Regular saving £500 per month??? Pls comment my plan

ptyks

First please accept my apologies if there is any repetition of my posting with something already covered. This is the first time I come to this chat forum (normally on Boots thread). I have few questions to ask about my saving plan. I am a basic tax payer. My annual income is around 22-25k depending on my overtime working.

I have planned to save £500 per month. My condition is:

- I can accept some risks, but not high risks.

- I would prefer to access my money anytime (short period of notice – a month- would be fine).

- I will not withdraw my money at least after the first year (unless in case of some unpredictable circumstances).

- I might have to be away from U.K. for 5 years starting from June 2008 (due to my career opportunity). So I prefer to manage everything on-line if possible.

- If there is any good deal, is it possible to be contacted by on-line? I don’t want my partner to know about my saving. Now he always checks my letters. But he can’t check my e-mail.

Now I have my account with HSBC, Natwest, and Lloyds TSB. All is basic current accounts and instant saving accounts. I have my ISA with Natwest. Already used up this year allowance.

My saving plan for each month is:
£50 for Premium Bond (maybe having some luck)
£200 through ISA
£150 saving account (natwest)
£100 in shares (never try this – will try to find the secure one – any suggestion would be appreciate?)

I am not good with money investment. In the past, just put my saving into mini ISA. So far I have around 9k in my account.

Thank you very much for any comment and suggestion.

jinkssick

first thing should be ISA, 3k max a year.

then a monthly saver with a max of £250 a month, you could do 2 of these to get rid of the 500 but everything shud be in the ISA asap.

bristolleedsfan

jinkssick wrote: »

first thing should be ISA, 3k max a year.

then a monthly saver with a max of £250 a month, you could do 2 of these to get rid of the 500 but everything shud be in the ISA asap.

poster already indicates he/she has an isa, Yorkshire Building society monthly saver max 500.00 per month paying 7% gross variable ( 5.6% net) ( more net than most isas pay) is the most consistently top paying monthly saver that doesnt forcibly end after 1 or 2 years :cool:

ptyks

bristolleedsfan wrote: »

poster already indicates he/she has an isa, Yorkshire Building society monthly saver max 500.00 per month paying 7% gross variable ( 5.6% net) ( more net than most isas pay) is the most consistently top paying monthly saver that doesnt forcibly end after 1 or 2 years :cool:

Thanks for this. I will check more info for Yorkshire Building society. Because I will move to stay aboard for 5 year from June-July 2008. I might need some cash during that period. I will check conditions of Yorkshire Building society before making a decision.

What about Premium Bond? I have read through Premium Bond thread and still not sure whether I should do. My reasons for choosing PB are: firstly, just want to have some hope (I might win some prizes), secondly, my money will be secure, thridly, during my away if I win any prize, I can put it for buying more PB, and lastly, just £50 per month I won't lose so much if I haven't won any prize during 5 years. I will stop my direct debit when I have £1500 PB.

ptyks

If I want to open my account with Yorkshire Building society, is there any cashback website I can use? Many thanks.

tom188

Post #4 - unless you win the money you put in PBs devalue in real terms. For the majority it is easier to put the money under the bed and the return is better as you dont have to pay for the trip to the post office or envelope and stamps.

Post #5 - no.

bristolleedsfan

if u want to access your money often then no reg savers would be any use to you as most limit no of withdrawals, if youve already got plans re an isa a good bet would be principality BS e-saver currently pays 5.60 gross ( 4.48 net) on 1.00+ balance http://www.principality.co.uk/default.aspx?page=576 http://www.ybs.co.uk/savings/regular/regular_saver/detail.jsp

tom188

Principality BS e-saver is actually 5.60% gross and i am sure this is what blf meant.

fablad75

As jinkssick said, instead of putting £200 into your ISA every month in the coming year, throw everything you have into it till you hit your limit. Then start on your regular savers.

Jennifer_Jane

You may wish to consider that whilst you are abroad you maintain your UK NI contributions in order to be able to get the full Basic State Pension eventually. Need 30 years' contributions if you're retiring after 2010. It can get expensive paying for these if exchange rates are not in your favour, so you might wish to stay fluid with your UK savings to pay the contributions.

ptyks

fablad75 wrote: »

As jinkssick said, instead of putting £200 into your ISA every month in the coming year, throw everything you have into it till you hit your limit. Then start on your regular savers.

I have already set the direct debit for PMs (£50 per month). I will manage the rest of my saving as you said. So I will put £450 per month to my mini ISA for 6 months. Then on the 7th month, I will put £300. Then I would have used all my allowance. So will start regular saving after that.

Thanks for your suggestion, everyone.

I gave up the plan to invest into the share. I have discussed about this with My friend. He told me I might lose more than half of my investment as I have on idea about the stock market.