5% Savings Loophole

Harvester

I have a sum of money to invest. I am 60 and no private pension. Own my own home no mortgage. No debts. The amount I have is approx £30,000 cash in addition I do have max ISA for this year .
I was looking at annuities but they seem too little monthly return. I also looked at bricks and mortar investments like hotel rooms or student apartments but my son has said these may not be all they seem.
Any advice please? I am new to investments.

Eco_Miser

Don't touch hotel rooms, student accommodation or any unregulated investment, a little reading on this board should tell you why.

Monevator has suggestions for getting an income from investments, the whole site, not just the page I linked to.

It's possible to get 3%-6% on well over £30k in nice safe bank accounts, as explained in the head article to this thread, and the regular savings thread

Harvester

Thank you Eco Miser, I will certainly read through all you recommend. I have an appointment with nationwide so maybe it is better I open up several different higher interest accounts as the article recommends and move money from one to another. The only problem I have with this is that the Nationwide account is only high interest for one year. I could open another 123 account though I suppose at the end of the one year. All food for thought. My son did suggest a buy to let mortgage, I could use the ISA money and the cash as a deposit. But to be honest I don't want to be faffing about playing landlord and incurring costs if I don't have a tenant for any length of time. Also it comes with insurance costs and repairs bills - I've had enough of those with my listed house I live in at the moment. So a clean simple investment with low hassle is preferable for me. I am an artist so income is sporadic.

Eco_Miser

Nationwide only pays 5% for one year, but who knows what rates will be on offer then. A few years ago, most good paying accounts only lasted a year.

Santander is the last high interest account to open, unless you will benefit from the cashback, owing to the unavoidable account fee.

As well as the disadvantages you mention, BTL means you have a large investment in a non-liquid asset, that can only be sold as a whole. Funds can be sold any time in any amount, and you get the cash in your hand within a week, if need be.

jimmeee

Hi folks,

Does anyone know if 'internal transfers' are ok to qualify for the minimum payments for the following accounts:

- TSB Classic Plus
- BOS Vantage

Thanks.

YorkshireBoy

jimmeee wrote: »

Does anyone know if 'internal transfers' are ok to qualify for the minimum payments for the following accounts:

- TSB Classic Plus
- BOS Vantage

The short answer is yes they do.

However, I could be wrong so you should verify this for yourself by reading the respective account T&Cs. If an account requires external funding only (like Santander 1-2-3 & Nationwide do) it will clearly say so in said T&Cs. Do you see anything in the TSB & BoS T&Cs stipulating external funding only?

jimmeee

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

Do you see anything in the TSB & BoS T&Cs stipulating external funding only?

Thanks. I did check the T&Cs and it doesn't say so I think its OK.. I just wanted to double check.

Cheers :beer:

CATHUN

Hi

Im new to this so sorry if this question has been asked already, but how does this work if you are single and cant set up joint accounts? Its too hard for my brain to cope with!!

Thanks in advance

Archi_Bald

I don't quite get why you think you need to have joint accounts to get interest - can you explain?

Eco_Miser

CATHUN wrote: »

Hi

Im new to this so sorry if this question has been asked already, but how does this work if you are single and cant set up joint accounts? Its too hard for my brain to cope with!!

Thanks in advance

Well you don't need to be married to set up joint accounts, although finding someone willing to be financially linked to you, and to allow you access to their money (and vice versa) is considerably harder.

But if you can only have sole accounts it means you only get one bite at the cherry with most banks, instead of 1½ (3 between 2). So just £50,500 can earn 3% or better instead of £130,500 (£65,250 each) for two.