Tried asking a friend, thought would now ask the audience

Morglin

PuzzledDave wrote: »

Have one of those nice problems to have, some background:

Family consists of the other half, two children (age 4 & 2) and me. We have always been very careful with money and are now in the fortunate position of having no meaningful debt and a little mortgage left.

At the very end of 2013 I was made redundant after a very long period of continuous employment so am due a hefty redundancy payment. I was lucky enough to gain another role quickly (prob start next week or so) which will (for what we are used to) be very well paid however, may only be for a couple of months, may be a year or two. The other half stays at home to look after the children.

So in short, we are shortly going to get an unexpected significant lump sum on top of our existing decent cash reserve (and income insurance) and still have employment available. We have no debts to pay off and can't even settle the mortgage without paying more in penalties than the interest due if we just finish out the current terms.

Our problem is we have no idea how to spend this lump sum, our children are too young to make a massive trip to Disneyland or similar and we both don't get much of a kick out of holidays in general. Our home is modest, but fine for our needs and the idea of using the sum to jump up the ladder fills us with dread at the amount of work that would need to be done to make our home in a sellable condition. Our youngest child stills occasionally draws on the walls :mad::mad: so an expensive redecoration is currently a waste of time.

There is no furniture or big expensive toy either of us want and the kids like to drop their toys down the stairs for fun Our car is getting on and also very modest... but works fine and upgrading also seems a waste of money since it serves our needs just fine.

The best we have come up with is to demolish the very elderly shed that came with the house and replace it... but really ??? That's the best we can do with a windfall ?? We could keep it in case my new employment turns out to be very short... but we already had a good reserve and income insurance. Just letting it sit in the bank seems silly - we scrimp and save each month and now we really do for once have money to burn, we are just lost on what to do with it.

Any suggestions would be really most welcome.

When something similar happened with me (inheritance) we put a lot into bonds and the max ISA's, invested some in stocks and shares, bought a nice car, gave some to the kids, to set them up, although ours are adult, and other than that, we put some into an instant access account, and if we saw something we wanted, we bought it (new comp, new tv - things like that).

(I also had a new bathroom, kitchen and bedroom fitted - but, obviously if your daughter is going through the wrecking stage, probably best to wait for that!)

It also meant we didn't have to think hard about getting through the month. We are in a different position, though, as we are both retired, so we had to plan for our old age etc.,

You could put it somewhere accessible for a few months until you think of something.

Lin

PuzzledDave

Noctu wrote: »

Extension on your house, or a loft conversion? (Depending on the actual sum of course)

I think we have a winner ! After speaking to the OH we are probably going to replace the elderly boiler and change the rubbish lean-to conservatory into an extension of the kitchen.

Many thanks everyone !

tara747

daisiegg wrote: »

Student loan is not 'real' debt. If a parent wanted to help out a child they would be much better saving the money to help them with a house deposit, not using it for university fees.

It *is* real debt. It's money taken out of your pay packet every month that you would have if you hadn't taken out a student loan. That's debt to me. :eek:

I'm glad that I never had one. I was lucky, I started university the year before fees were brought in. I got a grant and had a PT job. Graduated with no debts at all.

I feel for today's students.

Person_one

'Real' debt has to be paid back whether you're earning or not, and can trash your credit score and send you into bankruptcy if you have too much if it.

A student loan is more of a tax, it will never keep you awake at night.

theoretica

I know this is a money saving site, but if you have more money then you want I am sure you could find several charities which would put it to very good use.

daisiegg

Person_one wrote: »

'Real' debt has to be paid back whether you're earning or not, and can trash your credit score and send you into bankruptcy if you have too much if it.

A student loan is more of a tax, it will never keep you awake at night.

Exactly this.

Student loans do not even have to be declared on mortgage applications.

I work part time and only pay back about £21 a month of my student loan. It comes out from your pay with tax, NI and pension contributions, and I completely don't notice it. I will probably never pay it back and it will be written off. That is not 'real' debt.

Silver-Freddy

PuzzledDave wrote: »

Have one of those nice problems to have, some background:

Family consists of the other half, two children (age 4 & 2) and me. We have always been very careful with money and are now in the fortunate position of having no meaningful debt and a little mortgage left.

At the very end of 2013 I was made redundant after a very long period of continuous employment so am due a hefty redundancy payment. I was lucky enough to gain another role quickly (prob start next week or so) which will (for what we are used to) be very well paid however, may only be for a couple of months, may be a year or two. The other half stays at home to look after the children.

So in short, we are shortly going to get an unexpected significant lump sum on top of our existing decent cash reserve (and income insurance) and still have employment available. We have no debts to pay off and can't even settle the mortgage without paying more in penalties than the interest due if we just finish out the current terms.

Our problem is we have no idea how to spend this lump sum, our children are too young to make a massive trip to Disneyland or similar and we both don't get much of a kick out of holidays in general. Our home is modest, but fine for our needs and the idea of using the sum to jump up the ladder fills us with dread at the amount of work that would need to be done to make our home in a sellable condition. Our youngest child stills occasionally draws on the walls :mad::mad: so an expensive redecoration is currently a waste of time.

There is no furniture or big expensive toy either of us want and the kids like to drop their toys down the stairs for fun Our car is getting on and also very modest... but works fine and upgrading also seems a waste of money since it serves our needs just fine.

The best we have come up with is to demolish the very elderly shed that came with the house and replace it... but really ??? That's the best we can do with a windfall ?? We could keep it in case my new employment turns out to be very short... but we already had a good reserve and income insurance. Just letting it sit in the bank seems silly - we scrimp and save each month and now we really do for once have money to burn, we are just lost on what to do with it.

Any suggestions would be really most welcome.

I recently took redundancy and received £30,000,Im also in the same position as yourself.
Ive banged the lot into Premium Bonds,I can take some of it out if I do decide I need something.But its nice knowing I might win some money one day.If I don't then at least it gives me something to look forward to on the 3rd of every month.


I could of put it in a high interest account but this is much more fun.


Ivewon £500 so far and they've only been in there for the past 5 months so Im happy!

Indie_Kid

I would be tempted to save and when the children are older, take them on holiday.

dancingfairy

Depending on the size of it I'd probably start a savings account/investment for my children.
I'd keep some for a rainy day.
I'd treat my family to something they'd like/appreciate - whether it's lunch in McDonalds or a day to the Zoo or a trip to Pizza Express or something.
i'd keep some for when the kids were older to take them to disney/a hot sunny holiday/a cruise etc.
So many possibilities. Have fun.
df

mountainofdebt

to put it nicely,you're not 6 and you know you don't have to let that money burn a hole in your pocket.

Your new job may last a couple of months , it may not.

Put the money in an interest bearing account so that if you needed it in an emergency you could get hold of it.

(though if you would like to make a charitable donation, I too will pm my bank details lol)