The UK recently crowned only its 7th ever winner of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? – Roman Dubowski, who walked away with the show’s iconic £1 million jackpot. But that headline prize is no longer worth what it was when the program first aired in 1998.
While £1 million remains life-changing, the jackpot has stayed the same for nearly 30 years. As a result, the pot has quietly been eroded by decades of inflation, leading to a sharp decline in purchasing power. In fact, £1 million in 2026 is equivalent to just £505,600 in 19981. To match the value of the original prize, the jackpot today would need to be almost £2 million (£1,977,900).
Cash can feel safe because the number in your account doesn’t fall. In reality, inflation steadily chips away at what that money can actually buy. Research from Vanguard shows that only 15% of UK savers recognise the risk of holding too much cash, with many overestimating the risks of investing, a common misconception that can quietly cost people tens of thousands of pounds over time.
Inflation doesn’t need to be dramatic to do damage; it simply needs time. Over the long term, doing nothing with your money is still a financial decision and can often be an expensive one.
James Norton, Head of Retirement and Managed Services at Vanguard, commented: “Winning £1 million still sounds like instant financial security, but inflation is a reminder that money doesn’t stand still if it’s left sitting in cash. What felt comfortably life changing in the late 1990s simply doesn’t stretch as far today, as prices have steadily risen year after year.
“If you’ve been lucky or skilled enough to have a million, drop into your lap today and you want it to still feel like a million in another thirty years’ time, cash on its own is unlikely to get you there. Once you have enough set aside for emergencies, investing has historically been a more effective way of protecting wealth, giving money the chance to grow and keep pace with rising prices.”
Key data:
- There is ~£200bn in excess cash held in the UK, held by those who already have sufficient emergency savings and could benefit from moving money into long-term investments.
- This includes more than one in four employed adults (5.7m people), with an average surplus of nearly £17,000 being held by each person; much of it sitting in cash accounts where returns have lagged inflation.
- Only 15% of UK savers recognise the risk of holding too much cash. Cash vs investing outcomes: £1m kept in cash since 1998 would be worth ~£2m today. But £1m invested in global shares (FTSE All World Index) would be worth ~£8.5m.
1 – Bank of England inflation calculator used to look into the impact of inflation: https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetary-policy/inflation/inflation-calculator
