£70,000 sitting in account

[DownstairsMixUp]

Anyone savvy with money know if there's anything I should be doing?

I lost my dad earlier this year and as he did not retire, me and my brother each got £70,000 each. The solicitor involved due to the way he died is going for a claim in court which could also get us another 25,000-£125,000 each. We don't know when this will be over right now.

I'm studying and still have two years to go and me and my husband own our own home. We are not sure if we will stay in this area so have just got the money sitting in my savings which has a 0.05% interest rate. We have decided that once I've qualified and the solicitor money comes through we will need to decide whether to just buy the rest of our home or obviously sell and go elsewhere.

In the meantime, is there anything I can do with the 70,000 for two years? I'm not from a money background so to have this sort of money sitting in my account is weird. Is it best just leaving it in the savings account? A brief Google tells me interest rates aren't great right now. Any ideas?

Premium bonds.

You should be able to get a much better interest rate if you shop around. Check Money Saving Expert.

Premium bonds!

I'm sorry about the loss of your Dad

Do you have some cash savings put aside? Like 6 months living expenses? That's the first thing to have, even at nominal interest rates.
I'd be tempted to put a chunk in premium bonds. Maybe look at the interests on a cash ISA, but they arent great right now. Id also put a chunk off the mortgage. That will be costing you more than 0.05%, but there may be a repayment charge.

I would put the maximum amount into my mortgage which will save you thousands in interest down the line. You can ask your mortgage company to calculate how much you can pay in and what the interest saving would be.

Risky but I’ve made a LOT of money in crypto-currency. Bought 15 coins at £2k today they are worth £14k. Very volatile and I’m in for the long game but you could short the market quite easily with crypto at the moment. Obviously you’d need to wait until it drops again which it’s likely to.

Either pay i into your mortgage and save yourselves some interest (if you cna over-pay without penalty) or stick it in Premium Bonds.

There is almost nothing with good savings rates at the moment, and you don't want the longer term accounts if you might be buying a different house.

If you pay it off your mortgage it will go towards your next house as equity anyway.

But keep £5k or so in cash savings for any emergency.

Premium Bonds. Totally safe. With that amount you'll at least win the same as youd get from a high street account but the opportunity to win a million.
Your 70k does not reduce and is imeadatly accessible (well, about 4 to 5 days).

there is a limit you should have in any one account (ie that they are insured for if they go bust) its just over what you have I think (85k) but it might be a good idea to have it in a few places - cash isa would be good, premium bonds and than something more immediate access - check out the money saving expert website they usually list who offers the best rates and deals etc

I think premium bonds have a limit to what you can have as well

I put £20,000 in a managed stocks and shares isa in April. It's up 17% since then. Obviously it was a risk but they are worth looking into.

Premium bonds

Stocks and shares ISA for £20K. £50K into premium bonds.

Get a financial advisor to advise you.
My husband works for a FA he says premium bonds are junk with less than inflation growth Money saving expert also not very complimentary about them. Changes to them are coming which means they will face 0.7% return which means you may as well just leave the money in your bank account.

£20k in a stocks and shares ISA now and then another in April, £10k in a bond for some return keep the rest accessible

Definitely stocks and shares Isa
Hargreaves lansdown has low charges

@Hoppinggreen mines with Hargreaves Lansdown and it has worked out well.

With interest rates so low it wasn't worth me overpaying on the mortgage as I'm on a fixed rate.

My condolences for your loss OP (I'm sorry I didn't mention that earlier).

Is this a good moment to put money in a Stocks and Shares ISA? With Brexit coming up? And with the LOP maybe not waning to leave the money in for a long stint?

Stocks and shares ISA for some of it.

Sorry about your father.

Pension, for some of it. If you’re studying, I’m guessing you don’t have one at present. Think of it as your dad’s gift onwards for your future.

Brexit isn’t an issue if you choose the right shares, I made £700 last week.
But I appreciate it’s not for everyone
Also sorry for your loss OP, I should have said that

@JoeNotExotic

Risky but I’ve made a LOT of money in crypto-currency. Bought 15 coins at £2k today they are worth £14k. Very volatile and I’m in for the long game but you could short the market quite easily with crypto at the moment. Obviously you’d need to wait until it drops again which it’s likely to.

Not so much risky as plain stupid!

I've a stocks and shares ISA with Hargreaves Lansdown too

My £20k is now worth £39k in just over 6 months - but then I do go a bit risky and it has just paid off this year with the stock market being so volatile

• Get a financial advisor to advise you. My husband works for a FA he says premium bonds are junk with less than inflation growth Money saving expert also not very complimentary about them. Changes to them are coming which means they will face 0.7% return which means you may as well just leave the money in your bank account. *

Totally missing the point of premium bonds there...

@Hawkmoth

Premium bonds.

Good idea, don't leave in account incase you get scammed or card cloned or something like that. Put in savings but don't leave in main account

@Hoppinggreen

Brexit isn’t an issue if you choose the right shares, I made £700 last week. But I appreciate it’s not for everyone Also sorry for your loss OP, I should have said that

Agree. You should choose some global funds.

mix between premimum bonds - ( easy access and you may win something on it )

Stocks and shares isa BUT in low cost low risk Index funds eg vanguard....remember they may go down but should recover, ( mine have, mine plummeted at the start of corona and bounced back I am in vanguard, fst 250 and vangaurd life strategy 80 % and 100 % .

YY to starting up a sipp, you can start with any amount but max if you are not working is about 2200? then the gov will add 700 is for free!
you cant touch it till retirement of course but to get one going now with a relatively small sum would be amazing - ( self invested personal pension).

when you pull the money to buy a house - keep little amounts in and let them accumulate.

dont buy 20 grands worth of funds in one go - drip feed in each month.