For once in our lives...we've come into cash!!! £30,000!! AIBU to ask WWYD?

[Stripedmum]

Well it's only gone and happened - we have money! Yippee!

We are now thinking of extending. What would you do with the cash?

Sorry to be boring but if you have £195k mortgage I'd just pay off some of that unless your house is far too small for you. You probably wouldn't get a 2-storey extension for £30k. Have you got a long term fixed rate of interest? Rates will stay low for the next few years but could rise after that so paying some off now is prudent. Definitely boring but sensible!

Those saying high interest account......

It doesnt exist anymore!

Extension sounds like a good idea if you need more space.

If not, reduce mortgage if rate high.

Pay off tAx credits overpayment and the council tax arrears from bastard exH that I am being chased for despite having paid my share and moved out. Pay off debts. Save remaining £9k to live off as job finished again. Maybe get slightly better SH car, present for DCs and some new baby and hOuse stuff. Congrats!

Oooh Squidgy! That's really helped.

We don't have ANY extra money which is why the moving thing seems counterproductive. We love where we live (good school for DCs when it's time). We would eventually like to move out the a cute country village but at the moment all we could afford there would be a big step down property wise when more space is what we need. The country dream will have to wait until the DCs are much older. Really, really fancy the open plan kitchen/living/dining room. I think it's a set up that works so well.

It would depend on what I could buy now with the equity in the house and £30k cash as a deposit. House prices are going up here, reasonably quickly - I would look at moving now if I could afford a house I really liked, in a good area etc

If I were you and decided not to move, I would talk to some estate agents to see if they thought we would get our money back before deciding on that. Unfortunately £30k doesn't go that far when you are talking about extensions.

I wouldn't spend that much 'frivilously' as I would rather do something 'big with it.

Did the person who gave it to you say anything about it?

Fortyplus - yes that's the sensible option isn't it? More space would be a luxury rather than a necessity if I'm being honest. I don't think we could bring ourselves to do that though! Would feel so disappointing.

Personally I'd blow the lot and buy a huge, pimped out 9 seater camper van.

Congratulations!

Spend it on your home, have somewhere fabulous that you love and enjoy coming home too.

Am well jel!

Yes people from who it's came would not like us to spend it on holiday etc. More like moving/extension/paying off mortgage/something thta's going to put us in a better position for the future.

Chipping in: yes. That's what we've been told by a few people. We live in a good area but there is a 'better' area just next to us where you can pick up a really big house at a great price atm.

I have a newish baby and a toddler though and I just can't imagine uprooting at this minute. It would, however, possibly really set us up for the future if everything added up.

There is the 'cost of moving' thing though - as I said earlier we literally don't have an extra £100 to add towards it...

Pay debts off. Driving lessons. Get a car and have a bloody good Holiday and Christmas! . Put the rest in a Trust fund for DCs or something. Congratulations OP. Enjoy

at camper van.

ps you need to be financially secure for buy-to-let. You'll need a loan (obviously) and fab if you have good reliable tenants in straight away and paying rent. But if they lose their job and can't afford to pay then you'll be in trouble quickly. We let my grandad's house when he went into a home. All was well for a year then the tenant couple's relationship broke down - he moved out, she couldn't afford to pay full rent. She did the decent thing and eventually paid what she owed in full but we were lucky and could cope with loss of rental income for a few months.

Congratulations

Sort your wills out, if you haven't.

Take out life insurance/critical illness cover for both of you, if you haven't got it.

Pay back any small loans/ credit card debts.

Put aside £5,000 as emergency money (if you don't have that much in easily accessible savings).

Then - whatever you want really.

My brother & his wife inherited over £100,000 last year from the death of her mum and they went out and bought a huge yacht because they love sailing. We all said they were mad to not put it towards getting a house but they are so happy with it and my husband and I get lovely free weekends away on it so I think they chose the right thing for them.
Enjoy it!

Put it all on a high interest account.

Then spend the next year researching best way to do extension.

When you go to spend it you would have a few thousand extra that you didn't have and can use this for holiday/ clothes/ whatever you need

These are economically uncertain times globally + the welfare state is dying a slow death & you have young kids. Our generation have uni fees to consider and no state pension prospects to speak of.

I'd put £25K on the mortgage and £5K into an easy access cash ISA. That would give you a cushion if job loss or illness comes your way. It's shocking how much money mortgage companies leach off us over the years, as a result of compound interest. The sooner anyone is mortgage free is the sooner financial freedom can be achieved, and £25K would bring that day a little sooner. £195K is a big amount to owe out to anyone.

Good idea re. putting a couple of grand away for emergencies.

Forty - no we have NO extra money and won't do for the foreseeable, so buy to let not sounding right for us. You'e right - it could v quickly 'go wrong'.

Clear out debts £3000

Splurge a little (holiday, car, nice home furnishings etc)

Save the rest as a deposit for a house.

Congratulations!!

I'd spend £5k towards a newer car then another £5k saved then the rest goes on the mortgage.
Huge congratulations btw

We had a similar figure (DH finishing in the army) and we paid most of it off the house, used a bit to decorate and replace the front door. And put a couple of thousand in a rainy day fund ironically some was used to replace the leaking garage roof

Financial security is the way to go!

Don't waste it , while you're thinking what to do put it somewhere you can't easily access. I was gifted a smaller amount a few years ago stuck it in my current account and before I knew it, it was gone. On crap.

Personally that amount I'd put 5 grand in a slush fund, get a decent holiday out of that. 5 grand in an Oh Fuck account. For the bad things and then either depending on where you live either extend or buy to let.

But while I ducked up, he thing I regret most is not having 'something' to show for my money. Not nessceserly. A physical thing, a really good memory would have been enough.

I had a 'big' birthday recently my Mum sent money. It was easy to think oh this will pay xy&z, but is budgeted for then so I bought a ring. In years to come I can look at that and say that's the ring my Mum bought me for my birthday. I hope some of my rambling makes sense.

If you paid the money off your mortgage you would probably have about £200 a month more space depending on your term remaining it may be more, would that make an ongoing difference to your life? A holiday budget each year if you put it aside and more security in your home ownership? (disclaimer I'd probably spend it!)

In your position, I would open a bank account that is combined with your mortgage, so that if you paid in £30k, your mortgage would immediately come down by £30k, but if you wanted to access the money to spend it, you still could. (We have now paid off our mortgage, but when we had a mortgage, this worked very well for us.)

The reason for this is that the interest on debt is always higher than the interest on savings, so it makes sense to pay it off as quickly as you can. Obviously a lot of people don't like to do this because they'd prefer to spend the money to treat themselves to a holiday, extension or whatever. That's why a combined account works well - you can reduce the debt immediately, then spend the money (or some of the money) later if you want.

lucky you!

Make sure you have three months worth of money in a savings account that is easily accessible. That way you have a back stop against redundancy/illness/car breaking/boiler breaking etc.

book a lovely holiday.

then put the rest in premium bonds whilst you decide. I'd either pay part of mortgage off or reinvest.

For what it's worth, we're in a similar position after selling one property. We could do the sensible thing but instead we're buying a flat to rent out. That will take all the money and then some. Just as DH loses his job. I despair!

Ooh I've not heard of the 'attached' bank account hackmum. That sounds interesting.