pay off mortgage or not ?

[tech3]

I'm looking for some advice ,I have just been advised by my insurers that I can claim €31,000 on a critical illness policy I have €18,000.left to pay on my irish nationwide mortgage( €260 a month repayment ).both myself and my wife are low income earners (€400 each if we are lucky )and have no extra money at all and are always living on the breadline (2 children at uni., living away from home ,costs a fortune ).
should I pay off the mortgage (after windfall if there is one ) or maybe put the money into some sort of investment for future years ( unfortunately we have made no provision for a pension,we always needed the money for something else !!) we are both approaching 50 ..... .

 

[ClubMan]

I have just been advised by my insurers that I can claim €31,000 on a critical illness policy

...

should I pay off the mortgage (after windfall if there is one )

I don't understand - are you going to receive €31K or not?

If you have €31K coming to you, a mortgage of €18K outstanding and are under financial pressure generally then it sounds to me like clearing the mortgage while still having €13K left over and then the possibility of redirecting erstwhile mortgage repayments and mortgage protection life assurance premiums into other expenditure or savings/investments would be the way to go.

 

[tech3]

thank you clubman for the advice,yes I am getting the 31k.
what could I do with the 13k left over regarding saving or investing it.
I have no clue at all other than putting it into a high interest bank account .
do you think I would have to pay tax on the 31k, if I do would you know how much approx ?.

 

[ClubMan]

what could I do with the 13k left over regarding saving or investing it.
I have no clue at all other than putting it into a high interest bank account .
do you think I would have to pay tax on the 31k, if I do would you know how much approx ?.

I think you should get independent, professional advice if you don't know what, of any, tax implications there might be or what to do in terms of using/investing the money. You should also read some of the Savings & Investments key posts to get some idea of the sorts of things to be thinking about.

 

[tech3]

ok, thanks.

 

[bleary]

I wonder if looking into a pension might be an idea with the lump sum but I suppose the benefit of the pension is in getting tax relief so if you don't earn enough to pay tax not much value in it -Pay off your mortgage look at regular saver accounts for the moment paying ~7.% That would still allow you access to your money -with 2 kids at college for the moment that could be important.I have no idea on whether you would have to pay tax on the insurance payout it would have a bearing. sorry

 

[Glenbhoy]

I would try paying off all of the mortgage bar 100 euro and putting it on interest only to make sure I would qualify for a possible windfall.

Might be as well to put the 31,000 into a flexi-saxer (21 day notice account with INBS) for the next few months just to ensure that no rights to the windfall will be lost.
An extra couple of months before paying it off will hardly be too detrimental to OP's position.