Looking to invest £15,000

lozzalmc

Afternoon all,

Long time viewer first time poster. I was wondering if anyone could help give a little direction with regards to what I could possibly do with a lump sum of £15,000?

I've had it tied up in Premium Bonds the past couple of years and really haven't seen much of a return on it at all, and would prefer something a little more concrete and fixed. I was thinking of going for a Fixed Rate Bond and have seen some (comparatively) good rates at around about 7%, but ideally I'd like to be making about £100p/m on the interest.

For the purposes of this I'm a non tax payer (university student) so don't have to worry about that so much. Also I'm happy to tie away the whole sum for 1-2 years without having to get at it at all, and possibly could invest more (£3000-£4000) over the next couple of years.

I've had a look on the net at Anglo Irish Offshore and a couple of others offering 7.2% which seems pretty good, but I get the feeling there are others that offer better rates.

A relative in Cyprus was telling me one of the Turkish banks on the North side of the island (HSBC) were offering something like 17% on one of their accounts, I was thinking this is something more like I'd like to go for, for obvious reasons, but am unsure the rules and regs about it all. Plus also assurances on offshore bank accounts would be nice, but not sure what each offers. Tried looking at Cayman Islands also but not much info there either, I'm thinking a tax haven bank account wouldn't make any difference anyway as I'm a non tax payer.

Anyway any help is greatly appreciated.

Lawrence.

dunstonh

Forget investing. Your timescale is not long enough. Stick to savings/cash based products.

A relative in Cyprus was telling me one of the Turkish banks on the North side of the island (HSBC) were offering something like 17% on one of their accounts, I was thinking this is something more like I'd like to go for, for obvious reasons, but am unsure the rules and regs about it all. Plus also assurances on offshore bank accounts would be nice, but not sure what each offers. Tried looking at Cayman Islands also but not much info there either, I'm thinking a tax haven bank account wouldn't make any difference anyway as I'm a non tax payer.

No FSA authorised consumer protection. No FSCS deposits protection. Risk of exchange rate fluctuations which could see the value of your savings half (or double if it goes the other way) over the long term.

lozzalmc

Thanks. So you think I should just stick to a high rate Fixed Rate Bond account instead?

opinions4u

Any reason why you seem keen on saving offshore?

PedroH

All the bases have been covered if you want solid security.

dunstonh

lozzalmc wrote: »

Thanks. So you think I should just stick to a high rate Fixed Rate Bond account instead?

A fixed term deposit would make the most sense in this case.

lozzalmc

opinions4u wrote: »

Any reason why you seem keen on saving offshore?

I assumed there would be better rates on offer offshore. But so far I haven't been able to find anything decent, likewise with the Dollar and Euro accounts, so might as well stick with Sterling.

dunstonh, is a Fixed Term Deposit the same as a Fixed Rate Bond? (apologies for newb-ness) - I've looked at the Anglo Irish Bank's Fixed Rate Interest account at 7.21%, which I think from what I can tell is definitely the best around. Unsure whether it is possible to deposit more funds to this account but will find out.

Unless there are any other viable alternatives?

dunstonh

dunstonh, is a Fixed Term Deposit the same as a Fixed Rate Bond? (apologies for newb-ness)

Fixed term deposit is the correct term. However, (increasingly) providers have been moving to calling all their products bonds (incorrectly) as it seems anything called bond seems to sell better. Its a case of marketing men confusing people. So no need for you to apologise.

MKUX3

i see United Trust Bank have a fixed bond at 6.80%, i already have the max with anglo irish fixed. are there any better ones than this and am i safe enough with united trust bank.??

thanks

ttoli

lozzalmc wrote: »

Afternoon all,

Long time viewer first time poster. I was wondering if anyone could help give a little direction with regards to what I could possibly do with a lump sum of £15,000?

I've had it tied up in Premium Bonds the past couple of years and really haven't seen much of a return on it at all, and would prefer something a little more concrete and fixed. I was thinking of going for a Fixed Rate Bond and have seen some (comparatively) good rates at around about 7%, but ideally I'd like to be making about £100p/m on the interest.

For the purposes of this I'm a non tax payer (university student) so don't have to worry about that so much. Also I'm happy to tie away the whole sum for 1-2 years without having to get at it at all, and possibly could invest more (£3000-£4000) over the next couple of years.

I've had a look on the net at Anglo Irish Offshore and a couple of others offering 7.2% which seems pretty good, but I get the feeling there are others that offer better rates.

A relative in Cyprus was telling me one of the Turkish banks on the North side of the island (HSBC) were offering something like 17% on one of their accounts, I was thinking this is something more like I'd like to go for, for obvious reasons, but am unsure the rules and regs about it all. Plus also assurances on offshore bank accounts would be nice, but not sure what each offers. Tried looking at Cayman Islands also but not much info there either, I'm thinking a tax haven bank account wouldn't make any difference anyway as I'm a non tax payer.

Anyway any help is greatly appreciated.

Lawrence.

Afraid you need a house contract or rental agreement, to open a bank account here, I normally change my sterling back to Lira in the Summer
got 23% last year when is was 3YTL to the pound, currently dropped to 2.2YTL, but I live here and still live comfortably on the Interest.

Stavros_3

Blatant advertising of your company.