Serious question here, my mum and dad have just given me a cheque for £50,000, aside from share it out to every mumsnetter, what should I do with it and do I need to pay tax/declare it??

[Crunchie]

Basically it is my parents 50th wedding anniversarry and to celebrate they have given e and my brothers £50,000 each . Yes I know it is shedloads, and although I always knew some money would come my way I am in shock.

However to put it into context my mum is dying, she will probably live another 6 months to year (hopefully) and so I do understand why they have done this. My parents have been very careful with money and now they are in their late 70s this is something they want to do for us.

My current situ - and I am NOT BOASTING or trying to make any feel bad - I earn really good money as a recruitment consultant (I work hard, but earn around £50K pa) Dh is an actor and earns £10 - £20k MAX pa. We have 2 kids 7 and 9, we have a nice house with a £90k mortgage (again yes I know I am lucky, I bought 12 years ago) and we have always said we won't move.

SO WHAT DO I DO WITH THE ££

We are just getting an amazing bathroom fitted and will need to find £8 - £10k (I was planning on upping the mortgage slightly) We are managing to save around £400 - £500 a month (offsetting mortgage) as well as pension, ISA for kids etc.

DO I KEEP £10,000 for the bathroom and next years ski-ing holiday??? and put £40,000 away for school fees (basically this money means we can consider private school for dd1)

OR DO WE PAY OFF £50,000 of mortgage, and then save loads everymonth? or overpay for a few years and be mortgage free in a few years??

At the moment I feel our earnings are at the max they are every going to be, for the first time EVER I am not spending what I earn (until 2 years ago we had a family income of aroud £35,000) and I have been splashing out a little - nice new sofa, new TV, new bathroom!! Ski-ing holidays etc

IF I SAVE THE £££ WHERE????? Do I earmark ir for school fees or for deposits on houses for my kids?? or simply for our retirement in 20 years? I also assume (not arrogantly) that there is likely to be at least a similar amount if they die, as they own their own house and it is worth around £400,000. This ££ did not come from that.

OMG I am simply in schock tbh, I haven't posted for a while, but I couldn't say a word to RL frinds, and DH and I ae simply sitting here gawping at a cheque for £50,000!!!!!

Wow what a fantastic gift, but very sorry to see that your mum is not well.

I would do two things, firstly ask your parents what they might like you to do with it and secondly see an IFA.

We came into some money at the beginning of the year and drew up a list of things we would like to do with it but spoke to an IFA first to see what they thought were the better options.

We did keep a few £'s back to spend on luxury items - that was the fun part!

Good luck with making your decisions

I'd be reluctant to use it to pay off your mortgage per se, as when the money's gone it's gone. Yes you'll save loads each month, but that won't help if you need to find a huge lump sum in one go for any reason.

If it was me (if only!) I'd put it in a savings account to offset against your mortgage. That's a win win. You save money each month and you still have the money there just in case. Then you can make overpayments with the extra you are earning each month and pay it off quicker.

I think I would use some of it for the bathroom though rather than extend the mortgage, if it was me.

Hmmm. It's the inlaws 50th weddding anniversary next year - perhaps I could suggest the same thing to them .

Very sorry to hear about your mum Crunchie, but yay for the windfall.

No advice that hasn't already been offered really.

Thaks for all the advice, money is paid in and will offset the mortgage whilst we decide

Now hmm where shall we go on that drea holiday or is that another thread !!