I have money in the UK to invest, but I live in Australia...

--alx--

Long time lurker, first time poster...

I have recently inherited ~100k GBP which is currently sitting in a bog standard savings account in the UK, my wife and I have a 4 month old son and we want to invest some of this money to eventually go towards education/house deposit etc. We also have a mortgage on a property, which is currently rented, with about $80k outstanding, some of the inheritance will probably be used to pay off some of this amount.

I've started looking at investment options, such as cash isa's and stock isa's, as well as Unit Trusts and the like, trouble is because I'm not UK resident at the moment I suspect it will be difficult to open an account. We currently live in Sydney, but plan to return to the UK in a couple of years time and dont want to get hit by the exchange rates in the mean time...

I'm no finance expert but i think a well respected medium risk unit trust or 2 would be the way forward, if we lived in the UK. So how can I wisely invest my pounds?

Jonbvn

Since you are non-resident you are not permitted to open an ISA. Furthermore, most banks/BS and investment firms will not permit you to open an account.

If would suggest you look for offshore investments/savings.

rockitup

I am living in SE Asia at the moment and the only new investment account that I can open at present would be with Barclays.

In my case I talked to them on their Offshore (channel Islands) number and said i wanted to deposit some cash with them but also buy some unit trust funds. I would have the choice of having the current and deposit accounts held at Knightsbridge, London or Guernsey or Jersey. Obviously London is better for the FSCS guarantee.

I could then either invest into funds with Barclays Wealth International or open an account with Barclays Stockbrokers in UK and transfer cash from the BWI bank account to the trading account.

At present I haven't gone ahead and opened the accounts but am aiming to do so shortly so don't know if I will come up against any hurdles.

One thing though with the BWI accounts is that there are 3 levels of minimum funding and the lower 2 limits carry a monthly fee so it is best to check their website and see if they provide what you really need

--alx--

thanks guys,

figured as much regarding the ISAs

i shall certainly be looking into offshore investments, and will probably start with banks we already have accounts with: HSBC, Lloyds TSB & Santander

cheers

Loughton_Monkey

I believe Anglo Irish are offering 3.1% for a 12 month 'fix' if you want cash savings.