The tables have turned

Thomas_Crown

MrChips wrote: »

Regular savings accounts only allow regular contributions - no lump sums.

Lloyds TSB allow one lump sum of up to £500 & then a maximum of £250 per month,each month for 1 year. So in the first month it is possible to invest a maximum of £750 in their Regular Savings Account.

MrChips

Thomas_Crown wrote: »

Lloyds TSB allow one lump sum of up to £500 & then a maximum of £250 per month,each month for 1 year. So in the first month it is possible to invest a maximum of £750 in their Regular Savings Account.

True, although this type of regular saver is in the minority (and I ignored it so as to keep my description as simple as possible )

Personally I wouldn't call £500 that much of a lump sum anyway

dancingfairy

Hi first thing I would do is make sure you have a couple of months expenses tucked away in case your heating packs in, the car breaks, needs servicing etc. You want to make sure you get a decent amount of interest on this so would normally use a savings account. In this case your current account (A & L) seems to offer a good rate of interest so you could leave it there as long as you are not tempted to dip into it.
After that you are probably best looking at either a cash ISA or a regular savings account. Don't forget you will be taxed on the regular savings account while interest earned on the ISA is tax free and will remain tax free inside the ISA wrapper so can be handy to save up a couple of years worth in here. If you don't use a tax year you lose it.
Yes stocks and shares should give you a better return over the longer term but they carry some degree of risk- your money can go down as well as up and you need to be thinking of keeping it there for 5-10 years.
With the amount you are talking about I would start simple first with some cash and then when you have some under your belt (possibly a couple of years of ISAs) then consider stocks and shares.
With £7000 I really wouldn't advise going to an IFA. It is a relatively small amount of money and I think you would be best off putting it in cash as explained above and I believe ISAs are more geared up to stock market investments etc. You seem to have the right idea from your initial post although a little confused about regular savers which is a common problem.
Good Luck and if you need any more help come back here.