What would you do with a spare lump sum??

biting_the_bullet

Hello all. Just fixed us down to a 180 odd grand mortgage, and have a question for you all.

The monthly outgoings total will leave us with around £220 per week to live on, but i have a bonus of 8K gross awaiting payment from the company i work for. As far as i can see it we have a couple of options. Take the total 8K, just over 4K after deductions and pay it straight off the mortgage with the £500 per month overpay facility with the Nationwide, or split the 8K into weekly payments (£90ish) to top up our weekly living money. I'm temted to split it this way as the first year in the house is bound to be expensive with all the little extras.

What would you do??????????

qwertyq

Id personally put 3k into an ISA as a 'if I loose my job fund' and make a payment off the mortguage with the rest - but then Im not a financial adviser.

Alan_M_2

In all honesty I'd probably go on a nice holiday, life's too short....

clutton_2

i'd holiday also !!!

Alan_M_2

It's not very money saving is it...but it's honest

Gillby1

Hi Biting the Bullet.

Congratulations on the house purchase!

You say you have £220 per week to live on, and presumably this doesn't have to pay for any bills etc...? That sounds like loads to me! My partner and i have just bought our first house and will definately have less than that to spend.

I think i would put the money into an ISA/high interest savings account, and use it to overpay the £500 per month until it's all gone - or maybe keep one or two thousand in the ISA in case of emergencies?

It's entirely up to you, of course! If you really want to give yourselves some extra spending money, there's no reason why you can't just use half of the money for that, and use the other half to pay off the mortgage.

Gills x

welshcakes

I wouldn't pay anything off the mortgage - one of the lowest loans around! Have you ever considered a 2 wk cruise on something like the QEII Transatlantic run? I hear it's great!

Alan_M_2

It looks like holiday is winning....

I did a week in the Caribbean last year on The Mariner of the Seas, first cruise I'd ever been on and I highly recommend it, it was extremely relaxing.

painted_lady

Personally, I would holiday - have always wanted to do the trans siberian. Any extra would go into a cash ISA and then a shares ISA. Life is for living . . .

Idiophreak

Just to back everyone else up, I'd go with a holiday, or a giant TV or something - sounds like you can manage reasonably well on a day to day basis, so use the one off to live a little.

ginvzt

I would pay off the mortgage. Especially with Nationwide - you can borrow the money back if there is a need!!! Or if you decide later on that you want to go on holiday...