What to do with £18,000 for a year

Squirrelz92

I currently have savings of just over £18,000 and this figure will continue to grow on a monthly basis for the next year. I am hoping to buy my first home using the final sum as the deposit.
My question is what should I do with it for the time being whilst I continue to add to it? It is currently sat in an ordinary savings account with an interest rate of 0.60% tax free. Surely there must be a more efficient way to continue to save money in a pot but also gain a decent interest from it in the mean time.

[Deleted User]

There surely is.

At least consider some of the higher rate savings (or current) accounts.

Alice_Holt

Marcus - 1.5% instant access.

TSB Current account - 5%

Nationwide Current account and regular saver - 5%

Charter 95 day savings account 1.9%

Etc, etc
Information readily available on the banking & savings section of the main site.

eskbanker

Make sure you're using one of the government first time buyer schemes to get 25% free money, either Help To Buy or Lifetime ISAs.

This is rightly shown as the top of the priorities in the savings fountain model at https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/which-saving-account/

Squirrelz92

eskbanker wrote: »

Make sure you're using one of the government first time buyer schemes to get 25% free money, either Help To Buy or Lifetime ISAs.

I did look at this option as it certainly seems like a good deal. However, you can only place a certain amount of money into it per month. I think its £200 max. I will be wanting to place around £600 into my savings every month hence why I am unsure as to which account to use/go for.

Squirrelz92

Alice_Holt wrote: »

Marcus - 1.5% instant access.

TSB Current account - 5%

Nationwide Current account and regular saver - 5%

Charter 95 day savings account 1.9%

Etc, etc
Information readily available on the banking & savings section of the main site.

I have only ever banked with Halifax so I am unsure as to how to go about potentially moving my savings to another bank. With these sorts of interest rates offered, I presume there must be a max amount per month you can stow away? This looks as though it is going to be my main problem as I will be looking to put away around £600 a month ontop of what I already have saved.

xylophone

I did look at this option as it certainly seems like a good deal. However, you can only place a certain amount of money into it per month. I think its £200 max. I will be wanting to place around £600 into my savings every month hence why I am unsure as to which account to use/go for.

Are you eligible for LISA?

You can contribute £4000 a year.

See https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/lifetime-isas/

Zero_Sum

Stick £500 in each of ratesetter & kufflink to get signing up bonus.
15% on £1k for a year

Squirrelz92

xylophone wrote: »

Are you eligible for LISA?

You can contribute £4000 a year.

Yes I do believe I meet the criteria for the LISA, but again I am limited to the £4000 per annum. I am wondering whether it might be worth separating all of my savings into multiple accounts such as as the LISA, ISA etc so in a years time I can collect it all back up with the added interest. Unless that's illegal...sounds bad :rotfl:

binaryuniverse

gemmacampbell2019 wrote: »

Yes I do believe I meet the criteria for the LISA, but again I am limited to the £4000 per annum. I am wondering whether it might be worth separating all of my savings into multiple accounts such as as the LISA, ISA etc so in a years time I can collect it all back up with the added interest. Unless that's illegal...sounds bad :rotfl:

Not illegal at all, and it's exactly what I do. All my cash is divided up in to various bank accounts/regular savers/LISA etc. With the LISA being the final resting place for £4000 a year. Any excess is left in the higher interest accounts.

Making use of regular savers is a great way to generate a lot of interest on your cash, before you stick it in the LISA.

Squirrelz92

binaryuniverse wrote: »

Not illegal at all, and it's exactly what I do. All my cash is divided up in to various bank accounts/regular savers/LISA etc. With the LISA being the final resting place for £4000 a year. Any excess is left in the higher interest accounts.

Making use of regular savers is a great way to generate a lot of interest on your cash, before you stick it in the LISA.

Sounds silly but how on earth do you manage to keep track of all your saving accounts, especially with them being with different banks? :rotfl: I am wanting to make the most of my money but with no experience of working out the best options for the amount of money I have, I am clueless and would hate to make a mistake that would cost me dearly in the near future.