Did inheritance in middle age change your life?

[dragonsbbq]

We may or may not inherit in the future depending on circumstances, it could be very little or a substantial amount. I wonder how it would change things for us if we did inherit as we have already had to work hard to get on the housing ladder and our DC are nearly finished school. I think it might have made a bigger difference to inherit at a younger age. Has anyone inherited a substantial amount and how did it change things for you?

Would you not need it for your retirement? Seems like a lot of people won't have nearly enough.

From whom? An immortal?

It helped me/us enormously.

We don't have children but when I inherited from my parents it meant that we were both able to give up work in our early-mid 50s. Didn't have much of a mortgage left but paid that off first, then bought us a new-to-us car each, got a lot of home and garden improvements done and had a good holiday.

We're now in our 60s. I have a degenerative condition and DH has cancer (thankfully caught very quickly, no treatment required yet) so I'm forever grateful that we're not still trying to juggle work around that. We both do voluntary work 2 or 3 days a week and have taken on loads of rescue animals over the years.

I inherited about ten years ago. I had about £60K left on my mortgage at the time, so paid that off, bought a new(er) car and some new furniture.

Being mortgage-free is life-changing, but you still have to pay the rest of the bills, so no early retirement :)

We inherited from dh's parents about ten years ago. We paid off the rest of the mortgage which wasn't a huge amount ( about 30K ). We had a downstairs extension built which has really given us a better quality of living also. Probably the best thing from my point of view was that it allowed me to leave a job I hated and move into a new area of work ( with a pay cut ) which is far less stressful. I could not have continued in my previous role. My dh has some left to retire a year or so earlier than pension age. He really needs to as he is living with two chronic conditions.

I inherited in my mid 50’s. I paid off my mortgage, bought new flooring for the flat and a 15yr old motor home. I gave what remained to my 3 adult children.
Not having a mortgage means I could cut my working hours to part time. At 60 life is a whole lot easier and I can travel more. I’m not rolling in money but I’m comfortable.

My mum had a small inheritance recently from a friend who died at 93. It's not always from parents, it can be cousins/siblings/friends. And a friend of hers inherited from her childless sister in her 70s.

I inherited at 44. It has all been invested and will enable me to retire comfortably at 55 this year supplementing my pension which I can also claim without penalty (NHS). DH inherited from FIL early 50’s. He retired last week, also 55.
MIL at 84 is worth £700k but very frail and currently in care, although the interest on her investments plus non means tested AA (!!) almost covers her fees. So likely more to come.
So no big purchases or extravagances but neither of us will need to work past 55 and probably use it to extend our love of travel and make substantial financial gifts to the children. And we will do it very soon and try to die with zero rather than wait until we’re older.

Do you think you'll have enough to get you through, retiring early, if you may possibly need to fund a further 30 years?

We've had two main lump sums, first allowed us to buy our first house aged 22, and the second age 40 has allowed us to move to a bigger house. Nice to have the space while the kids are still in primary school.

I inherited quite a substantial sum when my dad died when I was mid 50s. I used some of it to buy a convertible sports car that I always wanted and saved the rest. We were mortgage free. My sons also inherited from him which enabled them to have a decent deposit for a house. I then inherited another substantial amount when my mum died. I took early retirement, changed my car (same model but just wanted a different colour), and my husband bought his dream sports car.

We received a life changing gift in inheritance which skipped a generation and rightfully so in our circumstances. (If my inlaws had it, it would of been wasted on superficial spends, cigarettes and alcohol, for the rest of their days)
I know she knew how grateful we would be, as she made the choice, but I just wish she was here to thank. Miss her everyday.

I inherited when I was early 30’s which enabled me to stop renting and buy a house with a very small mortgage. Small mortgage has enabled me to work part time whilst children were younger and get some home improvements done over time.

My inheritance was tiny by MN standards I gave £1k to DD used £1K to buy DD's wedding dress and the remaining £7k is sitting in the bank until I decide what to do with it. So, no, it hasn't been lifechanging

Like a previous poster, mine came too late for me to enjoy, health was declining a little, no-one to go on hols with, etc, house doesn't need any major investment, no mortgage, so it's stuffed in the bank for the kids for when I go!

I really like this thread. I might inherit a small amount from my parents, I might not. There is no inheritance on my husband's side but it's lovely to read of people's lives being made better by a sad event. It makes it evident how beneficial to subsequent generations the efforts I am making will be.

You should look into investing it. .
Then you can still draw on it but the capital will increase significantly .

Low cost index funds ie tons of companies at once across lots of sectors.

Again if you don't invest and don't need the money for a few years try investing it !
That would be life changing !

To answer the question I was left a small inheritance under 20 grand but myself and DH had been struggling for so long I felt like I'd won the lottery !
I didn't want to fuck it up either so we got desperate needed first time ever new sofas and basics we needed. .then I did loads of research into invested and invested it . 7 years later my investment has doubled.

Nope I wouldn't want it, I have a roof over my head even if it's a bit small and it should be paid off before I'm 55, enough income to cover the necessary with a small bit over not enough that savings ever accumulate they get used for car/roof repairs ECT but enough to survive if we work hard

All I could use inheritance for is holidays, nice clothes or a bigger house and I don't need those things I just want them.
Financially dp and I will track along as we are neither of us has the ability to earn much more than we currently do.

An inheritance early on would be life-changing for them, it would only enhance our lives temporarily.

Dds are aware of what things cost, their potential likely earnings from different career paths and the limits of the area we live in for young people
They've been taught from young about money and understand from different family members the difference that money can make to a lifestyle

They would be encouraged to continue living at home until they were at least early 20s as well to continue learning finances

Do other windfalls count? I received £500k for a 'terminal illness' at 40 with 20% chance of survival. Still here. It made all the difference, enabling us to buy a wreck of a large house in the sticks with maximum mortgage. I ploughed £300k cash into it and dripped the rest into a pension over several years. House now £1.2m on a bad day and pension now £600k. Without that windfall, we would be in a different position; fiancially OK but not the dream rural house we have now and always wanted and a much reduced pension pot. I also had compensation for an accident which has gone into other things. No traditional inheritance past or in future, but got lucky by being unlucky in other ways. All grist t'mill as they say. Mr Burnham may want a bit of this at some point 😂. Hope he spends it wisely.

I inherited aged 50 and it has made a difference to our family life. Mortgage now paid off and we have had just a more comfortable lifestyle without bells and whistles,just having a couple of dream holidays,helping the children with stuff like furniture,driving lessons,grandchildren.
I have been very careful though because this is the only inheritance we will get and no actual savings apart from our work pension.

I have really enjoyed reading everyone's very sensible rational musings about inheritance. It's always sad to lose someone close enough to leave you an inheritance; there's a gap left behind, but it sounds like most people don't go to Vegas. We all try to make sure our kids are okay first.

My DC is a fortnight away from buying their first (small Victorian) house. It is so exciting, for us too. We couldn't be more thrilled if it were our first house.

I inherited 90k last year at 55 and paid off the mortgage. It's meant I've been able to take voluntary redundancy this year, although I'll need a part-time job ( if I can get one..). I bought DS his first car with what was leftover.