Have a large amount of cash that needs investing

We have had investment advice from lloyds and here is the picture:

You mean you were given information on a limited and expensive range of products.

and my mum is unhappy about the lack of detail and help they have given her and therefore want to look at other places.

Lloyds are tied sales reps. They only have a handful of products and not too many funds. Her expectations were never going to be met.

The key thing is that my mum wants minimal/no risk and has to have monthly payment/interest for her living.

Not possible. If she goes in products of no investment risk then the interest/income will mean that her capital value is eroding in real terms. She would experience the equivalent of a major stockmarket crash in real terms every 6 or so years. i.e. £300k would have the spending power of around £190k in 10 years time. The interest will have less buying power as well.

I was thinking dividing up the sum into 30k lots and then going about business that way, thus spreading our risk around.

Thats not really spreading the risk. Thats just creating extra admin and making it harder for your mum.

Is your mum over 65? will her income be over £21,800?

Sorry, but mine and my mums knowledge is pretty low when it comes to this sort of thing, and believe we can get a better deal than what we are already getting

You are never going to get the best advice and products from a bank. You mother also needs to be taught a little about investing and the pros and cons of the options. She is not going to have a nil risk option when it comes to income. So, its a case of balancing what is acceptable risk. Also, she may need to be concerned about tax as she could wipe out her age allowance (if she is over 65) fairly easily by picking the wrong products or sector allocation/investment strategy.

OP,

I would strongly suggest that you see an IFA to discuss your investment requirements. Find out more at unbiased.co.uk

dunstonh,
I realise you must be sick of answering what to do with £XXXk type of posts. However, your response was somewhat pedantic and to be honest of little use to the OP.

She is over 65 yes, and no she is not earning over 21k, and we arnt in danger of hitting the 21k limit anytime soon.

She could be. Interest/income from the £300k could be £15-17k. Add state pension on top she could be through that 21k.

I reckon this would be the best option as If the bank/building society went broke the she would get back 100% of the money, as well as taking advantage of the bonuses for new customers out there.

What are you going to do to cover inflation?

At the moment you are focusing on the very remote chance a bank may fail and the even more unlikely outcome that the Govt wouldnt step in. Yet the highest risk is inflation as that is a guaranteed risk to her money if placed in saving accounts.

You need to work out what income is needed to see if some can be earmarked to provide growth. You do need to consider tax as she is likely to be far closer to that £21k than you realise. You also need to weigh up all risks and not just one particular risk. Often with these things a combination of things is required and going 100% into one area is likely to the wrong thing.

dunstonh,
I realise you must be sick of answering what to do with £XXXk type of posts. However, your response was somewhat pedantic and to be honest of little use to the OP.

There wasnt a lot of information in the post to give an answer. Inflation is the biggest risk to savers taking an income, so i pointed that out. She had sought advice from a tied sales rep which is never the place to get advice, so again pointed that out and then asked some more questions to help narrow down the options. What else is there to do at this point in a thread?

inflation at the moment is 2.7%

If only it was!

There is a strong argument here for Index Linked National Savings Certificates to the maximum of the current issue.