What to do with the money?

Miss Elli

Registered User
Apr 9, 2020
81
0
Mum has now been living in care since August and as she owns her own property and lived alone we have to sell as Mum will need to be self funding.

The sale of Mum's home is going through and so far smoothly but I am now starting to worry about the funds from the sale and what I'm supposed to do with it for the best (I have POA) . . . has anyone being through this and have any advice, what did you do, what worked best for you?

I assume the best would be to have a certain amount in accessible funds to cover the immediate years and maybe invest a lump sum. It feel like such a massive responsibility!
 

ClaireeW

Registered User
Sep 22, 2021
66
0
@Miss Elli
I'm just about to embark on this very same journey. Mum has just gone into care and her home will now be sold. I know we have to invest with no risk at all to the capital, but not sure how to divide it all up.
Another thing I've found out from the home insurance company is that after 60 days of unoccupancy, I have to turn off all the utilities. My energy company disagrees with this!
My head already hurts!
 

nitram

Registered User
Apr 6, 2011
30,081
0
Bury
@Miss Elli

You could locate and go to an Independent Financial Advisor
They are legally required to take into account how the money will be used.
Beware that not all may know that as attorney you cannot instruct them to invest in discretionary funds.

You can also do it yourself, personally I would steer clear of any equity linked investments and put money in a mix of easy access, notice, and fixed term accounts
ensuring that fixed term mature at different times in the year.

If you do this note that the protected £85k investment limit per institution is temporally increased to £1 million for the proceeds of the house sale
 

Miss Elli

Registered User
Apr 9, 2020
81
0
@Miss Elli
I'm just about to embark on this very same journey. Mum has just gone into care and her home will now be sold. I know we have to invest with no risk at all to the capital, but not sure how to divide it all up.
Another thing I've found out from the home insurance company is that after 60 days of unoccupancy, I have to turn off all the utilities. My energy company disagrees with this!
My head already hurts!
Oh Crikey I haven't spoken to the utility or insurance Co's, we just left everything as it was and planned to cancel all on completion. I'm with you my head hurts and instead of waking up in the middle of the night worrying about Mum I now wake up worrying about the house sale, the money, the house contents what to keep, what to sell, what to throw . . . and the thought of clearing the loft fills me with dread!!! ?
 

Miss Elli

Registered User
Apr 9, 2020
81
0
@Miss Elli

You could locate and go to an Independent Financial Advisor
They are legally required to take into account how the money will be used.
Beware that not all may know that as attorney you cannot instruct them to invest in discretionary funds.

You can also do it yourself, personally I would steer clear of any equity linked investments and put money in a mix of easy access, notice, and fixed term accounts
ensuring that fixed term mature at different times in the year.

If you do this note that the protected £85k investment limit per institution is temporally increased to £1 million for the proceeds of the house sale
Thanks for that I will check out those links ...and I didn't know about the increased investment protection, I just assumed it would be the £85k.
 

nitram

Registered User
Apr 6, 2011
30,081
0
Bury
Oh Crikey I haven't spoken to the utility or insurance Co's, we just left everything as it was and planned to cancel all on completion

With insurance if you can offer that the house is visited every so often or have lights on a timer you could get better terms, note cover will cease after 30? days of unoccupancy.

I would cease telephone and just leave utilities as they are, they don't need to know and you will need electricity/gas for frost protection.

Also council tax ceased to be payable when your mum went into residential care, you should get a rebate.
 

thistlejak

Registered User
Jun 6, 2020
486
0
One thing to add to utilities - when we informed the water/sewage provider that the property was empty, we were informed that we didn't have to pay on an empty property - they did pay 'water rates' not a meter, and we got a refund.

We put house sale money into Premium bonds, a notice account, a NSI income bond & added to existing ISA - house was in North of England so not TOO much money so they took up the total and were all under £85K.
 

lollyc

Registered User
Sep 9, 2020
947
0
Money: Premium Bonds (max £50k), cash ISA, NSI Income Bonds, a 30 day notice account, and various other notice accounts. We just aimed to get the best interest rate we could (even more difficult now), without tying it up too long. Makes sense to have some money available at short nortice ( Premium Bonds and NSI will repay within a couple of days.)

Insurance: I think we had to get the house regularly checked (neighbour popped in), and maintain a minimum temperature, or switch off water. Insurance company will explain what you need to do to retain cover.

Trust me @Miss Elli , the money etc., was easy to deal with. Emptying the house (250 miles away), and deciding what to keep - mum couldn't make any decisions - was the worst part!

If you can, get yourself several certified copies of POA (don't risk sending your original). You'll need these every time you open an account.

** just seen another post about online POA - it may be you don't need certified copies - not sure.
 

Miss Elli

Registered User
Apr 9, 2020
81
0
Money: Premium Bonds (max £50k), cash ISA, NSI Income Bonds, a 30 day notice account, and various other notice accounts. We just aimed to get the best interest rate we could (even more difficult now), without tying it up too long. Makes sense to have some money available at short nortice ( Premium Bonds and NSI will repay within a couple of days.)

Insurance: I think we had to get the house regularly checked (neighbour popped in), and maintain a minimum temperature, or switch off water. Insurance company will explain what you need to do to retain cover.

Trust me @Miss Elli , the money etc., was easy to deal with. Emptying the house (250 miles away), and deciding what to keep - mum couldn't make any decisions - was the worst part!

If you can, get yourself several certified copies of POA (don't risk sending your original). You'll need these every time you open an account.

** just seen another post about online POA - it may be you don't need certified copies - not sure.
Thanks for that. I have the POA scanned and saved as a PDF but I know some companies have insisted on the original to copy themselves so I will look up online access POA - does seem ridiculous in this day and age if these things can't be accessed more easily once registered.

I remember Sky being particularly difficult about me cancelling Mum's TV package ... it was really annoying as pretty sure if I'd been upgrading it would have been accepted no questions asked, ooh dear, I can feel myself going off on a ranting tangent, lol.
 

Miss Elli

Registered User
Apr 9, 2020
81
0
Depends when power was registered

You can only use this service for LPAs registered in England and Wales on or after 1 September 2019. For LPAs registered before that, you’ll need to view the paper version instead.

That's really useful thank you. I've started the process to activate on line access, it will be a huge help moving forwards.
 

silkiest

Registered User
Feb 9, 2017
865
0
Hi @Miss Elli, each company has different rules - one utility company would not accept pdf files - only photographic copies (jpeg) so I always check before sending electronic copies now.
 

love.dad.but..

Registered User
Jan 16, 2014
4,962
0
Kent
As has been suggested I split dad's house sale funds between fixed term savings, 60 day notice, easy access. filled up his isa annual allowance and premium bonds. Used around 6 different institutions. Steered clear of investments as didn't want to take risks as not my money and actually one high street building society said they would not offer such to dad because of his elderly age and wouldn't be in his best interests.
 

lollyc

Registered User
Sep 9, 2020
947
0
I'm not sure if this has now changed, but some online accounts would not allow POA accounts. Not an issue for us. We had a couple of notice accounts / bonds with private banks, who were the most efficient and helpful. Lots of websites showing rates / terms etc. Some of the smaller building societies offer special local savers accounts.
 

love.dad.but..

Registered User
Jan 16, 2014
4,962
0
Kent
I'm not sure if this has now changed, but some online accounts would not allow POA accounts. Not an issue for us. We had a couple of notice accounts / bonds with private banks, who were the most efficient and helpful. Lots of websites showing rates / terms etc. Some of the smaller building societies offer special local savers accounts.
Yes I also found that some online banks would not accept POA so only used High Street banks, building societies although these are limited in number