The Next Challenge

What would you do if you had a million pounds?

—

by

Tim Moss
in

Shanghai

That’s not a rhetorical question. I really would like to know: what would you do if you had a million pounds?

The emphasis in that sentence, for those of you that missed it, was on the do rather than the million.

Luxury cruises don’t float my boat, I have no drive to buy a fast car and a mansion isn’t up my street so please don’t reel off that kind of a list. Rather, what I am asking is what you would do with your life if you had that much money.

Keep your job or never work again? Dedicate your time to pleasure or charity? Follow your dream or make a new one?

I started thinking about this after watching Ron Livingstone in this cult film. It feels like I spend a lot of time chasing after sponsorship, saving pennies for an expedition or minimising costs when I’m away. But the reality is, if I had a limitless credit card, it wouldn’t be half as much fun.

Obviously, earning money is far more of a necessity for some than others – I appreciate that I am in a very lucky position – but I quite enjoy doing what I’m doing. As a millionaire, I think I would probably keep at the adventure game, working on silly projects and trying to help other people with theirs. If it wasn’t money that I had to spend my time scrabbling around for, well, then I expect I would just find something else to fill its place and create the struggle.

Am I being too short sighted?

What would you do if you had a million pounds?

Comments

13 responses to “What would you do if you had a million pounds?”

  1. lee hughes avatar
    lee hughes

    Design and build my dream house in a forest..

    Something like this would do.. not too expensive

    http://www.simondale.net/house/index.htm

    Then I would spent the rest of my life doing degree after degree after degree and doing expeditions in the summer time..

    That wouldn’t cost a lot of money though..

    I would invest the rest into a student led charity that got students to fundraise by doing something out of their comfort zone and fun like hitch hiking to Prague or something and giving all the money raised to Charities around the world.

    :)

    Reply
  2. Joolz avatar
    Joolz

    Wow – thanks to the above poster – that house looks amazing!!

    I would buy some land in Scotland, design and build a home(or renovate an old interesting property) with a separate art studio and make said home as self-sufficient as possible – green energy and large veg garden.

    Set up business of being full-time artist, I would still work part-time doing stuff that benefits people and gets me grounded in the ‘real’ world.

    To start with I would book myself and partner a nice long holiday in NZ though :)

    Reply
  3. Tom avatar
    Tom

    @lee – Wow, it’s basically Bag End! Amazing!

    I honestly have no idea what I would do with a million pounds. Some of it would certainly help when the time came to settle down, but as for helping live a fulfilling life, probably not. At the same time I’m loathe to throw that type of spare money at charities because I know a) how much charity money gets wasted and b) how too much money can undermine a charity’s original focus.

    And putting it in the bank just gives idiot bankers more money to tie up in complicated non-existent ‘investments’ – no thanks!

    Guess this is a question that requires a lot more thought. Interesting one.

    Reply
  4. lee hughes avatar
    lee hughes

    That’s why you start your own charity so you can control the funds ;)

    Ohh I would like some new shoes as well and maybe some expensive olives :D:D

    Reply
  5. Tim avatar
    Tim

    Nice answers guys. I hadn’t given any thought to where I’d actually live but Bag End certainly looks like a good place to start. And, Joolz, if you replace the word “art” with “recording” then your studio idea would suit me nicely.

    A few people (including myself) seem to be saying that they would keep doing what they do now. I wonder if that’s because we’re all doing what we love or because it’s so ingrained that we can’t think of anything else that far outside the norm?

    Reply
  6. fruchtzwerg avatar
    fruchtzwerg

    i’d be the real geek and finance science projects i like or i want to do myself. unfortunately a million pound wouldn’t be quite enough for fieldwork for the rest of my science career though…
    and i’d go on expeds of course. and get my red wooden house at a beautiful fjord :)

    tim, i think we can think outside the norm, but we love what we do (do what we love?)! so why should we try to find something else just for the sake of proving that we’re different?

    Reply
  7. Guy avatar
    Guy

    A million…. People over estimate how far a million will stretch… As a parent I would ensure my children were financially secure or at least get a good head start. A million is not enough to retire though and I would get bored without the challenge of working anyway so being finacially secure and knowing my kids have choices would make me very happy…. 5 million however…..Different decisions to make…

    Reply
  8. Dan Martin avatar
    Dan Martin

    A million wouldn’t be enough. I’d love to be the first to climb Olympus Mons (google it).

    Reply
  9. Tim Moss avatar
    Tim Moss

    First the Moon and now Mars, Dan? You are nothing if not ambitious, sir!

    Reply
  10. Andys avatar
    Andys

    I would spend my time training and developing medical science theories, the most precious thing in life is time and if I could help just one person gain one day that would be worth every million I could ever have.

    Reply
    1. Tim Moss avatar
      Tim Moss

      Amen to the preciousness of time!

      Reply
  11. hkiller avatar
    hkiller

    First of all i will buy a new house in a Porchs area. after that ill fullfill my requirements after that the remaining ill will start the bussiness rather than donating to charity or any other coz,of the bussness the unemployeemnet will get the job oportunity.

    Reply
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