The smartest way to spend your money if you become a millionaire overnight

A financial adviser has revealed how to spend wisely to stay rich

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What would you do if you suddenly became £1million richer overnight? Put a downpayment on a mansion? Buy a bunch of designer handbags? Spend £10 on Investing for Dummies and put the rest behind a company?

Although most of us can only dream of having our bank accounts suddenly bumped-up by £1million, that is the reality for lottery winners, successful app entrepreneurs, and college-level American football players selected in NFL drafts. Those players can go from hard-up students to millionaires in a second.

So, what should you do if you're unexpectedly in the money? Firstly, write down what you want and what you need, Mark Doman, a financial adviser who helps people who have accumulated wealth very quickly, told GQ. The more items there are in the ‘want’ column, the less money there will be in the ‘need’ column.

Learning how to manage your money rather than trusting others is the next key lesson, according to Doman. He tells his clients that while their trust is all well and good for his ego, he urges them not to invest a single penny in an idea until they understand exactly why they are making that choice.

Having a long-term plan and financial strategy is also important, added Doman. This includes considering a person’s earning potential; the length their career is likely to be; their spending habits; and how risk averse they are in order to create a spending strategy.

But for people who have gotten rich quickly and lost it all, Damon's advice comes a little too late.

Callie Rogers, who became Britain’s youngest lottery winner aged 16 when she took home £1.9million, said in an interview that she was too young to win the lottery.

“Suddenly, I was a local celeb and people would come up to me in pubs as if they were my best friend and I felt pressure to buy them all drinks. I didn’t know who to trust,” she told Closer magazine.

By the time she was 26, Rogers only had £2,000 of her winnings left.

Former Big Brother contestant Aisleye Horgan-Wallace, however, recently revealed how she has built a million pound fortune by investing in property.

Horgan-Wallace said on Channel 4's How’d You Get So Rich: "I came out of the Big Brother house and I thought, ‘I’ll ride this wave, five, ten minutes, however long it lasts whatever comes my way’."

"I put the money straight into property. I didn’t buy one pair of shoes, one handbag, I didn’t spoil myself,” she said.

"I knew I had to have that fall back plan because you can’t rely on the celebrity world because you’re hot one minute and no one cares the next."