Where best to invest my £20K? 18 October 2017 at 10:09AM in Savings & Investments 7 replies 14.4K views

timPgoodwin

Hi,

I have £20K to invest in the short-term, I am looking to use the money in 18-14 months when we remortgage in order to do some major building work to the house.

My question is where best to invest this over that period of time to gain the best ROI? I am happy for something that is higher risk such as an Investment Trust but happy to take on any advice you have.

Thanks
Tim.

jamei305

How much are you willing to see your investment to have declined by, come the time you want to withdraw it in 18 to 24 months? If you'd be happy with a 60% drop knowing it was a risk you took for the chance of a 8%+ gain during that period, then an investment trust might be the right investment for you.

However it sounds like you would rather be assured of having most of that sum available within your time period, so a savings account would be a safer bet, rather than investment which needs 10+ years to smooth out the ups and downs.

xylophone

"Investing" is for the long term - you wish to set a specific sum of money aside for a known expense no longer than eighteen months away.

You say "we" - a sole Nationwide Flexdirect current account each and a joint account would give you 5% on a total £7500 for a year - you could also each open a Flexclusive regular monthly saver.

Assuming that you can find the direct debits, two Tesco current accounts each could also be considered.

timPgoodwin

Thanks, I think it's best for me to look away from an Investment Trust which is more for the long term and look at a savings account instead.

With the Nationwide accounts, to have 3 accounts with 5% on a max of £7500 between them is not that enticing given that I would have to pay £1000 in to each so £3000 a month total.

Again for the Tesco account in order to get the interest you must pay out at least three direct debits every month. If you've two accounts, you must meet this criteria for each account (6 Direct Debits). I am not sure we could do this either.

xylophone

I would have to pay £1000 in to each so £3000 a month total.

You have £20,000.

You /spouse open the accounts and deposit £2500 in each.

Each month you transfer in/out (faster payment) the £1000 from an external account to meet the monthly requirement.

There are certain savings accounts which can be funded by Direct Debit.

You might each open a Post Office on line saver which is one such.

Scottish Widows is another http://www.scottishwidows.co.uk/bank/savings/instantsaver_detail.html

You might each use a credit card repayment etc for your third.

Or you might open the three Flexdirects, put the remainder of the cash in a Santander 123 account, make sure all your cashback eligible DDs come off that account, use that account for your in/out to Flexdirect by using same day SOs back and forth.

TSB offer interest paying current accounts - monthly pay in managed as above.


http://www.tsb.co.uk/current-accounts/classic-plus-account/

There are others.

If you can't be bothered, then standard savings accounts here

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/article-1583859/Best-savings-rates-General-savings-Internet-branch.html

timPgoodwin

Amazing! Thanks for all that information that really does help.
Tim.

Mnd

We've got lloyds,tsb,tesco and santander a mixture of individual and joint accounts 9 in total, and the paying in condition is just a merry go round of the same £1500 ending up where it started. Easy after the original set up

capital0ne

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