Best use for 100k

masonic

It's great that you have been able to save a substantial amount of money while in work. If you lose your job, then you'll be falling back on some of those savings for your living costs. Whether you can get a slightly better rate putting your money in account A vs account B is going to pale into insignificance as your lack of income creates a massive drain on your accumulated wealth. Better to do anything and everything you can to plug that hole as soon as possible because the difference between being out of work for 2 vs 3 months is going to lose you more money than you'll be able to earn in a reasonable amount of time from putting your money in the best savings account.

So, by all means, spread your money around the best high interest current accounts etc, because every little helps, but long term decisions of what to do with the money should come only after you've addressed the more pressing issue of how to secure a reliable income again as quickly as possible.

atush

Nomini wrote: »

Ultimately yes, but I'm conscious that it could take a while.

No 1, i'd be getting a new one now. Or at least lining one up?

No2, i'd pay off any debt.

no3, I'd fig out the min to live on should the worst happen. and if I have a place to go and crash (ie parents/relatives etc) i'd give notice on my flat so as to not lose any deposit/reduce outgoings?

Basically you want your outgoings as low as possible.

Do you have a pension at your employment? It could be a god idea ot boost your pension and big time. Esp if your (boosted with redundancy)savings will limit your JS payments?

Nomini

atush wrote: »

No 1, i'd be getting a new one now. Or at least lining one up?

No2, i'd pay off any debt.

no3, I'd fig out the min to live on should the worst happen. and if I have a place to go and crash (ie parents/relatives etc) i'd give notice on my flat so as to not lose any deposit/reduce outgoings?

Basically you want your outgoings as low as possible.

Do you have a pension at your employment? It could be a god idea ot boost your pension and big time. Esp if your (boosted with redundancy)savings will limit your JS payments?

1. Ts and Cs forbid it till November I'm afraid. Got a few ideas for when I can start applying, though

2. Don't have any

3. I live with my gf who *could* cover the basic costs if required, not that I want her to

4. Yeah, I have a pension, but it's at a fixed level and is non-contributory, so no pensions boosts possible, even if they were desirable

enthusiasticsaver

If you know you are going to be unemployed with no other assets I would not lock the money away. Can you use some of it to retrain if you are in a profession where work is not easy to come by?


You could put some of it into high yield investments but this will involve taking some risk with the capital so it depends on how long you think you will be unemployed and your monthly living costs. If you have that amount in savings DWP assistance will be limited.


You need to explore all your options over the next 6 months or so until your job finishes and make a decision then based on the likelihood of your getting back into work quickly.

Nomini

Guys, don't get sidetracked too much on the job issue. As St Liam of Neeson once said, what I do have are a very particular set of skills, skills I have acquired over a very long career. Except mine hasn't been that long.

masonic

Nomini wrote: »

Guys, don't get sidetracked too much on the job issue. As St Liam of Neeson once said, what I do have are a very particular set of skills, skills I have acquired over a very long career. Except mine hasn't been that long.

It's very difficult not to get sidetracked. You'd be receiving completely different advice if your income was not under threat, so it stands to reason that whether or not you can secure another job quickly will completely change the best course of action for you now.

tejero23f

My friend was out of work for 10 months but had the resources to travel, learn a new language somewhere warm and took up dancing. if you have the opportunity and spare cash-do something you've always wanted-use the time effectively!

Nomini

masonic wrote: »

It's very difficult not to get sidetracked. You'd be receiving completely different advice if your income was not under threat, so it stands to reason that whether or not you can secure another job quickly will completely change the best course of action for you now.

Okay. Well let's say I'm confident that my network as it is now could throw up work almost immediately as long as I was willing to take a pay cut, but still plenty enough to cover my expenses.

masonic

Nomini wrote: »

Okay. Well let's say I'm confident that my network as it is now could throw up work almost immediately as long as I was willing to take a pay cut, but still plenty enough to cover my expenses.

In that case, you should keep at least 6 months worth of living expenses in high interest current accounts, consider investing £15k in a S&S ISA this tax year and next, and also consider starting your own pension and contributing some of the money to that. But it would be a terrible shame if you were to find you needed to fall back on the money you invested in S&S only to find it had halved in value in the short term.

kangoora

You say it's looking 'likely' you may lose your job in 9 months time. I'm not sure on the legal definition of 'likely' in terms of getting some insurance on losing your income.

I would have thought it was far enough away that you could pay into an insurance policy - it all depends on how likely it is and what advance info you have got so as not to be committing out and out fraud......