r/FIREUK • u/anonymousthrowawayy2 • Sep 18 '26
i am 21 and have won £700,000. what do i do?
this sub was recommended to me! brand new throwaway as i don’t want to be traced at all from my usual account. please dumb down any advice for me, this is a very new world for me
i am 21 years old, and i have won £700k on a scratchcard. i have no idea on what to do with it. i received the money two weeks ago and i haven’t spent a penny. i was given some advice by the financial advisor they sent to me but i didn’t find it very helpful. he was telling me to invest it and didn’t even bother explaining what investing means
i didn’t choose to go public so nobody knows i’ve won anything. i genuinely don’t know what to do. i’d like to pay off my parents and my uncles mortgage as they only have around £30000 left combined, but i don’t know if i should tell my parents because i know my mum will likely tell everyone as she can’t keep a secret for the life of her
what i’m thinking of doing is quitting my retail job and applying for uni, paying for my course outright. for the next year i can live pretty cheaply on around 20k of my money if i quit tomorrow. then once i’ve graduated i can use the rest to pay for a house deposit or something
i don’t know. i’ve been to one financial advisor beyond the one allwyn sent me and he wasn’t very helpful either. i never imagined this would happen to me and now i don’t know what to do
edited to say i am a girl. everyone is assuming i am male🤣
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u/xpl0sad3 Sep 18 '26
If you tell your family, tell them a MUCH lower number. The vultures will come out otherwise. It gets rid of the awkwardness of lying/hiding, whilst not opening you up to vulnerabilities.
I’d tell people I’ve won £7k.
A good amount to be excited over, not enough to share.
As to what you should do with it? - Put it in an account and don’t touch it until you learn about personal finance. Do a course such as rebel finance school on YouTube - it’s free.
Theres a big difference between doing what you’re advised to, and understanding what you’re doing!
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u/Anon1mouse12 Sep 18 '26
This. Put it in a high interest account (circa 4.5%) and enjoy the free money until you work out what to do long term
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u/tariban Sep 18 '26
Read this page: https://ukpersonal.finance/lump-sum/
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u/Annual-Delay1107 Sep 18 '26
The thing l love most about that page is this quote:
>Try to flip the question round from “I have £x, what should I do with it?” to “I want x out of life, how do use the capital and income I have to best try and achieve this?”.
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u/Chicken_shish Sep 18 '26
Problem with that bit is for some people the answer to X out of life is a Ferrari and roomfull of hookers. Which gets through the money fast, despite them following the investment advice.
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u/Interesting_Oil_2142 Sep 18 '26
Yes, please read this before deciding to pay anyone's mortgages or pay for your uni education outright.
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u/mjwb99 Sep 18 '26
Firstly congrats, secondly, get the money into some high interest accounts, (spread so its protected by FCA limits), you'll probably overall be able to get around 3.5% averaged out from some higher some lower. Thats £25k income per year... good whilst you work out what to do.
If you can't trust your parents to keep it quiet and you want it, potentially pay off a smaller amount of their mortgage and say you won less. Then follow your plan.
If they do tell people you can say you won enough to pay some of your parents/uncle mortgages and also some for uni fees.
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u/anonymousthrowawayy2 Sep 18 '26
thank you! that £25k will cover me while i go to uni which’ll be helpful. it’s basically what i earn now so i wouldn’t even have to rework my budget or anything
i do love my parents despite their big mouths so ive been thinking of just telling them i’ve won £100k. enough to pay for uni and their mortgage but not enough to have them keep leeching off of me
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u/TigerCatori Sep 18 '26
Buy your own house first. Worse case scenario they can move in with you. Don't blow all of it on 1 house though.
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u/Evening_Ambassador76 Sep 18 '26
@mjwb99 Hargreaves Lansdowne have this bit where you can deposit money into different bank accounts and manage it all through their platform. Would that achieve something like this? Kind of think it's good to be able to manage it centrally
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u/madmossie Sep 18 '26
Remember there’s tax on interest (outside of an ISA) over your personal limit.
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u/Ashamed_Artichoke_26 Sep 18 '26
Do they need help paying off mortgage? (Interest rates aren't that high and there could also be some early repayment charges). 30k isn't exactly a lot of money to be making repayments on, so question how necessary this is.
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u/anonymousthrowawayy2 Sep 18 '26
they do, mum is a carer on minimum wage and can barely afford the payments. my dad had an unexpected heart attack three years ago and we’ve been struggling ever since he was forced to switch jobs and reduce his hours. he gets PIP but he was a lawyer, so it’s a huge financial loss my parents have faced
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u/SommeWhere Sep 18 '26
a lawyer might be able to work up a story to cover their mortgage and reduce your exposure to questions.
Look for an investment attorney.
Reduce work hours. Don't tell anyone. Spend your non working hours at the library learning about investments, investment law, taxes, and financial management.
Look for a Fiduciary, a specific kind of investment manager. Their legal obligation is to protect you. They can help you start learning how to best manage your funds, and to protect what you have. Vanguard is a company based in doing this; they are not the only one but they have a good rep.
It looks like a lot. It is not, overall, a huge sum; it will run out if you are not very careful. You can use it to create enough interest to support you, with help and education.
Take the time to really plan. Be methodical. You got this.
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u/GroundbreakingAd7336 Sep 18 '26
I wouldn’t put it all into high-interest savings accounts earning 3-4%, as after inflation your money is barely growing in real terms. Anything you don’t expect to need for at least five years could instead be invested in index funds, ideally a low-cost global index fund that gives you broad diversification automatically.
To illustrate the difference, £500k compounding at 10% a year would grow to around £805k after five years, £1.3m after ten years and £5.4m after 25 years. Assuming 3% annual inflation, that’s roughly £695k, £965k and £2.6m respectively in today’s money. Investment returns aren’t guaranteed, of course, but over a long time horizon that’s the point of accepting investment risk rather than simply trying to keep pace with inflation.
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u/mjwb99 Sep 18 '26
Yep as said in my comment put it in there whilst he works out what to do with it, rather than it sitting doing nothing, even if he takes a month to work out a plan that’s £2k extra in his pocket.
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u/Cmdr_Monzo Sep 18 '26
I mean you could tell your family that you won £100k on a scratch card and you’d like to pay off their Mortgages and fund university. When you graduate you can decide what to do with the rest.
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u/anonymousthrowawayy2 Sep 18 '26
this is exactly what i’m thinking of doing
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u/Manusterz Sep 18 '26
which is good. just take your time and give it like a month at least so you head is 100% clear
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u/AnSteall Sep 18 '26
I mean, you could lower the amount you disclose. Enough that it pays off the mortgages and pays for your uni and add 10k to it. Keep it believable.
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u/Hot_Requirement1925 Sep 18 '26
You might have to split it in a separate bank account in case they ask to see the bank balance you don’t want to show them the full amount also maybe reduce what you tell them so it’s enough to cover the mortgages and a small holiday so they feel like they won something and won’t come snooping for more because their mortgage being paid off isn’t going to feel like they’ve won anything even though they have
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u/R0gu3tr4d3r Sep 18 '26
They have a very useful flowchart that I think you would find helpful
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u/shysaver Sep 18 '26
one thing i would say is, don’t be tempted to buy more scratchcards, or gamble any further, otherwise that £700k might end up disappearing
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u/anonymousthrowawayy2 Sep 18 '26
i’m not an addict or anything. it was a little payday tradition of mine to buy a chinese and then £10 worth of cards from the shop next door. beyond that £10 a month i don’t gamble, or drink for that matter
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u/TechnoWellieBobs Sep 18 '26
Sounds like the right type of person won on this occasion. You sound like a good person.
Whatever you decide to do with it, enjoy! Lots of good advice here regarding index funds and ISAs, those are your safest, most sensible route for sure.
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u/GimmeDatAsSicily Sep 18 '26
I never comment on here anymore but just wanted to say that it's cool that someone like you has won a big cash windfall like this!! You seem like a good egg and your parents are on hard-ish times, so the right kind of person to win something.
I would echo other sentiments though. Do not tell anyone and if you MUST tell your parents, do not say you won 100k like you've been mentioning on here. I'd keep it closer to the 30k mark and say you would like to start helping with the mortgage.
Please please please be sensible with this money though. There's lots of financial advice available online (hell, if you're gonna use AI for something, asking chatgpt for sensible financial advice probably isn't a bad idea).
Best of luck with everything in life. How cool that something like this can happen!!
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u/matty2991 Sep 18 '26
Keep it that way, had a friend win £90,000 on online roulette wasted it all and now is £30,000 in debt through.... online roulette.
Keeps saying hes won it once he can do it again
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u/mishtron Sep 18 '26
Don't pay off your parents' and uncle's mortgage. No matter how well-meaning they are, it will escalate to another favour and another, and another, next thing you know your 700k has been frittered away due to family members guilting you.
The simplest and sure fire investment is AN INDEX FUND AND DO NOT TOUCH IT EXCEPT FOR UNI OR YOUR OWN HOUSE. It doesn't go up aggresssively but it's the clearest path to consistent growth. Your UNI plan is a great one too. I suggest you just buy a house outright after Uni.
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u/anonymousthrowawayy2 Sep 18 '26
i’m considering just telling them i’ve won less. i really want to help them, my mum has been struggling to pay off the mortgage ever since my dad became unwell. to be able to ease such a huge burden from them would mean the world to me
thanks for the advice! i do want to use maybe 20k some shopping and a nice holiday but i don’t intend to waste it at all
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u/imp0ppable Sep 18 '26 edited Sep 18 '26
Take this with a pinch of salt but if I were you I'd put 20k in an ISA (max in one year), a fair bit in a SIPP, 50k in premium bonds then buy a house for 500k or two flats for 250 each and then dish out however much of the rest of it you're comfortable with.
Reason being once the money is tied up you can't be pressured into giving it away.
The problem with property is you have to do a lot of research to get the right one. This is your problem in a nutshell, you're at an age where people usually don't have the experience to make big financial decisions. Not your fault and doesn't make you stupid at all, god knows what I would have done in your position lol.
Don't tell anyone about your savings whatsoever, even your mum might leak it to a dodgy cousin or something, there's always a hard luck story. Being "nice" is sometimes a problem, e.g. my sibling wants to give money to our iffy cousin because of his problems, tbf he has had a hard life but he's dodgy af and IDK what he'd do with it.
Congratulations also, nice problem to have!
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u/Interesting_Oil_2142 Sep 18 '26
I liked the idea until you recommended him being a 21 year old landlord.
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u/imp0ppable Sep 18 '26
Could just buy a house and y'know, live in it.
Landlords don't really need to do much if you use an agency but then the returns are a bit crap. Finding the right property is the hard part IMO, if you can do that then it's pretty easy.
Key thing is lock that fecking money down ASAP.
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u/22savage12 Sep 18 '26
Everything is spot on except acquiring houses. It’s inefficient in 2026. He’s better off growing this £700k alternatively and developing an income stream from it.
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u/Due-Chemical-4435 Sep 18 '26
Fully agree. It doesn’t make sense to put 500K in a home or two, just so that it’ll be tied up and no one can ask you for it. I doubt at 21 years old they wanna be dealing with home maintenance, tenants etc. If she can live on 25K per year, it’s best to let the rest grow in index funds + bonds and maybe an emergency fund that’s in a HYSA.
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u/a-curious-guy Sep 18 '26
Whatever their morgage is (or whats left) just slap on 20k (keeping it a round number i.e 80k)
Tell them you want to use the money to pay of their mortgages, and the rest is enough for yourself to get through uni.
Also, make sure you tell them not to tell a soul that their morgages are paid off. People WILL GET BITTER.
I was always open about my money, until I noticed Snarkry comments coming though, and this is via a salaried job.
The biggest issue you'll have is when you eventually come to spend that (i.e a house) and suddenly they know you lied to them before. That may leave a feeling of them not being trusted etc.
But, if you tell them, they will leak it. And then its just getting worse.
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u/Speakforall Sep 18 '26
Which scratchcard was it? 👀
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u/anonymousthrowawayy2 Sep 18 '26
red hot 7s!
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u/TheFluffyWizard Sep 18 '26
The sales of these cards are about to go up 🤣
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u/marv101 Sep 18 '26
Which is silly because it's now known there's one less prize available
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u/TheOneAnd_Only Sep 18 '26
Most I've ever won is 7 off that card well done!
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u/anonymousthrowawayy2 Sep 18 '26
most i’ve ever won before is £15, there’s always hope!
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u/5000_Staples Sep 18 '26
Don't know if anyone has mentioned this to you yet.
But don't chase another win.
Take the 700k and never play again.
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u/ImplementOk3111 Sep 18 '26
All the best gamblers quit just one hand before their biggest win, haven't you heard?
(This is sarcasm incase anyone takes this seriously)
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u/anonymousthrowawayy2 Sep 18 '26
i only used to spend a tenner a month on them
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u/riverend180 Sep 18 '26
Treat yourself to 50k of premium bonds and enjoy your monthly "winnings" instead
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u/Ok_Zucchini_8415 Sep 18 '26
My mum has 50k in premium bonds and it's rare a month goes by that she doesn't get something. Might be £25 one month, £1000+ another, but even the smaller amount is better than nothing!
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u/riverend180 Sep 18 '26
It's unlikely to beat a regular interest accounts but it's tax free and it's fun
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u/humpum-the-egg Sep 18 '26
Congrats mate! With a sensible head your life is now set.
VWRP and chill. 🧘♂️
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u/anonymousthrowawayy2 Sep 18 '26
thank you! this is a once in a lifetime opportunity so i don’t want to fuck it up
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u/syllabicious Sep 18 '26
You're already being more sensible than many your age, mate. Stay chill, you'll be fine. And congrats. What a lovely present from the universe. Oh and if it's not obvious already: money doesn't buy happiness, but it can sure as heck ease some burdens.
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u/Careful_Adeptness799 Sep 18 '26
I’d seriously reconsider paying off mortgages. Invest it, go to Uni. Like like a normal student not a Hollywood student and enjoy this for the rest of your life. Do not spend half of it!
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u/anonymousthrowawayy2 Sep 18 '26
i only want to pay off their mortgages because my uncle only has £5k to go and is honestly the best uncle i could ever have asked for. as for my parents, their mortgage is their biggest stressor ever since my dad had a heart attack and had to go part time. i’d love to be able to alleviate that stress for them
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u/genfish Sep 18 '26
I disagree with those saying don't pay off their mortgages. If it were me, I'd say I'd won 50k. It's a little white lie to make their lives easier and get the result you want. Tell them you're paying those debts off and the rest will pay for your university fees. Tell them that will set you up to save a house deposit for yourself by the time you have finished university, to mitigate any guilt they might feel. Follow the investment advice others have referenced with the remaining sum. Again this is just what I would do, everyone's family dynamic is different and might need to be handled differently.
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u/riverend180 Sep 18 '26
If you won 50k would your parents accept 25k of it to pay their mortgage off? Then would your uncle accept another 5k of your remaining 25k? I know my family would say they're fine paying their small monthly mortgage payment and keep the money for myself.
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u/Careful_Adeptness799 Sep 18 '26
Actually. My bad I added a zero to the mortgage debt I thought it was £300,000 lol.
How about pay it off from your first years interest.
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u/jaykhunter Sep 18 '26
It warms my heart reading your first concern is to make the lives of the people around you better. I wish you all the best!
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u/CARadders Sep 18 '26
Having £5k and £25k left on their respective mortgages is honestly not that much in the grand scheme of things, especially your uncle’s.
One thing I’d probably argue against what some are saying is about not telling your parents. I think you have to ask yourself if you’re ready to basically live a lie with all that money hidden away. If you make any relatively big purchases or go on any nice holidays over probably the next 10 years or so they’re going to wonder how you paid for it.
Are your parents really that bad? Would they try to leech it all off you, or betray your trust if you asked them to keep it a secret? I know it’s a very fashionable decision on these kinds of subs to keep any windfall a secret from everyone, but they don’t think for one second about the stress the practicality of that actually puts on you.
If my kid won a load of money I’d be very sad if I found out they didn’t feel they could trust me enough to share and celebrate that with me, whether or not they wanted to give me a penny.
This money doesn’t have to define your life and isolate you from your loved ones. Take all the technical advice here by all means, but there’s more to life than that.
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u/Evening_Ambassador76 Sep 18 '26
Sometimes I don't think that it's that people have bad intentions. I don't tell my family how much I earn. We were always very poor, so when I landed a well paid job they didn't want me to leave, they didn't understand my industry and wanted the best for me and for them the best was staying. Their advice weighed on me. In the end I did leave and moved on to earn even more. I don't think not telling people is always about hiding it, sometimes it's about making sure you're not swayed by their fears and feelings.
As a few other people have commented, 700k is a lot of money but it's also not. If your family think it's a lot they may be fine about you not working and not going to uni, but if those were your goals before winning the money then you should still do them for yourself. Work...makes you part of society even when it sucks! And also you have a long life ahead of you,...700k only goes so far
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u/CARadders Sep 18 '26
Totally agree. I just think sometimes the tenor here and in other personal finance related subs is one of real suspicion and distrust in people who should be closest to you when a large amount of money suddenly becomes involved. Like they think everyone becomes Gollum with the One Ring, but they themselves end up becoming that way.
Obviously I can imagine scenarios where that distrust is valid. Many people don’t have happy family lives or dependable family members. I just think that, as a parent, I would want to give advice and be a resource for my, young adult in this case, kid, so they feel they have someone to go to when dealing with such a life altering opportunity as this.
OP, if you don’t think you can trust your parents and/or uncle to be that person then that’s a real shame and no one would begrudge you keeping it to yourself, but I think you should also weigh up the toll that keeping it from them might take on you, as well as your relationship with them down the road if they were to find out at some point.
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u/Due-Refrigerator2341 Sep 18 '26
700k invested is a minimum of 35k year draw down. You can use that to supplement your annual income and just live a bit better than you normally would (forever)…and no don’t tell anyone. You have no idea how fast 700k can disappear once you have a taste for lifestyle
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u/98FB98 Sep 18 '26 edited Sep 18 '26
I agree with this in theory although I'd personally only do £500k. I'd also not pull that much income and keep it invested as much as you can and maybe pull £10-15k a year for treats and top up.
They can use and enjoy the rest at their age. £30k on families mortgages (don't tell them the real amount). £170k to get them through uni and probably a house deposit and not forgetting some holidays and treats.
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u/GergDanger Sep 18 '26
I disagree, they’re only 21 so a safe withdrawal rate is 3-3.5% at the most. At 3% that’s £21k a year before capital gains taxes to spend.
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u/DramaticRelative9683 Sep 18 '26
Set for life (on the way to being) at 21! I’m so happy you’re aware enough to have post this post up. Best of luck to you! Nice to see things like this happening to people.
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u/anonymousthrowawayy2 Sep 18 '26
thank you so much! i wake up every day and i genuinely can’t believe this is my life. i am so so grateful
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u/Entire_Bed_1303 Sep 18 '26 edited Sep 18 '26
20k into an ISA straight away. Be careful with buying property other than somewhere you think you'll stay - transaction fees are very high.
If you go to University, make it an investment. Do something that's practically useful afterwards and consider something vocational.
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u/WhatsFunf Sep 18 '26
DON'T PAY OFF THEIR MORTGAGES
Don't give other people money unnecessarily, it's a terribly slippery slope that ruins relationships. There's no way you can do it without them knowing.
Keep the money safely invested for your future, and if your family are ever in serious financial trouble, THEN you'll be able to help them out.
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u/Free_Ad7415 Sep 18 '26
I would give my parents anything they wanted if I won, they’re my parents and I love them. They would do the same for me
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u/GlobalisedEnchilada Sep 18 '26
What a heartless and selfish comment. Why shouldn't the OP help his parents? What's the point of money if you can't use it to make life better for your near and dear?
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u/Limp-Archer-7872 Sep 18 '26
Right. Congratulations!
r/UKpersonalfinance has a lump sum guide.
In your case you will need to know these tips of account.
ISA - a stocks and shares isa, opened via vanguard or freetrade or ajbell etc. 20k per year limit. Put that into VALL or VWRP ETF fund (other funds exist, this is a simple low cost whole of market product). You might want to put 4k of this 20k into a LISA which is more limited (house purchase or access at 60) but the government will add 1k for free.
SIPP - you can put money into this pension fund but the limits are 2880 per year (of your contribution) less you earn more, in which case the limit is what you earn, up to 60k max.
GIA - general investment account. Taxable gains and dividends but you have no option for the other 677k of money. Move 20k per year into the isa and whatever you can into the sipp.
You can pay off your mum's mortgage but say you won 70k not 700k.
Property isn't such a good investment these days except when you want to buy your own home, which I expect a lot of the GIA money will be used for. You might want therefore to put a lot of the GIA money into gilts rather than equities if you want to buy a house in theree or four years time.
It all depends on what you want to do. Going to university is a good plan and the money can rest and hopefully grow during this time.
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u/Limp-Archer-7872 Sep 18 '26
And 50k into premium bonds which I had totally forgotten about. Tax free and variable returns but useful in your situation.
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u/showerthinkerr Sep 18 '26
Ignore any private messages on here, I wish you all the best. It’s a good sign that you haven’t touched it yet, I would definitely give it a few months and settle with the emotion of a large sum
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u/anonymousthrowawayy2 Sep 18 '26
so far, i’ve had 9 messages asking for money🤣
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u/showerthinkerr Sep 18 '26
If you do get these messages, forward them to the mods so they can be banned. Name and shame
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u/anonymousthrowawayy2 Sep 18 '26
i’m not even going to bother responding
now i’ve had someone offer to let me stay with them if i ever choose to holiday in spain🤣
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u/yousayinbolt Sep 18 '26
zip your mouth from telling, tie your hands from spending, invest and rest
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u/Putrid_Alternative31 Sep 18 '26
It sounds like you have a good start of a plan. Great news is you don't need to decide anything today.
It is a huge amount of money, but still small enough it could be gone in the blink of an eye. And it's not so much you'll never need to work again. Go to uni, get yourself into a good career. Live like a student - just keep it simple. Set yourself a very modest living budget.
Invest the rest - get with a good financial advisor who will teach you so you can make your own decisions, not just do stuff for you. You need to understand where it's going. You might need to talk to several to find the right one.
Also find a tax professional - again someone that can teach you so you can make the best decisions for yourself.
Use the money as you need it down the road. Like once you're in a job and somewhat settled, buying a modest home with cash is a good idea. But don't do that today - one thing at a time and you want to know you'll live there a while.
As for helping others, I would not pay off anyone's mortgage. For one, you can't do that without letting the secret out. Tell no one for now. Second, it's a slippery slope to increased expectations and demands. Your relationships with your family are more important, and when large amounts of money get involved, family relationships get weird. If your parents are at risk of being homeless through no fault of their own, then yeah, maybe intervene to a reasonable extent. But I would not pay off their mortgage, at least not right now.
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u/CherryAntAttack Sep 18 '26
I've learned a harsh truth as I grew up. Family, as close as they can appear, can always turn into strangers when money is involved. Like, a switch happens. They can be so relentless in how they switch up on you.
My advice:
- keep all of it a secret.
- focus on you, not others. £700,000 can set you up for life. Imagine that. Paying mortgages is not your duty, and you will have to work again.
You are in a position many would love to be in. Don't rush. Sit on it, earn from it, look up financial advice from others in UK. The ball is in your court buddy.
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u/Affectionate-Fix2797 Sep 18 '26
Congratulations.
I worked at a Private Bank and used to deal with lottery winners from time to time.
Simple advice at this stage:
Do not rush to make any decisions. You should be covered under FSCS Temporary High Balance protection for having the monies in your bank, up to £1.4m for 6 months from the date you got it, so it’s utterly safe & you’ve time to take advice & ask questions.
If you’re thinking of uni and a house that sounds like a decent plan for longer term security to me, but the 6 months period gives you chance to think. If you’re a danger to dipping in, get a fixed rate for the bulk of it, 6 month fixed rate deposit for example- that’ll help prevent a bit of lifestyle creep!
Good luck.
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u/Endonyx Sep 18 '26
My advice here might be a bit different, but what I would perceive as practical human advice.
You've mentioned some things you want to do, cover some mortgages, perhaps quit your job and get a degree. Personally I think all of those things are fine, but, if you wait.
If I were in your shoes with the life experience and knowledge I would have, I would do absolutely nothing and change nothing in my life until 2027. Let the money exist for the next 3 months, and give yourself time to really think about and consider all of the options.
£700,000 is absolutely enough money that you can set yourself up for life, but you don't set yourself up for life by earmarking almost £120,000 of it in the first 2 weeks to things that provide no financial return. You've spoken about £30,000 in mortgage payments, quitting a retail job (thus removing income), paying outright for a university degree (£27,000), and then 3 years of living expenses at £20,000 a year. That alone has earmarked over 15% of this lump sum, at £117,000.
Personally in your situation, I would do the following:
Continue your job, if you want to get a further education, university degree, you have time. The academic year has just started, and while you probably could jump in late, you're in no rush, think about it for the 2027/28 academic year. Continue working your job, and continue living your life just how you did 3 months ago.
You've mentioned in comments your Mum is struggling financially since your Dad got ill, maybe over the next few months it would be easy for you to be able to contribute financially in that sense. In a way that's not obvious, maybe you tell Mum you've been saving some money, you buy the food shop, you maybe give her some rent (or some extra to help out). I think it's completely reasonable and fair for you to financially support your parents for the next few months, but in a way where it's clear you haven't fallen in to a lump sum like this. I know you might in your head think if you pay it off now then there's no interest for them, but the reality is it's very likely the interest they're paying on a £30,000 outstanding mortgage over the next 3 months is miniscule, we're talking a few hundred pound at most I would imagine.
Investing is smart, effectively what it means is you use your money to buy shares in companies. You perhaps buy £5,000 of McDonalds, and as McDonalds succeeds, the value of your shares go up and McDonalds give you a dividend - a cash payout based on the fact they're successful and turning a profit. Likewise, if McDonalds doesn't succeed, their share price might go down, and you might not get a dividend.
Investing can be scary when you see posts on reddit because you see people doing very extreme things, with a singular company. Putting large amounts of money on the prediction of a single company.
The smartest thing to do when investing is invest in a portfolio, for example in the UK the FTSE 100 which is a portfolio of the Top 100 companies in the UK, let's say you wanted to throw £500,000 in the FTSE 100. You can set it up so that you've put £5,000 in each of those 100 companies, some will probably lose you money, some will gain you money. However, on average the FTSE 100 has collectively since it's inception in 1984 returned on average 7-8% profit a year (assuming you reinvest your dividends, that is those payouts you get, you just tell them to keep them effectively and give you more shares). This means a £500,000 investment could return you on averge £35,000-£40,000 a year, while you still have your initial investment.
It's worth noting that is an average though, during the 2008 year the FTSE 100 dropped by just over 30%. This is why investing is such a long term thing. During 2000-2002 the FTSE 100 had 3 consecutive years of loss, if you invested £100,000 in 2000, by the end of 2002 it would have only been about £58,000. However if you kept that £58,000 in since then, you'd be laughing by now. On the inverse there are years where the FTSE 100 has an exceptional year, in 2025 it rose by 21%, in 2021 it rose by 16%, in 2013 it rose by 14%.
When people talk about low risk investments, they're typically talking about something like this. Putting money away in some form of investment that is incredible diversified (a small amount in a lot of companies, rather than a large amount in one company), and in companies that it would take a lot for them to fail. Examples of companies in the FTSE 100 are Tesco, Coca Cola, companies that I think it's fair to say we all know are still going to be thriving in 5 years, or 10 years, or 20.
Managing this may sound daunting, how do you give money to 100 companies. The reality is much more simple. You can use online platforms where you create a 'portfolio', and let's say it's 100 companies and each of them you want to get 1% of the money you invest, you add your money to your account and the online platform deals with the technicality of buying your shares. You get to sit back and see the value of those shares adjust day by day.
There are other options, a smart one for example in the UK is buying Premium Bonds, this is effectively you lending the government money. You can only have £50,000 in Premium Bonds, but it is backed by the government. Meaning the only way you're not getting your money back, is if the country basically ceases to exist. The issue with Premium Bonds - although this may be something you like, you don't get interest directly. All interest is accumulated each month, and awarded on a lottery system. Each £1 Premium Bond you have is a monthly lottery ticket, each month the lottery is done and if a ticket is drawn you win a prize. Sometimes it's £100, sometimes it's £5,000, sometimes it's even more, with there being people that win £1,000,000 each month. The average win rate is 1:25,000. So if you were to put in £50,000 in your Premium Bonds right now, you'd expect each month to have 2 lottery wins, reality is these will most likely net you maybe £200 a month, but, it's a bit of fun, almost like an actual lottery every month, and incredibly safe. Importantly, it's TAX FREE.
Investing in companies and turning your £500,000 in to £1,500,000 over the next 10 years will see that +£1,000,000 be taxed as income. Turning £50,000 in Premium Bonds in to maybe £150,000 over the 10 next years, will see it not be taxed at all.
On a human level, I return to my previous point. Just, wait. Wait until the start of 2027 before you spend anything more than £1,000 on something. Don't quit your job, continue your job like normal, pretend your £700,000 doesn't exist. You can treat yourself, I don't know if you want a new PC, maybe you drive and your car is a bit run down and for £3,000 you can get something a bit more reliable, maybe you want a holiday, maybe you want to change your wardrobe. You can do those things, but £700,000 doesn't mean you can stop having any income and earmark £100,000+ on something that is a net financial loss (although uni would be a benefit long term) straight away. Spend £4,000 on a holiday, spend £1,000 changing your wardrobe.
£700,000 can absolutely set you up for financial freedom, and have you not having to worry financially for the rest of your life. But it will not do that if you immediately set out to be -£117,000 with earmarked funds.
As a human, as an adult that has children, that has worked, that understands the microbills we get, the luxury of additional income etc, TAKE YOUR TIME. Do not spend anything more than some small luxuries like I mentioned before over the next 3 months.
If anything I would encourage you to spend the next 3 months learning more about investment options. The reason everyone screams invest invest invest, is because with £700,000 you can absolutely put yourself in a position where you are earning £50,000 a year without having to life a finger, and your £700,000 is still there. And in 10 years when your £700,000 has become £1.3million, all of a sudden it's now £100,000 a year you're earning. Even with a 5% return can become £900,000 in 5 years. Spend your £117,000 and then invest the rest and you'd be looking at £740,000 in 5 years.
My advice, as a human, is to just take your time. Treat yourself a little now, but anything over £5,000 in expenses, I would sat you sit and wait until 2027. That also doesn't mean go and spend £4,000 a day of course.
The fact you've not touched it in 2 weeks says a lot, it's clear that you're understanding of how it could be wasted, and you're not too impulsive. Just hold on to that I would say.
The time thing is also to give yourself time for this to settle and process and consider all of the variables, all of the ifs and buts regarding the money.
And as other people have said, you don't tell anyone. All of a sudden everyone you work with in retail will be your best buddy, the middle aged woman you occasionally work with will be telling you about their car breaking down, their vet bills, all sorts.
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u/rkr87 Sep 18 '26
I cannot stress this enough, do not tell anyone, don't give any large sums to family/friends. If you want to give, do so in smaller ways that don't make it obvious you have a large amount of cash. Eg larger than normal birthday/Xmas gifts, meals out etc.
Otherwise, right now, 50k in premium bonds, 60k in a sipp, 20k a year in a s&s isa and the rest into a high interest savings account (and maybe into a GIA when you understand more about what you're doing). This will make best use of tax benefits this year.
From there it largely depends on your plans, but I'd potentially look to do a few more years of 60k into a sipp, a few years of that at age 21 you'll be safe in the knowledge your pension is sorted for life. You'll also want to get money out of cash savings/gia into the ISA to make it tax free.
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u/marv101 Sep 18 '26
DO NOT TELL ANYONE. That money is yours too do what you like.
Think about what you would like the money for. Investing is a great idea, but ultimately what would you use that money for? How will you know when you have 'enough'. Given you've posted in this sub, I assume you want to retire early?
I would probably pay to speak to another financial advisor. Maybe set aside a small amount of money for a first time house when you're ready. Put the rest in an all world tracker like VWRP or VALL and just chill, forget it's there for years until it's grown enough for you to retire on.
By all means use some to have fun, make life experiences, just don't get too carried away and spend it all. You are in an extremely fortunate position
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u/PurpleN0ise Sep 18 '26
Don’t pay the mortgages. I’m not sure I’d go to uni either but it’s a sensibile choice. I’d only go if youre already set on a career that requires one.
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u/anonymousthrowawayy2 Sep 18 '26
i’d love to be a social worker! it’s been my dream for years but the cost of uni always put me off. now, i guess it’s not a worry
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u/Ocean_Runner Sep 18 '26
Firstly, do not tell anyone right now, not family, friends, or girlfriend.
Secondly, read this; https://ukpersonal.finance/lump-sum/
Thirdly, carry on with life, this is a large enough sum but it is not going to be enough to carry you through the next 60 odd years, but properly invested it can provide a nice safety net. Going off to do a degree in whatever subject you can imagine spending your life in is a great idea. This is how the very wealthy kids live, as it is their family that provide the safety net, you now have your own.
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u/-Mr_Hot_Toys- Sep 18 '26
As someone that once won £10 on a scratch card, take it from me, trust nobody.
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u/Opposite_Loan_1899 Sep 18 '26
It's a nice idea to pay your parents mortgage off. I wonder whether you could call them and pay it off anonymously? I don't know if that's a thing. Or you could tell your parents you won 60k and you want to give them half for their mortgage and you are using the rest to go to uni. And leave it at that?
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u/No_Demand_8955 Sep 18 '26
Tell nobody, continue as if nothing has changed. Stay in work to keep yourself grounded and in a routine, albeit maybe change job so you're happier. Keep working through uni too, don't just live off the sum as people will cotton on that you have money because you're not working. You'll attract leeches and the wrong sort of company.
As for paying off mortgages, have a loooong hard think. What's the long term impact? Can they afford the house anyway or will they have to sell? No point paying it off only for them to have to remortgage to cover a new roof etc.. will they ask you to pay the remortgage in future..?
Everybody changes when they know you have this kind of money, family, parents, partners, friends, everybody.
Other than that, invest it wisely and leave it untouched for a decade or so. It'll grow into a retirement fund if you leave it where it is and don't spend it! You can then live a normal life without worrying about working into your 70s...
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u/lilbitlostrn Sep 18 '26
Do not pay for uni with your own money.
Take the loans. They will only take money off of you if you're earning enough for it. It will eventually get written off after a few decades.
It will essentially act as an extra tax on your wageslip.
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u/HotMachine9 Sep 18 '26
This. Unless OP can guarantee they will get a high paying job right away its better to take the loans and the small graduate tax that most people will pay.
The money will be far better off placed in savings, pensions, bonds and investments long term.
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u/StanmoreHill Sep 18 '26
Do not tell anyone and slowly upgrade your life. Nothing extraordinary, extravagant or excessive. If people ask, say you got lucky and sold some bitcoins that you forgot you had.
Keeps us updated please!
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u/Big-Double1720 Sep 18 '26
Think of it this way:
Your massive lump sum is a golden goose. If you invest it you will have golden eggs forever. If you kill it to pay for a year off and other peoples mortgages and whatever else they then ask for you will not.
You could learn how to sensibly invest in a couple of weeks on here. Then you can use the growth in your investments to help people out for the years to come.
That's how I would see it.
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u/MylesHSG Sep 18 '26
Could you tell your Dad if you're worried about mum telling everyone.
Unfortunately if people find out you will have lots of people coming out of the woodwork and emotionally manipulting you for money.
I think I'd start putting some of this money to work. £20k in a S&S ISA and for the next 5 years invest £100k total into that. That could essentially be your retirement and in 40 years that 100k investment will be worth well over £1m.
Really cool that you want to go to Uni, as you say if you live frugally for the 3 years you'll come out at 25 with no debt a degree, £500k ish in cash and 100k invested.
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u/SuperMongoose2921 Sep 18 '26
Put it on VWRP and chill. Tell no one (like no one) and don’t go flexing on instagram or TikTok
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u/dazzou5ouh Sep 18 '26
First and most IMPORTANT THING: do not let anyone know, ANYONE!!!!
the amount of entitlement people start having when they know someone has big money is insane
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u/tinyAl666 Sep 18 '26
Don't tell a soul, everyone will bother you for cash. You don't know if they like you for you or the money. Buy a property or two. First read about it how to get it done properly. Best thro a limited company, rent it out, etc maybe some bitcoin, don't spend everything at once. Contribute to stocks ISA, put a little bit into sipp every month. If you are working just say u got a promotion or you made a bit extra trading crypto or something if they ask. This is what I would do.
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u/t-t-today Sep 18 '26
OP you’re doing the right thing asking for advice here. One thing you must internalise is while this has the potential to change your life it’s not life changing money on its own.
700k on its own will not last you, but 700k invested in a diversified index fund and not touched for 20 years can give 2.2m+ and buy you ultimate freedom.
Take some money for fun, travel, experiences etc but then just forget about the rest. You are basically coast fire already.
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u/Yohannas Sep 18 '26
I’d strongly recommend spending a bit of money on getting proper financial advice from someone who can explain Stocks and Shares ISAs, SIPPs, index funds/ETFs, compound growth, etc., to you. Educating yourself on this now - while you have the money - will mean that you will be able to retire early in the future, and live well in retirement. At 21 it feels a very long way off and a remote prospect, but I’m 35 (next month) and it’s starting to feel much closer - time creeps up on you. Do your future self a huge favour! If you haven’t already, I’d recommend checking out the Damien Talks Money YouTube channel, he’s brilliant at explaining these concepts simply and has some ‘investing for beginners’ videos too. E.g.: https://youtu.be/yjS6kc7LiuM?is=Kvi-d6fmm0YARl11
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u/AgileRefrigerator988 Sep 18 '26
As someone who previously worked for Allwyn, it's in your best interests to keep it quiet where you can. If you do tell anyone, don't give them the full value and say youve maybe won a grand or something, people will still ask for support but not forever. I like your idea about uni, and to be honest, bonds are not a bad investment if you wanted to just sit on the money, they pay monthly dividends usually and its more like a raffle because you can get more back for it.
Book a slot with citizens advice, say youve receive inheritance and you'd like to discuss advisory services for it
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u/1BRAHIM_03 Sep 18 '26
Put 700k into savings and spend the interest only, still get 21k per year without working
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u/NKDBee Sep 18 '26
Do not pay for your uni course outright without looking into this with someone that understands finances! Most people will not be earning enough and paying enough to be worth the cost upfront rather than taking out the loan.
I would hold onto most of the money for a while, use a small amount to spend on this, have a set plan in place before you chose to tell anyone/ pay off any debts etc as otherwise they may be able to sway you into feeling guilty and using more of your money etc. if you already have a purpose for it then it won’t matter who knows!
Also don’t go ahead and quit your job right now as that is a dead giveaway of the situation, if you go uni then you can be quitting for that purpose and under the cover that you’ll be living on student finance.
You have enough money to definitely look into paying a high quality financial advisor to help you. But honestly maybe some kind of life coach or something like that also as at the end of the day a financial advisors job is just to help you keep and make more money, you need to know what you want from life to use it on, then they can help advise you the best way of doing that.
Investing in yourself is a great idea as well as investing the money itself
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u/GarbageInteresting86 Sep 18 '26
Do not tell anyone. Imagine you have robbed a bank, and want to get away with it. No visible signs of wealth. Do not quit your job. If you hate it apply for another one. Do not tell anyone. It’s not a million pounds, and it’s easily wasted. This money can set you up for life, but you will still have to work. Do not pay a financial adviser. This sub has a flowchart. Read it over and over again. Avoid property as an investment unless you’re planning to buy 5 and make a career out of it
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u/Content-Tap-2778 Sep 18 '26
What an incredible position to be in. If it were me, I would pigeon hole 500k for investments (just go FTSE all world and leave it alone). That will secure your future. I’d take 50k for fun money (fuck if you’re only young once) and put another 50k into advancing my future (courses etc are a good idea).
The final 100k I would put into a cash ISA or some sort of other savings account that can be accessed a little easier. You are young and you don’t know what to do with all the money just yet. And that is totally cool, I’d put most away into that 500k pot and then you have 200k to use for your future and life.
Truth is, if you do this properly you are set for serious generational wealth.
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u/throwawayreddit48151 Sep 18 '26
I'll keep this simple:
- Don't tell anyone, it will just elicit questions and eventually you'll have to lie. It will be horrible keeping all those lies straight. Help your parents bit by bit, over many years.
- Do not pay for Uni yourself. Just get a student loan.
- Read Monevator and/or watch Toby Newbatt (on YouTube) if you want a better idea of how to invest your money.
- The only way to make your money work for you is to invest it. That's what you will learn about from reading/watching the above. Your investments earn you money because you are taking a risk, so you must be prepared to weather storms (like the 2008 financial crisis). So it's not for everyone, but it is something you can learn to do. This is the single best thing you can do to ensure your money doesn't wither away.
- None of this is difficult. You can invest using a mobile app. You don't need to think much about what you invest in. You just need to have the confidence in knowing that you understand this stuff.
Finally, continue to ask for advice here. Before you do anything, lay it out in this subreddit and let people tell you whether what you're doing makes sense.
I say all of this as someone who went from £0 to £1.3m. I earned it via my software engineering job, so I had a lot more time to get to grips with everything. I really really really cannot stress enough how little our education system prepares us for dealing with large sums of money. I really want you to do well here.
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u/richyrb Sep 18 '26
Pay the taxes owed on it if any, then invest the rest. That amount can be very easily be a retirement nest than most people will dream of. Just act like it doesn’t exist. And build a good work ethic early on. And agree, don’t tell a soul inc family and friends as everyone will treat you different and come asking for favours.
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u/snaccmancan Sep 18 '26
Think you're approaching this the right way. Don't make any big purchases until you understand your financial options better. Going to uni is a great idea and is an investment in yourself which will set you up for long term income stability. If you do a business degree it may be worth doing a course in Finance or something if possible
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u/Puzzleheaded-Two3147 Sep 18 '26
I won 50k in may. All gone now but that was the result of me telling people. I told my girlfriend, my brother and one close friend. I also told my mum i won 15k and not 50 and ended up sending her 5k. Your best bet is to only tell people you trust that you know will have 0% chance of telling someone else. If theres even that 1% chance then its not worth it because you get so much stress from it. I know you want to help people and so did i but thats what screwed me over. If anything put most of it away and act like its not there. Let it grow and in a couple decades youll be close to a billionaire. Keep your lifestyle the same or similar to your usual lifestyle as people will raise questions and its hard to keep up the lie (i tried).
Or the other option is to move away and start a new life 😂.
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u/diehardofdeath Sep 18 '26
Don’t tell anyone about it. No one, not even family.
Now anonymously try to get the money in an account with your name. Put it in a different bank account than the one you normally use. Then delete the app as well.
Take a little bit, like 20k to your normal account if you don’t have any money. Go travel somewhere like south east Asia. A cheap cheap trip. Travel for at least 90days.
Need yourself to digest that you have this money. And don’t let that become your identity. This is the purpose of the trip. Come back and learn about how to protect your money. Talk to financial advisors. Independent financial advisors. Not people who are associated with any bank. They will sell you products with massive commissions for themselves. Find someone with transparent fees that they take, like 1% - 3% a year or so.
Good luck bro!
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u/Typical_Fisherman_50 Sep 18 '26
Buy a modest house for £200k, £500k invest you could live off the dividends £30k a year and never have to work again and you still have the £500k in your investment account. Do hobbies and you’ll hopefully find something you love that you can earn money from.
Tell your parents you are renting and doing an online wfh job.
You are set for life! Well Done!
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u/StatementSure8316 Sep 18 '26
Don’t give up work, 700k wont get you far at all.
Max out the 50k premium bonds
Max out 20k ISA
Consider opening a pension or contributing more if you have one already.
Payoff any credit card / loan debt you may have
If you don’t own a house look at buying a house
Blow 25-50k on yourself holiday clothes luxury items etc (why not it’s a win)
Uni study maybe ?
The rest invest it in all world ETF’s vanguard something like that but spread the amount around the different ETF’s.
Don’t give up work or education use it as a steeping stone in life.
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u/panicbuyinglooroll Sep 18 '26
If I were you, I’d keep it a secret as much as possible. My best advice would be to contact a financial advisor and get a plan from them, ideally with a mix of investments and a varied range of high/low-risk investments.
Paying off your family mortgages is a lovely idea, and I’d want to do the same. If I were in your position, I’d tell them you won a much lower number than the actual figure.
£700k at 21 is fantastic money, but it’s not enough to live off forever if you’re not smart with it, so always keep your future in mind if you can. It’s okay to have a little fun, but you will kick yourself in the future if it’s all gone.
You may want to consider an investment which sees returns you can live off: a common one would be purchasing a residential property to rent out, and living off the rental income. Again, a financial advisor would be the best course of action.
Congratulations!
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u/orbitlenspen Sep 18 '26
First of all, don’t tell anyone. If you think your mum is gonna go out and tell people, you will have secondary uncles and people you barely know reaching out to you. Put it on a safe account for now and just take time to learn as much as possible about personal finance. Perhaps split that amount on separate accounts so you don’t get hacked or scammed. Maybe £50k on Premium bonds to max your chances of winning more?
Have a look at the personal finance flowchart. Don’t dump it into sketchy investments or crypto. But do invest. If you don’t know anything about investing, don’t rush. Learn and read about it.
Don’t buy an expensive brand new car. People will know you have money so back to problem number one.
If you’re overwhelmed, get a paid financial advisor. It will cost you a few hundred quid or whatever but they’ll walk you through stuff you don’t know about. Consider it as an investment, not a cost. A good advisor can save you a shittonne of money.
Your goal is to make this money work for you now and not blow it in the next 10 years. Good luck.
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u/International-Wear57 Sep 18 '26
First think im doing is taking myself on holiday. Will figure out the rest when I get back.
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u/hambodpm Sep 18 '26
I have nothing else to say besides I'm supremely jealous and congratulations 😂
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u/Careful_Promise_3423 Sep 18 '26
Buy yourself you're own house outright. Never have to worry about the biggest bill in you're life ever again.
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u/BangUNee Sep 18 '26
If you are going to tell people, tell them you won a much smaller amount (like 50k) so it you offer to pay off your parents/uncles mortgage you look like you're doing something huge for them
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u/anonymedius Sep 18 '26
Do you really have to go to uni in this country? Since you've got money to live on, I would check out what's available in Europe - in many countries, fees range from nothing to not very much and, even if you don't speak any foreign languages, courses taught in English aren't hard to find.
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u/spoxor Sep 18 '26
if you want to keep it as simple as possible.
1) tell no one, including your family. the amount of money you have will make the normal uk person go insane crab in bucket mode & will be asking for handouts.
2) https://www.vanguardinvestor.co.uk/ as others have said pick something like an all world tracker or sp500 tracker https://www.vanguardinvestor.co.uk/investments/vanguard-ftse-all-world-ucits-etf-usd-accumulating/overview or https://www.vanguardinvestor.co.uk/investments/vanguard-ftse-global-all-cap-ucits-etf-usd-acc/overview or https://www.vanguardinvestor.co.uk/investments/vanguard-s-and-p-500-ucits-etf-usd-accumulating/overview
3) if you wish, to protect against tax, you can move 20k per year into stocks & shares isa, with the same products & depending on your annual income move up to 60k per year into a SIPP pension. remember at 58, when you can start with drawing the pension, it will be taxed on the way out like normal income, you however will skip any captial gains tax.
4) read & understand about capital gains tax in the uk. https://www.gov.uk/capital-gains-tax or https://www.moneysupermarket.com/money/tax/what-is-capital-gains-tax/ or https://www.hsbc.co.uk/investments/what-is-capital-gains-tax/
5) think long term. at 7% growth per year, in 10 years it will turn in about 1.4 million.
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u/Alfien54 Sep 18 '26
Keep it to yourself, people can turn crazy with envy! But my biggest advice would be go do the stuff you always wanted to do while you’re young. Travel the world, experience new things, but also save a lot of it and invest it in something you have knowledge about!
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u/Uncle_gruber Sep 18 '26
Get an account on an investment platform, I use Hargreaves lansdowne.
Set up a stocks and shares ISA and invest as much as you can per year, these are tax free gains. Use the money in that account to buy into an ETF - these are funds that spread your money in broad markets. I invest in fidelity index world, vanguard FTSE all cap, and HSBC FTSE 250.
Do I know exactly what they are? Not quite, but they track broad markets and they are my long term investments.
I would put £200k into stocks outside the ISA cap in a similar way. Set all investments to reinvest any profit or dividends and watch that money grow.
I would buy a house outright, that's your shelter sorted.
Set aside £20-50k for some incredible things (a trip of a lifetime, a reasonable vehicle, a uni course you want to study for fun, you know what kind of tuings you like, and if you don't then you have money to experiment)
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u/BidDaddyDiesel Sep 18 '26
Parents - No
Uncles - No
Travel for a bit
Put a fair amount into the S&P500 and use for a house etc when you want to buy.
Congrats and dont tell anyone
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u/No_Caller67 Sep 18 '26
Honestly, what everyone’s saying is pretty spot on. You can just tell your parents a white lie about winning a smaller amount than you actually did, pay off their debts, and sign up for uni (you can decide later if you wanna use student finance or just pay it off).
For investing download Trading 212, open a Stocks & Shares ISA so you don't lose any of your returns to tax, and put your money into ETFs. Since you're new to it just look up the main ones people recommend, like Vanguard FTSE All-World and Invesco Nasdaq 100. ETFs are basically just a giant collection of companies bundled into one share. That way, if one company crashes, you won't take a massive hit because your money is spread out across tons of them instead of riding on just one stock.
It's honestly long-term game, putting something like £300,000 into solid ETFs could get you a return of extra £100,000 in returns over 4 years or even sooner. But while you're doing all this, DON'T QUIT YOUR JOB. Keep working, keep putting a set amount into those ETFs every month, and start learning more about trading. Once you actually know what you're doing, then you can start picking individual stocks for bigger returns.
Honestly, another thing is sitting on £700k gives you so many options to set yourself up for life, yeah with the property you can decide just buy a house straight up or buy a smaller place and turn it into an Airbnb business so it generates steady monthly cash flow for you.
For the rest of the money you aren't putting into ETFs, putting them into a Cash ISA is another good thing, Every single penny of interest you earn in an ISA is 100% tax-free, unlike normal bank accounts that tax your interest once you pass your allowance. Plus Cash ISAs carry zero risk and guarantee your actual money stays safe while also keeping it liquid, so if you ever need to remove money for some emergencies or property maintenance you can take it as it’s just there. Also the UK ISA limit is £20,000 per tax year split across both Cash and Stocks & Shares ISAs, so you can max that out every year and keep the rest of your cash in high-interest accounts spread across different banks to keep it all fully protected.
Just be smart, keep your head down, don't quit your job, and don't go on some crazy spending spree. I know this is quite long
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u/Upset_Set_5283 Sep 18 '26
Property, buy a house and rent it out, then get a mortgage on a second house and pay it using the rent from the first
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u/nk_79 Sep 18 '26
This is my advice,
Do NOT tell anyone. Not even your mum. I love my family to bits but would not tell anyone if I came into money less than £1 million. If you’d won £1 billion that’s a different story, but £700k doesn’t get you very far to start paying off everyone’s debt.
Budget everything. Like I said - £700k is a lot but it’s not enough for you to pack it in and enjoy the money. You are young so you can really use this opportunity to change the trajectory of yours AND your family’s lives. Get an excel spreadsheet (saved under a v ambiguous/boring non sus name) and plan how this money will be split up over the next 20 years of your life.
Invest. You are young so I would say invest 10% after doing very very thorough research. Put £20k of that 10% into an ISA with a decent return. Right now I’d say that’s between 4-5%.
Do NOT leave your job. Instead reduce your hours (even if it’s like 10 hours) or find a new place. Do not let go of your routine, instead use this as an opportunity to perfect it. Make sure your income is enough to cover your expenses, don’t rely on your winnings to support your life.
Invest, again. This time in yourself. Put aside money for something that will make a major difference in your overall quality of life. If you want to go to uni, then do that!
Finally, do enjoy the money (to an extent)! Set aside a small proportion that you can use to clear off small debts (less than 10k).
My final advice - do not clear off a mortgage with this money. This is an opportunity that doesn’t come to many so please try not to let emotions get in the way. You can instead give an extra amount each month and say you got a new job/pay rise/bonus but even then be careful.
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u/Suspicious_Alarm2279 Sep 18 '26
Max out S&S ISA for this year (vanguard, trading 212) choose an ETF don’t loose many money by investing in individual stocks you know nothing about as it will compound over time and you will have even more money! With that amount of money I would even max out 50K on premium bonds because you will most likely win every month and maybe even win big again!
Help contribute to your mums mortgage but don’t pay it off £700,000 is a lot of money but if not spent correctly it will go quickly especially at 21!
I don’t know your position but if you want to buy a home then do so, or keep a good amount for when you are really this gives you a hugeee benefit at your age. I would absolutely love to be mortgage less in my 20s.
Enjoy the money but don’t go crazy! Congrats!
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u/Dare-Sad Sep 18 '26 edited Sep 18 '26
Take your time spending it don't rush keep it quiet as best you can from friends and family. It's easier to help people if they don't know how much you have. If you buy a home don't tell people it's paid for. Jealousy will soon show it's self
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u/letsbeseriousish Sep 18 '26
Seek professional financial advice, and ensure your adviser is the ONLY person who knows you have the money.
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u/bobcat734 Sep 18 '26
Don’t tell anybody.
You’ll be surprised how a mortgage payment then turns into “can you buy me a new car” to “Can you pay for my vacation” to “We need a bigger house”.
I had it myself where I got a large bonus from work and everybody around me somehow thinks they are entitled to a part of it.
And before you know it you’ll have nothing left.
£700K is enough to set you up for life if you let it grow over time and don’t blow it all on everybody else.
Look into index funds and look for a financial advisor and accountant that is no work no fee. Meaning you only pay for the hours they work.
You need to have somebody you can trust that is removed from your family circle and friend circle. Because your family is likely only going to ask for what benefits them. And not what benefits you. Accountants will deal with estates all the time. Go find an accountant and they can advise you on how to protect yourself tax wise too.
Then I’d probably recommend putting some of it either into a house, or into index funds and then waiting to decide if you want to buy a house.
Also, use a six month rule for large purchases.
You only buy something after waiting six months, this stops you from spending it all on pointless things.
Firstly seek out a professional you can trust, and then go from there.
I’d recommend you meet them in person as it is much easier than doing stuff like this over the phone. That is what I’d do first if I were you.
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u/No_Jellyfish_7695 Sep 18 '26
Don’t pay off any mortgage. If it’s that low, they can do it themselves, and you can guarantee they will boast about it.
You have time to start Uni NOW! otherwise you’ll need to wait until next year.
Goto ii.co.uk and open up an ISA and put in £20k
Then go to your bank and ask to speak to their investment team. Tell them you want to invest £500k into “medium risk mutual funds”. This means you Will see some highs and lows, and but generally your money will increase better than inflation. Mutual funds are normally only accessible for large pots, as they are the very simplest set and forget type of investments with no tax to pay until you withdraw them, and then only capital gains.
You will use this money after you graduate for living and accommodation / home purchase etc.
That then leaves you £180k in cash.
Allow £30k/year of university.
Of that £180k:
£30k for first uni, save as cash £10k fees, £10k accommodation, living costs.
£60k put in a 12 month fixed term saving with your bank. Access this when you do your second and third year at Uni.
£50k into maximum holding Premium bonds.
£40k into a cash savings account, in case uni is expensive, or you want to rent something nicer than student digs, and then for you to go have fun.
there you go
and congratulations 🥳
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u/IJustCantGetEnough Sep 18 '26
Don’t lose your capital by giving away the majority of your money paying off mortgages. investments will make the money work for you in the longer term.
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u/Noiku612 Sep 19 '26
Super glad someone like you got to win! Honestly!! Just the fact that you’re asking for advice and want to make best use of this money like studying or paying off parent’s mortgage! Super happy for you! Dont have any advice myself, I wouldn’t tell anyone that for sure, if you know your mom talks don’t tell them either! Invest in yourself! Uni or actual investing in ETFs that’s where I would start!! And then hopefully you’ll multiple this amount and will eventually help family too!
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u/REDOREDDIT23 Sep 18 '26
Don’t tell anyone you have to think even twice about telling