Where to put a large amount of money?

AzorAhai

I am not confident about where to put a large sum. I currently have a cheque written out for a large amount of money and no idea where to put it. I am with Halifax bank, but not sure whether to just place some in my current account and a separate savings account with them.

I was considering Santander to open an account, but really not sure. I have never had a large sum of money before so knowing what to do with it is a bit of a headache. Any advice would be great.

redpete

You'd have to give bit more information. How much is it (people hve different ideas about what counts as a 'large amount'). What will you eventually want to do ith the money and when? Would you be prepared to take any risks with the money (capital or interest)?

george4064

Deposit it into your main bank account and then have a thorough read of this page to ascertain which saving account(s) you'd like to open to earn more interest: https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/savings-accounts-best-interest

If you can afford to lock the money away for 10 years plus, then think about investing in the stuck market via globally diversified multi asset funds.

Sea_Shell

Is it over £85,000?. If so, unless it's from the sale of a house or an inheritance etc. you'd be best to spread it around multiple financial institutions for FSCS protection in the first instance whilst you make long term plans for the money.

Or put the lot into NS&I for the time being.

AzorAhai

redpete wrote: »

You'd have to give bit more information. How much is it (people hve different ideas about what counts as a 'large amount'). What will you eventually want to do ith the money and when? Would you be prepared to take any risks with the money (capital or interest)?

It's £45k. I don't entirely know what I will use it for. It is inheritance which I never expected to receive, so I'm kind of debating what to do with it which would be in my best interests. I would like to save a good amount of it, maybe £30/35k and keep the rest in case of a rainy day. I'm not sure I would want to take risks which wouldn't be favourable. I certainly don't want to waste it now I have it.

DrSyn

As you say you do not want to take any risks with the money, this means savings and not investing.

The safest place to put your money is into NS&I. This is backed by the UK government, which so far has always paid its debts.

https://www.nsandi.com/

The next safest is a bank or building society account covered by the FSCS. As this protection is up to £85k at present, you should be covered.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/

PS. If you save in a Cash ISA, you avoid paying tax. This years Cash ISA limit is £20k.
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/isas/


The only safe Bonds are those in a bank or building society which is covered by the FSCS up to £85k. Any other bonds will not have this protection, no matter what the advertisement implies.

Rule of thumb:

Look up the best 5 year fixed rate which is at present 2.75%. If any Bond promises to pay more than this, STAY AWAY.

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/article-1621507/Best-savings-rates-Fixed-rate-accounts.html

cisamcgu

Safest place is National Savings and Investments (NS&I) - basically you are lending money to the government, and if they cannot pay you back then we have a LOT more things to worry about then (zombie apocalypse anyone ?)

e.g.
Premium Bonds
Income Bonds
Saving accounts

None pay much interest though - 1-1.5% or there about.

To get the best return you need to start to juggle multiple current accounts, moving money in and out - a bit of a flaff in my opinion, but your mileage may vary, as they say

Anything "invested" in stocks/shares/funds etc.. has a higher risk, but (hopefully) a higher return - I will leave it to people more informed to explain it

Thanks
Andrew

MaxiRobriguez

How old are you, do you own your own home yet and what is your pension provisioning looking like currently?

The answer to what to do with £45k will largely depend on where you stand with those three things.

It'd be good to know your family situation too. Is your partner/spouse working? What savings do they have? Do you have children?