Is there anything I can do with £30k?

[Rfthyhuj]

For the past ten years I’ve worked two jobs. I have just been made redundant from one, where I was paid £32k a year. In the other, I get paid £31k a year.

With my redundancy included, I now have £30k saved. By bills are £860 a month which is more than covered by the money I am still being paid. It will mean a different lifestyle where I need to not be as frivolous with money, but it still leaves over £1k a month after bills.

And so I’m wondering what to do now. I’m 35 and I enjoy working, but the idea of applying for a job with strict clock in and out times, with a boss I may not like, isn’t appealing. I love the job I am currently still doing, get to control my diary, have no one telling me what to do really, and I don’t want to give it up. But it will be very difficult to get another job around it.

So I thought about investing the £30k in property, but then everyone says there is no money in that any more. I thought I could buy a cheap flat with a long term tenant, but everyone is saying it’s not worth it. I wish I had a great business idea I could put the money into but I don’t (I thought about trying to open a bookshop but there is little money in that either).

I know £30k isn’t a lot to some people, but it’s a huge amount to me and much more than I’ve ever had before and certainly more than my parents could’ve dreamt. But I have no idea what, if anything, I can do with it to grow it.

Im just posting for any advice there might be. Thanks.

You could learn about investing (look up James Shack [a professional financial advisor] and Damien Talks Money on YouTube for beginner tips) and learn how to grow it, and/or you could invest in yourself by doing a course or learning a new skill or hobby. You could do a degree with that money for instance.

Thank you! I’ve already got a masters degree and am reluctant to throw any more money at education. Will look up those investing videos though, thank you!

You're welcome. I also read a book called Rule Number One which teaches very slightly more advanced investing. But warning, it's written by an excitable American man who tries to get you really really hyped up! It's still good beginner information, but take it with a pinch of salt. The youtubers I mentioned above are British so they are a touch more reserved (normal) in tone.

Totally hear you re: education. Still, it could be a lovely opportunity to just follow your interests for a bit and learn something just for the sake of it. When I have a spare £600 I'm going to do a taster ceramics course with the firm commitment of ONLY doing a weekend, NOT get sucked into studying "properly" and buying a kiln or whatever.

Enjoy it and good luck.

I second learning about investing in the market. I wouldn't invest in real estate unless you love the idea of being a landlord.

You could invest it into a pension. You could buy some savings bonds which offer about 5.05 percent interest a year. I've just put some into a 2 year fixed rate bond. You could put £20k into a fixed rate cash ISA.

Use it as seed money for expenses to turn something you love doing into flexible self-employment?

Pay a chunk off your mortgage, buy a new car, home improvements like a new kitchen, go on a dream holiday.

I used to think I'd like to have a place to rent out until I saw a documentary about the hell that tenants can create. And yes, I know landlords create their own version of hell, too.

I would really look into investing if that money really is spare. You'll get a much better return that way. However, are you buying your own home at the moment?

If you sign up for the FREE 10-week Rebel Finance School (www.rebeldonegans.com) which is currently running, you can catch up on Weeks 1-4 on YouTube and then continue with Week 5-10 on Mondays. I did it last year and in the later weeks you are taught about safe investing (on the foundation of the earlier weeks). You need an emergency fund behind you and then invest the rest and they'll show you how.

I am, I’ve got £89k left on the mortgage. I don’t like the idea of putting it all into the house and having nothing for a rainy day though.

This is what I’d love to do, but I can’t think of what that self employment might be.

Me neither! I feel like self employment could be a good next step in my life (but don't have any money to invest). I suppose the best thing to do is consider where your skills lie and what would get you excited and motivated to spend time selling.

Invest it op.
Jl Collins simple path to wealth.
It's very simple.
Definitely some into a sipp.
Invest the rest

Do not invest the money in individual stocks. This is very difficult and easy to lose money. If you want to put the money in stocks then invest in a reputable managed fund.

That and Vegas 😎

Listen to the Meaningful Money podcast, there's also an Facebook page. I'm a similar age to you and inherited some money last year. I was completely clueless about what to do with it but this podcast has taught me so much about investing and long term growth. It's also UK based which some of the recommendations upthread are not, important for the specifics.

Have you put max you can in ISA's? Tax free. Also some like premium bonds - east enough to get money out

I wouldn't touch property with a barge pole. Some tenants given in their notice today and I'm delighted! I loathe being a landlord. So many expenses - 4k last year as I needed a new garage door on one property as well as multiple other expenses. Ground rent and maintenance charge asked for in a lump sum yesterday on a flat rather than instalments so that was another thousand. I wanted the tenants to have what they needed and felt so bad if something didn't work or was broken despite the agents being good.
Legionella checks, gas checks, various agents fees, landlord insurance. I'll be free of properties by October and so relieved tonight

Be safe. That means

• pay off a bit of the mortgage
• put some in a safe tracker ISA and don't touch it.
• do not invest in any of the 'get rich' schemes linked up thread.
• do not invest in property
• do not invest in crypto or anything high risk.

Is crypto a trigger word that gets my post hidden? Don't invest in it.

You don't have to use it all on your mortgage, keep some for a rainy day by all means, but it's a bit odd not to pay off a chunk, otherwise you're paying more interest than you need to be for years. Pay off 20k and keep overpaying and you'll have more cash in the long run than paying a mortgage for more years.

why investing in property not a good idea?. I’m a landlord and i think thats the best idea to have lettings property. Every money you spent on property you wont lose it. Even the house price its not good now but it will be better and it will increase. So for me property its the safest bet.

I second James Shack videos on you tube. They are short and very user friendly and very much directed at ordinary people.

If it was me I would put 6 months of emergency money into the best easy access saving account I could get (you should be able to get about 4 percent or more)

Do you have a pension - you could look at making additional contributions to get the tax relief (James Shack covers alot on this).

Failing that if you don't want to pay off your mortgage I would put it in a stocks and shares ISA (20K per annum limit but free of tax) and any left can go into a GIA (general investment account) - loads of places do investments and you can pick one with the level of risk you want ie low, medium, high, very high and then just pop your money in and leave it. Just be aware that if you make huge gains you will be subject to CGT and the allowance for this has been sneakily reduced to £3000 per tax year (very sneaky by govt).

There is one James Shack video which is about the order to save your money ie where to put it first and then second and then third so find that one on you tube and start there.

Don't buy a BTL property. That ship has long since sailed and landlords are selling up now in droves. You can make more invested in your pension or S&S ISA/GIA than on a property and with far less hassle than dealing with tenants.

Speaking from experience!

p.s. I am always conflicted re paying off mortgage or investing. I like the security aspect of paying my mortgage off (and indeed have done that with my own house) but the reality is if you pay off your mortgage you save what 5% interest whereas money put into a pension is immediately grown by 20% when you get tax back. (and higher rate taxpayers can get more back!) The only downside is you can't access it till you are 55 (or 57 shortly) and when you take the money out you will need to do it in such a way as to not pay lots of tax. Again James Shack has lots of clever videos on this.

I’d pay £10k into my mortgage or use that to upgrade your property - new kitchen maybe if you need it.

I would then put £20k into Premium Bonds - easy access and chance of monthly prizes.

personally i would try and find a way to invest or even just save up a little more i personally feel like (and i know people will argue with me for this) the best investment at this moment in time is land you can do anything with it keep it for personal use , sell it on , keep animals on it which will end up giving you a profit and paying for themselves or maybe even putting property's on it which doesn't even necessarily have to be houses it could be cabins , static homes or even a campsite this is my personal opinion so everyone can disagree with me if they want to
i hope you figure out what you'd like to do with your earnings
best of luck :)

Whilst you’re deciding what to do - stick it in a high interest rate easy access savings account. I opened up one with Chase recently. Getting 5.1% at the moment. You can open it with a £1