• Question: if you had a million pounds what would you do with it

    Asked by anon-188258 to Pizza Ka Yee, Paul, Nadine, Alex on 15 Nov 2018.
    • Photo: Alex Reid

      Alex Reid answered on 15 Nov 2018: last edited 15 Nov 2018 4:05 pm

      This is a really fun question glitterunicorn158 so I feel obliged to give you an honest answer. What would I do if I suddenly got a million pounds? Well, once I finished running around screaming in delight, I would sit down and make a plan. It would probably include the following: 1. Giving a big chunk of it to my parents, I want them to have a happy retirement. 2. Draw up a list of my closest friends and give them a generous amount between them. I would also get them each to sign contracts forbidding them to talk about what I gave them to other people (this is to stop friction between people – you have to think ahead when you have lots of cash!). 3. I might donate a bit to charity too, I really like a science based charity in London called Sense About Science who do a lot of good work. 4. Lastly, I would deal with myself. I would buy a house here in York and fill it with all the things I like. This includes (but is not limited to) a lot of Lego, a very large television, a very well stocked fridge and an expensive disco ball. I would also get a dog and a large bulk order of only the marshmallow bits from the cereal lucky charms (you can order these from Amazon – I checked!) 🙂

    • Photo: Nadine Mirza

      Nadine Mirza answered on 15 Nov 2018:

      Ohhhh the potential!!!! It’s making me see stars!!!! Alright let’s break it down, keeping in mind that breaking the money apart as much as possible is best to avoid major taxes:
      1) A significant sum goes to my parents and I’d also love to put aside some for my little brother as well! Enough to keep them quite comfortable or maybe they’d want to invest it. Whatever they please to be honest.
      2) Gonna keep some for myself and my fiance (nothing wrong with a little TLC!) We’d probably put it towards real estate, take a nice vacation, and I think I’d put aside a good amount for any future children I might have way way WAY into the future to help them with their education, including university! (I’ll be the favourite parent)
      3) I would really want to donate a good proportion to Alzheimer’s Research UK, who are currently working on a life saving treatment for dementia that they hope to develop by 2025. In donating to them I’d hope they make a cure.
      4) I would also want to donate to Shaukat Khanum Cancer Hospital and Research Centre, which is a huge organisation back in Pakistan working on world class cancer research and delivering free treatment for cancer to millions. Because so much of what they do is free to the public they require donations to keep running. It is an amazing organisation that I had the privilege to work for a few years ago, working with cancer patients in group therapy and such. I see the need for funding there because they can’t afford to treat everyone (because funding is limited they have to treat based on how good someone’s odds are. They take more patients with curable cancers who are in stage 1 or 2). With more funding they could take on more patients.
      5) I would pay for further studying I may need to do to become a fully qualified clinical neuropsychologist and I would also take a programme on science journalism and writing.
      6) What’s left from that I would want to use to build and develop an organisation from scratch in Pakistan that incorporates psychological therapy and practice and maybe has a focus on dementia. It could be like a Dementia Care and Therapy Institute or something like that. It would be the first of it’s kind and help millions of people!!!!

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