Invest €200k: Advice for low income guy (60's) with no savings & poor pension.

I am about to distribute the estate of my deceased father. I'm looking for advice on what to do with close to €200k. I'm over 60 years old and I've effectively been living off savings since my job came to an end at the beginning of the crash. I've just cashed in the very last of my savings (EBS Summit Fund) so some part of my share of the estate will have to be accessible at short notice.
I do have a very small income as sole trader but it's really like a hobby that earns me about 10k.
I have an equity release mortgage (tracker thank God) that I pay out about €300/mth on.
My pension will not be much when it kicks in in a couple of years time as I was in my last job for 12 years and preferred to invest in equities myself rather than AVC's.

If I was to make a decision on it myself right now without advice, I'd put €100k in bank (which one?) and the rest in a combination of P.O. Savings Bonds and Prize Bonds

So any advice on what to do with the 200k would be very welcome.

If your future depends on the the €200k then I'd be avoiding anything with risk attached. Guaranteed returns are miserable, but so is the rate of inflation. I'd just go with the best deposit rates in one or multiple accounts. Don't bother with Prize Bonds -- people still seem very attached to them judging by the amount of money going into the fund but the returns don't currently justify it. The 6 or 10 year State products are the only ones paying appreciably more than bank interest rates, but even there you'd have to check the implications of early withdrawal if you had an emergency.

Thanks for that advice. I also just saw this post below by you from another thread and it makes sense to me.

dub_nerd said:

The only thing that could possibly tempt me about Prize Bonds is that for €100k your prizes would be coming in about once a month on average. That is a steady accumulation of your "interest", whereas for 5 year Savings Certs, even though you have access to your money any time you want you would forfeit most of your interest on early withdrawal. To be honest, none of them really tempt me at all ... I can still get about 0.4% after tax from the bank and would prefer to keep my money where it can be redeployed quickly if needed.

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I'll keep my current account with Bank of Ireland and open a couple of deposit accounts with other banks, probably AIB and KBC.

The best risk free return you'll get is paying off you Mortgage, even if it's a tracker.

RedOnion said:

The best risk free return you'll get is paying off you Mortgage, even if it's a tracker.

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Is there a negotiation involved in this or do you simply write a cheque for the amount the bank asks for ending the mortgage?

Julius said:

Is there a negotiation involved in this or do you simply write a cheque for the amount the bank asks for ending the mortgage?

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Yes, in your circumstances just contact your bank and they'll provide a settlement amount. (If you were a non performing customer in negative equity and your mortgage had been sold there might be some scope for negotiating a discount).

There's probably a small charge also to have the title deeds returned so you might need to arrange safe keeping for those.

RedOnion said:

The best risk free return you'll get is paying off you Mortgage, even if it's a tracker.

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Agree. Holding on to debt is only beneficial if you are earning a greater return elsewhere. If you are leaving the money on deposit, the return you are getting is lower than the interest rate being charged on the tracker, so it is a cost and should be paid off (assuming you have the spare cash).

Steven
http://www.bluewaterfp.ie (www.bluewaterfp.ie)

One has to keep the show on the road too though.

In my view it’s better to cleanse the mind and body by having a great holiday rather than scrimping and saving to repay one’s mortgage that will be repaid anyway!

You are in your 60's and whether you like it or not the average life expectancy of the average Irish male is to die in your mid 70's. You might be lucky and last longer or unlucky and head for the happy investment house in the sky earlier. If you decide to pay yourself €20K per annum from the €200,000 then you augment your current pension and should have a relatively good life for 10 years. Afterwhich you are in your 70's and perhaps the cost of your needs will be less? Forget about investing; you are too old unless you're guaranteed a good interest rate with low commissions, taxes etc.

SBarrett said:

Agree. Holding on to debt is only beneficial if you are earning a greater return elsewhere. If you are leaving the money on deposit, the return you are getting is lower than the interest rate being charged on the tracker, so it is a cost and should be paid off (assuming you have the spare cash).

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Thanks Steven, I'll pay off the tracker. There's still 8 years to go on it so I'd like to get rid of it.

Gordon Gekko said:

In my view it’s better to cleanse the mind and body by having a great holiday rather than scrimping and saving to repay one’s mortgage that will be repaid anyway!

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A good holiday is a must as I haven't had one since before the crash.

Leper said:

Forget about investing; you are too old unless you're guaranteed a good interest rate with low commissions, taxes etc.

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60's are the new 40's Leper, but I take your point. I might stretch to investing some in 3 year Savings Bonds but I think that'll be it.

my father worked in the undertaking business and one of his quotes was "there are no pockets in habits".