25K to invest

james1_2

I've £25K to invest and not sure where best to put it, I'd like to have about one months access to it just in case of emergencies and I'm after any advice from my money savings frieds. I have thought about shares as I'm a bit of a risk taker (!!!) and I have also thought about just paying the money off my mortgage although that is a bit dull. What should I do ???

???

Shinds

Safest bet is to stick ur money in a High Interest Savings Account.

Egg, Bradford & Bingley and Alliance Leicester have some of the best rates around.

or you could always offset this against ur mortguage.

Rafter

£25k is a lot to want to have available at short notice.

If you want to invest in shares you should also think about it as a long rather than short term investment.

You should also think about making your savings tax efficient where possible.

My recommendations:

Use £7000 to buy an index tracking share isa with a low management charge. Direct line do one and also have an ethical one if you don't want to invest in defense or tobacco stocks.

Have a look at National Savings Investment Certificates which are also tax free. If you do need to cash them in early you may not get any interest though.

Put enough to cover you for 3 months mortgage and day to day expenditure in a high interest savings account as your emergency fund.

Anything left, put in a high interest savings account until next April when you can take out another ISA (cash or share).

You could also consider topping up your pension fund, although that will tie the money up for a long long time and you may prefer the flexibility of index linked ISAs

Good luck

R.

Hintza

If you only want it invested for say 6 months before using it.

Premium Bonds are woth a shot.

Acheivable returns are ok and you have the chance of £1m every month.

dunstonh

Use £7000 to buy an index tracking share isa with a low management charge.  Direct line do one and also have an ethical one if you don't want to invest in defense or tobacco stocks.

i would disagree with that.  It is also against the directions coming out of the FSA about investing funds.

A balanced portfolio over a range of areas is a sensible option rather than sticking it all in one place.      On average, the uk will appear as the best place to invest once every 5 years (if that).   A spread of areas which average out to suit your risk profile would be better.   With fund supermarkets/wraps this can be achieved in one account/product so its very easy.

Trackers usually do better when the market is doing well but dont have any downside protection which would be offered by say a uk equity income fund. For example if you invested £7000 on 20th June 1996, you would now have £10399 with Direct line and £15614 with Newton Higher Income (i have avoided picking the best performing fund but chosen an above average one. Even the sector average of £11433 is better). This is after charges. So dont always look at charges as the primary reason to invest.

Unbelievable_2

Go for dull and pay (at least some of) your mortgage off ::)

dunstonh

Go for dull and pay (at least some of) your mortgage off  ::)

Dont knock dull. Dull it may be but its a very good option. Mortgage interest historically tends to be higher than savings rates. It also gives that nice feeling (which i have yet to experience) of knowing the house is all yours. ;D

Robert_Sterling_3

We are all risk takers if we travel by car but at least we can stop at traffic lights, stick to the speed limits, not drink and drive and drive mainly on the right side of the road i.e. on the left side of the road.

I would get a cash mini ISA £3000 now and again in April
Pay some off the mortgage.
Keep the rest for the time being in a no notice on line account at about 5.5%.