Teenager with £30k to invest over 2 years

Tripleeagle

vaporate wrote: »

private education, parental handouts.

and ppl call benefit claimers 'scroungers' lmao.

Private education? Many private schools offer scholarships, grants or bursaries for families where the children have high academic ability or other talents but cannot fund a £3000 to £5000 per term education. My parents had the money to let me enjoy privileged schooling and I'm not going to apologise for taking what was offered.

My parents made this money completely honestly and I don't see why you should complain about it being spent on their children's education. If you've got a problem with that, I'm not even going to bother arguing...

EDIT: Just noticed you're a BNP supporter - you've lost any respect you had from me

Procrastinator333 wrote: »

Jealousy is a terrible thing.

Anway, back to the OP. Where to put the money? Imo, spread it in the best savings accounts you can find. Take a few % per year. £30k at uni, you will have a blast, no debt and probably some change left over to start life post uni. Good for you. Don't risk that.

I'll go in that direction and try finding the best no-thrills savings accounts, taking advantage of any offers. I always try to be careful with my money (not that I usually have this much!) so I'm hope to escape Uni debt-free. Thank you for your advice!

jamesd

Tripleeagle, you might consider an overall medium to medium-low risk mixture. Perhaps 15% Invesco Perpetual Income, 15% Invesco Perpetual Monthly Income Plus, 10% Neptune Global Equity, 10% Aberdeen Emerging Markets and 50% in normal savings accounts. It's not very likely that this would drop below 70% of the starting capital and there's a good chance that you'll end up with 15-20% more than you start with over the next couple of years, assuming economic recovery continues.

You do need to be prepared to either see that 30% drop and wait for recovery or accept the drop and take the money out anyway. It's not really likely but if your timing is fixed you may be stuck with it if you're unfortunate. The savings account money buys you both a reduction in overall risk and some time if you do need to wait.

On the savings account side, have a look at regular saver accounts and use those in combination with instant access to improve returns.

KingL

Tripleeagle wrote: »

EDIT: Just noticed you're a BNP supporter - you've lost any respect you had from me

I think that the Banque Nationale de Paris has some reasonable products - what's your problem with them ?

.

Sunshine12

vaporate wrote: »

private education, parental handouts.

and ppl call benefit claimers 'scroungers' lmao.

whats the problem with private education? and why do you have a problem with parents who can afford to give their children a good start in life? Bitter and jealous are we?

OP, you dont sound like you are 15......

Tripleeagle

jamesd wrote: »

Tripleeagle, you might consider an overall medium to medium-low risk mixture [...] and use those in combination with instant access to improve returns.

Thank you for the tips - I'll definitely look into what you've said and the funds you've mentioned

Sunshine12 wrote: »

OP, you dont sound like you are 15......

It's easy to make myself sound older online Although the way I do this can sometimes sound a little arrogant as I attempt to be an adult...it's nice though...you know...getting a little respect!

diable

Spend it on fast cars and classy blondes................

sharpy2010

For what its worth, I don't believe the OP is 15 either. I certainly wasn't writing eloquent and grammatically correct sentences when I was that age!

edinburgher

What a fantastic predicament to be in!

My parents busted their humps to ensure that all five of the kids in our family could go to private schools and while it was a real sacrifice on their part, I would happily have taken the fees if they were offered

Firstly - definitions between savings and investments. Basically speaking, on personal finance forums, magazines etc., people will talk about savings (money in the bank) and investments (anything where you may lose money). With savings, you're not typically buying 'into' a bank - you're lending them some of your cash with the stipulation that you trust them to pay you back with interest at some pre-agreed time. With investments, on the other hand, you buy into companies/funds/individuals value by hiving off a small portion for yourself. They get the cash to develop business, fund mergers etc. and you get some sort of dividend (usually) and a share in any underlying growth of the businesses etc. involved.

Sorry if this is a bit wordy - if you're looking at investing in wine before you're old enough to drink it I'm confident you're up to the challenge!

As such, investments are normally intended to be for the medium to long term and they don't seem to suit the window in which you may need your cash back. I've never heard a reputable advisor telling someone to keep an investment for less than 3-5 years under normal circumstances.

Options:

• The highest rate ISA you can find (tax benefits if you don't spend the money and transfer it year to year)
• The highest rate instant access account you can find - not so good as you may be taxed and there's always the temptation to spend
• Premium Bonds - worth a shot maybe? It's harder to withdraw your money than an instant access account, which may encourage you to keep it invested and who knows - maybe you'll win a million and drop out of uni?
• Fixed rate bonds - these would tie your money up for a pre-determined period, but the returns are better
• Zopa - A peer to peer lending website (investment). You lend your money out to borrowers who pay you a rate of return based on their credit rating. There is the risk of a default (i.e. you lose money when a borrower can't/won't repay), but the returns are currently beating the snot out of the more conventional (savings) accounts. One of your parents would need to open the account, but there'd be nothing to stop you managing it. Might be a fun way to invest and receive a regular 'drip feed' of income from your £18k (loans are over 36 or 60 months, so you'd get back 1/36 or 1/60 of each loan each month, plus interest).

housesitter

First off I'd try as hard as possible to avoid spending any of that whilst at uni.
I'm not sure how to go about that exactly as when I went it was the year before the fees came in so luckily I avoided them, but throughout I made an effort to avoid spending, working helped especially with a 3rd year placement course which was paid.
It would be nice to come out with substantial cash reserves plus some long term debt. Remember it's the best borrowing you'll ever see (asuming inflation is low when it comes to paying it back again) so having savings will come in handy for the housing laddder where some student debt wont affect you when all your peers have it to.
Don't be in a rush to sped your capital when you can borrow someone elses at a good rate.

patman99

As the op is a French national, why not look at interest rates offered buy French banks. If you have a French bank account, you may even be able to avoid UK tax (assuming French tax is not higher or course).

To be perfectly honest though, as a 15 year old, there is not much you can do with regards to boosting your income apart from placing it in either a bank account (it doesn't have to be a UK bank), or investing in Premium Bonds (and praying for a load of high-value wins). You are not old-enough to lend via Zopa (under 18), you are also to young to bet or even buy a Lottery ticket. However, there is nothing stopping you getting your parents to act on your behalf.

BTW, what do you intend to study at Uni?.