Money to Invest - possible options?

L

Lola78

Guest
Hi All,
I am in my 60's, still self employed and have 100k to invest or help pay my Childrens Mortgages....but when I suggest this they tell me that
30k is no benefit off their Mortgage as they cant sell and that it would be better off in a Bank.

Some background:

Some years ago I turned our family home into 5 self contained units, My husband and I live in two and each of my children bought one. My thinking at the time was to help my Children get on the Property Ladder by selling them a unit each in our home to live in or rent as they pleased. They then used these to go on and purchase homes for themselves when they needed more space and used the Apt they bought off me as Equity.

I would like to help reduce the Mortgages that they have on the units I sold them but they are telling my that that is of no benefit to them for me to reduce the Mortgages on their now Investment Properties and that they are better off having more debt in the Rental units to offset against tax on Rental Income. They also dont want to pay the 30k off their homes as these as now let out as they have met partners and have moved into their homes. They cant sell the houses they bought after the Apt I sold them and they cant sell the Apt because we still live in the house.

I am getting frustrated as I want to help and give them 30k each but then they tell me they are liable to Gift Tax. One daughter is getting married - it is true that you can gift your child any sum on the year they get married or would she still be liable to Gift Tax? Its not that they are ungreatful, if anything they dont want me to give them the money, but each of my suggestions are shot down and now I don't know what to do.

Is there a way I can pay 30k off my Childrens Mortgages or are they correct in telling me its of no benefit? Alternatively if I was not to do this, which bank can offer me the best 2-3 yr % rate or where is best to go get Investment advice? I am afraid that my money will be wiped if I continue to leave it in the Bank.

Thanks!
 
Thanks Billo but this dates back to 2006, is there any more recent link?
 
I know very little about mortgages but a friend of mine claims that the mortgage interest on his home is lower than the deposit interest he is getting on his savings. As a result he is not using his savings to pay off his mortgage.

Re: gift tax, the threshold below which the recipient pays no gift tax is currently 330k for parent to child gifts.
http://www.revenue.ie/en/tax/cat/thresholds.html

Therefore you could give your children 30k each and they would not pay any gift tax and would be well below the threshold. But gifts are cumulative i.e if you give 30k to each, each one's "tax free allowance" of 330k will reduce to 300k for any future gifts or inheritances from the parent group. Also this threshold may be reduced as it has in recent years - used to be 540k as you can see in the above link
 
Keep your money and go on a long cruise, buy a new car or whatever your children seem old enough to be able to look after themselves and they are very kindly trying to tell you that.