What to do with inheritance?

ShelliDowns

My daughter is 21 and has roughly £140k from inheritance. It's currently in a trust, but the question is what should she do with it? She's about to finish her Masters. I have no idea how she can make most of it, invest it? If so how? Property? Would love some smart suggestions. (She also has no idea what best route is)

El_Torro

This type of question comes up a lot on this forum. Normally the recipient is a lot older than 21 and the money is a lot less than £140k, though the principals remain more or less the same. 

A combination of cash, Stocks & Shares ISAs and pension contributions is likely to be the right answer. What percentage of the £140k goes into each bucket depends on her circumstances and what she feels comfortable with. If she is planning to buy a property in the coming years it may be worth holding a fair bit of cash to be able to get a decent deposit.

Newbie_John

£50 to Premium Bonds, £20 to ISA for this year, £20 to ISA from April, rest in Savings.
Depends where she lives it may be used towards buying a house - and rent a room to a friend as a lodger..
Pay of student loan?
Use £10k for a year abroad if she wanted to travel?

ButterCheese

She needs to decide what she'll be doing with her life e.g. does she already have a job lined up and/or is she set on which town/city she wants to live?  I'd not want too much money tied up in too many places as currently she doesn't know what she'll need and when.  Lots of instant access accounts are offering 4%, or slightly more but you need to have a current account with them.

It's not the best return for your money by any means, but it is a safer option I think.  It should make £300/ month which is not to be sniffed at.  We have done the same albeit with half the amount

Linton

Unless there is a clear purpose for the money it is impossible for anyone to sensibly suggest anything other than  savings accounts or similar. where it can be held for a few years.

If it is to be untouched for the long term (say 10 years or more) then investments based on shares would be the only way of getting returns likely to significantly exceed inflation.

Clive_Woody

Without knowing her plans it's hard to say, but a LISA might be worth looking into if she's planning on buying a house. 

Albermarle

ShelliDowns said:

My daughter is 21 and has roughly £140k from inheritance. It's currently in a trust, but the question is what should she do with it? She's about to finish her Masters. I have no idea how she can make most of it, invest it? If so how? Property? Would love some smart suggestions. (She also has no idea what best route is)

As always with these sort of questions, there is no black and white answer. What would be the right answer for me, would almost certainly be the wrong answer for her.
What to do largely depends on what plans she has for actually using the money.
The only opinion I will actually put forward is to think very carefully about her investing in property/being a landlord.
Although it sounds like a good idea ( we have all watched those property programmes haven't we) and the concept of owning property is easy to get your head around , unlike scary things like shares, investment funds  etc .
However they take a lot of input and managing, and can be a money pit.
Unless as a family you are already involved in this area.