Best way/place to save £1000 per month?

Technoholic

Hi all

I need to put away £1000 per month for the next 6 months at least. So far i've just been putting the £1000 each month into my e-saver account with firstdirect. Obviously not the best place for it so I want to move the lump sum I have (not massive yet, about £2k) to somewhere better and keep topping that account up with the 1k per month.

I need an account that I have access to so no fixed term savings but I want to get the best out of it. I'm not just looking at standard accounts, but will consider investments account or anything like that, as long as they are low risk. All the regular savings accounts ive seen recommended seem to have limits of up to £300 per month which is obviously not very useful for me.

Thanks for your help

qpop

Just pick the top paying instant access account, and put all the cash in there. Anything you think you'll keep hold of longer-term transfer into the top paying isntant access ISA.

Technoholic

but they say maximum monthly payment in of around the £300 mark. I have a lump sum currently but my monthly saving amount with be £1000 guaranteed.

qpop

No, not a regular saver, and instant access account.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/savings-accounts-best-interest?utm_source=forum&utm_medium=clicks&utm_campaign=resourcebar

Regular savers aren't for you anyway, based on the fact you've said you need easy access to the cash. This is not a feature of regular savers.

Technoholic

oh right I see, yes that looks like a good option, ill take a look into that.

Thanks

Lokolo_2

With regards to "low-risk" investments, there aren't any as such, so if you are risk averse then an instant access account is definitely the best!

Do you have an ISA account? as it seems you have quite some income to be able to save £1k a month, so I'd recommend an instant access ISA as it offers tax-free returns on your money, the only downside is you can only put £5340 into a cash ISA this tax year, but that'll just about last you through to next april!

Information about Cash ISA's and the best ones available is here

Technoholic

Hah I dont have a massive income by any means! Just enough to be able to put this away every month with enough left over to live on, but I have to save this money religiously so thats why it has to be put somewhere.

An ISA could be a could choice, I need to reach the 6k target by march ideally so most of the could go into a cash ISA.

Im not risk averse really, I know all investments come with risk, I was just wondering if there was somewhere that would give me a slightly higher return than an ISA, where the overall risk is deemed to be lower than, for example, some of these investment funds I have had my money in before.

MoneySaverLog

A cash ISA would be a good place to start if you don't already have one.

Lokolo_2

dchuraman wrote: »

Im not risk averse really, I know all investments come with risk, I was just wondering if there was somewhere that would give me a slightly higher return than an ISA, where the overall risk is deemed to be lower than, for example, some of these investment funds I have had my money in before.

Good point, unfortunately I know little about investments so I wouldn't like to advise, however I'm sure someone more in the know on here will be able to help you with that!

Have you looked at Stocks and Shares ISA's? You can deposit double the Cash ISA limit into one of these, and get tax-free returns, possibly higher than a standard Cash ISA but of course more element of risk involved. :j

Rollinghome

Lokolo_2 wrote: »

Have you looked at Stocks and Shares ISA's? You can deposit double the Cash ISA limit into one of these, and get tax-free returns, possibly higher than a standard Cash ISA but of course more element of risk involved. :j

To avoid confusion, equity investments in an S&S ISA aren't really tax-free and someone paying basic rate tax and not exceeding their CGT allowance may not enjoy any immediate advantage.

Cautious Managed and Absolute Return unit trust funds aim to be lower risk and to have a better return than cash. Most have failed to do that, sometimes failing spectacularly. Some funds run by Ruffer, Troy Investment, and Miton have been better than most but there's no guarantee for how long that will continue, "Past performance is no guide..." etc.