What to do with £20k???

Daniel_Elkington

About the ISA transfer, Ensure that if and when you do transfer the application form says at the top 'ISA transfer form'. Although it is probably old-fashioned, having the physical paperwork means that you can make sure that if and when you are transferring them you are not selling them. If money goes out of an ISA you cannot get that ISA status back!

Would you be looking to invest for the long (15y+) term or are you looking at earmarking this money for something in a few years?

cassie1968

Hi, would just be looking to do this for the short term at the moment. Hoping to buy property that i'm renting from my folks in a few years once I have saved up a good deposit.

rochja

If you are planning on putting away a fixed amount each month to save for property you might want to look at opening a current a/c with a bank that has an associated high return savings account for regular sums. While you have the cash it is easy to open any of them. You can then choose whether to maintain 2 current accounts so you dont have to redo regular payments in and out such as your pay, or just to maintain the one that drip feeds your savings. Last time I looked you could find up to 6% APR this way which is better than 4 and three quarters tax free at basic rate. Also, if you are already with Santander it could be worth changing to a 1-2-3 account and getting a 1-2-3 cc. You will pay 1 monthly fee to run both and get up to 3% on everything you save/spend

Daniel_Elkington

My calculations may be off but 6% pa on regular payments works out at a gain of about 2.7% on the overall investment.

The only real advantages to phased investing is the concept of pound cost averaging and affordability.

If you have a fixed amount then investing it all upfront in a fixed rate product is likely to be more beneficial.

What is the deposit going to be on the house, have you worked out how much growth you need a year in order to afford it?

Another problem with the regular savers is that if you miss a couple of payments then they reduce the rate you get fairly drastically, be careful with these!