Investment advice for a sum of £1000

joetoo

I have close to 1K sitting in a paypal account, accumulated from ebay sales. Now I'm currently trying to reach a goal of about 3.5K so I can make a purchase. Today after checking my paypal account I realised that letting it sit there and grow is probably not too bright and I should be investing this to help toward my target.

I'm a self employed, I am debt free and I own property which I have rented out. I only have about 8K in savings which included 5.6K in an ISA.

Other than that I know nothing about investing money. Any advice would be much appreciated.

somethingcorporate

With £1k and what would appear to be a short time horizon investing it would be a terrible idea.

Have you had a look at the banking tabs at the top to see which current accounts offer the best rate?

TSB used to have a 5% account (think they still do) that is market leading, this would be the best and safest place for your £1k whilst you save up.

bigfreddiel

joetoo wrote: »

I have close to 1K sitting in a paypal account, accumulated from ebay sales. Now I'm currently trying to reach a goal of about 3.5K so I can make a purchase. Today after checking my paypal account I realised that letting it sit there and grow is probably not too bright and I should be investing this to help toward my target.

I'm a self employed, I am debt free and I own property which I have rented out. I only have about 8K in savings which included 5.6K in an ISA.

Other than that I know nothing about investing money. Any advice would be much appreciated.

First your time in the market must be at least 5 years. Less than that don't bother.

Then keep it simple by a global equity etf like swda or vwrl

Cheers fj

badger09

bigfreddiel wrote: »

First your time in the market must be at least 5 years. Less than that don't bother.

Then keep it simple by a global equity etf like swda or vwrl

Cheers fj

Op has said he knows nothing about investing money. Do you think what you have written above will mean anything at all to him? :cool:

@joetoo - I agree with what somethingcorporate said.

High interest current accounts will probably be the best place for your savings at the moment.

EdGasket

National Savings "Direct ISA". Nice and simple; pays 1.5% interest tax-free.

Pete9501

He already has an ISA and if he has paid into it this year then that's it. Suggest he puts the £1000 into the ISA today an any other cash over the next few months until he builds the pot up to his traget of £3.5k. This ought to be short term savings with a goal at the end motorbike/boat/holiday so no point in going OTT.

The one other option if he is very disciplined with money is as suggested a current account paying 4-5%. This needs managing with hawk like attention to max the benefits, but can be done.

jimjames

EdGasket wrote: »

National Savings "Direct ISA". Nice and simple; pays 1.5% interest tax-free.

It might be simple but it seems a waste to me to get 1.5% when you can get 5% (or in effect 12.% using 2 current accounts) with a little effort.


After 12 months you'd have £125 (before tax) if you use a TSB and Halifax account combined.

eskbanker

joetoo wrote: »

I have close to 1K sitting in a paypal account, accumulated from ebay sales

[...]

I only have about 8K in savings which included 5.6K in an ISA

As per advice from other posters, investing sounds inappropriate for a short term requirement.

However, most replies seem to be focusing on the £1K rather than the £8K already in savings - if you're happy with where you have the £8K then put the £1K there too (unless it's in inaccessible fixed term products), but if you're not getting decent rates on your savings then move the whole £9K to one or more better places!