investing money when living and working overseas

nelliebeak

Hi all

very new so please be nice

I recently moved abroad, no longer paying tax and find myself with a decent savings pot.

my question is where to put this money so it earns a decent interest rate but i dont break any rules regarding my non uk resident status

ill be honest i dont totally understand the implications of non residency and money into the UK but im reading up.

I still have a current account which i use to pay my student loan each month, and an esaver account which ive had for years and only has about 400 in it
I dont have any debts besides my student loan.

the account im currently holding my savings in is earning me 0.25%!!

thanks in advance
Nellie

atush

Do you want to save it in the UK or where you are? Do you wat to save it or invest it? Do you still have a UK bank account? Internet banking?

nelliebeak

ideally i would save it in the UK, i really dont want to keep money where i am

Long term it will be a deposit but thats at some point in the future and not within the next year or 2. I already have a substantial amount of money invested in shares, not looking to add any more to my portfolio.

Yes i still have a current account; to pay my student loan. And i have an esaver. both have internet banking.

i dont think i can open bank accounts or savings accounts in the UK as it usually have to confirm you are a UK resident

atush wrote: »

Do you want to save it in the UK or where you are? Do you wat to save it or invest it? Do you still have a UK bank account? Internet banking?

RetiredInThailand

nelliebeak wrote: »

i dont think i can open bank accounts or savings accounts in the UK as it usually have to confirm you are a UK resident

Several UK banks accept non-resident customers so you should have no real difficulty doing this. You may have to search a bit though. The ones that do are generally quite clear about it.

You wont be getting more than about 3% interest though, even if you go for a long deposit. I dont think I would care to lock into that sort of rate for more than about 2 years or so at the moment. I did go for long deposits of 5 years a couple of years back, and these pay about 5% with a couple more years to run, by which time I expect rates will have risen somewhat.

If you are really non-resident (and not just temporarily out of the country) then you can have your interest paid gross by filling in form R105 (not all banks accept it). Otherwise you may be able to claim back the withholding tax paid, depending on any other UK revenue you may have.

As a non-resident you will not be liable to CGT on your shares, or to any extra tax on dividends income.

nelliebeak

RetiredInThailand wrote: »

As a non-resident you will not be liable to CGT on your shares, or to any extra tax on dividends income.

I didnt know this so thank you; my shares arent paying dividends at the moment but im hoping they will start again soon so i will have to look into this a bit more.

Saving money while living aboad feels like a mine field. I moved with the intention of saving as much money as i could but now i really dont know what to do with it. Interest rates are so low in the UK but they are even worse where im living. I looked at offshore bank accounts but that confused me even more

atush

Look at UK banks/Brokers that have online trading accounts where you can buy/sell shares/funds in GBP.

HSBC, Barclays have them, and look at Hargreeves landsdown