Bequeathed shares

elporis_bay

My father died last August and left an estate to myself and three younger siblings. The estate contained a portfolio of shares valued at £120K, as of yesterday their value was £95K. I've tried to educate myself concerning share ISAS's and am left unsure whether to go that route,  whilst my siblings are always short of money they are unclear what to do. Any advice on the matter would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in anticipation

bowlhead99

Sell the shares and take your split of the proceeds. It's unlikely the portfolio of shares you inherited is a mix of investments that's perfect for your needs. If your siblings are always short of money they may not want to keep their money invested, but that's up to them. It's unlikely that what's best for you is by some great coincidence also going to be best for them. You likely have different lives, financial circumstances and life goals.

If you then want to invest your share of the money for the long term, you can buy a mixed asset investment fund which spreads your money over a variety of shares, bonds and other assets. You can do that inside an ISA (annual limit of £20k per tax year so if you put £20k in before 6 April and £20k in after, you will have enough capacity to use your portion of the 4-way split, assuming it's equal shares between you and your siblings and the total is only £100k or so.

However if you are looking to maximise returns over the longer term and don't plan to use the money until your late fifties or beyond, you may find that buying the same sort of investment fund inside a pension (or S&S Lifetime ISA, if young enough to get one) is a better idea than using an S&S ISA, because you get tax relief on the money you put into it (or a bonus, if a LISA). 

The downside of using a LISA or pension is that you can't get the money back without penalty (or at all, in the case of a pension) until you're old enough. But people receiving windfalls are often best investing at least some of their money in a pension (which might be as simple as making greater contributions to their workplace pension) for the tax relief and then putting the rest in S&S ISA which can give shorter-term access (albeit, S&S investing is still something that should have a long term timescale like 8-15 years plus)