Turning 18, what to do with my money

redbull5

Please delete

Lokolo

It doesn't seem to say you cannot deposit more than once, which is unusual for fixed term products. So yes, the FRISA seems best idea.

Personally I would put it in Santander Home Saver instead. You will lose interest for that month but from there on you would get 5% (well 4%) on the £2.5k.

Mr._H_2

Wow, congratulations on getting the savings bug at such a young age!

Assuming you mean this ISA, there's a bit of contradictory information available. On one tab it says the minimum opening deposit is £3000, but on another it says you can open it with a £1 deposit. For sure, if the balance is under £3000, the interest rate is 0 %.

It doesn't specifically say that you can't add more funds beyond the initial deposit, but various other things imply that this should be possible. The best thing to do is drop into a Lloyds branch and ask them. EDIT: or as Lokolo says, put it in the Santander account as you'll earn more interest, even after tax.

property.advert

Get into something which you can use for a property deposit instead of blowing it on a car or sex, drugs and rock and roll. Boring, but hey, I promise you, you'll thank me in your 30s !

edinburgher

Personally I would put it in Santander Home Saver instead. You will lose interest for that month but from there on you would get 5% (well 4%) on the £2.5k.

The OP mentions not needing access to the money for 2 years or so. If this is to fund a house purchase, fair enough. If not, your suggestion isn't necessarily going to allow them enough flexibility, as the First Home Saver can only be closed entirely, withdrawals aren't permitted

psychic_teabag

Is the FHS a once-ever-per-person thing ? Or can you close one, and then immediately open a new one with £5000 and start over ?

OP: you say you will be increasing to 300 per month later in the year : perhaps one option is to use your existing £500 and the windfall to increase the contribution to 300 per month now ? Then reign back later to rebuild cash savings if necessary. If you make a one-off over-contribution, you lose interest on the whole balance, and whether this is worth it depends on how much is already in there and how much longer you'll be saving for. (Over a long enough period, the extra interest on the large contribution will make up for the lost interest, but maybe not on a short timescale.)

Could also open a Santander current account and get 5% interest on up to £2500 that way (which is still better than the ISA despite tax. Though perhaps that only lasts a year - not sure.

Do you know about the FirstDirect regular saver paying 8% ?

redbull5

Please. Delete