Windfall

Broadly speaking, a windfall will fall into one of the following categories: 

• Booster – enough to give you a personal or financial kick start

• Accelerator – enough to put you in a position to have the potential to achieve personal or financial goals sooner

• Game changer – enough to have the potential to transform your current situation. 

It may be a good idea to pause, take stock and consider your options – there’s no need to rush into anything. 

Think about the future

Coming into some money is exciting, but if you can think long term to the future, it could be worthwhile. A professional financial planner or adviser could discuss different savings and wealth-building options with you, as well as help you consider other options such as paying down any existing debt, tax considerations and insurance. Here are some options you could consider.

Put your money into a savings account

A savings account can provide the benefit of compound interest (where interest is earned on the money deposited and over time). Having money in a savings account could mean you can access your funds easily should you need or want to.

Think about looking for an account that’ll pay bonus interest when you meet certain conditions. For example, a Westpac Life account offers both a competitive base rate as well as bonus interest when you make regular deposits and the account balance has grown by the end of the month.

Put it into a term deposit

A term deposit is a fixed investment where money is deposited for a set period of time at a set interest rate. One of the advantages of this is you'll have certainty of what your interest rate will be for the duration of your investment.

Find out more about term deposits

Pay off debt

Not as exciting perhaps as other options, but may be worthwhile.  Paying off debt could mean you’ll be more secure financially in the long run. 

Enjoy yourself

And finally, it’s important to plan for the future, but it’s also important to enjoy the present. Set a bit aside to enjoy.