What shall I do with this money?

[abstractzebra]

Hi all,
I've just been made redundant and have received a large payment (really long service).
I saw a couple of financial advisors and settled with one who was going to send me a plan based on what we had talked about.
However, the report never turned up and despite following up with an email, no reply!
This person was highly recommended and the company has a great reputation, so absolutely no idea what has happened but that's a side issue.
What should I do with the money until I can resolve the issue? Maybe just short term.
The only thing I can think of is to use my maximum cash ISA amount (for what it is worth these days).

It depends on how much you received and whether you'll need to take anything from it in the short term, and how long term you want to invest for.

I had a lump sum when I sold my house and rented for a bit. For that year I invested in premium bonds, you never know, you might get lucky! My plan was to buy again which I did.

I had a few pretty minor windfalls in that year so it wasn't as bad interim move in my view.

You might also consider your pension depending on your age? It's very tax efficient.

Why can't you follow their advice but do the investment yourself?

Cash/stocks ISA is £20k annual limit, per tax year, so can put £20k in now and again 6th April.

You could put £50k in preimum bonds, it won't earn anything but if it's only short term you might as well have the possibility of winning something (which would then give you another oroblem!).

Have you got a mortgage? Can you pay off a chunk?

How old are you, what is your pension provision like? You can put in £40k, or your earnings for the year, whichever is lower. Depends on your tax status how beneficial this is.

Get some proper financial advice.

I'd whatever I didn't need to support myself between jobs into my pension.

if you don't need it to live on, put it all into a private pension quick before the financial year ends. you can then get 20% extra added free (effectively refunding you most of the tax you have paid this year)

I've got a good final salary pension so I don't want to put anymore into a pension, plus another pension.
The initial plan was to put around £30k into stocks and shares in a managed fund for around 10 years and then review it as I would be 60 and considering what my retirement age might be.
I need some money to live off but hoping to start some sort of work soon (I live in a very low unemployment area).
My mortgage is low but currently fixed so I don't want to pay a penalty for paying more than 10% over. Also, given that my interest rate is very low, a long term investment would probably work out better.
I will be using another financial adviser or trying to find out what is happening with this one but if they have forgotten/been too busy or whatever, I will probably look elsewhere.
It's more that the money is just sitting in my current account and I don't feel comfortable with it being there.

I forgot to say that you don't really see their advice until they send you the plan, so I can't follow that!

Buy a second property to rent out.

The initial plan was to put around £30k into stocks and shares in a managed fund for around 10 years

That sounds like total overkill for £30k!! And I bet it would cost a ridiculous amount to have that in a managed fund.

If it were me, given you don't want to put it in pension or pay down the mortgage (I'd still pay off 10% though, even though the rare is low, might as well cut your monthly commitments) - I'd open an ISA with someone like AJ Bell and shove it all in a tracker fund, then ignore it. Probably a FTSE100 but it would depend on what other investments I had, including what my non FS pension was invested in.

But if you're set on paying through the nose for advice you can find for yourself, then stick it in premium bonds until you get that advice. It's reasonably quick to get it back when you need it.

The initial plan was to put around £30k into stocks and shares in a managed fund for around 10 years and then review it as I would be 60

but this is exactly identical to putting it into a private pension, except without the 25% tax rebate from hmrc. why is that better?

Even more rebate if you're a 40% tax payer in this financial year!

An equal VUKE & VMID ETF will give you exposure to the FTSE and FT250 trackers at a starting dividend of 4.7% and 2.7% which will increase with time. Forget them forever and just take out the dividend as extra income tax free from an ISA.

Thank you and good night.

I didn't really understand any of that but for those suggesting putting some of the money in my pension, I've got 18 years until my official retirement age. I might want to spend some of this money before then.
People like me use financial advisors because we don't understand the lingo of investments and how to go about it all.

Not sure what you mean by "people like me"?

People who can't read or can't be bothered to?

Noone is born understanding how investments and money work, we take the time to find out.

The two big things that can be avoided and if not erode your income are tax and fees. No advisor is going to tell you how to avoid their fees.

Start reading: monevator.com/category/investing/passive-investing-investing/

Op I was like you too about 2 years ago. Much reading, asking on here, and main boards etc, morning star (investor on line magazine), listening to pod casts all came back to vanguard company and index tracker funds. The funds listed above are vanguard....

Low cost, follow various world wide indexes... Get a range...

I got advice from Ascot Wealth Management, they were very helpful.

I wouldn’t follow the advice on here that’s for certain. Concentration risk is clearly not a consideration for most.

I love that landlord-hating MN instantly says 'buy a property to rent out'. When laws are changing to make the business riskier...

don't do that unless you are fully informed, have all the insurances and don't depend on the rent.

I love that landlord-hating MN instantly says 'buy a property to rent out'. When laws are changing to make the business riskier...

Daft comment. Firstly MN isn't one mind, it's loads of individuals, presumably the person who said it doesn't hate landlords.

Also, hardly "instsantly", it's about five posts in, and also, it's certainly not the prevailing suggestion!

Isn’t buy to let dead. Everyone I know is getting out.

People like me use financial advisors because we don't understand the lingo of investments and how to go about it all.
This is so true for so many people, and is what I find so frustrating about the world of finance - it should be open and accessible to all, and clearly isn't, which means financial professionals can monetise access e.g. 1% charge (or whatever a Financial Advisors rates are), when really everyone can DIY with a bit of research and helpful support from others. Everyone frequently asks for recommendations and advice on diets, beauty etc - finance should be the same open forum in my view.

PuttingouttheFirewithGasoline - yes me too, novice for the past year (still novice really), but very much enjoying the learning process, I like the challenge and like the feeling of improving and the satisfaction of doing it myself. Just wish there was more of a community platform to support each other, collaboratively sharing information etc.

OP this article might be a good starting point.
www.hl.co.uk/learn
And then there is lots to read out there - every investment platform (Hargreaves Lansdown, AJBell, Vanguard, Interative Investor etc) has helpful articles that should help you work out your own attitudes to risk, investment types etc.

Just wish there was more of a community platform to support each other, collaboratively sharing information etc.

There are loads of chat forums about finances. I used to love The Motley Fool message boards but they closed in 2016. Stooz himself set up a new forum called The Lemon Fool which is great. He also runs the Stoozing message boards which are about credit card swapping.

Then there is advfn (I think it's called) which is a bit of a bun fight. There are comments on articles on MoneyVator etc.

I'm sure there are others, I've read others, but these are the ones I know about specifically.

Thanks, I'll hunt down the lemon fool and have a look x

Thanks for all the advice.
I'm still trying to work out why the financial advisor has ghosted me!
I've emailed her direct and also the company and absolutely no reply. It's so weird.
Also, she has set me up an account on a sharing platform with all my financial information in it and really I think it should be closed if they don't want my business.