Michael Karlin recently spoke to Wealth Management about how one of the U.K.’s biggest lottery winners chose to spend his fortune, and what an advisor might recommend to do differently. Colin Weir had won a jackpot of £161 million and had spent £40 million in the eight years following, until his death in 2019.
“In exchange for £40 million, he ended up owning cars, property and a football club. Assuming he didn’t overpay, he just exchanged cash for property and was no worse off at the moment of the exchange,” Michael said. On the topic of his less wise expenditures, Michael noted, “what did constitute spending was giving away the shares of the [soccer] club to the supporters’ trust or making outright gifts to family and friends. That’s a choice he was free to make, although I hope he took some tax advice, especially concerning the U.K. income and capital gains tax consequences of his investments and the U.K. inheritance tax (equivalent to the U.S. gift and estate taxes) consequences of his gifts and bequests.”
