Money to invest, but where?

MrCalm

Hello

I have an older relative who wants the best possible return on their £70,000 savings. Up until last year they were earning about £150 a month interest on a Halifax account but unfortunately with interest rates being so low it's no longer possible.

They don't want any risky investments and always want access to their cash in the event of an emergency-but just the best possible return. Has anyone any input for me?

Kind regards
R

Linton

Some points....

How old? If they are say 90+ security is far more important than interest as they can fairly safely drawdown significant capital. If they are 65 then they have on average 20 years or more to live and would benefit more from a higher return.

Do they need instant access to all the £70K? What about instant access to say £20K and some or all of the rest tied up for a number of years?

There are no instant access accounts which pay a useful amount of interest on sums of the size of £70K . If instant access is what is really wanted I dont think they will do better than 0.5-1%.

There are pretty safe products where the funds would be tied up for say 5 years. I have found the 5 year Prudential With Profits fund reasonably good - I have an old holding which would have returned 6.8% in the past year had I cashed it in (including the increase in terminal bonus).

colsten

With multi-current accounts you can get between 3 and 5% AER on some £50,000. Question is whether your relative would be willing and able to set up and manage several accounts.

Most of the available accounts are listed here: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/savings-loophole. In addition, there is BOS Vantage, where you are allowed 3 accounts and 3% AER is paid up to £5K.