Not enough for a worthwhile investment/save?

sunny125

Hi,
So I have a few grand, which I would like to do something with, but cannot find a good place to put the money.

Had a look at the savings and investment options, I was finding that to make a good return, the amount of money needed to invest would have to be at least in the ten's of thousands. The money earned from a few grand is the equivalent of a days wage over a year or two of investment.

At the moment I'm just thinking of shoving it in a ISA and forgetting about it, instead use it as emergency money for a rainy day.
Or I could buy a state of the art home entertainment setup, and get bored with it in a few months time.

What other options are there?

missile

give it to me

grey_gym_sock

probably best to keep at least part of it as emergency money. and emergency money can go in a cash ISA.

or put it in a fund which invests in shares. the initial income may be very little, but the capital value can also go up (or down). so if you leave it for 10 or 20 years, it might then be worth twice as much (or half as much - who knows?).

kylehp04

I agree, I think it is always worth putting some away in both a cash and S&S ISA...you need to start somewhere right?

Linton

sunny125 wrote: »

Hi,
So I have a few grand, which I would like to do something with, but cannot find a good place to put the money.

Had a look at the savings and investment options, I was finding that to make a good return, the amount of money needed to invest would have to be at least in the ten's of thousands. The money earned from a few grand is the equivalent of a days wage over a year or two of investment.

At the moment I'm just thinking of shoving it in a ISA and forgetting about it, instead use it as emergency money for a rainy day.
Or I could buy a state of the art home entertainment setup, and get bored with it in a few months time.

What other options are there?

Save more on a regular basis?

innovate

sunny125 wrote: »

At the moment I'm just thinking of shoving it in a ISA and forgetting about it

Shoving it into an ISA sounds a good idea.

Forgetting about it then will be to your detriment since literally all ISA interest rates will drop after a year or so. So you need to transfer your money to another ISA.

As to how you can get more to invest/save: short of some windfall, the answer will be to save more.

bigadaj

2.30 at kempton?

markwilkinson

Depending on how many 'grands' you have available I'd be tempted to max out you cash ISA allowance for this year, but as mentioned, keep checking the rate against competitors. Any surplus probably into a standard easy access savings account which you can add to, as and when. Perhaps consider some kind of fixed rate/term savings bond?

To be honest, having had my fingers burnt in the past on share based investments I'm rather risk averse these days....

cashbackproblems

Have you used your cash ISA? If you dont need this money immediately i would open an account with HL and buy 1/2 funds emerging markets if you have a 10yr+ time frame or lower risk tracker if shorter.

A few k certainly isnt too low to be making investments and you can do it in a S+S ISA which might not bring big benefits now but long term when you build enough will avoid CGT.

Totton

I was finding that to make a good return, the amount of money needed to invest would have to be at least in the ten's of thousands.

I guess that depends on whether you are measuring the % return or the physical amount itself. A good thing to be aware of is 'compound interest' where your initial return grows each subsequent income period. This turns what appears a paltry return into something much larger. For example, http://www.interestcalc.org

HTH,
Mickey

cos_2

Peer to peer lending is a possibility. Potentially higher returns along with risks.

Go back to school - invest in a self development course that might help you get promotion at work, or allow you to develop more skills in your own business if you have one.

Try your hand at antiques or collectibles - very high risk for returns potential, but you might like them anyway

All the ISA stuff above is eminently sensible, of course.