Best option's for an 18 year old inheriting £6000?

BennyBee

Ok , on October 18th I turn 18 and I inherit my father's pension as he passed away in 2001 , so I see this inheritance as a big huge present from him (: . I've known for quite some time that when I turn 18 i'd be getting some money inherited from him , but only recently as in 3 day's ago found out it was the sum of £5389.85 + 8 years intrest on top of that , so the solicitor has estimated it close to £6000.

My mum got a phone call off a solicitor from the insurance company my dad has his pension with , and supposibly they've been trying to track me down for years since his death but couldn't since my second name changed , and 8 years later only just been able to find me by tracking down which secondary school I went too. Obviously when I found out it was this much I was over the moon.

Now the whole point of this thread is just to get some friendly opinions what I should do with some of the money so I dont end up blowing it which my mum think's im going to do , she has advized me to put some of it into high intrest bank account for a few year's , but was wondering what other people think , and how much I should put in.

This morning I received all the paperwork through the post which I have to fill in , and have ticked the option for the money to go straight into my bank account on the day of my 18th birthday on October 18th. Now i've already made some plans as of what to do with the money.

We aren't a rich family , and with the current money crisis , my mum is finding it hard lately , and has been for a while , therefore this means that I dont get much money and can never usually do much I want to do or buy , but with this money I can do now the thing's I've wanted to do and the thing's I wont be able to pay for again unless I saved for a very very very long time. I've decided i'm going to take crash course driving lessons which are around £500 with the company i've looked into , I am then going to buy a year's insurance and by a car. After estimating the total price of these , I'm left with around £3000.

This is where im confused as to what to do with all that money , because I'll only be 18 , still living at home and am just a college student. I plan to buy a few things for myself like a new phone and playstation 3 aswell as buy my mum a good gift for all she does for me and i'm also going to put some aside for petrol money , car tax etc etc , so lets say im now left with £2000. What would be the best option for me with this sum of money ? Should I ivnest it ? How much intrest would I get on this amount ?

I really do NOT want to just keep £2000 in my bank account because money burns a hole in my pocket and I KNOW I would be constantly picking at it and wasting it on stupid things and before I know it i'll be thinking 'Oh my god , I had £6000 three month's ago!' , so what are your thoughts?
Thank you in advance!
Ben (:

gozomark

how about spending some of it on grammar lessons :-)

sorry, but my brain couldn't cope with your post

McKneff

Your post is really difficult to read, could you possibly go back into it and set some paragraphs up. Double space before each paragraph starts. Pretty please. Gozomark, really no no need for sarcasm, its not nice.

opinions4u

Hi Benny.

If you just click on the <EDIT> button on your post and try to put a few paragraphs in you'll make it miles easier for people to read.

Then you'll get some really helpful advice.

withnell

If you think you might need access to it, Egg offers 3.25%

Otherwise best to fix for one/two years, look at https://www.moneyfacts.co.uk for details on the best ones

BennyBee

McKneff wrote: »

Your post is really difficult to read, could you possibly go back into it and set some paragraphs up. Double space before each paragraph starts. Pretty please. Gozomark, really no no need for sarcasm, its not nice.

I'm really sorry if it was hard to read! Sorted it out now , hope it's easier for you!
Sorry again.

hawkster

My 18 year old nephew inherited £12000 about a year ago. he blew the lot in 6 months!

How about putting it into a notice account or premium bonds:rolleyes:

BennyBee

hawkster wrote: »

My 18 year old nephew inherited £12000 about a year ago. he blew the lot in 6 months!

How about putting it into a notice account or premium bonds:rolleyes:

Oh wow such a huge amount of money , double the amount i'm going to get and blew it in 6 month's! That's EXACTLY what I dont want to be doing! Haha.

opinions4u

Ok, you've thought about things carefully which is good.

You're also aware of a personal weakness that will see you "blow" the money if it stays where it is.

I'd suggest you put £500 in an easy access account (NOT your bank account) but on the understanding that this is a genuine emergency account and nothing more. It's there for when the exhaust falls off your car. www.egg.com pays 3.25% at the moment.

The rest (£1500) I'd put in a 12 month fixed rate account. Take a look at www.moneyfacts.co.uk to see the best rates. They should be around the 3.75% mark. This puts it out of reach for a bit, but not too long. At the end of the year look to save it again for another year, assuming you don't need it.

I've made assumptions here that you can pay for all your other costs out of income. My niggling concern is that you'll end up spending more of Dad's gift on car insurance than on the car you buy (I'm sure a typical 18 yr old car policy costs over £2k for a lad). I would expect my kids to pay running costs out of day to day income (e.g. petrol, insurance, parking, MOT, repairs). Not from a lump sum.

There is little point buying a car, insuring it for a year and then having to sell it for half of what you paid for it because you can't afford the insurance renewal. If you can't see how you'll afford next year's insurance, stick the car/insurance money in that one year savings account and review the situation towards the end of 2010.

Good luck!

pink_princess

Your Dad would be very proud.
The thought his little girl is taking care of her self and his money so well.
Personally id second opinions 4 us post.Keep a small treet amount and save the rest a while.Wait until the novelty of having it wears off,then you ll use it better.
Good luck with life and the future.
PP

flyingscotno1

pink_princess wrote: »

Your Dad would be very proud.
The thought his little girl is taking care of her self and his money so well.
Personally id second opinions 4 us post.Keep a small treet amount and save the rest a while.Wait until the novelty of having it wears off,then you ll use it better.
Good luck with life and the future.
PP

Yep I'd second that. Don't blow it all because you'll regret it in the future when you want a new car or a flat, but use it sensibly and you'll be much better off!