Where to save £30000?

maarten

I wonder if anyone can come up with some good suggestions as I am sitting on some cash which I don't know where to invest.

At the moment I have £30000 in premium bonds that I was building up towards buying a house for letting. The whole idea was to invest the money in property to help come retirement age as I have no pension.

Looking at the properties I am wondering if this is the right move and if I should look at other areas that may give a similar return. The problem is I have no idea where to invest or what the benefits are from one scheme to another. Any advice will be appreciated. Thanks.

eskbanker

maarten wrote: »

I have no pension

This seems an obvious place to put at least some of your money, especially given tax benefits and usually contributions from employers (if applicable) - what's your rationale for not going down the pension route thus far?

maarten

Unfortunately there hasn't been any thought putting any money into a pension before as I wasn't in a situation that allowed this. I really don't know what to do for the best, would a pension be more rewarding in 15-20 years time (when I would like to retire) than in a house?

eskbanker

Worth reading through the MSE guides to pensions at http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/?tab=sect29

Property investment can certainly be a part of retirement planning but it would be risky to use it as an alternative to a pension, and even if a BTL washes its face in covering costs (and justifying the hassle of being a landlord) you're still banking on enough of an increase in property prices where you buy to make it worth it (after stamp duty, CGT, etc, as well as income tax), and all the while successive governments are tweaking the tax regime to make BTL less attractive....

maarten

Thanks for the link, I will have a read and see if it can help to make my mind up.