Buying a house outright in cash from savings or not in this situation...(there's a few caveats)?

Albermarle

As this is an MSE forum, your first sentence will send a shiver down many forumites spines.

So, I'm in the situation in that I have a decent chunk of money in the bank that is not even earning interest.

Then during the post we learn that this 'decent chunk of money' is enough to buy a house with plenty left over.
So you are probably throwing away  over a thousand Pounds a month in lost interest.

DhwERbf689

Lots of good advice here from everyone, thanks.

And as someone pointed out then yeah I've potentially been losing a lot of income I could have just from saving rates if I had my money in a savings account or similar.

Not sure why I didn't do this particularly since a few years ago when the pot was a lot bigger than it is now, I've wiped out a fair chunk of it burning through it in living costs with no real income coming into replace it so that was silly in retrospect. 

Albermarle

DhwERbf689 said:

Lots of good advice here from everyone, thanks.

And as someone pointed out then yeah I've potentially been losing a lot of income I could have just from saving rates if I had my money in a savings account or similar.

Not sure why I didn't do this particularly since a few years ago when the pot was a lot bigger than it is now, I've wiped out a fair chunk of it burning through it in living costs with no real income coming into replace it so that was silly in retrospect. 

A few years ago savings rates were rock bottom, so you can console your self that you did not miss out too much.
However nowadays 4 to 5% is not to be ignored.

Have a look at this.
Savings - All Guides - MoneySavingExpert

If any questions have a look here.
Savings & investments — MoneySavingExpert Forum

horsewithnoname

Buy a home. If the worst comes to the worst you can sell it. 

And for gods sake put your money in an account that pays you interest in the meantime 😱

Jude57

I agree with everyone else that buying a house is the way to go. Certainly, if you can, buy something suitable for a lodger if it becomes necessary and remember, you can earn up to £7500 tax free using the Rent a Room scheme:

https://www.gov.uk/rent-room-in-your-home/the-rent-a-room-scheme

Also, have you considered returning to education or professional training? You say you're still some way from retirement and that you have no marketable skills (doubtful if you ran a successful business for a decade!) so would be limited to low-paying, low-skilled jobs. Well, why not consider changing that? You're in the fortunate position to be able to think what you would like to do as a career. For example, there are many careers in the NHS which require a degree and will pay you to study, such as podiatry or dietician. Or how about the Civil Service? Many entry-level roles don't require specific qualifications but the opportunity to move on and up is there for those who want to and while the pension scheme isn't as good as it was, it's still very much better than most private schemes. How about becoming a police officer? Freighter? Paramedic? Or perhaps you'd like to do something more practical, say, plumbing or electrical work. In that case, why not look into qualifying in those trades, because a good plumber or electrician will never be out of work, although in recessions, working away from home might be necessary. One cautionary note on those trades, don't use one of the 'six week' type of courses. They're expensive and, whatever the advertising says, they don't properly qualify you to get a job on any properly run site. And while studying, you could of course still work part-time to cover your overheads and/or have a lodger, too. The options are limitless, really.