Best way to invest £20,000

baronsdale

what sort of return should i be looking for ?

baronsdale

im near on a higher rate tax payer if i invest in my name does that confuse things ?shall i invest in their names or mine ?

xylophone

You cannot invest your children's money in your name - for one thing it is theirs and for another you'd end up paying tax at your rate.
If you want something as simple as possible and you don't want to use the CTF or the stock market, I suppose that building society accounts are the best option. Perhaps you could start with a two or three year fix for each of them and go on from there. Maybe something from BM Savings would suit- check that you can hold the funds in a "re" account for each child. Don't forget the R85.http://www.bmsavings.co.uk/savings/fixed-term-savings/

atush

I would invest it into equities either by Oeics or investment trusts. Open a Bare Trust, where the acct is in yourname re:the child's name. It te.chnically does bleong to them at 18, but my son just turned 21 and it is still in my name.

ses6jwg

Personally if I had 10k for each of them I'd put firstly put 5k each into the highest paying 2 year bond I could find. Make sure to open it "in trust" so that the money is technically held as their own. I'd then renew it every 2 years pending the economic/ financial outlook.

I'd then lump the rest of it into their child trust funds and go for a stakeholder option if you don't understand stocks and shares or a shares option if you are confident enough.

Personally I favour the family investments CTF for ease of use but they are all much of a muchness and usually tracker based.

baronsdale

how much will this be worth in 15 years

atush

It will all depend on interest rates (if you out it in cash) or market performance. I have some investments that are up 50% in less than 5 years. It willdepend on what you do with it.

Splitting it half in cash fixed rate bonds and half into equities would be a good idea if you are of a nervose disposition.

xylophone

Impossible to say - it would depend on the interest rates available/ growth on any stock market investment chosen.
Suppose you chose the BM 2 year bond http://www.bmsavings.co.uk/savings/fixed-term-savings/761/2-year-fixed-rate-bond-yearly-interest.aspx?WT.ac=BMFTSFRB-761
If you invested £10000, this would be approx £10826.40 gross (as child is non-taxpayer)at the end of the two years.

ses6jwg

atush wrote: »

It will all depend on interest rates (if you out it in cash) or market performance. I have some investments that are up 50% in less than 5 years. It willdepend on what you do with it.

Splitting it half in cash fixed rate bonds and half into equities would be a good idea if you are of a nervose disposition.

I agree. I would avoid lumping it all into cash, as this guaranteed to be worth less by the time they are 18 due to the affects of inflation on cash deposits.

I would avoid putting it all in the markets because investments go up as well as down, and you could end up with less by the time they're 18 (unlikely but can happens)

On the investment side, I would also consider investing it monthly rather than lumping it all in once.

baronsdale

how can i invest in equity based products and also why would i be better off ivesting monthly ? i just want the best value for my kids money .