Best way to invest £30K

OldNelly

:wave:
I am currently saving for the deposit on my first house, single, living with my parents and am in no hurry to move out.

When the time seems right I will be buying my own place, I see no point in buying at todays top prices.

Meanwhile I have £25K invested in Premium Bonds, currently growing at about £1000 a month, so I will reach the limit this year anyway.

I have been averaging £50 a month in winning recently. This seems like a poor return and I am ready to try something else.

Can anyone please recommend where I would be wise to put my money?

Bearing in mind that I may need the cash with a month or so notice should I wish to buy a house.

THANKS

Swipe

Put £3k in an ISA before 5th April and put another £3k in after 6th April. You'll have to be fast though or maybe lend £3k from a relative for 2 weeks if you can't withdraw your PBs in time. I think A&L have the best deal ISA at the moment @ 5.2% including bonus. The rest you should put in the highest paying easy access savings account you can find. The choice's aren't great at the moment, I'm afraid.

OldNelly

Thanks Swipe,

I am looking into this now. I have just over 3 grand in my current account that I was goingto invest after I get my car throught its service in a few weeks, this could come in handy if the car bill isnt too big!

From what I just read on the A&L website, am I right in thinking that the interest is only credited to the account at the start of January, therefore if I need the money before then I would only get my £6000 (two lots of £3000) back without interest?

Are there any other inflation beating investments available to me that would apply interest more regularly, say monthly?

Thanks

jem16

The interest on an ISA is usually applied yearly. However if you were to close the account, the interest would be added on at that point.

trevored

Hi your current return on your investment is about 2.4% tax free. Clearly the Isa advice given so far is the correct option where you could get bet.5% & 5.2% on £6000 of it if you act quickly. The rest you should move into the highest easy access a/c you can find. So anything over about 3.2% gross would give you a better return. Cahoot is offering about 4.85% gross on their savings a/c for example.

OldNelly

Thankyou all for your help,

I decided to go for the Alliance Leicester Direct ISA.

I have applied for the account and have been issued an ISA number. I now need to know what is the best way to transfer 3 grand from my Natwest Current Account to the isa so that I dont miss the April 5th deadline?.

A cheque would be credited to the ISA the same day if there was a branch loacal to me, unfortunately it is miles away so this is a last resort.

I will then cash in 3 grand of premium bonds to put in the ISA for 06/07 and looin into putting the rest in a high interest savings account. Except for a grand or two that I will leave with Ernie to keep a (small) chance of winning the big one!

With a bit of luck I will have saved enough to buy my first house outright by the time the property market crashes!!!!

Thanks in advance
OldNelly

leona71

Hmmm i've been waiting for this property market to crash for years!! Just seems to be getting stronger...

Leona

MiserlyMartin

Well A&L prefer you to use the Direct Debit function via their online banking but you if you are not set up for online banking by about April 4th you could do a BACS transfer from your current account.

From ISA user guide http://www.alliance-leicester.co.uk/directisauserguide/index.asp?page=page4

"Your bank will need the following information:

Sort Code 72-58-10
Account number 00000000 (yes – eight zeros - this is the Alliance & Leicester account that funds are received in before going in to your Direct ISA)
Reference number – This is your eleven digit Direct ISA number, and can be found on your welcome letter"

MiserlyMartin

leona71 wrote:

Hmmm i've been waiting for this property market to crash for years!! Just seems to be getting stronger...

Leona

Keep hanging on ... it will happen one day.

OldNelly

MiserlyMartin wrote:

Well A&L prefer you to use the Direct Debit function via their online banking but you if you are not set up for online banking by about April 4th you could do a BACS transfer from your current account.

Thanks, I think I have done just that! I'm fairly new to all this so thanks for giving me your time.

I found a page on my Natwest OLB for payments ,it had the required feilds for the information you gave from the user guide.

I was a bit hesitant about saying goodbye to £3000, I hope it turns up in the ISA!

OldNelly

A&L Direct ISA issue 2 applied for on 27th March
Application approved by email late on 28th March
Sent £3000 to ISA via Natwest OLB 28th March
Recieved A&L OLB details (minus PIN) 31st March
Recieved PIN today, 1st April
Logged into A&L OLB 1st April
£3000 credited to ISA 31st March
(within 3 days as promised by Natwest)

All in all a painless experience, except A&L led applicants to expect acceptance email within a few minutes, mine took over 24 hours, I guess they were busy!)

Also tried calling A&L 24 hours after submitting application to see what was going on, no answer after 15 minutes so gave up. I hope I don't need to call them again. Luckily I recieved an amail about an hour later.

Thanks for your advice, maybe the timescales above will be useful for someone else.