Can you invest with not much?

mennie

I don't have much savings, around £14,000

£9,000 of that is stoozed CC debt that I need to get to when the introductory 0% ends and then this will be built up again, this is earning 3%

£3,500 of this is emergency fund/saved tax as my husband is Self Employed. We need to be able to get to this and it is earning 3%

£500 of this is saved for my child's (4) future, we have just started this and we can lock this away for 10+ years, but only add to it by £10 a month at the moment

£400 is in an endowment (Scottish Friendly) that we add £25 per month to. This matures in 10 years.

£400 in Premium Bonds

£25 is in P2P lending, just set this up yesterday.

At the moment. We can only save around £50 per month.

Is there anything better I can be doing?

Thanks in advance

PeacefulWaters

What pension arrangements do you both have?

mennie

We have very small private pensions that we paid into when we were in PAYE employment.

My husbands in Final Salary although he didn't accrue much service and and mine is a stakeholder pension. Both not worth much at all.

Our pension plan is once the mortgage (Currently £58,000) is paid off we would put the mortgage payment into savings each month and down size when we retire.

mennie

We are 35 and 38. I am currently SAHM and husband is S.E.

Jsscmm

Moving say £5k of your snooze fund into a lloyds club current account would increase your interest by a percent.

You could also take advantage of their regular saver to get £400 a month more into 4%. That RS account is instant access so you could take out money for tax / credit card paying off as needed.

As you are already stoozing you might want to consider a zero percent, no fee balance transfer to extend it. Tesco, Santander, sainsburys and Halifax all currently offer something in this are. Please make sure you know exactly what you are doing though!

Beyond that, there are 6% savers (hubcaps, m&s and first direct). Each needs different hoops to get, m&s probably being the easiest. You might want to consider this for the child's money to help it grow, but both check out the implications on tax and interest and on who owns that money.

PeacefulWaters

mennie wrote: »

We have very small private pensions that we paid into when we were in PAYE employment.

My husbands in Final Salary although he didn't accrue much service and and mine is a stakeholder pension. Both not worth much at all.

Our pension plan is once the mortgage (Currently £58,000) is paid off we would put the mortgage payment into savings each month and down size when we retire.

Is this a limited company?

There could be very tax efficient ways to prioritise pension provision - which is investing.

edinburgher

You can also consider TSB accounts as a way to get more money on your savings. Between the two of you you could put away £6,000 @ 5% in Classic Plus accounts (if you transfer in £500/m and set up paperless statements).

mennie

No, its a sole trader

I will look at the accounts mentioned.

Although the money is saved for my child it is in our name.

xylophone

Had you considered a JISA for your child? If you want to stay in cash, 4% is available from Halifax if you have an ISA with them.

http://www.halifax.co.uk/isas/cash-isas/

Even though you are not earning, you can contribute up to £2880 per annum to a pension and receive up to £720 in tax relief - a simple stakeholder might suit

http://www.cavendishonline.co.uk/pensions/stakeholder-and-personal-pensions/

Your husband can contribute to a pension through his company

http://www.contractorcalculator.co.uk/pensions_contractors_overview.aspx

SG27

You can drip feed as little as £25 per month into a S&S ISA. I do £50 and it's building up nicely.