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?

Pay off debt use some for mat leave contingency then arrange rest into a savings arrangement until you can get a mortgage

I was in your position; I inherited 30k at 25. I put every penny into a deposit in a flat and am thankful every day that my dad made me!

I think that would be fine, they said if you deliberately get rid to claim you can be in trouble
you can move in with your mum stop the claim then buy and restart would be fine. you can say if questioned you bought a house.

Find an independent financial advisor and get some proper, professional advice.

but you can't claim with it in either of your bank as savings. make sure your in your mum's and stop the claim before the cash comes in.

Google tax credits and savings threshold.

you would need to buy or put it straight in someone else's name. it can't go through your account

Why the rush to spend it?
Just stick it in the bank and leave it alone.
Once it's gone...it's gone!!
Remember that OP

Thank you @Poisongirl81 will look into it!

@mrcharlie we're struggling. We need a way to help ourselves financially/bring our outgoings down. Especially with a second child coming & me on maternity again. Pay off debt... hopefully a mortgage would be cheaper than rent.

Putting it in someone else’s name is very dishonest. Sorry but if you are about to inherit £30k then too right tour tax credits should stop. They are for families who really need them, not for people sat on thousands in inheritance!

I totally understand that you think you need the tax credits. But I’m sorry you don’t when you inherit that money.

Buy a flat or house whatever you can, if its really not enough, put it into savings account, move in with your mum, save like mad then buy.....

I am a Landlady and know how difficult it becomes to get on the housing ladder with children, however hard it is now it will just get much harder.

Better to only get a 2 bed house of flat now, dcs can share for 10 years whilst you save for a bigger home.

Two things to remember,
one, rents go up over time, morgages don't, in real terms they reduce.(Try and secure a 5 yr fixed rate to give you security of knowing the costs.)
Secondly, you have no security renting especially when your dcs start school, you will want to stay put and not be constantly worried about your Landlord not renewing your tenancy every year.

Re car, put up with a basic car, cars waste a fortune in depreciation, all they need to be is cheap to run, and cheap to insure and repair.Doesn't matter beyond that.

Pay down any debt that costs you more than 3% interest, out of the money you save staying with your mum.

This inheritance has given you a wonderful opportunity to change your future to get a secure home, don't spend it on anything else!

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

Savings don't affect working tax credits or child tax credits, only council tax credits and other means tested benefits. And universal credit.

The interest you earn on savings will have a small effect.

100% pay off your debt then put the rest towards a house. It is really, really hard to save a house deposit while you’re renting (and paying childcare fees). Even if it’s a crap house, flat, whatever. Just get on the ladder.

As others have said I would pay off the debt and keep the rest towards a house deposit. I would probably allow a small amount for a week abroad somewhere.

You may find it harder to get a mortgage when you’re back at work - presuming you’ll have to pay for 2x childcare. Our mortgage was up for renewal recently and only one bank didn’t look at our £1,500 a month childcare costs and stick a finger up at us. If you’re interested in seeing your options I strongly suggest calling a mortgage broker (I think London and Country are very good and open on Sundays) and they are free to you (bank pays them commission) they will tell you what you could get now and after baby.

Oh and definitely DONT start a business OP. As you said you will likely never come into a sum like this again, so don’t risk it on something with a small chance of working. Property is still the least risky form of investment over the long term and will give your family security too x

Using the £30k towards a mortgage will be the best decision you'll ever make!

If you’ve only recently found out you are pregnant move fast, use a mortgage broker, buy a house and don’t mention your pregnancy. Baby doesn’t count as a dependant until it’s born I think.

Savings amount depends on if you are on universal credit. If not you would be fine, if you are on UC you would not get anywhere near the same benefits.
I just plugged my figures in to entitled to. £30k savings would wipe out everything but child benefit. If still claiming WTC and CTC ...no change.

Pay off your debts first, it'll make you more attractive to mortgage lenders. Assuming you're first time buyers, I would set up a help to buy isa each. You can put £1200 in each the first month, then up to £200 thereafter) - once you save £1600 (so after 2 months of saving) you start to accrue a bonus that you get when you buy a house. This is free money and so long as you're both first time buyers (according to the rules, check out www.gov.uk) then you will get it. I would use whatever ££ your debt is costing you to "feed" the ISAs (£200 in each account per month). The rest of the money I would put into a savings account until you're ready to buy a house.

It depends on when you think you would be ready to buy a home what savings account would be best for you. I would definitely get some financial advice.

But definitely the very first thing you should do is pay off your debts. Your monthly outgoings will go down, so you'll have more disposable income - I would try to "ignore" it and save the difference away as much as possible because there are lot's of fees and costs associated with buying a home, you'll need as much ££ as possible!

Another one saying use it to buy a flat/house! It could completely change your life for the better , the security of having your own place, especially with kids, is invaluable.

Ps please get advice from someone like
cAB re tax credits and savings/income. Trying to put the money in someone’s else name sounds like a disaster waiting to happen to me (you’ll get found out!).

Savings don't affect working tax credits (apart from any interest earned). They affect benefits like housing benefit, income support etc. But they do affect UC.

The last thing you want is to look back and have nothing to show for it. Car can wait.

Get a house. The mortgage repayment is usually less than rent