First Timer Saver needs help

Irishfella_2

Hi There, I have recently been left £25,000 in my dead mothers estate.

I have never had this kind of money before and I would appreciate some help on what type of account or investments I should lodge it into?

I'm currently on a career break from work for one year. I have very few out goings as I live with my father in his house.

I cannot see the point of using it as a deposit to buy a house at present as house prices here in Northern Ireland have some way to fall yet.

Any help will be greatly appreciated

Thank you

UproarUK

If you are looking to put the money into savings accounts, the first the thing to do would be to open a cash ISA for the first £3600, as the interest paid on these accounts is exempt from income tax. See http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/best-cash-isa

The rest depends on how quickly you want access to the cash. If you want an instant access acount; see http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/savings-accounts-best-interest
It would probably be a good idea to open one anyway to keep the money in whilst deciding what to do with it.
It might also be a good idea to open a regular savings account as well (as these pay higher interest but limit the amount you can deposit each month) and move the money accross each month ("dripfeeding"). See, http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/best-regular-savings-accounts

If you are prepared to lock the cash away for a fixed term (and get an improved rate compared to an instant access account); see http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/savings-accounts-best-interest#fixed

[Deleted User]

The above post looks scarily like the one I wrote!

Irishfella - Here's my original post which looks to apply to you

1. Generally ISA's are a good place to start:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/sav...gs-without-tax
and http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/....html?t=401374

2. Regular savings accounts are good too:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/sav...vings-accounts
and http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/....html?t=608697

Regular savings accounts are generally a good place for new money e.g. monthly pay cheques, however if for example you have £3k in a 6% high-interest bank account drip-feeding into a 10% regular savings account then you're essentially getting 8% interest on average for your £3k which beats most fixed rate products - albeit with a bit more work.

3. If you want something with a little less work then fixed rate savings accounts are a good option:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/sav...interest#fixed
and http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/saving-...&in_page_id=50

4. One other thing you might like to consider is getting a decent instant access savings account:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/sav...st#topaccounts
and http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/saving-...&in_page_id=50

5. Finally if you're a higher rate tax payer then NS&I's 3 and 5 year Index Linked Savings (http://www.nsandi.com/products/ilsc/index.jsp) look good, paying 1% above the RPI inflation rate. Currently this is 4.3% so that’s a rate of 5.3% after-tax or 8.8% before. Finding a savings account paying this isn't common... It is tied to inflation however so if this rate drops then so does your interest.