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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To ask how you would spend inheritance?

95 replies

Username9876547 · 20/05/2018 18:15

If you inherited a good chunk of money, say £100-£150k from a relative, how would you spend it? If you still had a mortgage to pay, would this be your first priority? DH is due inheritance and we were considering purchasing a new car to replace his ageing Ford and perhaps having a once in a lifetime holiday for us and the DC, but it feels slightly wrong to spend money that a relative has saved on something so frivolous. WWYD?

OP posts:

SusanneLinder · 21/05/2018 07:34

I am about to inherit a small sum in comparison to this. It isn't enough to clear our mortgage, but we are using it on home improvements. Rest will be saved. Maybe a small holiday.

Graphista · 21/05/2018 07:54

Wow lucky you!

You've got me daydreaming.

With that amount I could get a nice wee 2 bed cottage or terrace in my preferred part of the country (not the dump I currently live in 500 miles away) AND a holiday for dd and I (even a Spanish package would be a real treat) AND a new but not flash car. A few hundred would also be enough to get the equipment I need to work from home. I haven't worked in 8 years due to ill health and that would be great to do.

In your case mortgage as priority but also use a little for holiday and better car. The amount used for holiday/car is unlikely to make a huge difference to your mortgage situation by the sound of things.

AnnabelleLecter · 21/05/2018 08:05

We inherited from both grandparents.
We did the following
Inheritence 1
Paid a chunk off the mortgage
Home improvements
Holiday
Car
Inheritence 2
Added a bit of our savings to it and bought our holiday cottage which is now valued at 50% more than we paid. It's in a beautiful place and we use it all the time.

Ohsuchaperfectday · 21/05/2018 08:10

Agree on the the having lots of good holidays rather than 1 amazingly holiday.

mindutopia · 21/05/2018 08:11

I would buy a couple things you really need (like a car), take a holiday (not a stupidly extravagant one, but a lovely long haul one we wouldn’t normally take), and either put the rest into the mortgage or invest it, whichever is to your advantage. My dh got some inheritance a couple years ago (and I had a bit from when my dad died many years ago), not loads, maybe £10K each. We’ve invested it along with a bit of our own savings and it’s now worth more than 100K (which will eventually go toward a house). If you’re wise, you can do quite well with a bit of money invested, but you might just do better to pay off a good chunk of mortgage.

Ohsuchaperfectday · 21/05/2018 08:11

Annabelle love idea of holiday cottage do you you rent it out

Guna100 · 21/05/2018 08:15

I’d pay off the mortgage and the monthly savings from not having a mortgage would fund holidays / cars etc.

Melliegrantfirstlady · 21/05/2018 08:15

How much is outstanding on your mortgage?

Need to know this before I can give me precious advice

AnnabelleLecter · 21/05/2018 08:25

No we don't it's always in use! It's small and very cheap to run, we use it as a base. The kitchen is tiny but the area has great pubs, cafés and restaurants so we never even cook breakfast! Plus we're aware of supporting local businesses.
Close family use it and a couple of friends have been for special occasions. They usually pay us about £50 to cover cleaning and bills. We did look into letting it when we retire for some extra income and we were told to expect around £10k pa. It's a one bed.

AnnabelleLecter · 21/05/2018 08:33

Another point is we bought it even though we still had a mortgage on our main home. It's manageable and will be paid off in a couple of years now so we are really happy with our decision.

BitchQueen90 · 21/05/2018 08:37

I rent my home. With that amount of money I could buy a house outright in my area so I'd do that. Maybe save £5k to go on a once in a lifetime holiday with DS.

SweetSummerchild · 21/05/2018 09:21

It’s interesting to see how many people would buy a second property to rent out rather than pay off their mortgage. I’d never do this in a million years. Each to their own I suppose.

haba · 21/05/2018 09:32

I would take my children to see Antarctica, it's what they want more than anything, but I would need some sort of inheritance to afford that kind of trip.
Unfortunately, it's never going to happen, as I'm not in line to inherit from anyone!

Echobelly · 21/05/2018 09:44

With that sort of money i'd probably most to reduce mortgage and then some to extend into the loft and simultaneously replace roof. And stick a few K in savings.

amusedbush · 21/05/2018 10:05

DH is about to inherit roughly £100k which will allow us to buy his uncle out of his granny's house (houses are really cheap here), renovate it, get a little runaround car and go to Japan on holiday.

We currently rent so to own a house outright at 28 will be life changing.

babyboyHarrison · 21/05/2018 10:56

Your relative is not you, you do not have to spend the money as they would have. They chose to leave the money and unless they have put stipulations in the will as to how they want it spent it is your choice. They have chosen to leave you the money and have done so because they love you (I assume, most people don't leave money to people they hate). If spending some of the money on a holiday makes you a happier family then do so. I would still be inclined to use a large portion towards the mortgage personally to free up outgoings.

Juanitajune · 21/05/2018 11:04

Depends on so many factors - how old you are, is your mortgage a tracker or what rate is it on and how long for? Amount of equity in your property? Is your mortgage interest only? What pension do you have?

NightAndShiningArmour · 21/05/2018 11:08

I'm so terrified of the cost of retirement, it would go straight into some form of SIPP

Bluelady · 21/05/2018 11:09

I was very cognisant of what my dad would have wanted when I inherited from my parents. I remember him being very sniffy about a couple who immediately bought two new cars when her mum died.

I paid the mortgage off and bought a rental property to generate some income. The rest is left invested exactly where Dad left it. We haven't bought cars or holidays or anything frivolous at all. We've used our own money for those things.

isthismylifenow · 21/05/2018 11:27

I would pay off most to the mortgage. Then what you save on the instalment difference, put away each month and put to a holiday. I don't think it makes sense to be paying out interest when you don't need to.

Babyroobs · 21/05/2018 11:48

My husband has inherited some money recently. He has paid off our mortgage ( which was around 40k) and he is paying for home improvements which desperately need doing. I have been able to give up one of my jobs which was terribly stressful and was making me ill and after working weekends for 20 years I no longer have to do this as we have no mortgage. However it seems to me that my dh is struggling to spend any money on anything extravagant which is understandable. He lost his lovely parents both within a few years and I can understand that he wants to use their money wisely, particularly on helping our kids .

mrcharlie · 21/05/2018 12:27

We paid off our mortgage a few years ago (mid 40's) neither of us are materialistic at all and couldn't give two shits what car we have, so we wouldn't rush out and buy another. Yeah, maybe a standard package holiday with our DS. Other than that we'd save it. Probably buy a small bungalow later and give our current house to DS whilst we are still around.

Ohsuchaperfectday · 21/05/2018 12:42

Both op!!

depends on your wages, job security, but if your mortgage is larger then yes without a doubt pay hefty chunk off. I would pay 70 - 80 off.

Leave some - to put towards an exciting holiday - they dont have to be soo expensive!

Lave some for saving emergency

Furano · 21/05/2018 12:46

With £150k I would put £20k into ISA, another £30k into longer term savings and £100k off the mortgage.

Gazelda · 21/05/2018 13:32

Surely you can do both?

10k car
5k holiday
100k mortgage (continue paying your current monthly amount to reduce the term)
30k into some safe savings
5k into a higher rush, long term iSA fund.

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