To ask what you would do with 30,000?

[Beautifulblue]

DH's nan has recently passed away, his recently found out she has left him part of her estate which is estimated at around 30k. We've never had this amount of money before & it is truly huge for us. We have a 1yo & recently found out we're expecting our 2nd child, we're mid 20s. We're likely to never see this much money again so are wracking our brains to think of a way to maximise it & really set ourselves up. So what would you do with 30k?

Forget the car. Forget the business. Buy a home.

I'd get my skates on, get mortgage advice (from a broker, not a bank - they'll have more options) ASAP. I wouldn't declare your pregnancy - your new baby won't be counted as a dependent until they arrive.

Def pay the debt first

London & Country are a free broker, I used the before - they were a bit slower than the broker I use now but good for some free advice. You've got nothing to lose except maybe an hour of your time by calling them and finding out. Mortgage rates are pretty low at the moment, so even if you took a long-term fixed deal, you'd probably be paying less per month on a mortgage than you are in rent.

In your situation I would put every last bit into a house deposit. Go through a mortgage broker, do not mention your pregnancy unless asked. Get on the property ladder, the security it brings is invaluable.

Don’t pay off little bits of debt or buy new cars. You’ll find a way to deal with all those things as you would have if you hadn’t got this lump sum.

Go to the mortgage broker and get on the property ladder. Buy wisely. Safe area, good schools, worst house in the best street, those kind of things. MNers love a good property thread, you'll get lots of help if you need it. Name change if you’re worried about being outed, then you can be open about wages, savings, area etc without outing yourself.

Save it for now. Try and get a mortgage next year after brexit. I agree with another poster, no expert but I think house prices are set to drop after brexit. Just put it in a savings account and don't touch it. Definitely don't start a business, you may as well just burn it.

I'd agree with the advice on this post. I'd wait it out and see what Brexit brings, but my priority in your position would be to buy a house.

What's your retirement savings like? If it's minimal I'd put a chunk of it in the bank, wait for Brexit to happen, invest it in pension/stocks and shares ISAs/whatever then so it'll grow on recovery.

£20k towards new house. FWIW I'm 9 months pregnant, me and my husband have just quadrupled our mortgage and no one mortgage company or IFA have asked if we're expecting any "changes of circumstances". Not all banks are created equal about what they're worried about so talk to an IFA and they can guide you.

~£2-3k, holiday, stuff, things, treats, piss it up the wall. Good to have a little pot of money to feel like you're being hedonistic.

Don't ever put money that you could invest into a depreciating asset (car) or something with uncertain or unlikely returns (business). Use other people's (ie banks) unsecured loans for that, or get your investments to pay for them (e.g if any savings between mortgage and rent. where I live renting our house would be £1.2k, mortgage was originally £800. There's your car loan finance or business loan repayments right there)

DH came info 20k when we had our first baby, and that money basically saw us through the years of paying for childcare for two kids. We would have ended up in crazy debt otherwise just to fund me going to work.

I'd definitely keep a decent amount to cushion you during the childcare years.

absolutely pay off your debts first that leaves 27K put into instant access savings for emergencies

save the other 25K get advise where to put it, don't fritter it on stuff you don't need like designer prams

it appears there are parts of sussex where you can get a 3 bed terrace for about £190-220K so a 25K deposit would be fine

I would definitely get rid of any random credit cards/overdrafts for peace of mind. Sell your cars and upgrade to more reliable ones if you like: used ones that are much cheaper but still fairly new and reliable.

I'd probably put £15k aside for a house and spend £1k on a nice family holidays before the second baby comes and your life is awful/different again (I have two under 2). If you're planning on moving in with parents (we did as a family of 5 in their 4 bed house) then you will be saving that extra £800 a month soon.

Also I am in the middle of applying for a mortgage on maternity leave, there are lots of places around that do this so don't worry about that.

You can look it up on many banks own calculators.

Look at first direct, they have mortgage calculator. Put in deposit, salary and it will give rough idea of what you can get.

Agree with elspeth.. It's a once in a life time thing.
Do. Not. Start. Business or buy new cars.

Pay off debt. Sit on it.
God idea about waiting for brexit to invest.

Have you checked the small print that you don't need to spend it all in 30 days in order to inherit 300k?

It's 30k @Butttons I wish it was 300k! 😂 Thanks everyone... reading them all & taking it in.

Op I was in your position, I inherited £45k in my early 20’s I bought a car. Put a small amount towards a house with now DH and frittered the rest away. When I look back now at what I could have done with the money, it makes me feel ill! Don’t make the same mistake!

June you put some into a house what more could you have done?

Pay off your debts , apply for a mortgage . If mortgage doesn’t work out now then save save save until it’s possible . Don’t blow it on cars or holidays until you have a home sorted .

I put £12k into a house and £6k on a car, I frittered away £27k. I could have done so much more! A second small house to rent out, investments, savings etc. I was far too young to get that sort of money.

I'd pay off the debt then look at a help to buy isa if your first time buyer. Keep a bit back too. All depends where in the country as to how far say £20k plus deposit would go towards the property and wait it out to see what happens with Brexit. Good luck with your new addition to the family, we were surprised how little we could live on when the kids were young it's when they got older my income was needed. We didn't splurge on my car, then when it started to cost to get it fixed I changed it. What a lovely mum you have to offer for you to move in, loads saved there too!

you do know if you are entitled to tax credits you won't get them.now you have these savings

@Poisongirl81 really? I didn't know this... what is the cut off? If it is 30k, we're just guessing here it could be 27,28... would this make a difference?

you can't have over 16k or you get nothing! it's scaled from 6 to 16k

so you can't have the savings in your name. you could put in your mum's name or somethimg

For us, it would help cover my mat leave just as a safety net in case something goes wrong with the house/car, nice holiday, new kitchen, newer car for me, we've already got decent equity in our mortgage, and have a five year fixed rate we can already over pay on.
Definitely house deposit or home improvements/invest.

☹️ wow, I did not know that. Thank you for letting me know! That would really devastate our finances. If we were to move in with my mum, with DH working full time, me part time & obviously not claiming tax credits then bought a house therefore using the cash for a deposit would we be entitled again once we moved into the house are you aware?