I need to find best way to invest my mother's money.....help please!

Mrs_p · 9 September 2017 at 12:20AM

My mum and dad owned their own house, unfortunately my mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's fairly young at 65 she began to decline quite quickly but at the time my father had power of attorney but sadly passed away three years ago.

As mum had declined very quickly she was hospitalised and then placed in care under section 2 of the mental health act and therefore their savings, capital and property is not considered in the costs for her care (small mercies) as she has been considered in "continuing care" which means that I only have to pay the small shortfall between what the home charges and what she receives in her pension and what the local council and nhs pay for her care.

I applied to be mums financial deputy and was awarded the deputyship. It has taken 12 months but today we finally sold the family home. Mum now has just under £100,000.00 in her current account.
My questions are:
1. Where would you place the money to get the best and safest return?
2. Would you split it as I understand you are only insured up to £85 grand per account?
3. Would you do it yourself or pay for financial advice?

I am very new to this and did ring the court of protection to confirm I could move the money in to a higher interest/invest the money and although they agreed it was ok they said it was important to get financial advice.

Sorry for the essay but thought it was important to give as much pertinent info at this stage to ensure clarity in my situation.

Thanking you in anticipation of advice

TheShape · 9 September 2017 at 1:03AM

My first question would be:

What is the shortfall in care costs that you are currently paying? I imagine the aim would be to try to cover that at least.

bigadaj · 9 September 2017 at 6:57AM

I would have thought that care costs will be significant and the current account will reduce quite quickly such that you will be within fscs limts with a few months.

Financial advice is often expensive and given the short term need for the money there's little extra that can be done to gain much more interest.

Might be worth looking into a care needs annuity through a specialist ifa, they can appear expensive but give certainty that expenses will be covered for as long as needed, you'd need to go through an adviser that is a specialist in later life advice, would be useful to try just to see what the overall costs could be even if you don't or can't take advantage of this form of insurance.

Mrs_p · 9 September 2017 at 6:57AM

Thank you for your reply

After writing an essay I forgot to mention that my mother has other income from spousal occupational pensions, this covers the shortfall and any miscellaneous purchases. As she needs little as the home provides all her needs except treats and extras she has a small balance of around £9000. The proceeds from the house are in excess and are just sitting in a current account.

tacpot12 · 9 September 2017 at 7:10AM

I think you need professional independent financial advice, Yoir mother's situation is not uncommon but most non-professionals won't have experience of the situation themselves so won't be offer good quality advice. Look for an Independent financial advisor at https://www.unbiased.co.uk

You also have a duty to minimise the cost of the advice you take, so you need to be prepared to ask searching questions about what the charges are and what the IFA is doing for the charges. Talk to a few IFAs to get a feel for what is reasonable. Post a question on MSE if you are not sure about whether the fee structure is reasonable.

You need to think carefully about what your mum needs now and might needs in the future and how long she might needs it for. Make notes on your views to take to the IFA but be prepared for them to ask questions that alter your views.

Opening a Santander 1-2-3 account and moving £20K into it would be a way of getting below the £85K FSCS limit, if your Mum doesn't already have this accoint and you can meet the account criteria.

FatherAbraham · 9 September 2017 at 7:48AM

Mrs_p wrote: »

Thank you for your reply

After writing an essay I forgot to mention that my mother has other income from spousal occupational pensions, this covers the shortfall and any miscellaneous purchases. As she needs little as the home provides all her needs except treats and extras she has a small balance of around £9000. The proceeds from the house are in excess and are just sitting in a current account.

So what is this £100k actually for? What is the financial goal to be satisfied? Until you determine that, noöne can help you achieve it.

It would be prudent to ensure that the capital is not exposed to unnecessary risk, by not keeping more than £85k in a single institution (more accurately: by not holding more than £85k in a single bankinvg licence), or by moving the money to a National Savings and Investments account, fully backed by the state.

Warmest regards,
FA

Keep_pedalling · 9 September 2017 at 9:39AM

Having deputyship puts you under considerable scrutiny by the courts, so you must be careful what you do with this. Assuming your mother's dementia is quite advanced then investing the money is out of the question, and the main priority is protection.

I would keep it simple and put the bulk of it into NS&I where it has full protection.

xylophone · 9 September 2017 at 9:58AM

It would seem that your mother's needs are covered by the NHS and her pensions so that any income produced form her capital (the proceeds of the house sale) are over and above what is needed to fund her care.

The money could be invested (and would be likely to produce a better return if invested) but if you are inexperienced with this, you could consult an IFA.

https://societyoflaterlifeadvisers.co.uk/

Otherwise there are various savings accounts that could be opened by you as Deputy for your mother.

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/article-1621507/Best-savings-rates-Fixed-rate-accounts.html

You could open an NS&I Income Bonds account in your mother's name to hold the cash for a couple of months while you consider the options.

https://www.nsandi.com/our-products

DiggerUK · 9 September 2017 at 9:59AM

Mrs_p wrote: »

..........she was hospitalised and then placed in care under section 2 of the mental health act and therefore their savings, capital and property is not considered in the costs for her care (small mercies) as she has been considered in "continuing care"........)

If your mum is indeed receiving continuing health care, then the NHS is responsible for all her costs. So there will be no shortfall to make up.

http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/social-care-and-support-guide/Pages/nhs-continuing-care.aspx

As to your mums funds, I'm with others who say it will be best put in savings accounts that do their best to match, or offset, inflation. NSI will have enough options..._

bigadaj · 9 September 2017 at 10:54AM

xylophone wrote: »

It would seem that your mother's needs are covered by the NHS and her pensions so that any income produced form her capital (the proceeds of the house sale) are over and above what is needed to fund her care.

The money could be invested (and would be likely to produce a better return if invested) but if you are inexperienced with this, you could consult an IFA.

https://societyoflaterlifeadvisers.co.uk/

Otherwise there are various savings accounts that could be opened by you as Deputy for your mother.

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/article-1621507/Best-savings-rates-Fixed-rate-accounts.html

You could open an NS&I Income Bonds account in your mother's name to hold the cash for a couple of months while you consider the options.

https://www.nsandi.com/our-products

I can't see how investment is a good place for the money in the case.

Adviser charges could be significant as well.

xylophone · 9 September 2017 at 11:49AM

I can't see how investment is a good place for the money in the case.

It may well not be - I simply commented on the likelihood ( but of course not certainty) of a better return if it were.

That said,

any income produced form her capital (the proceeds of the house sale) are over and above what is needed to fund her care.

so that it could be argued that it is not absolutely necessary to generate any return at all!

One assumes that after "temporary high balance" period expired, the OP would want to leave no more than £85,000 with any one institution ( other than NS&I) but that is easily managed.

The OP may be happy simply to leave it all with NS&I at 0.75%.

It's up to her.

I need to find best way to invest my mother's money.....help please!

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