Left house in will. What to do with proceeds?

JGB1955

My husband was made redundant by a High Street bank back in the mid 1990's.  His redundancy payment paid off our mortgage before we were 40.  Double result!  No longer working for a target-led company at the same time as owning our house outright.  Thanks NWB!

MalMonroe

Hi, mine is another vote for paying everything off. You could then put the money you'd normally use to pay off your mortgage each month into a savings account, if you so wished. Or not. It's up to you. But you'd be rid of all your debt. What a wonderful feeling!  And no mortgage to pay. . .  of course there will still be the other bills like council tax, water rates, etc. but the major expense will have gone. 

And you will still have some left over to treat your children. (Again, if you so wish.) 

Ebe_Scrooge

Tigsteroonie said:

As a PP said - pay off the mortgage and you then have options with regards to work. Lose your job for whatever reason? No mortgage payments to worry about. Change of work environment and you start hating going to work? Take that dream job working elsewhere but for less money. Life throws sh*t  at you and you need to start caring long-term for a loved one? You may be able to go part-time or even give up working.

This, in spades.  Realistically, for most people, the single biggest worry about losing your job is "How the hell will I pay the mortgage?".  If you own your house outright, odds on you can ride out most of life's ups and downs.  I also agree about how it gives you the option of taking a lower-paid job that you enjoy, if that's applicable to you.  If your fixed-rate deal expires in 4 months, probably pay it off after the deal ends - pointless to pay the early-repayment penalty you usually get charged if you overpay by more than 10% whilst on a fixed-rate deal.

Definitely pay off the credit cards, you'll instantly start saving the interest you're paying.

The £18K you're left with - stick some in a savings account as an emergency fund.  It's up to you, but how about putting, say, £15K into an emergency fund and use the remaining £3K on little treats for the family (not necessarily all in one go!).

By all means carry on using the credit cards, but use them properly - only use them for stuff you need to buy anyway (petrol, food, etc.), and only stuff that you can afford.  And always repay in full every month without fail.

Finally, being ultra-sensible/boring (whatever your viewpoint may be!!) ... the £400 a month you were paying to your credit cards, plus whatever you were paying to the mortgage each month ... stick that amount into a savings account each month.  The net result should be that your outgoings are the same as they were, but you'll be building up a nice little nest-egg to pay for next year's holiday, a new car, a new kitchen, whatever it may be - without having to rely on credit when you want to buy something.

That's what I'd do, but obviously we all have different lifestyles and different priorities