Earlier in the week, I was one of several people who answered Jim’s question: What Would You Do With $1 Million Dollars?
Once I’d done a mental currency conversion ($1million = £500,000 which is actually not too far out, given the current exchange rate), I figured that I would:
- Pay off my mortgage (£150k)
- Save £150k
- Invest £150k
- Spend the rest (£50k) on holidays, new car etc.
Unlike many of the other responses to the question, I didn’t say I’d give any money to friends or family, let alone donate any to charity. Which makes me feel a little guilty. But I’ve thought about it again, and my overwhelming feeling is that I would look after my kids, partner and myself first, and although £500k is a lot of money, I probably wouldn’t feel inclined to automatically give any away.
Does that make me a bad person?
Hardly. A million today is not enough for most people to retire. When you save your first million, you look at how long it will take for it to grow and for you to save the second. It depends on your lifestyle. I suppose it’s easier for someone making a small salary to ‘win’ a million dollars, than for a high earner. To a high earner it will represent a number of years closer to retirement, nothing more.
Joe
The question is whether you would really need 50k to “splurge”? Can you not buy a car and go on holiday for 40k with the rest going to charity while not leaving you any worse off?
assuming you’d earnt the money there’s nothing wrong with the way you’d spend it.
we pay our taxes and our government is supposed to make our country work. instead of throwing money at charities, people need to take a look at the real reasons why so many issues get neglected.
if you’ve earnt the money, then it’s yours, you worked for it – and doing what you want to do with it was the reason you worked in the first place.
however, if you’d won it…probably nice to share some of the luck around :)