where to do it and what to do

east_coast_diki

Hi money savers :hello: as this is my very 1st post all i can ask is to be abit patient with a newbeee i suppose the first place to start is about me,
i moved to the east coast from middlesex area to look after my dear old mum,
my dad died 3 years ago bless him, and there was no way was i going to se my mum go into a care home, as she just cant look after herself, so ime here as her career, i was a self employed glazier in middlesex, looking after local builders glazing needs, and the hotels in the heathrow area, mirrors - picture framing and abit of all sortes really, im'e 54 single and in reasonable health ?
moneys that i have,

abbey national savings account £30k.

lloyds current account £5k

ther are a couple of pension things that i dont think that add up to to much witch i should dig out and have a look at,

i dont have any isas,

i dont have any out goings really as mum pays for all the food and bills ect

so if there is anything that you think that i should be doing with the money that i do have, i would be very interested in all of your wisdom, thanks for reading, appollagise for any spelling mistakes, and hope to speek to you all on the forums cheers for now :beer: diki.

espresso

It's not a good idea to have £5k sitting in your current account. You should definitely open a £3k cash ISA to get your interest tax free and top it up every year. Check that you are getting the best interest rate on your other savings.

Hungerdunger

espresso wrote: »

It's not a good idea to have £5k sitting in your current account. You should definitely open a £3k cash ISA to get your interest tax free and top it up every year. Check that you are getting the best interest rate on your other savings.

If, as it appears, he has no income at present and if he does not intend working for the foreseeable future, is there any point putting money into an ISA if he could get a better rate in an ordinary savings account?

monkeyspanner

Are you all set up with help for your Mum. e.g.
-Blue Badge for parking if you drive.
-Day Care/Restbite care to give you a break.
-Attendance allowance if appropriate (sounds as if it could be). It isn't means tested and comes in two levels of payment depdendant on need.
- Winter fuel allowance, I think you have to apply if your Mum isn't on any other benefit.

If you don't need all your savings to hand it might be worth tying some of it up in a one year bond as they pay better rates the Sunday papers usually have a selection of adverts to look at. If you don't have income are you claiming back your tax on the savings account interest or have you registered the accounts so you don't pay tax.

Is your Mum able to manage her financial affairs? Even if she is at the moment it would be worth having a look at her setting up an enduring power of attorney in your favour before the rules change on 1 October. It will be a lot more expensive to do after that date.

east_coast_diki

espresso wrote: »

It's not a good idea to have £5k sitting in your current account. You should definitely open a £3k cash ISA to get your interest tax free and top it up every year. Check that you are getting the best interest rate on your other savings.

thanks for your reply espresso, and i am deff thinking after reading martins tip for a BMW isa

east_coast_diki

Hungerdunger wrote: »

If, as it appears, he has no income at present and if he does not intend working for the foreseeable future, is there any point putting money into an ISA if he could get a better rate in an ordinary savings account?

thanks hungerdunger, i am still doing some work, subcontracting it out to a friend that helps me out seems a shame to let it all go, especially if i can still get a little earner out of it,

east_coast_diki

monkeyspanner wrote: »

Are you all set up with help for your Mum. e.g.
-Blue Badge for parking if you drive.
-Day Care/Restbite care to give you a break.
-Attendance allowance if appropriate (sounds as if it could be). It isn't means tested and comes in two levels of payment depdendant on need.
- Winter fuel allowance, I think you have to apply if your Mum isn't on any other benefit.

If you don't need all your savings to hand it might be worth tying some of it up in a one year bond as they pay better rates the Sunday papers usually have a selection of adverts to look at. If you don't have income are you claiming back your tax on the savings account interest or have you registered the accounts so you don't pay tax.

Is your Mum able to manage her financial affairs? Even if she is at the moment it would be worth having a look at her setting up an enduring power of attorney in your favour before the rules change on 1 October. It will be a lot more expensive to do after that date.

Hi monkey spanner and thanks for looking, yes mum has a blue badge, and we sorted out a new car from her dLA, well handy for running her about, she loves it, would be nice to try and sorte the day care restbite thing coz now and againe she does send me NUTS ? the only money that i get is from her witch is £200 per month cash i think that is what she gets from the goverment, and as for other things that she may recieve i dont really no? and if i ask iv'e got a feeling she might tell me to xxxx off and dont be so nosey,
i could try and get the gin out and try to chill her abit? you never no?

and as for my savings, there in a Abbey branch saver account witch i oppend on the 31march 2006 and put in £25013.76 and the last statement i had from them saying they paid me £759.96 net interest, and to date there is £29997.95 and i do not intend to touch, but i am deff interested in doing something with it, and mabey with the help of you guys you cold put me right, gotta go mum's shouting out for her dinner:kisses2: bless her???

east_coast_diki

espresso wrote: »

It's not a good idea to have £5k sitting in your current account. You should definitely open a £3k cash ISA to get your interest tax free and top it up every year. Check that you are getting the best interest rate on your other savings.

i would deffo like to sort out a mini isa, and now Martins saying NS&I is about the best at 6.3% do you have to buy these at a certain time of the year or can you by at any time of the year?

and as regards to the savings account with abbey they paid £759.00 to me for having 25k in the account and i did not touch it, works out about 3% thats if i got my sums right? ive got no intention's of touching this money for at least 1 year, and by the way i sorted out a B/B internet account and its up and running with £1.00 in the account, i only got this coz every 1 else seemed to get 1:rotfl: shall i stick my now £30k in B/B account or plit it up appollagise if its hard to read.

Jonbvn

ECD,

From what you have posted, it would seem that you are a non tax payer. If this is true, you should get your interest tax-free. To do this, complete a form R85 and send it to the Abbey.

I believe you can also claim back any tax on interest for previous years. From the HMRC website:

If you think you’ve paid tax on your savings interest when you didn’t need to or paid more than you should have (either because you were a non-taxpayer or only a 10 per cent taxpayer) - you can claim to get it back. You have five years from the 31 January after the end of the relevant tax year in which to claim.

You claim the tax back on Form R40. You can download this below, use the HM Revenue & Customs online forms ordering service or ask your tax office. You should usually get your repayment within 15 days.

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/students/fagr40.shtml

east_coast_diki

From what you have posted, it would seem that you are a non tax payer. If this is true,

thanks for taking interest jonbvn, but i am still doing bits and pieces,

thanks hungerdunger, i am still doing some work, subcontracting it out to a friend that helps me out seems a shame to let it all go, especially if i can still get a little earner out of it,

but this new year coming i may not reach the threshold limit, was told its about £5k, so then i may have to sort out the tax free form's

east_coast_diki

but to be honest my main concern is the the £30k i have with the abbey, i have no need to touch this money for at least 1 year.

would anybody recomend an ebond ? about the best that this site recomended was : anglo irish bank 1 year fix 6.9%gross and 5.52%net

and B/Bingley : 1 year fix 6.10%gross and 4.88%net

does that make them pretty much the same ?