Anna Bowes from financial advisers Chase de Vere answers your questions about what to do with sizeable sums of money.

Maggie in Birmingham is taking an impaired life annuity with part of her pension fund, because of ill health.

The rest of the pension fund is in a personal pension which she can't access until she's 60 - she's 58 now.

If she takes her cash entitlement now she'll have �9,000 which she wants to put in somewhere low risk with instant access. She's already got a mini cash Isa and Tessa Isa and a building society instant access account for emergencies.

You can get a little bit of interest if you put it in a cash account, in a building society or bank - she needs to look around for the best rates available

She could consider not taking it as a cash sum and taking more income in an annuity. But that would mean her capital has gone and she can't get her hands on that cash any more.

If she wants to have access to the money she needs to just look for a cash account.

Birmingham Midshires pay quite a good rate - 4.35% gross at the moment.

John in Surrey wants to invest a lump sum of �100,000. He would like to draw on the growth element as a regular income, but have the option of drawing from the capital when necessary.

Would there be any benefit in looking at an offshore investment?

There used to be benefits because there was something called a roll-up which meant you could earn interest tax-free.

There are some investments where you can still get this gross roll-up but as soon as you bring it back into the country you do have to pay tax on it.

Unless you're settling abroad it may just be an added complication and you may as well stick with investments in the UK.

With �100,000 it depends on the amount of risk he's prepared to take and the access he wants.

There are some investments which naturally produce income, fixed interest securities like corporate bonds or gilts. That sort of investment could provide an income for him.

M D in Portsmouth retired earlier this month. He and his wife both have healthy portfolios, with a reasonable mid-risk income.

They contribute to the limits to Tessa/Isa and tax-free friendly society investments. They don't have premium bonds, National Savings investments, or building society accounts. They own their own house outright and have no debts.

They've lost confidence in the stock market, having made quite a big capital loss in the past few years. So the big question is what should they do with �1.5m, which is in High Street banks at present earning next to nothing interest?

Leaving it in a cash account is probably damaging because you're generating income and paying higher rate tax, so you're earning less than inflation.

Just by having it in what is supposedly a secure investment you're losing money.

You don't want it all in cash, you don't want it all in equities - you want a balance.

Michael and his wife from in south Yorkshire are in the process of selling a large chunk of their garden to form part of a bigger development site with their neighbours.

They expect to get more than �100,000 for their plot alone. Should they put the money in a long-term savings account, or - as their mortgage is �130,000 - should they pay the majority of this?

There's no right answer for this, because you'll only know down the line whether if you'd invested it you'd have made more money.

But I think it's a good idea to pay off some debt as it makes you feel more secure.

The problem is that you can't then easily access that money. You could pay off some of the mortgage and invest the rest.

Abbas has a question regarding the FTSE 100. He'll be going to university in September and has been working the last two summers and has managed to save �3,000 in a mini cash Isa at Halifax.

He wants to keep the money squirrelled away until after he graduates in three years' time. He wants to make the money work as hard as possible.

Halifax have a Isa investor account, which is a FTSE 100 tracking fund, and he was considering this possibility.

Is it a good time to invest in the FTSE 100 for three years? Or would he be better in something else, like government bonds?

If he'd invested this three years ago he wouldn't be very pleased because he'd be sitting on a loss.

Really if he wants security and wants to know that money is there, he should stay in cash.

It depends on what he wants at the end of it. If he doesn't want to lose money, he can't put it in the stock market.

Diane in Great Yarmouth has recently taken joint responsibility for a trust. It consists of a small amount of money, less than �10,000, at present in a current account.

It needs to be invested to produce the maximum amount of interest in order to pay a regular small lump sum to a relative in her 70s.

It is proving very difficult to find a home for it. Local banks and building societies inevitably say they can't accept trust money.

Is there any easy way to find out which institutions accept this type of investment?

There's no real reason why they shouldn't so she should persevere. I know Scottish Widows bank, for example, will accept trust money.

She'll need to go down there with the trust documents and ID etc, but there's no real reason why they shouldn't accept it.

Bill Thompson has a Sipp pension fund of more than �1.4m. It's in a one-month fixed term bank deposit paying 3.5% gross.

As it's his pension fund, he's reluctant to take the risks usually associated with higher return investments. Any suggestions where he might invest for the short or medium term?

With a Sipp - a self-invested personal pension - you pay for the wrapper and can invest what you want in it - different things from a normal pension.

You can invest in commercial property, for example, though not your own home.

But if he's not happy with risk he has to look at less risky investments, which won't give as good a potential return.

Rishit in Middlesex has �5,000 to put in an easy access account. She already has a mini-Isa account but wants to change that, too.

She can get a little bit more and if she wants to change her cash Isa she can do. It's very easy to transfer - she just needs to find one she's happy with.

She should look in the press to see who's offering the best rates.

It's great that she has her Isa, which keeps interest tax-free. and she can use her next Isa allowance in April.

In the meantime she wants to look for the best available account - that Birmingham Midshires account offers 4.35% though there are restrictions on withdrawals.

Valerie has �130,000 from the sale of a house. She wants immediate access to it to buy a property in Spain.

Could she deposit it in Spain and as the house will be a second home/investment for retirement, should she put it in the names of her two sons?

She could deposit it in Spain though it would have to change currency at some point.

She needs to shop around and needs to put it in cash so it is accessible.

If she does put it in the names of her sons, she loses control of the property.

It's what's called a potentially exempt transfer, which I presume she wants to do to avoid Inheritance Tax on this money.

But she has to be careful it's not a gifted reservation. If she takes any income from it, it comes right back to her estate.