30k, what to do?

chooka

Some advice need if possible.

I have 30 k that has been sat in savings accounts for the last few years at fixed rates.

The end date for them is 1st November so this will become available for me to re-use.

I am single and live in Brighton, decent flats cost over £200k. and on my wage I wont be able to afford a repayment on a mortgage for one.

I'm not a risky person per-se however, would consider options.

Aside dropping it in an ISA, what are my options?

Futuristic

ISA's are not really competitive these days, shove it in interest bank accounts.

http://bankaccountsavings.co.uk

Sam_J12

You may still be able to buy a home using one of the government schemes to assist first time buyers. There is a good overview here: https://www.gov.uk/affordable-home-ownership-schemes/overview . Some of them may be applicable.

In addition, from December a number of banks are offering a help-to-buy ISA where you can pay in an initial £1000, then up to £200 a month, and the government will give you a 25% bonus up to a maximum of £3000 when/if you use this money for a house deposit (so you will need to pay in for close to 5 years to get the full bonus). This may be worth considering. If you have a partner than you can each have one and get a £6k bonus.

Other than that, First Direct and Marks and Spencers do 6% regular saving account, and TSB, Nationwide and Santander all do current accounts with decent rates of interest.

You may want to consider investing some of your money in the stock market if you don't think you are going to buy a house in the near future, since in the long term this is likely to give you a better return than anything else. Don't do this if you need the money in the next few years though, and be prepared to stick out slumps in the market.