Would You Know How To Spend $260 Million?

0
Comment

July 18th, 2011

What shall we do with the money, dear?
A retired Scottish couple, who bagged the biggest-ever lottery jackpot in Europe with a $260 million scoop, are planning a dream getaway. EuroMillions winners Colin and Chris Weir celebrated with a single glass of white wine after they realized their numbers had come in on Tuesday night. Mrs. Weir, 55, a psychiatric nurse, and her husband Colin, 64, who is a retired TV cameraman and studio manager, won the jackpot after matching all five numbers plus the two Lucky Stars.

We all dream
Everyone who buys a Lotto or lottery tickets dreams of winning. Most dreams end with the purchase of a new home or a new car. No one actually sits down and draws up a strategic investment plan in case they win. “I’ll cross that bridge…” is the end of the dream. Of course one could just leave the stuff lying in the bank.

The Weirs
The couple, who have been married for 30 years and have two children, Carly, 24, and 22-year-old Jamie, have said they plan to travel the world. Mrs. Weir, who does not usually drink, said the win was so immense that she even opened a bottle of wine.
She said, “We couldn’t really do anything except sit. We talked to each other about how absolutely amazing this was. We were tickled pink with the whole notion of winning so much money.

They are rich
Mrs. Weir said, “We are not flashy people. We are not celebrities and we hope that once we have shared our good news we will get some time to go back to being us.” Their win ranks them 430th in the Sunday Times UK Rich List, just behind the Beckhams, who have an estimated combined wealth of £165 million, and ahead of Ringo Starr and the Marquess of Bath. They have also become the 22nd richest people in Scotland, ahead of the merchant banker Sir Angus Grossart, and not far behind the Duke of Buccleuch, the biggest private landowner in Britain.

The odds
At odds of 116 million to one they matched the winning numbers – 17, 19, 38, 42 and 45, and the Lucky Stars 9 and 10 -. Two other UK-based lottery players also won £1.7 million after matching five numbers and one Lucky Star in Tuesday’s draw.

Interest
Leading Northern Ireland economist John Simpson said the top prize would earn about $20,000 per day in interest, almost $8 million per year. Mr. Simpson added that the tax bill will amount to about 40 percent of the interest and suggested the winners find a good tax adviser.

Ireland
Meanwhile, Ireland’s largest lottery winner was Limerick mother-of-six Dolores McNamara, who was the sole winner of a $125 million jackpot in July 2005. She became the largest individual prizewinner in European lottery history when her quick-pick won a nine-week rollover jackpot. The former factory worker had fallen on hard times before her windfall after leaving her job. She now lives in a plush $2.8 million mansion in a very sought-after location near Lough Derg in County Clare, which she bought with her winnings.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 18th, 2011 at 2:21 am and is filed under Business, Economy, Employment, Finance, Lottery, Money, Personal / Internet. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Would You Know How To Spend $260 Million?

Leave a Reply