Got close to £10K. Never invested before, options please?

jackhulk

Hello

I've got close to 10k and now looking to invest to maximise interest. I've only ever had a current account up until now so don't really know where to start.

Ideally I would like access to my money IF I need it, however, if the returns are substantially greater by leaving the money untouched mid to long term then I would consider this.

What should I go for, savings a/c, ISA, Bonds, Shares, under my bed???

Any advice would be much appreciated, thank you.

TH1878

jackhulk wrote: »

Hello

I've got close to 10k and now looking to invest to maximise interest. I've only ever had a current account up until now so don't really know where to start.

Ideally I would like access to my money IF I need it, however, if the returns are substantially greater by leaving the money untouched mid to long term then I would consider this.

What should I go for, savings a/c, ISA, Bonds, Shares, under my bed???

Any advice would be much appreciated, thank you.

Almost certainly you should be looking first at an ISA, whether that be a cash ISA or Stocks & Shares ISA. It all depends on your attitude to Risk.

When you say mid to long term, what timescale do you have in mind?

jackhulk

First I've even heard of Stocks & Shares ISA, but am open to a certain amount of risk. Can someone explain the pro's and cons about my options please, ie bonds, isa's etc etc as I'm a real newbie here.

Timescale, really not set on this, would need to see the sort of returns I could expect, however if I was to opt for one where I couldn't access my money I'd likely go for the shorter option....2-3 years max. However, open to seeing what long term options can offer.

Lugh_Chronain

Have you considered fixed rate savings? I thought I’d mention this as interest rates aren’t guaranteed to rise at the moment.

Make sure you've got enough cash to pay off bills though. I got caught out with my credit card bill recently and had to pay nearly £25 credit as I wasn't able to get cash out from my savings in time. So much for Stoozing!

JoeCrystal

The whole question is are you saving the money to get the guaranteed interest or are you willing to invest for better potential returns and equally high potential losses? :beer:

DiggerUK

@ Jackhulk,Putting any funds into saving schemes associated with stocks and equities is a fools game at the moment.

Stay away from IFA's their just "sexed up" sales reps who want their fees and commissions, they will give you a lot of tasty figures based on such promises as "assumed returns" on "assumed projected growth".

Cash ISA's seem your best road, you could get a fixed rate with this years allowance. After April you could get an instant access. I suspect that there will be an increase in the Cash ISA allowance following the budget.

You could have some fun and buy Premium Bonds, crap interest, but hey you never know, and they are instant access.

jackhulk

JoeCrystal wrote: »

The whole question is are you saving the money to get the guaranteed interest or are you willing to invest for better potential returns and equally high potential losses? :beer:

Hmmmm, probably a bit of both......so my carrots are not all in the same basket!

All I know is I need to move the money from my current account where its not really doing anything for me. My plan is to not touch this money, however, you never know whats around the corner and when you REALLY might need it, which is why I'm a bit wary of long term investments.

DiggerUK wrote: »

@ Jackhulk,Putting any funds into saving schemes associated with stocks and equities is a fools game at the moment.

Stay away from IFA's their just "sexed up" sales reps who want their fees and commissions, they will give you a lot of tasty figures based on such promises as "assumed returns" on "assumed projected growth".

Cash ISA's seem your best road, you could get a fixed rate with this years allowance. After April you could get an instant access. I suspect that there will be an increase in the Cash ISA allowance following the budget.

You could have some fun and buy Premium Bonds, crap interest, but hey you never know, and they are instant access.

Soz for being such a newbie, but my understanding of premium bonds is that they have low interest but your entered into a monthly prize draw, and the more bonds you have, the more change you have of winning? Is this correct?

With regards to cash isa's, my understand is that you can only have 1 per year? Just picked up a leftlet for these from the Post Office. It says only available until 5th April 2009. What happens after that??? Are these isa's being phased out?

Also picked up a leftlet on 'Growth Bond'?! Any good??? Sooooo many options!!

yung

I invested some of my money into a Nationwide low risk High income stock & share Isa which give me an income every month. you can put your maximum Isa allowance in and the rest in fixed rate bond.

Lokolo

jackhulk wrote: »

Soz for being such a newbie, but my understanding of premium bonds is that they have low interest but your entered into a monthly prize draw, and the more bonds you have, the more change you have of winning? Is this correct?

With regards to cash isa's, my understand is that you can only have 1 per year?

Yes its a lottery but you don't lose your initial stake.

Yes £3,600 a year in Cash ISA.

JoeCrystal

Well, I am not really a big fan of Premium Bonds, the potential interest rate is awful. I know many people who held large sum of money in these bonds and yet never won anything. Same applied to these who does win. Luck affect everyone good and bad. Not mentioning inflation will murder your stake as well

I assumed you are tax payer so putting in the ISA first is best and so it is just matter of hunting for best rate on Cash ISA. However, that will only cover £3600 in a tax year. Although if you are very fast on opening Cash ISA, you can put £3600 in this tax year and a week later, another £3600 in the same Cash Isa. You can always transfer the Cash ISA to somewhere else although the rates offered for transfer allowable are quite low compared to 'new money'

But what to do with the remainder? Assuming that you are willing to drip feed over the year, there is Monthly Saving accounts where there is high interest rate.

If you want to hedge your savings against inflation & tax free, there is always Index-linked Savings Certificates. :cool:

As for 'Growth bond', are you looking at Guaranteed Growth Bonds from NS&I?

DiggerUK

@ Jackhulk, the questions you asked me have been answered by other posters.
Don't forget April 5th is a Sunday, you may have to get this years Cash ISA set up by Friday 3rd.