Being given £200k

RobM99

£30,000 in emergency fund?    Seems a lot to me!

Black_Cat2

What a lovely dilemma to have!  Treat yourself with some of it too, I'm sure that's what they would want for you and your family aswell as the other "sensible" suggestions above x

Daliah

RobM99 said:

£30,000 in emergency fund?    Seems a lot to me!

That's just £5k a month for 6 months, for a family of 3 in London.

Beccabees

RobM99 said:

£30,000 in emergency fund?    Seems a lot to me!

I know and I don’t like leaving the money sat there doing very little but our expenses are high (£3k monthly mortgage plus £1.5k nursery fees which will go up when we have two in nursery) plus as I’m off on maternity leave we’ll be losing my income for at least part of next year.

Albermarle

Beccabees said:

Tucosalamanca said:

Looking forward a little...

You say that you don't particularly need the funds and it sounds as if there's a likelihood that you may be significant beneficiaries in the future.
Perhaps the prudent move is not to gift the money to yourselves but straight to the grandchildren.
Some funds into JISA, which will provide a solid start to adulthood.
Some funds into pensions for the kids, this would be tax efficient and offer long term security, no danger of them going crazy at 18.
Ultimately this would reduce your potential exposure to IHT.

In my mind, the sooner you can pass wealth down the generations the better.
Assuming that your kids will turn out well (we all know it's not guaranteed) it could prove to be a huge helping hand.

Pensions for the kids is appealing actually. JISAs scare me as I have a sister who managed to fritter away the contents of a simile savings account our grandparents gave her at 18 so I’m not keen for the kids to get too much money too soon.

18 year olds frittering away saved up money is almost a rite of passage. It can actually be a good life lesson, as in once it is gone, it is gone. Probably they ( and you) will have to get used to handling much larger sums of money at some point.
They are well into IHT territory, I’ve no idea what their assets are over all but their primary residence alone will be several million 

Cus

Spend some of it on their grandchildren.

Millyonare

If I were gifted £200k of free cash we didn't "need", I'd be looking to have a bit of fun with it.

£125k = Lambo or Ferrari
£25k = once-in-life trip (e.g. South Pole)
£50k = pension

MarcoM

whatever you think of this money you are being gifted, make sure it does not go to the treasury, legally of course.
If your parents in law are worried about iht, it probably means that there is a risk the treasury could see some of it.
Personally, I would rather burn it, than for it to end up with the chancellor.

Albermarle

MarcoM said:

whatever you think of this money you are being gifted, make sure it does not go to the treasury, legally of course.
If your parents in law are worried about iht, it probably means that there is a risk the treasury could see some of it.
Personally, I would rather burn it, than for it to end up with the chancellor.

A somewhat extreme view.
You would rather lose 100% (by burning it) than 40% by paying IHT on it

MarcoM

Albermarle said:

MarcoM said:

whatever you think of this money you are being gifted, make sure it does not go to the treasury, legally of course.
If your parents in law are worried about iht, it probably means that there is a risk the treasury could see some of it.
Personally, I would rather burn it, than for it to end up with the chancellor.

A somewhat extreme view.
You would rather lose 100% (by burning it) than 40% by paying IHT on it

isn't burning our money what our politicians do these days?
I might as well do it myself.