16 years old- advice needed

rictus123

Hi, my name is Ricky and iv just joined this website so i could post on this forum. I have just left school 4 months ago, into full time employment, earning a good wage which is only going to get better!!! Im 16 and living at home with my parents which is good because of cheap rent for living costs!! This is my only regular spending- €10 a week untill November- then its €25 a week, same as my brother had to pay. Iv not got any money saved up(yet) and will start my saving as of my next payday. I opened a Mini ISA account with my bank(loyalty folks) tonight and €50 gets paid into it on Friday, then €50 every 2 weeks after that. This is not all i am going to pay into it, this is the minimum. This will be left for quite some time so i can take advantage of compound intrest. So my questions are - What should i do as far as savings are concerned? Open more/different accounts? How much should i shoot for? can anyone tell me how much i will get back in 3 years from my ISA if i put in €1000 this tax year- €3000 the next then €3000 the next at 5.25% p.a? thanks for any helpers in advance.

TomsMom

Hi Ricky and welcome.

Lots of expert advice on here and someone will come along and be more specific I'm sure. But for now, take a look at these two threads which were started by young people recently, very similar to your message.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=540972

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=547434

obsessed_saver

First of all, 5.25% isn't all that great a rate. Loyalty to family and friends is commendable, but loyalty to your bank is not worth very much these days.

Next tax year, search around (come back and visit Kazza's very helpful BEST OF THE BEST ISA rate thread) and pick the best (not usually highest rate because they tend to have silly conditions like buying another product from them) ISA account to put in your £3000 allowance next year.

As for working out the interest................. it all depends whether you are putting in lump sums or dripping it in monthly.

Assumming you're putting in £100 a month (£50 every 2 weeks, and simplified) for the rest of this tax year (Sept-Mar), you'll have saved up £700 and you will have earned £12 interest end of March 2008.

Then, if you continue putting in £250 every month in the next tax year (to put away £3000 a tax year) at 5.25%, you'll earn £125 interest end of March 2009 for the total amount saved in the tax year (Apr 2008 to March 2009) including the £712 from the year before and should have a balance of around £3838.

By March 2010, you earn £293 in interest for that tax year. Giving you a total of about £7130.

rictus123

thanks guys. iv picked my bank as i know its secure and it was easy to set up . I decided id find out about better ISA accounts between now and March so i cant really go wrong. Im aiming for €150-200 a month until March, then il pay in €250 a month for a year. How much should i have as a deposit and inome before i think about buying a €80k house/flat? Cant wait to get on the ladder.