Published on 12, July, 2020
I'm in the fortunate position of having built up a large amount of savings, and I'm not sure what to do with it.
I could quit work or work less, but (a) work is my downtime, during which I recover from social activities (I'm a self-employed content creator) and (b) I want to maintain a decent income on my last three years' tax returns in case I ever have to move home and pass a rental check.
Buying a home is an obvious answer, but I've looked into this and very quickly became burned out by the social requirements of engaging with agents etc and the stress of making decisions. I'm currently renting a flat and getting quite a good deal on it (no rent increase in the last nine years).
I hate travel as I dislike being in unfamiliar places.
I do my own haircuts, etc, not because I can't afford to the financial cost of having it done professionally, but because the spoon requirement of interacting with the service provider is too high. I can't do phone calls as auditory processing disorder means I don't understand what the person on the other end of the phone is saying, which puts a hard barrier in the way of using many services.
I'm on a fixed daily diet to manage a medical condition. I don't drink.
I like reading but prefer to get books from the library as the need to return them by a deadline ensures I'll be motivated to read them.
I enjoy running and hiking, but beyond the cost of the bus fare to get to my favourite routes and occasional gear replacements, this is free.
I take dance classes but from experience, I lose interest if I spend too much time on this hobby. In the past I tried going to weekend events but found them too exhausting.
I enjoy doing online courses and am considering going back into education in a more formal way, but again I worry the social requirements will be overwhelming. Also, my biggest obstacle to completing the courses I'm already taking is lack of energy/time.
I've spent thousands on counselling, coaching, etc, none of which has been helpful and some of which has been actively harmful to me. My mental health has improved dramatically since I stopped doing all this.
I could pay to get a faster autism diagnosis, but I think I'm already near the top of the NHS waiting list.
I dislike having a lot of stuff/clutter, and find shopping a hassle. Figuring out how to accept deliveries is even worse than doing it in person.
I worry about investing/locking away money in case it becomes inaccessible (phone call difficulties as well as the usual risk of losing money on investments).
In summary, I'm pretty happy with my life, don't particularly want to change anything, and definitely don't want to add anything into it that's going to cause me hassle. But I'm stressed about having money sitting there gradually getting eaten by inflation and feel I should do something with it.
I've already made small changes, such as buying things because I feel like it and not spending too long researching the options to ensure I get the best deal, and being more generous towards friends in terms of buying drinks etc.
What do you spend money on that improves your life? Or how do you invest/use it to give you a feeling of security?
I had a similar question once. One good bit of advice I was given by my family's financial advisor was to go to the NS&I website and put the max amount into private bonds (50K). Every month there is a lottery and you (more often than not) win money. Sometimes £25, sometimes £200 but you can win thousands or even a million. This money isn't locked away or at risk, you can get it out any time at exactly the same value as you put in.
Another thing you could do is put a lump sum into your pension pot, I think you can put in £40k a year. This will set you up nicely in future. I use an app called PensionBee - like with the above you don't have to deal with any people, it's all online.
Something I would do if I had more money is get a pet. I would love to have a dog as a companion but they are expensive and can come with unexpected food and medical bills which I would find hard to accommodate on a tight budget. So maybe think about getting a pet?
Lastly, like you said, property would be the best thing for it, but appreciate your reasons for not wanting to get involved in that. If you have really a lot of money you could engage a property hunter for you who takes all the work out of it then you only have to deal with 1 person and that can typically be done via email, so not using up too many spoons.
This was a fun question to answer, thanks for posting it. I am off to imagine what to do with my future imaginary money :)
Thanks. I have a pension and have just doubled my monthly contribution, so that's one thing sorted. I'll look into bonds. I do move stuff around savings accounts to try to get good interest rates, but bonds might be better.
My tenancy agreement doesn't allow pets, and to be honest I don't think I'd be a very good companion, as I probably wouldn't take them to the vet.
Do you know of any property hunter services? I researched them a year or two ago but couldn't find any in my area / budget range. They seemed to all be about hunting out mansions for the super rich. I just want to hand over money and get a 1-bed flat without all the hassle that usually comes with it.
Yeah I looked at lots of savings accounts and none of their returns were anything like as good as the premium bonds. It's also exciting to check every month to see if/what you've won.
Good shout on the pet, its not fair to have one if you don't think you can look after it.
The only property hunter I have engaged is the type you mention - looking after high net worth individuals. I don't know if there is the same service for just regular people? You can of course do a lot of the property hunting online but eventually you would have to see/speak to someone I guess.
I'll keep thinking.
Oh that sounds good. I like standardised processes.
My partner and I bought a new build. It was a bit easier than buying an existing house would have been, mostly because we didn't have to deal with anyone except the developer and our solicitor, and we'd been renting so we didn't have a house of our own to sell. I wouldn't say it was more automated as such, but the fact that the developers were selling lots of houses meant they had a standardised process that was fairly easy to navigate.