SAVE in the UK or SA?

denis_iii

hey all,

I have dual nationality British / South Africa and am wondering wether to shift my UK savings to a Cash ISA. If so it'd probably be Northern Rock as they have the best rates of 3.5% which increases by .5% every year to max of 4.5% OR should I move my savings to a SA Bank account were I can get 10% interest to start which increases to 30% the final year if i remember correctly at Standard Bank......I've been holding out hoping the value of the Pound increases but I think its going to take a good decade for that to occur unless something dire happens in SA.

thanks for you thoughts

Reaper

I'd advise avoiding currency gambles and save the money wherever you are planning to spend it. That way you know how much you have got and a sudden currency fluctuation won't wipe out your savings.

Some other points to think about:
1) You can get better ISAs if you are looking at a number of years. Anything up to 4.55% at present. See the best ones here:
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=401374

2) Inflation has an effect on currency. Currently in the UK it is roughly zero wheras in South Africa it is just under 6%. Of course this could change in the future and the UK may well experience high inflation, I would not like to predict what will happen to the relative economies.

gozomark

where are you living ? If its outside the UK you cannot open an ISA in the UK, and NR won't allow you to open an onshore account with them. You can open on offshore account with NR, but their rates aren't so good right now

bryanbukowski

One thing to bear in mind for the short term at least is the APR offered on many current accounts. I think Alliance & Leicester are offering about 6% on their current accounts which may still work out better than 3.5% tax free.

Whilst not a longterm solution, could be a reasonable place to store a few thousand for a few months!

B