Advice for my Mother's savings (with EPOA)

misterfish

I manage all my Mother's affairs and finances with the authority of a registered Enduring Power of Attorney. She is now 92 and suffers from dementia and is a resident in specialist care home. The income from her pensions, attendance allowance and a lifetime care annuity plan cover all her immediate and day to day costs.

6 years ago when she became incapable of looking after herself and living independently she had to sell her house (her only real asset) to pay for her care and eventually after everything was sorted out the 'excess' money was invested on the advice of an IFA specialising in elderly care and finance.

One of the investements was for a guaranteed capital investment fund with a five year fixed term. This reaches its maturity next month. I have just received a letter asking me what action I want to take which basically offers another 5 year version of the same fund, or transfer to different fund(s) or to receive a cheque for the value of the fund.

The amount invested was £100,000 and its value at the end of June was £101,671 which means that it has only increased by 1.67% over 5 years - this is only an indication of its value which depends on the value on its 5th annual anniversary.

What advice can anybody offer? Should I take the easiest option and do the same for another 5 year stint or should I take the cash and invest in fixed term savings (I've seen 3 year accounts offering 5% pa)?

Misterfish

Jake'sGran

You need to split this money so that there is no more than £50k in any one account as that is the maximum that would be covered by the governments scheme. You could then put the money in 2 yr fixed rates paying over 4%. I did one with the Coventry BS a couple of weeks ago and it was paying about 4.35%. I would never consider anything over two years as none of us know what will happen to banks/rates etc etc. The AA have an account paying a decent rate and is extremely easy to set up on line. The banker for the AA account is Birmingham Midshires.

Have a look at the section at the beginning of this forum and you will find a list of the best accounts.