How can these savings work better for me?

nekro

Here is a summary of my capital and where it is currently saved -

£29k - Natwest E-savings 2.89% AER
£28.5k - Halifax ISA Direct Reward 3% AER
£2k - HSBC current acount

(£1.6k held as flat rental deposit)

I'm considering a Stock & Shares ISA and perhaps buying some Premium Bonds as well.

what do people recommend?

Lokolo

Premium Bonds have an average payout of 1.8%.... so not much use.

A S&S ISA is a good idea - but can you afford to lose some money? Investments may not return your original sum - especially over the shorterm.

Annisele

MSE has an article on why Premium Bonds aren't much use here. If you want the 'excitement' that you might win £1mil, you'd probably be better off putting your money in a savings account and using half the interest to buy lottery tickets. (On average you'd be even better off if you just used the savings account and forgot about the lottery).

I'm afraid I wouldn't recommend anything based on the very little I know about you. Are you 20 and wanting to save up for a house deposit? Are you 70 and wanting to increase your income? I'd give very different answers to those two people.

nekro

ok, here's a bit more info -

i'm 31years old looking to buy a property within the next year.

my budget for a property is £200k

psychic_teabag

Don't really want to go into S&S if you need the money within a year.

You could consider a Santander first-home-saver - a regular saver paying 5%. Can fund with up to £5k initially, then £100 to £300 per month. There appears to be a loophole such that you can massively overpay the second month (several thousand if you want to try it on), forgoing interest for that month only, then earning 5% on the entire balance from then on. See other threads for more details. (I don't qualify for the account, so have no first-hand experience).

Many on here recommend avoiding Santander.

Could put £21k in 3 Lloyds vantage current accounts, paying 4% - check other threads for the hoop-jumping required.

Could open a Halifax reward current account - funding it with £1000 per month will not only earn £5 reward per month, but will increase interest on your ISA up to 3.2%

nekro

ok, thats great - i'll look into these options