Exciting inheritance! How to hold it?

[Lionessadmirer]

My lovely uncle has left me and my two brothers £450k each after inheritance tax (we have just sent off IHT400).

For my brothers this is life changing. And it means I won’t have to support them financially.

My husband and I have a specific long term financial ambition to do with our house. But until the time comes to action that, we don’t need the money. We are both busy working full time.

my uncle self-invested nearly all his money via hsbc and ii. Given what I say above, is the sensible thing to do the same?

lastly, how should isas be used here please?

thank you and please raise a glass to our uncle who lived well and died content.

Oh good grief. There is nothing in my family or my husband's either and we are descendants of two long lines of non well off family- we will never inherit anything. But "should this be allowed in society?" Really? I don't waste my time resenting or brooding on what others may or may not have or get in the future.

Wow ....

But what's it for then? Is it just going to grow? I'm finding it hard to balance between being sensible and actually being able to use and enjoy my smaller inheritance..

It is so exciting. Ignore the OP. I am actually excited for you. Invest wisely and enjoy. I am sure your uncle had a long life to accumulate such a healthy fund.

OP - sorry for your loss. I agree that it is exciting though and kind of your late uncle.
I'd suggest that MN isn't the best place to ask!
There are always a handful of bitter posters who resent any form of inheritance discussion and will try to knock you down.

Good advice is always to not rush into anything. Put the money in a safe financial space (NS&I for the full amount, or spread across a few different banking organisations - FSCS limit is now £120k) while you take to time to research, think and plan.

The Money Saving Expert forum has lots of threads about this scenario - mostly from people with much more experience than a lot of MN posters.

Do you realise the OP posted in Investments? Not AIBU or Chat.

I think the Investments forum is probably best avoided by people who are struggling financially and don't wish to see a post from people looking for places to put their excess cash, but MN, in their infinite wisdom has put this on Trending, so inevitably the OP will get a kicking and posters like you will accidently stumble into the Investments and become upset.

MNHQ are stirring the pot!

@Strikethepower - I would expect Trending to be automated based upon the number of posts with x amount of time. I doubt somebody is sitting there moving threads into the Trending section.

I’d put maximum allowed per family member, into premium bonds… ‘winnings’ aren’t taxable.

Obviously you need to work out your own priorities/ risk profile, but things to look into include:

£20k each for you & your DH into ISAs (= £40k)
Possible £50k each into Premium Bonds (tax free returns and possibility of a big win) (=£100)
Do you have fully maxed out pensions? If not consider paying more into work pensions or open a SIPP (Interactive Investor have a low cost one)
You can invest outside of a SIPP/ISAs in low cost global tracking funds but you will likely pay tax on capital gains/dividends.

Do you have children? Are you paying for uni? Investing money for them in ISAs would also be an option.

savings accounts normally pay 6% on the first £8k. There are companies that will set up millions of savings accounts for you and stick £8k in each one. Not sure what they charge though.

Surely you can see that this could apply to posting about anything?

Life isn’t fair, it never was and it never will be. There will always be those that have and those who have not - whether that is money, a house, children, living parents, a new car, health…..literally anything you can think of.

As to the poster who queried whether inheritance should be allowed - completely batshit. If there was a societal reset tomorrow and all wealth was equally redistributed, it wouldn’t take very long for some people to end up with massive wealth while others would be desperately poor. Twas ever thus.

Not sure where you are getting this info? Not true in UK.
Few savings accounts are paying more than 4% right now.
Maybe you're thinking of 'regular savers' which only allow a few hundred pounds a month to be saved?
Not really a sensible option for the OP with such a large sum.

Agree. Quite disgusting.

@FeelingSoDizzy
STBXH is a financial advisor…and prolific liar so may not be true.

should have added that caveat, he was probably just trying to get me to give him money to “invest”

These sorts comments are ridiculous.
Posters should be ashamed. It shows a complete lack of any emotional intelligence.

But maybe pure jealousy?

There is a huge difference between celebrating someone dying and being happy/ grateful for what they have left for you (financially.)

The OP can grieve for her elderly uncle but also be excited about how she can make best use of the inheritance for her own family.

I do wonder if people who post such nonsense really believe it. or would say the same in real life.

Many years ago, maybe the 1970s, my Mum inherited a few pounds from an old aunt who died at 91. The inheritance was small- less than £500.

But for my parents who were very poor, it was a blessing and I recall my Mum being delighted to have been thought of by her aunt (who was childless) and trying to decide what to buy with it- probably a new carpet.

Of course it should be allowed.

I'll never inherite a penny. But don't begrudge those that do. Their family members have worked hard, saved and made sensible financial decisions to make this possible.

I'm doing the same to make sure my daughter will get the inheritance I will never have. My siblin also doing the same. We are simular age to yourself so had the same challenges. No contacts for hands up in our careers, no financial assistance to get where we are going or towards our 1st step on the property ladder. But we wanted it, so fought to overcome any obstacles or knock backs. Both our children will get what we didn't. We come from nothing with a council house background. We wanted to break the cycle and worked hard to achieve it. Why should we be striped of that upon death for our children to get nothing?

It is just how it came across to me. The word 'exciting' seems a bit strong to me. I've since read the thread and see that this was posted in 'Investments'. I read this under 'Trending' and would not be actively looking at an Investments thread.

What do you mean? Assuming it's envy talking

Should this be allowed in society....🙄

This is the most bizarre, mean-spirited thread I've every read on mumsnet. So many people utterly unable to be happy for the OP who has received a life-changing inheritance. So many telling her off for using the word 'exciting'.

Good for you OP! And I'm so glad you had the good fortune to have such a kind uncle.

I would also buy myself a little treat - a fancy holiday, some jewellery, something like that so you have something you enjoy now, thanks to your uncle.

So many jealous people here. And I say that as someone who won’t inherit a thing.

What a daft and unpleasant comment. OP posted on the Investments board. If people don’t want to read it, maybe they should avoid that board.

What next- no posts about holidays on the travel board or new clothes on Style & Beauty?

Nonsense. There is no 'normal' interest rates or level of savings that the rate is paid on, and I doubt anywhere is paying 6% at the moment.

Well, it's not my fault if you can't keep up.

How was he kind? You don't know. He may have no other living relatives.

The only thing we know about him is that he died worth at least £2m or so. That doesn't make him virtuous. It just makes him rich.