Best thing to do with £75k

ptben

My girlfriend has £75k left over from the sale of her home but we're not entirely sure what to do with it. We're open to any ideas / advice

EdInvestor

Do you want to save it in cash or invest it? Is it a deposit on your next home?

ptben

We have a home together on which we share the mortgage. We're not really bothered whether we save it or invest it. Neither of us are too good with investments but it just seems wrong to have the money sat there it a normal bank account as it is at the moment.

dunstonh

We're not really bothered whether we save it or invest it.

You do need to be bothered. If you dont care about this 75k, then give it to charity. Ok, that is harsh but you need to decide what you want with the money before you can make any decision on where and how it should be placed. The distinction between savings and investment is too great to have a dont care approach. Plus, if you dont care, you will never get the most out of your money and seeing as this is a moneysaving site, that would be wasteful.

Cannon_Fodder

Different people have different attitudes to "emergency cash reserves", maybe 1/3rd i.e. £25,000 would be a reasonable figure to put into ISAs and Savings/Notice, for "rainy day" easy-ish access. Depends on your salaries, other savings etc etc.

Cash ISA at NS&I, 5.80%, £3000 now, another £3000 after April 6th.

If she's really nice, and you haven't already got an ISA, maybe she'll give some to you to put in an ISA too. Its more tax efficient for both people to do it, but it is still HER money, so depends on your relationship...that would be £12000, then maybe £10000 into something with some notice required to prevent "dipping", and the odd £3000 to get to £25000 goes into Regular Monthly Saver at her/your current accounts Bank?

Check comparison tables at moneyextra, moneyfacts or moneysupermarket for the latest deals on Savings/Notice accounts - some interest rate rises have yet to filter through from last weeks Bank of England rise, so keep looking.

That leaves £50,000 to juggle with...on the basis that you are happy to leave it there for 5+ years, then Mini Equity ISA, £4000 each per tax year, can get another £16000 sorted by April - but that does require some investment choices - may be best seeking IFA advice on such a sum. The rest can also go into Equity, outside ISA, if you like. Use the same advice if necessary.

Are you both employed, with company pensions? Make sure you're getting any employers contributions - as that's free money its worth cutting your salary by contributing and then replacing the difference from your savings interest, to get that free cash, so you might lean more towards cash elements if pensions need a top-up.

ptben

dunstonh wrote:

You do need to be bothered. If you dont care about this 75k, then give it to charity. Ok, that is harsh but you need to decide what you want with the money before you can make any decision on where and how it should be placed. The distinction between savings and investment is too great to have a dont care approach. Plus, if you dont care, you will never get the most out of your money and seeing as this is a moneysaving site, that would be wasteful.

Sorry, "don't care" is the wrong term. We're just very unsure what to so willing to entertain ideas from people who do.

Shinds

safest thing to do first of all is stick it in a High Interest Savings account.

ICICI or ING Direct offer great rates - But ING has the best Service for sure!

fimonkey

Can you pay off a sizable chunk of your mortgage instead? Seems daft to have such huge savings and be pating a mortgage.

If you really don't know what to do with it I'll happily take it off your hands!
;-)

ptben

The mortgage is shred between us and we a signed agreement saying we both own 50%. So, if she pays off most of the mortgage, it would mean the split would no longer be 50:50.

climbgirl

Shinds wrote:

safest thing to do first of all is stick it in a High Interest Savings account.

ICICI or ING Direct offer great rates - But ING has the best Service for sure!

Ummm ING Direct have a horrible rate, they're .5% below the BOE rate now! ICICI and Icesave are the top two payers for instanct access now, 5.65 and 5.7 respectively. Compared to ING's 4.75....

Idiophreak

ptben wrote:

The mortgage is shred between us and we a signed agreement saying we both own 50%. So, if she pays off most of the mortgage, it would mean the split would no longer be 50:50.

could you not borrow half the money off her? (say at inflation rate interest?) I presume (if you're buying a house together) that you're pretty serious etc, not planning to break up any time soon. Maybe there's someway you could get a contract drawn up etc.

Just seems silly to have all of that money sat around and not invest it in the biggest debt. Would save both of you money in the long run?