Poll: Poll: The £1000 a week for life or 1million lump sump....

Would you take £1,000/week for life or a lump sum of £1,000,000?

  • £1,000/week for life

    Votes: 287 61.3%

  • £1,000,000 lump sum

    Votes: 181 38.7%
  • Total voters
    468
dowie said:
Well you'd have just invested in property vs renting with a big chunk of your grand a week.

Point is, to use the MayBot's phrase, there is no magic money tree. The prize funds don't get added to, if you want a fixed income from it then instead of paying you the lump sum the money is conservatively invested in govt bonds and an income is derived from that. You can do that yourself with lower overheads/costs. And indeed you can very likely get a better return.
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I can see the thinking in the grand a week but my gut feeling would be to take the lump sum. I'd sell my house and buy a better one, probably have a nice holiday with it and then invest the rest. I have no experience in investing but my thought process would be to have something to pass down to the children. Even if it was a property portfolio that would earn rent and could be handed over to them so that they have a steady income for the rest of their lives too.
 
TallPaul1878 said:
But the million is taxable so how much of that would she actually come out with?

Factor in, even being frugal, you would probably still want to buy a respectable home. What would be left to invest with? Probably about a quarter of what you would expect.
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You'd pay capital gains on the mil of 20% so you'd have £800k to invest. Still works, just add a few years. Plus with the £1000 you'll surely be paying income tax on it?

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I'm torn. £1m should be enough to buy a nice-enough house outright, then you'd have no major outgoings which would let you live a much nicer lifestyle whilst doing the same job. You would have to carry on living as you are though. You wouldn't have a "millionaire's mansion" (ironically). Life would just be easier. I've often thought what life would be like if I didn't have to pay rent. I'd live like a millionaire, even though I don't get paid a fortune.

£4k/week is a bit odd. Rather than being the "sensible" option, it could turn your attitude into not needing to work and then you're essentially a bum for the rest of your life. With not actually that much money to spend either.
 
$1000 a week would be amazing, you would be financially set for life and could do anything you like workwise and still see some reward for it.

One big lump could be easily lost with a bad decision and set you down a path of destruction, would be fun mind. :p
 
MonkeyMan said:
One big lump could be easily lost with a bad decision and set you down a path of destruction, would be fun mind.
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If you decide to "invest" yes it could. But at that age all she needs to do is buy a home to live in and enjoy the freedom of being mortgage/rent free at such an early age. As above.
 
VincentHanna said:
BBC article says

  • If she chose the $1m lump sum and withdrew $52,000 a year, she would run out of money at the age of 83. Given Canadian life expectancy is 82, according to the World Bank, the withdrawals would last for her lifetime. However, it is important to note that the $52,000 would be taxable versus the tax-free weekly prize, which is the crucial point
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Strong maths there
 
Scam said:
If you decide to "invest" yes it could. But at that age all she needs to do is buy a home to live in and enjoy the freedom of being mortgage/rent free at such an early age. As above.
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Yea, this is something to think about. She likely would have very little savings to put as a deposit on a house so the money would likely be just going on rent.

Being mortgage free at an early age would be incredibly liberating. Thinking about it then the smartest move would be to take the money, buy a nice house in a desirable location, enjoy some of it and then have a sensible investment plan.

You would still have to work but even casual work would likely be all you need to keep things going.
 
Nothing stopping you investing 1k a month from your 4k though... Hell every 10 years you could have a cracking 120k holiday :)
 
I quite like my house, it's not massive by any stretch, but we love the neighborhood and there are no 'millionaire's' houses nearby that we'd like anyway. Could do with a new car and a family holiday abroad each year though.

£1million lump sum could probably be burned through quite quickly with a "I've won a million quid" spending attitude. Things like paying off the mortgage, buying a new car and sharing the love with family & friends would deplete the amount to invest quite significantly.

£1k a week would cover my mortgage and the monthlies on a nice new car every few years with just one week's worth, effectively £4k additional disposable income each month with no real change in lifestyle or attitude. That's like more than doubling my salary overnight It'd be nice to go out or dinner with my close friends and pay the whole bill, or go on a family holiday to somewhere nice (not stupidly expensive) without having to save all year.
 
$1000 a week for life sounds good.

But depending upon the taxation, the lump sum $1000000 might be better...
She might die very young and the weekly payments stop, so her family lose their potential financial security
£1000 is going to be worth far less over time due to inflation, those of you old enough, think back to the cost of living in 1992 compared to now
If the lump sum taxation is 20%, the tax free weekly $1k will take 15.1 years to reach $800,000
Is the $1k dependent upon her staying in Canada?

I'd probably take the lump sum, emigrate to a better climate and invest the remainder after buying a home and a nice road bike, working 2/3 days a week to use as spending money for the here and now.
 
After conversion to £ it’s basically £500 a week. Hardly much.

I would take the mill buy another house and spend rest of hookers
 
SPG said:
Going round the new articles now, and i see a great deal of people are hacking this 19yr old lass for going for the £1000 a week for life option.... She is 19 seems like the sensible option to me at her age.

Being an old git i would take the million and die go to die in Vegas :)
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I did a quick calculation for the weekly rent on 1 million and £1000 a week is way more. So I dont know.

If we assume you not going to work, not invest the money, and basically just enjoy yourself. 1 million pounds could be spent quicker than you may realise.

On the flipside £1000 a week is a nice cushy income but its just that, doing something like buying a house with just cash as an investment or investing in a business not really possible as the cash is not readily sitting there, likewise anything remotely expensive would need saving up for, she could die, become paralysed or something next week from a car crash or something.

I probably would have taken the million. But I dont think she is silly for taking the income either. I dont think its a cut and dry decision.

Also just read a post which mentions inflation, yeah thats a massive factor, I think the million is the better choice, but still not an obvious cut and dry one.
 
Shocky-FM said:
1000 a week is what? 52k a year? or effectively 1 million every 20 years.

She made the right choice. :D
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Not only that, I like their safety net of a consistent income for life, in case i turn out to be an idiot with money and blow away a million in 2 weeks. Money changes people, and who knows what kind of person you are with money until you get it, especially at 18.
 
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