Hi,

First up, apologies, as I'm a complete novice when it comes to finiancial nous and I'm trying to get up to spec fast.

Having perused this site for a while (after becoming disenchanted with the madness that is flat buying in London) I have decided to STR with the intention of reassessing the situation in 12 months time.

So, can anyone offer me any advice as to what to do with the £100k I've been lucky enough to come out with?

I'm guessing filling up an ISA allowance to begin with. But what else?

easy simple risk free way would be to put it in a high interest instant access account, you can get 6.05% that way.

if you have family members you trust that dont work, you can give the money to them, they bank it, and then you would not pay tax on it (as long as interest is lower than the base rate of income tax ect)

Thanks for the advice. Yes, I'm going to try to put most of it in a safe savings account. I'm also looking at pumping into A&L's premier regular saver for 12 months for 12% gross.

re relatives, my brother has a fair amount of spare cash that he's looking to do someting with and back when I was looking to buy, he wanted to come in with me and add to my deposit with the hope of me paying him back plus gains after selling the property three or four years down the line.

I was reluctant to do this due to the tax implciations but, it got me thinking, how do all these parents/relatives get round helping their offspring out with deposits etc without incurring the wrath of the taxman?

I spoke to a few poeple I work with who've had parents help them out and all seem to ignorant of any tax implications. Am I being an idiot here or are all these Mums and Dads going to get stung when they come to get paid back? And even if they just "gift" the money, aren't there all sorts of tax implications here?

As I said earlier, I am rather a novice at all this so I apologise if this is a stupid question.

They're liable for IHT if they get hit by a bus within 7 years.

hmm, what to do with 100k sterling...

..watch it slowly devalue in a 6% savngs account



tbh there isn't much you can do with that ammount without the taxman taking most of it from you at some point...

You could snort it.

if you've maxed out the isa then suggest;
10% gold
50% equities
40% hi savings

then - to be honest - just sit back. we don't know actually if the HPC will come this year, next, or even in 2010 - enjoy the feeling of having no debt (and therefore freedom and flexibility).

oh, and buy some bon bons too; splash 1% on something trivial and yummy

So long as you are OK with locking some of it up for at least a year, you could consider some of the NS&I investments http://www.nsandi.co.uk. You can currently invest 30K (2x15k) in index-linked savings and 30K (2x15k) in fixed rate savings. These are all tax-free so will be most effective if you are a higher rate taxpayer. The terms for each are quoted as longer than 1 year but so long as you leave the investments in place for 1 year there are no early withdrawal penalties. Note that if you do take out the capital in the first year you will get no interest at all. The same people do premium bonds (up to 30K) but obviously returns on these (tax-free winnings) are not guaranteed. I've used up all of my tax-free allowance with NS&I (93K including their ISA) but appreciate that this approach will not suit everyone.

I was in the exact same situation 6 months ago - indeed i am still in that situation in a way.

I bought overseas - somewhere not overhyped by these overseas property shows / is out of favour = no bubble. Somewhere that has had a rough time of it recently but is now looking like its recovering. It has one of the lowest residential property prices in EU and finally they will be joining the Euro in 2010 - if they get their act together.

The country is somewhat protected from a slowdown the the US and UK - primary trading partner is Germany, Russia, Italy, Spain in that order.

The capital city one of the sunniest cities in Europe and a tourism mecca.

I bought at 20% deposit - 18 month build - so essentially i still have the cash in my savings account - but at the same time ive invested in a property that is appreciating as we speak.

I invested in Budapest.

I would invest as follows (assuming you want easy access in as little as 12months);

1) 3k into NSAI ISA 6.05% tax free

2) 30k into 2 x NSAI Index-Linked Savings Certificates - about 5.85% tax free

3) 33k in Icesave at 5.95% (insured limit)

4) 4k into B%B at 5.85%

totally depends on how risky you want your 'portfolio' to be.

Play safe and max out ISAs, premium bonds, NS&I bonds for tax-free returns (a must if you pay 40% tax). The rest can fetch 6% in Icesave or similar. OK, so inflation erodes it, but in a falling house market, you're the winner by holding out.

Get riskier with some commodities...

Or blow a few grand on emerging markets - Bulgaria, etc.

Thanks for all the replies. The Budapest option interests me.

However, I've now been offered the following "opportunity".

I have a younger brother currently living in rented accommodation and struggling with 10k debt hanging around his shoulders (he had a stupid couple of years which thankfully he's now over).

Now, his landlord is selling the house which he shares with two others guys. It's an old railway terrace in a central location and the will be on the market for 120-130k.

Now, me and my other brother are currently thinking through fronting 30-35k deposit each whilst the younger one gets a mortgage for the other 50% (if possible). The theory is he can then buy the place and pay off his debts, and be further quids in by collecting a share of the rent paid by the other two fellas in the house.

Well, that's the pros for him. For me and my other brother, we'd like to keep the place as a nest egg long term, which may mean the hassle of buying out the younger one if/when he wants to move on.

My main worry is, getting my younger brother to buy now when I believe the bubble is about to, at worst, burst or, at best, deflate. As for my investing 30k of my hard-earned at this time, I don't mind riding it out for the long term, thinking that, it's not a relatively huge amount to invest, eventually returns (say over 10+ years) shouldn't be too bad, plus I'd be helping out my younger brother. Or would I?

I did think why not just wait until the crash happens and then help my him buy somewhere better/cheaper. But, how long will that take, and will it become harder/more expensive for him to get a mortgage by then?

Any advice, comments, suggestions? Feel free to point out any glaring stupidity.

Also, anyone know if there are any tax breaks when helping with a deposit for the primary home for an immediate family member?

you could buy 100,000 of GVC.L

It might be a small company but it should pull you an annual income of 35K of course its a high risk strategy but you could pretty much retire then if you wanted.

If I have savings they get eroded by 4.8% (RPI rate) per year. So a 5.5% ISA is only 0.7% above inflation.

Now my question for you economists out there. If I have shares and they pay a dividend of 5.5%, do i make 5.5% in reality. Basically, i would hope that the share value would go up by RPI every year and therefore shares are immune to general inflation. Get what i mean, am i correct here?

(BTW, i know that shares can go up and down, but i am just making a general point)

Thx in advance