What should I do with £50K?

MissMuppet

Or me?

Honestly I would probably buy a house with the money.

joshm_2

Like someone said earlier, buying a new or nearly new car isn't worthwhile if your current one is ok and you're more serious about stregic investment rather than looking the business. That said, by all means buy something if cars mean a lot to you and you go for something that has already done most of its depreciating. I like cars and I went out and bought a flash one, and I can tell you that having owned it for a few months they can be a lot of hassle - there's a lot to be said for an old bucket that doesn't lose £1K every time someone goes into it with a supermarket trolley!

Buy-to-let can turn out to be a real headache and if it were me, I'd only consider this if I had a lot of patience, money to pay an agency to run the whole shebang for me, and a back up plan in case things went badly wrong.

Property investment is certainly a way forward (for yourself to live in) - you're then not wasting money on rent and you stand to gain from equity increases. I bough my place 5 years ago and it's doubled in value if that gives you any idea of what to expect (obviously I know that when, where and what you buy is a big factor so you can't take that as a yardstick). It's not necessarily the thing to look at capital gain, but rather to consider how much harder it may be to get on the property ladder X years down the line when your £50K won't buy nearly as much.

So - my suggestion would be to get a property of your own and keep a little back to spend doing a few of the things you've always wanted to do/buy. I can't comment on what, exactly, since everyone's different!

[Deleted User]

What I would do for the short term is put it in an instant access savings account
try icesave (around 5%) which is £2500 a year on 50k

there is advice about savings accounts on this website.

mountainofdebt

I would put 6 months worth of my monthlly salary in a good interest bearing rainy day fund and then use the rest as a deposit for a house.

With that sort of money you want to be able to say a year down the line I used that money wisely and not think where the dickens did it go.

If you want a newer car then buy it by all means but personally I wouldn't spend my inheritance on something that is going to depreciate the moment I drive it off the fore court.

liney

I would buy the house for 90k ish you mentioned leaving you with a 40k mortgage meaning you will pay approx £300per month. I would overpay it, and aim to be clear in 10 years, leaving you with the option to buy another house of you want to, or at least be mortgage free in your 30s (?).

cheekyhun

Hiya this is just an advice but first you can give me some money if you want ,coz I am broke hehehe but just a suggestion but anyway , If i were you I would
keep it and find a good interest rate and then let it grow . Like you said you don't need a car . You need to be wise how you spend your money ,coz to be honest 50 k is a lot of money but people can get carried away of treating themselves. You mentioned you have a student loan of 15k but are you aware that you pay tax on your student loan ???? The more your loan builds up the tax you pay on the gov , The reason I know this is because the loan I borrowed 5 years ago when I was a student and now earning some money the gov suddnely charging me a tax for my student loan, which I never heard before . They said it is class as an income , but it's not because it goes to your studies,but anyway Hose prices is tend to go up more and on top of that is you pay tax buying a house. As you mentioned you are single,no children ,thenthis is your opportunity to use your money wisely , you can treat yourself easy but 50 k is not that much if just start spending it , it will flow like water. You can save it and when you need it most you can use it . I hopw it give u some ideas . But obviously it is still your decision of how you want to spend your money .

roswell

If you have no imediate use for it you should fill your isa allowance for this year and keep some easy access to fill up next years, look into a regular savers account and pop a visit to the saving / investing board.

angelatgraceland

I would buy the 90k house, using the 50k as a deposit, and on your salary I would settle the rest over the next 5 years. I agree with you regarding the student loan-no hurry there.
I would then pay off the credit card as soon as the interest free period is over.
Remember that interest rates are going up at present so don't over commit yourself(two properties) although I quite like the sound of it. If all is still rosy in 5 years time you could then invest in a second property.

bobson_2

Hi.. I thought I should pop back in here.

In the end I inherited £79,000 - apparently it would have been more but AMP bought Pearl... I dunno what that was all about.

I had to buy a car.. as my other one went bang. I spent 10K on one. I paid my girlfriends credit card off - though she didnt cut it up, and I'm worried she's used it to buy christmas pressies... I also paid my card off. I gave my folks £1000 as when I was really skint in uni my Dad gave me that much - he had written it off, but I felt obliged to pay them back. I've recieved a 2K tax bill, so I'm keeping some back for that too.

So I'm left with £60k.. it's currently sitting in a 3% interest account while I try and get it put into a higher interest account. It's funny how the banks treat you when you have a large sum of money.

I've been looking around at houses.. the 90k ones are in really dodgey areas, but they've dropped in price to around the 85k mark..

So I'm looking at houses around the 120k mark - attempting to find something I can add value too so I can sell it on. The 60k will be used as the deposit.

I'm going to argue for a pay rise in the new year. I always work more hours than I'm paid without complaining, and I've done a fare bit of product development - initially as a freelancer, and now as a member of staff. I've definatly improved the product. The company has a large turnover in proportion to its size.. I love working for them, but as a mate who works in recruitment pointed out to me.. I'm the one with all the skills, and they need me more than I need them.. but I dont know how true that is.

dunstonh

In the end I inherited £79,000 - apparently it would have been more but AMP bought Pearl... I dunno what that was all about.

AMP bought Pearl and then asset stripped it and destroyed it as a viable insurance company before getting into trouble themselves and selling it to the ex-owner of Pizza Express. Any money invested in Pearl is virtually standing still and not making anything.

I've been looking around at houses.. the 90k ones are in really dodgey areas, but they've dropped in price to around the 85k mark..

Dong forget that you will pay tax on rental properties and it could affect your ability to buy your own house later on (i.e. not being lent as much).

If you like the idea of property but dont want the potential hassle there are property investments available within ISA, Unit Trust, IT and Inv Bond tax wrappers. This way you get access to the returns without the physical ownership of the property.

And do remember that a mortgaged buy to let is a high risk transaction. Make sure you have the risk profile to go with that.