Financial advice please.

Amh11

As a lifelong member of the Sisterhood of Poverty in Perpetuity I literally have  no skills to manage this issue. 
 Due to the recent loss of my mother I have inherited a 50% share in a very modest London home.  I am advised this has now been purchased by a relative and the funds are available. 
 Question 1. Where do i transfer this to?  I don't want it swirling with my everyday overdraft account, should I be opening a new account/s and if so which?
Question 2.  I have an adult daughter whom I am certain my mum would have willed a share of her money to had she updated her will.  How do I give this to her without the Government stealing a further share of the exorbitant sum they have already robbed from us?
Question 3.  I am not a home owner, I live in social housing.  This money is the sacrifice of a lifetime of struggling for my mum & I don't want to waste it. What can you recommend  in terms of savings and investments.
I know you are savvy savers and appreciate any advice or recommendations you can offer.

Another_Saver

My condolences, and apologies if I have misunderstood anything.
You are asking for very specific and personal advice about a personal situation. This forum can offer general guidance but I think other posters would agree than a local, reputable IFA may be helpful in your situation.
Firstly, if the money is more than £85k, do not leave it all in one bank account. For convenience you could park it temporarily in NS&I as you can leave upto £4,050,000 in NS&I and it is all backed by the treasury. The government only insures £85k per person per financial institution (i.e. First Direct is owned by HSBC so you'd only get £85k of protected savings between the two banks).
It is general wisdom to pay off any high interest debts you may have such as the overdraft your post suggests you may have. There are areas of the website and forum specifically about debt.
2. If you have already paid inheritance tax then you can simply gift money to your daughter, I.e. pay it to her bank account, however I suggest reading the section of the website about inheritance, consulting the solicitor dealing with your mother's estate, and again consider engaging an IFA. Inheritance tax is not my area of expertise and even if it was i would need more information.
3. If you have no experience or knowledge of investing, then once you have paid off any high interest debt you may have such as overdrafts, personal loans and credit cards (debt consolidation and support is available, see the section of the site and forum about these topics) consider keeping the money as cash savings and learning about DIY investing, stocks & shares ISAs, SIPPs, and index funds. Alternatively, an IFA may offer a wealth Management service, this may be more expensive than the DIY route (i.e. the IFA takes a bigger cut of the funds every year than a platform like Vanguard might) but can be a good option for people who do not understand investing.
Because you have suggested that you don't know much about investing, and because what you are asking is very personal and specific, I think talking to a few local, reputable IFAs (Google is a good place to start, word of mouth can be a good way to find a good one, always check they are registered on the FCA website). I know I've said this a few times, that's because in my humble opinion it would be a sensible next step for you based on the information in your post.

*I am not an IFA, I don't use one, I don't advertise for them and I wish schools taught financial education so that we didn't need them!

eskbanker

Another_Saver said:

Firstly, if the money is more than £85k, do not leave it all in one bank account. For convenience you could park it temporarily in NS&I as you can leave upto £4,050,000 in NS&I and it is all backed by the treasury. The government only insures £85k per person per financial institution (i.e. First Direct is owned by HSBC so you'd only get £85k of protected savings between the two banks).

Sound advice usually but in these circumstances there's no need to worry (yet) about the £85K FSCS limit, as their temporary high balances provision protects up to £1million for up to 12 months where the money relates to certain life events such as inheritance, so those recently bereaved can take their time rather than needing to feel pressurised to split up large sums.

And to be even more pedantic, it's not 'government insurance', FSCS is an industry-funded scheme (albeit one ultimately with access to government lending as a last resort measure if seriously short of funds, as in 2008).

Another_Saver

eskbanker said:

Another_Saver said:

Firstly, if the money is more than £85k, do not leave it all in one bank account. For convenience you could park it temporarily in NS&I as you can leave upto £4,050,000 in NS&I and it is all backed by the treasury. The government only insures £85k per person per financial institution (i.e. First Direct is owned by HSBC so you'd only get £85k of protected savings between the two banks).

Sound advice usually but in these circumstances there's no need to worry (yet) about the £85K FSCS limit, as protects up to £1million for up to 12 months where the money relates to certain life events such as inheritance, so those recently bereaved can take their time rather than needing to feel pressurised to split up large sums.

And to be even more pedantic, it's not 'government insurance', (albeit one ultimately with access to government lending as a last resort measure if seriously short of funds, as in 2008).

/ Links removed /
I stand corrected (and I think the government has been able to turn a profit on the 2008 interventions, to date).
In short: the original poster is in no rush and doesn't need to worry.

IvanOpinion

Sorry to hear about your mother.  

You can transfer it it to any suitable account although it might be wise ensuring that the target bank knows that it is an inheritance.  I would also suggest that the first money you spend is to clear any overdraft or borrowing you may have.

You can give gifts up to a value of £3K per year without tax implications.  You can give more but then you have to do your best to survive for up to 7 years so that the beneficiaries avoid tax.  The government didn't rob anything of you (no more so than they rob my pay packet every month), in any society you have to take the downs along with the ups of that society.

It is good to hear that you want to deal with the money wisely.  However, to offer any advice, people would need to get a rough idea of the amount, your age and what/when you may want the money for.  As others have suggested you may need professional advice for this but leaving it sitting in a bank account for long periods may end up costing you money rather than making it work for you.

fred246

If you ever have lots of money and are worried about what to do with it financial advisers are very good at helping to reduce the problem.

bowlhead99

Amh11 said:

Question 2.  I have an adult daughter whom I am certain my mum would have willed a share of her money to had she updated her will.  How do I give this to her without the Government stealing a further share of the exorbitant sum they have already robbed from us?

Once the money is in your bank account, you can simply pay some of it to your daughter as a cash gift. The government don't tax gifts.

Question 3.  I am not a home owner, I live in social housing.  This money is the sacrifice of a lifetime of struggling for my mum & I don't want to waste it. What can you recommend  in terms of savings and investments.

One option would be to use the money to become a home owner, as your mum was - albeit, it would be a smaller/ cheaper place than your mum had, because you only got a portion of the proceeds from the sale, and would like to give some of the money away. If you are expecting to be over the inheritance tax threshold when you eventually pass away yourself, having a property for your daughter to inherit gives an additional inheritance-tax-free allowance.

AnotherJoe

Another_Saver said:

2. If you have already paid inheritance tax then you can simply gift money to your daughter, I.e. pay it to her bank account

The OP won't need to worry about that it will have been dealt with by whoever passed the money on to her, eg the executor. 

There's no tax to pay on the money they received (inheritance or other) and no tax to be paid by OP or daughter when it's passed on. 

NottinghamKnight

OP - What exactly have the government robbed from you so far? The assumption must be there was inheritance tax which obviously only comes into play where there are significant estates, this would suggest the estate value is several hundred thousand as IHT can be exempt on estates up to £1 million.

dunstonh

NottinghamKnight said:

OP - What exactly have the government robbed from you so far? The assumption must be there was inheritance tax which obviously only comes into play where there are significant estates, this would suggest the estate value is several hundred thousand as IHT can be exempt on estates up to £1 million.

IHT would be the logical tax being referred to.  That would suggest it is a significant estate.   
There is also some irony that someone living in social housing moans about taxation being taken from those with more wealth.

Albermarle

How do I give this to her without the Government stealing a further share of the exorbitant sum they have already robbed from us?

The majority of people have  to pay tax and without tax we would have anarchy and no hospitals, schools , police, etc ( or social housing )