250k inheritance to spend but on what??

[TheMuminator2]

Came out of the blue from a relative we hadn't seen since we were young. Am tempted not to spend a penny and just invest

Pay off all debt including mortgage if poss. Do nothing else for a couple of weeks. Discuss with OH what your priorities are: having some fun now or a bit of security later.

A quarter of a million quid when you've never been wealthy or even that comfortable before can sound like a lot of money but it will disappear quicker than you can say "Jack Robinson" if you're not careful

Surely for nearly all of us it’s mortgage and then pension? Think of your pension investments too. Small amount for fun stuff - presumably it’s someone’s hard earned money you’ve inherited

Sex, drugs, rock and roll and just waste the rest?

I wouldn't use a financial advisor, but I don't like losing money and am very risk averse. Put it into property and you'll not go wrong.

Spend a little, holiday good. Pay any debts. Give a little (since you asked shelter, Marie curie), save some for a rainy day and obvious future planning eg replace car when needed, university for dc. The rest should be invested in your home or a safe bond where you can get it later if you need it. Yes take advice but beware of salesmen. Enjoy.

First priority: pay off all debts. If kids will go to uni, keep some saved for that. Maybe put some away for pension (but I'd be inclined to live a bit more for today).

After that, whatever you like!

Congratulations. Please spend it wisely and don't regret it. Someone worked and saved hard to leave you that.

Depending on age and situation and where you live, £250k is not a life changing amount. But could definitely make life so much better. Being sensible it could transform your life and last a long time.

Pay off mortgage
Move?
Home improvements
ISA's, pensions, investments, and SAVE
School fees/Uni fees
Funds for children (for when they are 25 - sensible age!)
Lovely holiday

Why would you give it away, the person left it to you. If they wanted to give it to charity, they would have done so.

Put it away for a year until you get over the shock and get some decent advice.

For me it would be pay off mortgage first (so £150k). Refurbish house (£30k) and buy a flat for my son which we could rent out until he’s old enough to need it (£70k)

For £250k definitely come and ask an anonymous forum instead of speaking to a financial advisor.

The first thing you lean when read a book on investing is that using a financial adviser will lower your returns.

(Market efficiency means you can't make more by being clever with what you pick, so using an advisor doesn't increase your returns, but it does increase your costs, hence overall returns are reduced.)

I think nearly everyone has been positive haven’t they?

If you have one pay off your mortgage, after that invest in property.

oh yes most have great suggestions every thread will offend at least one person it is not about boasting we totoaaly did not expect it

My general advice is that you will get the best value out of a large chunk of money by not making a few big decisions over a relatively short period, but by making a lot of small decisions over a long time. i.e. spread the spending over the rest of your life.

Paying off the mortgage is a good start, as then the future income payments that don't need to go on the mortgage become a series of smaller decisions.

(Paying off the mortgage doesn't count as a big decision because you aren't spending the money, merely moving it from an account with a positive balance to one with a negative balance. Similarly, investing the remainder isn't a spending decision.)

If you invest that money you will be paying tax on any gains. Your tax goes to helping out the rest of society. I would be giving as little of it away as possible if I were you. Once you make a profit from it you can help others out and give to charity if you wish. Giving away 50K of that to family and charity is madness. I wouldn't do it.

The first thing you lean when read a book on investing is that using a financial adviser will lower your returns

But asking random strangers online could lower them even more.

I'd put some into a pension for each of your DC now - a decent chunk invested now will be a brilliant pot in 50 years time.

I love this thread!

I'd get a bigger house and a labradoodle!!

I have recently had a similar inheritance and found it hard because I felt as if I was profiting from a dear relatives death. I was also devastated because the relative died quite young and I was very sad that she had not been able to enjoy the money herself. But then I realised that she left me the money so that I was able to remove some financial burden and enjoy my life a bit.

I ended up paying off my MA degree loans; donating to a small local charity that I knew my relative supported; travel and then a large lump sum in an emergency bank account. I think of my relative daily with a lot of gratitude becasuse this inheritance provided me with freedom and means that now my salary can go towards savings and living instead of paying off debt, etc.

In your shoes, I would pay off your mortgage, travel and save the rest.

Pay off your debts (starting with highest interest first) - so credit cards then loans then Mortgage).

Get the dull stuff you’ve been putting off done - trips to dentist, car servicing, new boiler etc.

If your children go to university, that’s £30k on fees alone each. Put aside the rest for your children’s university.

This isn’t going to go as far as you would think. Please don’t tell people in real life.

I’m going to go against the grain and say DON’T give any to charity. It is not at all the same as a lottery win. The inheritance money was gifted to YOU by your relative to make YOUR life better. There is provision when writing a will to bequeath sums to charity and they’re usual exempt from inheritance tax. If OP’s relative had wanted to donate to charity then THAT was the opportunity to do it. They may well have donated already through the will.

If you pay your mortgage off then you can use any extra disposable income each month to set up a standing order to a charity of your choice. And donate that way.

for me pay off mortgage 40K

finish house restorations 25-30k as can pay instead of doing all the labour ourselves

newish car for me 8k and a really good bed for DH and me 2k+

we have old house so may go to auctions and get some nice genuine Georgian furniture

redecorate DD's room

10k on new ipads x2, a nice holiday

some to charity but only ones with good accounts that don't hassle people for more donations probably something to do with getting people clean water and toilets stops a lot of disease but only simple stuff not like some projects which send people to make fancy unrepairable systems that require unobtainable expensive parts and so within months everyone has to revert to previous methods

my pension is good but top up DH's

invest about 50k so will pay DD at uni

the rest will allow us both to go part time until retirement and into ISA's

we are keeping quiet I like the past present futures split someone suggested nice

This happened to us fairly recently. We paid of the mortgage. It used nearly all the inheritance but now we are mortgage free with are £1K a month better off which we then use for a combination of charity/pensions/kids savings/holidays. The feeling of contentment and security from having paid of the mortgage still hasn't faded...

I love this thread too. I haven't actually said what I would do.

I would buy a house between Granada in Spain and the coast and west of the Sierra Nevada. Every opportunity I got (school holidays) I would piss off there. My contribution to my family and friends would be that I let them all go there on holiday when I am or am not there. We would eat Jamon Serrano and drink Vino Tinto and ignore the rest of the world. I would go skiing in the SN and then go down the beach.