saving for a year long trip...

resi

dear all,
i would welcome your help with some saving i have. I am planning to go away for a year and put the money away to work as hard as i can whilst i experience the world.

my current set up is:

about £11k with a mini ISA at 1.30% variable
about £10k in a 0.5%saving account
no credit card bill
About £2.5k on student loan
About £26k on mortgage at 3.19%APR til 2018

I am planning to rent my house and the rent will pay for the mortgage and leave me with about £300, which with my thrifty travelling will be my spending money.

I would like to stash away about £10+k, it can be for a while so I am thinking to move the current mini ISA + next year ISA allowance to a decent ISA

the rest in an easy access saving account for any mishaps during our travelling (we will be primarily travelling by volunteer work and hiking).

could anyone suggest to me, shall I pay up the student loan or just leave it until I am back?

Any advice on which products to go for?

many thanks in advance from a ££-blind person...

thanks, R

jimjames

You can get 5% on up to £6500 and 3% on the rest but that's not inside an ISA. If you are travelling you won't (presumably) be earning so would get tax free anyway so an ISA is pointless in that situation. Definitely get better rates than the ones you have though!

As these are current accounts they are automatically easy access anyway. Check the links on the forum for more details.

getmore4less

You don't just have to cover the travel, you need to cover the period of unemployment on return unless you have things lined up.

you need a property contingency fund.

£300pm could be tight if you want to travel a lot of places and don't have other capital available covering the flights.

look at work option during travel.

Also consider the chance you won't come back, I know a few that didn't and a now settled elsewhere.