Hope is not an Effective Financial Strategy

shangaijimmy

you're not a pain lou. In a nutshell we have a £5k family gift to do what we want with. Mrs SJ wants to OP it all and treat it as a gift to buy the house, all be it a few years late. I'm not sure. We don't need anything which makes decisions even trickier. Cheque cleared this morning so decision is looming. We're not a wait and think type of couple!!

PrincessLou

Hmm...it's a difficult one. I suppose it would depend on why the gift was given to you. Sometimes relatives give you money to 'treat yourself' - in that case I would feel bad Oping the money as it wasn't what the giver intended it to be used for.

If it was a simple - 'do what you like with it' kind of gift, I would probably gradually OP it. Maybe start with a £1000 OP and then gradually, over the next few months and especially if the money wasn't needed for anything else, I would OP the rest.

If you don't particularly need the money for anything then investing it in the house would be a wonderful way to use it. You could always use a little bit of the money for a small treat for everyone.

Oh, decisions, decisions....(but it's a good problem to have!)

debtfreeoneday

What would I do with £5k - pretty sad to say it would go straight on debt and we still wouldn't be clear!

shangaijimmy

Well a decision of a fashion has been made. We're NOT overpaying the cash. That's correct, you read it right we're NOT overpaying the cash!

We've decided to use the money to benefit our large family, and to start with we're thinking along the lines of adding it to our yearly holiday fund and stretching it out over the next 5 or 6 summer holidays. And if we decide we need to buy something significant it's there for using.

So I've opened 2 tesco current accounts to store it and at least get a few % interest each month. As a compromise I'll OP the interest. If we have any left as we near the end of mortgage (extremely doubtful) then we may chuck it into the pot.

So a plan of action! (Told you we wouldn't hang about on making a decision).
:beer::beer::beer::beer::beer:

A_Frayed_Knot

Oh, and I was just making some space for my new shoe collection thinking I was in line for some 50 pairs of shoes :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Great idea, well done ......:beer:

mrsp1987

Very nice idea and a good compromise in the end.
I'd probably O/P some of it but I only have to think about hubby. The cats don't care as long as they get fed at 5.30pm every day :rotfl:

Lynplatinum

Evening SJ - trust you and the missus to think of a creative and more complex way of utilising the monies !!! Great idea - cos then, if you did need the monies then they are mostly available to you.
Well done!

Have done a reclaim today - as you may remember I went to Cornwall recently - I was delayed upon return due to a tree falling on the train in front (poor train driver - but no one physically hurt). Now it could be construed that this tree fall was due to a failure to maintain the trees at the side of the track (or it was due to bad weather). But i am looking at it those that dont try dont get! We shall see what I get or not! :-) - it could be circa £50!
Nite all

debtfreeoneday

Nice idea SJ!

shangaijimmy

So with a nights sleep I now need to sort a regular saver to drip feed some of the cash into! Already have FD, so I think TSB is the one to use (where I already have a current account).

£1 TT'd this morning, and another total NSD. Capitalised on the weather with dog walks, bikes, hunting for treasure in the woods and battling zombies with sticks! Back to work today for a rest!

shangaijimmy

Debt free - your diary had just made me think about our savings and EF. I've generally classed my savings as EF as (dare I say it, our jobs are secure with good health benefits etc...), but now we have a lump sum in 'savings' could I now direct money into mortgage instead?? It's always a balancing act, but is definitely something to consider...

Mmmmm, spreadsheet fiddling at lunch me thinks...