Inheritance

chelseablue

pjs493 said:

How much is left to pay on your mortgage? Could the amount clear your mortgage? If so, that might be the first place to start. If not, but it could pay off a big chunk, check what the overpayment fees are. You may find that in the long run, the fee for going over the overpayment threshold is less than what you’d otherwise pay in interest over the life of your mortgage. This may be a good option for you and would in turn reduce your monthly
mortgage payments going forward unless you decide to continue to pay the current amount you pay, but it would then reduce the term of your mortgage. 

Or if you’d prefer just to put some towards your mortgage so that. Pay off any debts that are costing you more than you could earn in interest. Eg if you’ve got a 0% credit card, continue to pay that off and put money in savings instead. Utilise your full ISA allowance. If you don’t already have one, you could set up a private pension and make contributions to that. Any contributions to a private pension are topped up by the government by 20%. 

Ideally you want to earn interest on savings but pay as little of that interest to HMRC as possible. As a basic rate tax payer you don’t pay tax on the first £1000 of savings interest, this increases to £5000 if your earnings stay below £17500 (assuming you don’t benefit from the married tax allowance). 

 Search around for high interest savings accounts to put any residual money once you’ve paid some towards your mortgage and maxed out your ISA. Remember that anything that you put into a pension can’t be touched until you reach a certain age. 

Outstanding mortgage is £200,000, 19 years left 

2010

A mortgage is a debt, pay it off as soon as you can.