Come into some money....what to do now?

nkkingston

There's some Junior ISAs that has a genuinely good interest rate available at the moment, which could be better (and less likely to wobble up and down) and stocks and shares for them. S&S works best if you drip feed it to take into account any wobbles in the market, which is especially wobbly right now with Brexit and the election, so it's not ideal if you're investing a lump sum. If you only hold back a few grand as an emergency fund (so with an expectation you might need to dip into it at short notice) an interest paying current account and a linked regular saver would make it work hardest for you.

JustAboutThere

Penguin8410 wrote: »

Lindamary, thank you for the advice. Luckily she is in good health at the moment and has moved into a warden assisted flat. she is also in the fortunate position where she has enough money stashed away to pay if she needs to go into a home, so hopefully we won't be in that sitaution, but i wasn't aware of this so thank you for bringing it to my attention :-)

You'll need to check the specifics, but I believe a gift is free and clear if the giver survives another seven years, which hopefully your grandmother will.

If not, will the money be considered 'disposing of assets' - or whatever the terminology is used these days.

Good luck with planning your future.

spendaholic

That's very nice of your grandma.

I think I'd buy a little something, a keepsake, so I could say "Grandma got us that." I'd put the equivalent of a month's (combined) salary away, and I'd use the rest to chip away at the debts, starting with the service charge bill.

If you are in a DMP, then you should have zero interest on most if not all of your debts. If you're not in a DMP, I'd consider starting one - you can do it on your own if you don't qualify for assistance, using the tools on this site.

If you have zero interest on all of your debts, then I'd chip away at the smallest ones. If you have interest on any of your debts, then start with the highest.

That's what I'd do, and today I cleared 4 debts in one go. (Yes, it felt wonderful!) I have 2 more under £500 that will be next, and then I'll start working on my husband's credit cards as he's paying interest and I'm not.

Hope that helps.

Penguin8410

nkkingston, thanks for the advice. stocks and shares have always worried me a bit probably because i don't really understand them! i'll have a look at the junior isas as we want to be able to add in birthday and christmas money that they get too.


Justaboutthere, thank you for your advice. yes my mum had said about this. to be honest it's probably unlikely that she will be around in 7 years (she's 87 now) but my mum has said that she has already sorted it out so that she can cover any tax we would incur.


Spendaholic, yes its so lovely of her. i think she wants to be able to see us all enjoy it while she is around. myself and both my daughters have charm bracelets so i think i will get us each a charm to go on those which can be from her. we don't have a DMP at the minute but having looked at each of our cards today, my boyfriend has one on a 0% deal at the moment, we need to check how much longer is left on it, but it will be the one that we will leave to pay off seperatly.wow well done on paying off 4 debts today!! thats amazing!! good luck with the rest of your journey x

OneLife_OneShot

As someone said I would definitely keep a combined salary for a month or two spare. That is my plan when I am DF in 8 weeks to have money in case something happened in the job market. Still a great position to be in, I hope you make the most of it

maisie_cat

Personally I would pay off the debt, the relief of having no debt will far outweigh the short term euphoria of a holiday or "fun" This is especially important if you've been suffering with anxiety, your health is important!
The monthly extra cash, which will be a lot with £33k debt, can be used to quickly build a buffer pot up. Worry less about Grandma and care homes, relatively few people need the care and holding onto it "just in case" while having huge debt is not what I would do

Number75

I may get shot down here...

You just mentioned your boyfriend. Not your husband.

You don't have to answer this here, it's just for you to think about. How good is your relationship? Worst case scenario, you pay off debt that is more his than yours, and find out a week later that he's been seeing your sister all along. Sorry to go a bit soap opera, but it happens!

It does sound like your debts were jointly accrued, but I'd just say be careful you don't end up paying off ones in his name whilst leaving ones in yours.

Another thing - whatever you're paying out in debt repayments now? You've learned to live without it... so get that set up as a standing order into a savings account immediately and save save save whilst you're not used to it, until you have a really healthy emergency fund!

enthusiasticsaver

This is very good of your grandma and I can understand you do not want to squander this opportunity.

First and foremost pay off your service charge and then make a note of all your debts and the interest rates you are paying on them. I would keep an emergency fund of 3 months expenses especially if you are in insecure employment. After the emergency fund is set up then allocate the remainder to the debts in order of the highest interest charging debt first. Once the debt is completely gone then continue to use the money which was going to debt repayment to be saved for a new house or whatever. I would start to keep a spending diary as £33k debt is not an insignificant amount and you don't want to end up in the same position in a few years time so you need to get your overspending in control.

wba31

contact your creditors for settlement offers? may be that totals less than the £33k you owe to clear in full, and can pay the lot off with some £££ to spare.
If you were to write to them making settlement offers you ought to declare how much you have to split between them. Then whatever you were paying as monthly payments start to save each month to avoid unnecessary borrowing in future!

GibbsRule_No3

wba31 wrote: »

contact your creditors for settlement offers? may be that totals less than the £33k you owe to clear in full, and can pay the lot off with some £££ to spare.
If you were to write to them making settlement offers you ought to declare how much you have to split between them. Then whatever you were paying as monthly payments start to save each month to avoid unnecessary borrowing in future!

Can you do settlement offers if you are not on a DMP? My thoughts were to offer F&Fs and then read the thread and the lady is not on a DMP, so did not offer that as a suggestion.