What to do with inheritance

[aarandir]

Hi Guys, I'm new to this site, so I'll quickly just give an introduction. I'm a 24 year old Music Degree Graduate from London, UK. I have recently decided I don't want to spend my life in dead-end teaching jobs waiting to be promoted only to find out I'm 50 years old and my life has just flown by. So I've made the decision that I'm going to run some sort of business. Successfully.

Recently I was given a modest inheritance of £20k after the passing away of my father. It would have been much more however certain unscrupulous relatives (who are already very rich) robbed me of a fair chunk. I could complain and moan and cry and get upset, but that would mean they'd win, what I much rather want is to be more successful than they ever imagined I'd be, that would be justice in my eyes, to show them I didn't need to descend to dirty tricks and thievery to line my pockets.

Question I want to ask is what would you do with that money if you had it when you were in your early 20's? I have other personal savings equating up to 10k and wanted to combine them and get a buy-to-let mortgage on a property. I was completely ignorant of mortgages and thought they were good deals, until I discovered that by the end of the mortgage you will have paid double the price of your mortgage, and somehow, that just doesn't seem fair to me on principal although I understand now that that is just how banks work.

I want to set up some sort of business, I'm thinking a café/diner or a nursery but I do know I want to be a physical business (that is to say not an internet-based one).

Anyway, what would you do with that 20k/30k?

Thanks in advance. Kind Regards.

[daveb1]

Hi aarandir,

First I would be extremely careful with the money and make sure you have it in some low risk savings account earning as must interest as possible. I think if you set out to start your own business you will quickly realize 30k is really not that much money at all. My advice would actually be to get a full time job and work for a few years in whatever industries or passions you may be attracted to. Get some business / life experience save up a little more money and really plan out how you are going to spend that money and turn into more. It sounds as if you are bit emotional right now and that is the worst time to make financial decisions. You are still so young and have the world ahead of so there is no real need to rush into anything. While you work and learn more about the world you can plan and prepare to set out on your own as an entrepreneur.

[Dave Ingram]

Firstly, I recommend investing the entire 30k in very conservative bonds that mature in 3-5 years. While the money safely grows, pour yourself into studying business, finance, management and everything you can get your hands on about the specific industry that you want to pursue. If you're thinking about a cafe/diner, learn all you can about restaurant management through trade publications and books while you're taking crash courses in general business topics (accounting, marketing, tax, finance, etc.).

If you follow this track, then by the time your bonds mature you will know exactly what to do with the money. There is no way around the long, hard path of study before building and running a successful business. The more you learn, the more clear the path to success will become.