10k to invest..... But where?

Mum22

Hi,
We have just been lucky enough to come into 30k from my Grans Will. We have just put this years allowance into our Isa's and plan to do the same again next month. But that leaves us with around 10k to invest.

What do people recommend? We don't want to lock it away, as may need it later in the year, or early next year.. When the latest Army redundancy lists announced!

Thank you for any advice

donniej

The answer is 'it depends' (of course!)

It depends on how much risk you are ready to take. All investments involve an element of risk - so you could lose you money. However, you can also get more than inflation, which is more than can be said for cash currently.

If you decide to go for investments, you could go through a Stocks + Shares ISA (if you don't already have one.) You could look at Funds, ETFs or Investment Trusts - those are all ways through which you can invest. You could then decide to look at either investing in Equity (i.e. stocks/shares), or Bonds.

Which? have a few good pointers here: http://www.which.co.uk/money/savings-and-investments/guides/the-beginners-guide-to-investment/

dutchism1958

If you dont want to lock it away because you may need the money later this year or early next it doesnt give you too many options.IMOH I would probably look at a savings account to retain easy access for when you need it and earn at least a little interest.
The best accounts are located at the top of the "savings & investments" forum.
Good luck!

lee44

Hi, Firstly, ISA's have just reached all time lows returning a meagre 1.74%. UK credit rating has just lost its AAA rating and as a result the pound has lost value against the US dollar and the Euro. US dollar from 1.70 down to approx 1.45, euro from 1.3 down to 1.15. This means imports are more expensive and UK inflation is set to jump to 3.5%. This actually means that every year your money is tied up in savings accounts or ISA's that return less than the rate of inflation you are losing money!! The forecasts for future interest rates are that we should not see increases til 2018 at the earliest and there is now added pressure for the BOE to introduce negative Interest rates, this in turn means that the future for all secure bank related investments is not bright. Equity based ISA's etc can go down in value as well as up, be careful and read the small print. The FTSE has gained a miserly 7% since the turn of the century, again not keeping up with the rate of inflation.

My only consideration right now would be to investigate peer to peer lending with its different tiers of risk returning different levels of returns, low risk = 6% approx and higher risk anywhere up to 10%.

Various companies offer peer to peer lending, Zopa being one of them.

I also invest in fine wine but look out for rogue companies that may disappear with your funds, check winesearcher.com

badger09

Mum22 wrote: »

Hi,
We have just been lucky enough to come into 30k from my Grans Will. We have just put this years allowance into our Isa's and plan to do the same again next month. But that leaves us with around 10k to invest.

What do people recommend? We don't want to lock it away, as may need it later in the year, or early next year.. When the latest Army redundancy lists announced!

Thank you for any advice

The best instant access accounts around at the moment are actually current accounts. Take a look at Nationwide FlexDirect, Santander 123, LLoyds TSB and BoS Vantage.

badger09

lee44 wrote: »

My only consideration right now would be to investigate peer to peer lending with its different tiers of risk returning different levels of returns, low risk = 6% approx and higher risk anywhere up to 10%.

Various companies offer peer to peer lending, Zopa being one of them.

I also invest in fine wine but look out for rogue companies that may disappear with your funds, check winesearcher.com

If OP might need access to the £10k in the next year or two then this is not a sensible suggestion.

Totton

If you may need the money soon then please stay away from investing in wine or peer to peer lending, also give the stock market a miss and simply tuck the money away in a cash account. You will be losing money due to inflation but everything else comes at a higher risk.

Investing in wine is fine if you have a long term horizon, I'm not knocking it and it made a nice amount after some 10 years of holding decent claret.

Investing has highs and lows, don't risk any capital that you may need later this year.

Radiantsoul

Pay off any debts first, then look for a savings account with the best interest you can find.

Mum22

Thank you for all your help.. A lot to think about!

We are lucky enough to not have any debts apart from our mortgage which at the moment is at 2.5%. But the house is rented out as we currently live in Army housing.

Depending on what happens in June when the redundancy list is released. We are thing about either paying some of the mortgage off, or actually selling the house and buying a slightly larger one that we can then move into when the time comes!

Many thanks

atush

If you have a cash buffer and want to invest (after June when you will know what is what) then using a S&S isa is a good idea.

Do you have a pension?

clairbear_3

4x£2500 with Nationwide @5%