Talk may be about recession but retailers are smiling and Christmas prospects are bright, with a wave of money hitting the High Street.

If the outlay was financed entirely by pay packets, plastic would face meltdown.

Cash-happy Britain, however, gets oodles of cash from other sources beside the pay cheque.

Inheritance hands down £60 billion a year, mostly tax-free, as home buyers of the Fifties and Sixties leave houses to mostly middle-aged children.

As for employee share option plans, Tesco staff landed a £123 million bonanza this year, while Sharesave and other share option schemes handed over another £3.5 billion and profit-sharing netted £670 million.

Some 74,000 jobs vanished in the third quarter and, if the average pay-off was £2,500, that makes another £185 million in the pockets of staff who hardly expected it six months ago.

The Christmas spending spree will lift spirits and the economy after the nerve-wracking months of war on terrorism.

The danger is many who had some spare cash will be regretting their actions in six weeks' time.

Holding heaps of cash for the first time in their lives, many will be inclined to put off a meeting with their financial adviser until well into the New Year.

That may be why financial adviser Towry Law has produced a booklet on how to handle a lump sum.

Director Clive Scott-Hopkins says: "Investing money is not easy in the current climate.

"A bewildering range of management houses offer thousands of funds with unfathomable investment profiles, impenetrable product structures and feeble investment performance.

"Even with a building society account, there is little joy right now for deposit account savers."

In the past six months, the lurches of the equity markets and gloom from pensions experts have made lump sum investment much harder.

It has to be done, usually with the professional help, by those who want something left after the spending binge is behind us.

Several experts have suggested how they would invest a lump sum of £60,000 for a middle-aged couple.

Andrew Merricks, of independent financial advisers Simpsons, of Brighton, said: "Assuming the capital is seeking growth rather than income, I would get rid of any mortgage, provided there were no redemption penalties, as it always pays to keep as much of your money to yourself and pay others as little as possible.

"A further £10,000 should be placed in a high-interest deposit account. I am not keen on accounts which require a period of notice to be given before drawing upon them as I think that if one wants one's money back one should be able to get it when one wants it.

"The Fidelity Easy Access Cash account pays daily interest (which is unusual and helps accumulate interest more quickly) and offers a cheque book facility and cash card if required.

"Don't underestimate the amount you are likely to spend in the next two or three years."

Mr Merricks suggested the remainder could be invested more aggressively.

He said: "I'm a keen supporter of diversity and flexibility, so our couple should take a maxi stocks and shares ISA, each with different providers.

"I suggest £7,000 in the Jupiter High Income Fund and £7,000 in the Rathbone Income Fund. The respective 3.8 per cent and 3.6 per cent dividend income can be reinvested tax-free within the ISA to enhance longer-term capital growth.

"Having taken care of the ISAs, diversification can continue in five other parcels of unit trusts. Further UK investments can be made in the ABN AMRO UK Selected Opportunities Fund (£6,000) and the M&G British Opportunities Fund (£5,000). Each is aggressively and actively managed.

"Then £5,000 can be put into each of the following, allowing exposure to the slightly higher risk areas of the US, Europe and smaller companies: SocGen American Growth, Investec European Growth Portfolio and Old Mutual UK Select Smaller Companies. Each fund is again expertly managed.

"Investing in smaller pots with no exit penalties allows greater flexibility in the event our couple's circumstances change or the fund manager moves on."

Rob Guy, of the Brighton office of The MarketPlace, the independent financial adviser arm of the Bradford and Bingley, suggested spending £5,000 to cancel debts, credit card bills, personal loans, assuming no penalties for early repayment.

Put £10,000 by as "rainy day" money, for perhaps six months in an easy access account.

Then put £28,000 in ISA accounts, taken out either side of the April 5 tax deadline, mixing passive tracker funds moving in line with the market with more actively-managed funds, perhaps in the smaller companies sector.

Mr Guy liked focus funds from managers like Gartmore, with fewer stocks (around 35) which are sold fast if they fall.

In addition, he suggested £7,000 in pension top-ups, perhaps opening a stakeholder with £3,600 for one partner who does not have a pension in place and £10,000 to cut the mortgage, if it does not incur penalty fees.

Mortgage reduction usually proved cost-efficient because investment rates elsewhere were so low.

Mr Scott-Hopkins advised putting £10,000 in a direct access account with an attractive interest rate of four per cent.

Then £14,000 in ISA ac-counts to generate income, one holding corporate bonds and paying around seven per cent, the other a well-regarded equity income fund like Credit Suisse, paying four per cent.

He suggested £20,000 should go into with-profit bonds from leading insurance companies like Standard Life, Prudential, Legal and General and Norwich Union and £16,000 into unit trusts managed on a discretionary basis by NM Rothschild.

He said: "People are either fairly astute, with ISAs and TESSAs, or totally switched-off and inclined to put everything in the building society.

"We would need to look at their long-term inheritance tax position and their mortgage."