Got £10,000? Let us turn it into a fortune!

WHAT would you do if you received an unexpected £10,000 windfall? Buy shares or put the money in a pension, pay down the mortgage or give it to children or grandchildren? Personal Finance Editor JEFF PRESTRIDGE asks a mix of financial experts and readers for their opinion.

Brian Dennehy Financial adviser, Fundexpert

IT IS is an uncomfortable time for investors. Stock market cracks, the ones I anticipated a year ago, are now there for everyone to see. Ditto the global economy. So with my £10,000, I am looking for one of two things. Assets that are either cheap or driven by baked-in longer term trends, providing solace through shortterm stock market gyrations.

I’m not sure about the former. I can see value in some areas, but not enough to excite me. In contrast, I am buoyed by the prospects from the health care sector and an ageing population.

Even more exciting, particularly for me as a late-to-the-party ‘baby boomer’, are the rapid advances in biotechnology. Cures, let alone treatments, are coming through thick and fast, and there is more to come over the next five to ten years in the key areas which afflict those who are older, and often not so old. Maybe, even, age-reversal.

So my slightly self-obsessed home for £10,000 is £5,000 each into investment funds Axa Framlington Health and Axa Framlington Biotech. Fingers crossed, they will not give me more grey hair and wrinkles.

Jason Hollands Funds expert, Tilney

IF Santa had left £10,000 in my stocking, all my Christmas dreams would have come true.

I would be tempted to replace my 2005 Nissan X-Trail station wagon that cost me a small fortune to get through its recent MOT, but cars – other than classics and collectables – are not investments. They are just a guaranteed way to lose money.

So, on second thoughts, I would take the cash, plonk it in a tax-friendly Individual Savings Account and invest in a couple of stock market funds.

The good news is that in the world of investments, the sales have come nice and early. Stock markets across the globe have taken a tumble in recent months as worries about how much longer the US economy – which has been firing on all cylinders – can keep on growing at pace.

Thanks to these worries, shares have got a lot cheaper across the globe, creating opportunities for bargain hunters. This is especially the case for emerging market shares, hurt by the trade spat between the United States and China, and UK equities which are out of fashion because of relentless Brexit doom and gloom.

I don’t believe the sky is about to fall in, but with a lot of anxieties priced in, I think current share valuations look a decent entry point for long-term investors. So I would split my £10,000 windfall between investment funds Fidelity Emerging Markets and Jupiter Income – which invests in dividend-paying, UK-listed companies. I would then sit back and tuck into another mince pie.

Anna Bowes Director, Savings Champion

I THOUGHT a £10,000 investment in fine wines might be right up my street but I do not know enough and I would not trust myself to store the wine without drinking the profits.

So I would probably use the windfall to top up my holding in National Savings & Investments’ Premium Bonds. Every month I would then imagine what I could do with the £1 million tax-free prize. Retire? Take partner Tim on a world cruise? Move into a luxury house in the outskirts of Bath and drink fine wine?

One last wild thought. A friend of mine has recently arranged an amazing music festival in Kildare, Ireland for next summer – The Forever Young Festival. A load of my favourite bands from my youth are performing – Human League, Level 42, Kim Wilde – and it looks like it will be a brilliant event.

So if I were a braveheart rather than a savings expert, I would invest the windfall in this event. It is bound to be a success, even if the rain comes.

David Hollingworth Mortgage expert, London & Country

I WOULD allocate a third of the windfall to reducing my mortgage balance. My offset mortgage has served me well – where savings

are offset against the mortgage, reducing interest payments.

By placing the cash in the savings account I would cut my interest bills even more while still having access to it in the case of a financial emergency.

I would then invest another third into pensions on behalf of my two children – the contributions benefiting from basic rate tax relief. They may not thank me for such prudence but hopefully it will help set them on the right financial track.

Finally, I would put the remainder into my own pension to make the most of the tax relief on contributions.

And finally – what would I do?

IF I received a windfall of £10,000, first of all I would jump for joy, writes Jeff Prestridge.

I would then split it three ways. First, I would use a third to pay down the mortgage on the family home. At my time of life I do not like debt.

Secondly, I would give a third to my youngest son James so he could develop his arts website Closeup Culture.

He works hard for peanuts, interviewing rising stars in the arts world. With a little bit of invest- ment, Closeup Culture could come good.

Finally, I would invest the rest in three investment trusts – The City of London, Foreign & Colonial and Alliance.

All are globally invested so offer diversification across stock markets. All have longstanding records of dividend growth going back at least 47 years, which is a great comfort blanket when markets are see-sawing.

And they have all delivered longterm investment returns through the good and bad times.

Maybe you could accuse me of being boring. But when it comes to investing, boring can be best.