In a new situation, help needed

rlfan82

Hi, due to an inheritance, me and my wife find ourselves with some money which we have to do several things with, and whilst reading the articles on this site has helped, I'm getting lost in all the different types of account, so here is a breakdown, any help is REALLY appreciated

inheritance after fee's - £160k

Mortgage (£110k remaining) @ 5.99 fixed for 4 more years - pay off early?
Store £5000 for a CHILD - high interest bank?
Store £5000 for relative (who may have to claim benefits/ is at danger of bankrupcy - so bank maybe not safest?)
£8000 - inherited loan oustanding from co-op bank, been passed onto debt collectors but they have now been called off for set period, no interest being charged (I hope)
£3000, clear our own overdrafts/loans
£10000? - for home improvements, fairly instant

leaves around £20k, which we would like to have working for us, but in a safe way
we are also going to continue the amount of our monthly mortgage payment , into the best possible account.
We also both earn over £1500 a month, so if any other account could benefit us, it'd be nice to know- as it stands we both have bog standard accounts from our university days



Thanks for ANY advice on any part of this. as you can see, its a lot to deal with still, after going through probrate and property sales and funeral arrangments, but thats life

k8r4u

Personally I would pay off all non-mortgage debts immediately then invest the rest in a diversified portfolio: childrens trust funds for the children involved, a couple of ISAs for myself and the missus and the rest in high interest instant access accounts. I'd pick a tracker in a stocks & shares ISA for me, and a cash ISA for my wife.

But that's just me - you'd be BARKING MAD to take any investment advice off someone you don't know from Adam on an internet finance forum to be honest

cos69

agree with what k8r4u says above
The financial scene is a shambles at the moment and you don't sound as if you can afford to loose that money so keep your cash in instant access accounts with 2 or 3 different institutions. You might even consider putting some of it with National Savings in the short term.

rlfan82

Is there any tactic when dealing with bank accounts?

limit on numbers? limit on amount depositied?

saxmund

You can download a program called AccountUnity from https://www.ewise.com.au, this helps you to keep track of any number of accounts.

You shouldn't have any problems with the amounts in any one account, as they are now protected up to £50K.

cos69

saxmund wrote: »

You shouldn't have any problems with the amounts in any one account, as they are now protected up to £50K.

That's very true, but if ALL your only cash gets stuck in an account waiting for compensation to be paid out, could be a problem if you need access. I think its worth spreading it between several institutions - but only for that reason

CluelessJock

Don't forget the option of offsetting your mortgage. Keeps the funds liquid whilst returning a shade under 7.5% gross given your current 5.99% mortgage rate.

rlfan82

Thanks for all the replies,

2 questions

1) Noticed that ISA's allow 3600 cash and 3600 SnS, what is the risk in the current market of SnS, likely to make greater profit or more likely to go under? (prob a daft question)

2) My fixed rate mortgage has a overpayment penalty of 3.5k, so would I be better finding an account which covers the interest on the mortgage, and then paying off the whole mortgage at the end of the fixed term? (would the overpyment fee still apply? - Nationwide)