Long time lurker, first time poster

aoin

Hello forum, first time poster after lurking for a while

With great timing, redundancy and half my late mother's life assurance has come at the same time. So I have no job, but just over £21,000 sitting in my bog-standard, no interest debit account doing nothing.

I am clueless about what to do next. In an ideal world (or if I knew how) I could phone the right people and buy gold or some such, but this isn't an ideal world and so I'm stuck feeling overwhelmed by it all

I do have a guaranteed reserve with my bank (all of 1% ""interest"" after a year, which is dire for just shy of 6 grand) and an ISA with a couple of hundred.

Until I get a job, I can't think about a mortgage or owt like that, so what is my best option? Bunging most of the £21k in a bog standard savings account and then read up on my options?

Any help would be great because I'm not so much out of ideas, more....have none to begin with


Ta

Rafter

Given the uncertainty about when you might need the money, I'd be cautious about 'investing' in gold or anything else for that matter, in case you need the cash just at a low point.

You presumably don't want to lock the money away for too long either so long term savings bonds or savings certificates are out of the question.

I therefore suggest a 2011/2012 instant cash isa for £3,600 of it and the rest in the best rate instant access account you can find. You should be able to get 3.2% at the time of writing as there is a bit of a price war going on.

When you have a job again, then is the time to think about investments, pensions and other options.

Good luck

R.

Jake'sGran

I wouldn't even bother with an ISA for this tax year as the rates are
poorer than easy access accounts which, as Rafter says, are paying
around 3%. Until you get another job I think it would be better to have this money all in one place, easy to get hold of. The ISA only means that there is no tax to pay on the interest and until you get your new job you won't be paying tax anyway.

If you do decide to take the cash ISA route the amount you can put in it is £5340. Just noticed on Moneysupermarket that you can get 3.7% on a Fixed Rate ISA (no access).

atush

Are you married? If so, I would think about transferring some of your savings to them (allowed between spouses). This is just inc ase the money along any other savings will affect your benefits short term.

I assume you will get work soon, so keep an eye on ISA rates.

maypole

I would put it in the best interest paying savings account for the moment where you can transfer it, as you need it, to your current account.

I have a Northern Rock easy access account that I can transfer to my current account with another bank. I never keep much in the current account as it pays so little interest, just enough for direct debits and bills.

You need to be getting interest on it so don't linger.

Also if you are a non tax payer you need to fill n Form R85 and hand it to the place where you put the savings, which means you will get interest tax free.

PELE

Rafter wrote: »

Given the uncertainty about when you might need the money, I'd be cautious about 'investing' in gold or anything else for that matter, in case you need the cash just at a low point.

You presumably don't want to lock the money away for too long either so long term savings bonds or savings certificates are out of the question.

I therefore suggest a 2011/2012 instant cash isa for £3,600 of it and the rest in the best rate instant access account you can find. You should be able to get 3.2% at the time of writing as there is a bit of a price war going on.

When you have a job again, then is the time to think about investments, pensions and other options.

Good luck

R.

Why not use the full ISA allowance of £5,340. Put the rest in an accessable account.

aoin

Thanks for the ideas

I'm going to put a bit into the existing ISA (which, tbf, has been used a bit too much as a rainy day account, naughty me).

As there's not much to do at the moment, I'll spend tomorrow checking out the best places to put the rest. Some interesting ideas here, thanks again