Bereavement

SliAbhaile

egg93 wrote: »

….. This may be a stupid question but with regards to choosing a financial advisor are there any particular questions that I should be asking …..

I'm sorry for your loss.

The more you familiarise yourself with what IFAs do then the better you'll be able to deal with them. Managing that amount of money is not a five-minute-job, you will have to take time to understand investments.

Also discuss this with your mum, 58 is still young and she might want to become more involved in the decision making once she's had a chance to take stock.

Everyone's needs and resources are different. My dad died at an early age, leaving some investments for mum to deal with, but she had no concept where to start. Before dad died she had never written a cheque; he dealt with everything. Despite being thrown in a deep the end she got on well with an advisor and managed her affairs with aplomb.

egg93

Hi folks, Thanks for all the responses. I have taken on board everything that has been said and my intention is to get my mum to max out her ISA allowance for the next couple of years. I am then going to put the rest of the life insurance sum into NS&I Income Bonds (safe, ease of access, bit of income meantime) until i find a FA my mum feels comfortable with and then to give the FA an opportunity to work out a proper investment plan. It should also allow for the estate to be closer to being settled and thus give me a better idea of the total amount my mum is working with.

Finally, I think the additional time will allow me to do more in depth research and, to be honest just to pause to think through what to do. (Hopefully 3 -4 month timescale?) Does this sound reasonable?

enthusiasticsaver

Sounds like a good idea to me. It will take you a while to get your head around it all. Good luck with finding an IFA.

JohnRo

egg93 wrote: »

Finally, I think the additional time will allow me to do more in depth research and, to be honest just to pause to think through what to do. (Hopefully 3 -4 month timescale?) Does this sound reasonable?

Don't rush things and don't dither, move forward with purpose.

Good luck with it all.

BeansOnToast_2

She should also apply for Bereavement Payment (£2000 lump sum tax free) and Bereavement Allowance (monthly taxable payment for 12 months). I got both when my wife died when I was 52. There is a time limit on backdated claims.

egg93

BeansOnToast wrote: »

She should also apply for Bereavement Payment (£2000 lump sum tax free) and Bereavement Allowance (monthly taxable payment for 12 months). I got both when my wife died when I was 52. There is a time limit on backdated claims.

I sent the paperwork off for the bereavement payment and allowance about a month ago. How long does it take to actually start being paid? I haven't heard anything back from them yet and was going to call to chase them up.

atush

Do make sure you find an IFA, not an FA.

There is a difference.

egg93

atush wrote: »

Do make sure you find an IFA, not an FA.

There is a difference.

Thanks.

Yeah, that is what i meant. I have been doing some reading about the difference.

Aged

egg93 wrote: »

I sent the paperwork off for the bereavement payment and allowance about a month ago. How long does it take to actually start being paid? I haven't heard anything back from them yet and was going to call to chase them up.

I applied recently and it took about 5 weeks.

Aged

atush wrote: »

I would say, if there are any ISAs in your fathers estate, these can now be passed on as ISAs and should do so instead of cashing the money out of ISA

... and pensions can be passed on as pensions.