So Mrs. Val and I were in a car accident in 2018 and the insurance companies that represented both me and the other party paid Mrs. Val out handsomely after almost 5 years of fighting.
We will be getting a decent sum (6 digits) and other than spending money cleaning up debt and paying into life’s realities, how should we spend the money?
Backstory - I was driving with Mrs. Val in the passenger seat and the car ahead of us turned into our lane to drive down a side road off of a highway, clearly cutting us off and injuring Mrs. Val as we had 4 kids in the vehicle as well. Because the police report said I rear-ended them, I was found to be at fault even though I feel I wasn’t. It became a “he said - she said” issue and my wife’s lawyer sued us all. They finally got together and paid out the damages with the lawyer taking more than her fair share (as usual).
I won’t say what the final number was, but say you had no liquid debt (Credit cards, etc.), how would you spend $100k? That is not the number she ended up with but saying you had $100k, what would you do with it?
Keep in mind we have 2 kids (one teen and a pre-teen), a mortgage which $100k wouldn’t touch…lol, a couple cars we use for work that are tax write-offs, and a camp trailer. Do we go travel, do some house renos, buy matching motorbikes?
@valbowski77 ready for my boring answer? Id still pay a chunk off the mortgage. We have worked extremely hard to be mortgage free in our early 40s and I don’t regret it for a second.
Sorry, I was mid reply with the exact same answer as @Mrs.John . You’re going to have to pay your morgage off eventually, shortening the time by $100k has to be a good thing.
For me, it’d be a chunk off the mortgage to reduce the term, put a chunk away for the kids for a car or to help contribute to a house deposit, then lots of travel, I want to see as much of the world as possible
@valbowski77 pay off the mortgage the kids will be sorted when they get to inherit the house and you can live mortgage free boring but it’s the best way
Agree with the others. We are mortgage free and it’s the best financial decision you’ll ever make.
Read your mortgage paperwork carefully, and you’ll see that (even if you’re on a really, really good rate) that you’re repaying something like £1.70 odd for every pound borrowed over the lifetime of the mortgage! Pay £100k off the mortgage and you’ll save another 60-70 over the life of the mortgage.
OR… use the £100k and buy a modest rental property. Take out a mortgage for the balance and the tenants will pay if off for you over the next 20 years then you’ll have a hous you can sell when you want to retire. With the increase in property prices (and property only ever goes up long term) then it’s a good investment. If you plan well, then you’ll make a good nest egg for your later years. Some awareness of the tax rules and how different governments treat BTL landlords is useful … if you buy now then you’ll probably be wanting to leave your investment locked in for 20 years or so until we’ve seen another Labour administration come and go. (It’s usually more favorable tax wise to cash in under a Tory govt)
I think i might have a holiday. Make sure you go somewhere you and the kids haven’t been before and make it really memorable. Then pay a chunk off the mortgage.
Thanks all. Our mortgage rate is 1.76% so pretty cheap for now and we don’t owe a ton on the house. I was planning on upping our payment if we paid down other debt. The house also needs some interior renos which will up the value.
My folks sold their house and are giving us kids some inheritance money off the sale ahead of them dying. I think that may go against the house and this into a TFSA or something until we really decide what we want to do with it.
Thanks for all the notes. Not really a “sexy” topic but your opinions matter to me thus I asked…!
Mrs. Val and I will be going on a trip with some of the cash as we could always find a quick way to lose $5k…
Get rid of some of the mortgage debt unless you have other debts at a higher interest rate. Keep your payments at the original value to reduce mortgage quicker. Once mortgage clear then think about travel etc.
Fully agree, paying a lump off the mortgage is the sensible offer. For a more fun way, what not see how much you can buy off Lovehoney - just imagine the stash you could buy with that much. You could keep some aside, pay a babysitter for a week and go to a secluded cabin somewhere and have a week to use all the goodies you had bought just you and mrs Val
@Forever_Curious Your comments on my post may be more appropriate in the “Fantasy” section lol. If you follow my posts, Mrs. Val is just starting to come into her own sexually speaking. If I dropped more than $500 on this site, I’d be using every toy on myself permanently. I have picked up a few items but not even close to what I would want to. One day at a time!
@valbowski77 personally i would have a Mr Grey Red Room an go a luxury holiday. New car an chunk off the mortgage. So many things you can do with that amount of cash, possibly invest in shares or such like
I know - it’s all very daunting. Trying to keep it a secret from family is also a challenge as no one is ever happy for someone who gets a windfall. Sucks a bit, but I will take it!
Im the kind of person who just does as they please and not bothered what others think! I don’t tell anyone other than my wife about finances windfalls etc as it doesn’t concern them. Your money your choice!! I hope you both decide on something you can both enjoy
or have a nice holiday somewhere you’ve always wanted to visit