live for, which then pressures me a bit.

Yeah, I second guess whether I need things now. Whereas when I didn't have the money I'd buy stuff as soon as I could.

Always a weird feeling, having the money to buy something but it doesn't meet with the monthly income.

Do people (other than the close family) about your wealth and luck?

But as far as I can see, you did the right thing, purchasing some ground and houses - something that doesn't throw away in value. GL further and hoepfully no depression from money. (A common German lottery problem, that many winners get heavily depressed after having so much money.

I can see why some people get depressed. All of a sudden you can buy EVERYTHING, you treat everyone, do what you want, party, buy because you can. Then reality hits home, you need to have the income to run the big house, the fast car, the nice holidays etc but you don't have the income. Now you have to come-down from the euphoria and go back to being the same as everyone else. You're no longer special, you need to start earning or investing wisely or lose the nice things you have.

Did you go bankrupt?

Not yet

Probably asked, How much was left after taxes and how much do you have today?

No taxes in the UK for winnings (FREEDOM!!). In cash investments we have about £300k, in houses we have about £650k (including out own).

Have you changed your grocery shopping routine? Do you find yourself buing more expensive groceries or do you still (if you did before) look for nice discounts, coupons etc?

Do you eat better or more expensive food? Do you visit restaurants more often?

Yes we do buy better things, but old habbits die hard. Meaning my SO will still by the really shit tasting budget food every now and then. We buy more fresh meat rather than frozen. We visit restaurants the same amount but it doesn't feel as special because we can afford it, so it's no longer a treat.

What is one thing you would like to buy but still know you can't afford?

Lamborghini Gallardo, I can buy one but couldn't afford to run it.

Second hand?

I can buy one but it's the running costs that I probably can't handle.

I have a friend who I worked with last summer who won the £1million lottery. Still turned up for work (stacking haystacks at a farm) on monday and he also managed to keep all the money by receiving it as various lump sums to different family members who then transferred it to his bank account for tax reasons. Apparently if you receive it all yourself, there is quite a big tax reduction. So anyway, being that his whole family knew about him winning and his daughter told everyone at school, lots of people started asking for money or playing some sort of guilt card such as the neighbours and even other family members which he told me is pretty stressful. He was a bit of a dick before he won but I am kind of pleased he won because he has a daughter with some sort of genetic disease and he is getting her all the necessary medication she needs. Other than that he bought a 12 year old (good condition) land rover, and hasn't really changed his lifestyle much. It makes me think of just taking the tax hit if I won. Have you got much of the same problems?

No but we don't get taxed on winnings in the UK and we get free health care so I've not had to think about spending to cure family. I worked for 3 months before quitting, just to be sure I was making a good choice.

The word did get out randomly, my SO was a work and people started asking about it. She works 40 miles from where we live and has no colleagues living near us so it was worrying. Turns out my sister told her work mate would told another etc.

How has this effected your relationship with friends? Do you feel any pressure to buy the rounds in the pub, pay for meals, etc.

It hasn't really, i noticed people offer me more drinks.

How much have you spent in to tal?

About £600k on houses, £300 in investments, £30k on a car, £15k on holidays and the rest on gifts.

So at this point, in terms of actual money (not investments) are you back where you were a year ago?

Nearly because we are living off my SOs wage and everything is in investments. So yeah

Since winning your money, has anybody ever tried to extort/take advantage of you??

No and I have done some things in the past that I have been waiting for people to try and exploit. I think they either aren't bothered or know that I have no shame and wouldn't care.

Are you still playing with the lottery? I mean; the chances of winning twice must be so low. The interest rate however is unbeatable.

I do, the weird thing is I used to constantly (to a fault) say "when I win the lottery" and I always said I'd win it twice. The jackpot is £80mill on friday...

What are the chances if your poured let's say 200000 into tickets what would your chances be.

I cba to do the math but the odds on the Euromillions is 1 in 116,531,800, the raffle (that I won) is 1 in 3,500,00

HAve you got a car? If yes, what car?

Jaguar XF

Like true Brit. This makes me think of the new Jaguar commercial with all the English actors. Would you say it's accurate?

I'm not a supervillain yet.

[deleted]

The average house in the UK costs £250k, I'd like more than average so I spent closer to £400k and with the financial crisis I chose to split the rest between houses and investments because I was afraid by how many people and companies went bankrupt in 2008/09. At least by having some houses (regardless of their value increasing or decreasing), I still have a physical thing that I own. As for my investments, they're just numbers on a screen to me, they go up and down but in reality I have no power over it. As in to say as far as I can see my money could just disappear, click (like bitcoin mtgox).

Which third is for taxes?

No taxes in the UK for winnings

No taxes on winnings is AWESOME. I'm pretty sure you lose a third or more in the US.

Sounds like you've done really well- paying off your mortgage and investing a lot in real estate- I like it.

To be fair £1 mil would be a relatively small jackpot in the US, so I can imagine many US winners walking away with more even after taxes.

It's small here too. The actual prize for the euromillions is around £13m but for each draw a UK ticket is randomly selected (like a raffle) to win £1m. That is because the the price difference between the UK and Europe, the Brits pay slightly more so the extra cash is the £1m raffle prize.