Where to begin?

mab9418

Hi,

Apologies if this is in the wrong forum, I'm new to the site!

I'm wanting my money to do more than just sit in a bank account doing nothing, but all the various options are quite overwhleming.

Currently, my money is with Natwest in various accounts. I have a current account with ~£10K which earns no interest. I also have a Savings account (~£30K) with them, which used to earn me good interest but now earns 1.5% (up to 10K) and 0.2% (over 10K). Finally, I have a Help to Buy ISA which pays 2.5% (AER).

I put the £200 into the ISA each month from my current account and £100 a month into the savings account. My current account gets around £12-1500 a month paid in.

From reading around, I think I need to change these accounts! I was told Marcus is a good account. First Direct has a 5% on the regular saver, but I'd need a First Direct current account as well. I'm struggling to work out the best way to move my money into all the right accounts to maximise on the bonues and interest rates.

Given that I don't need instant access to all this money, would it make sense to start putting money into investment accounts? If so which accounts and how am I best to start with this?

Thanks in advance for any help!

[Deleted User]

mab9418 wrote: »

Hi,

Apologies if this is in the wrong forum, I'm new to the site!

I'm wanting my money to do more than just sit in a bank account doing nothing, but all the various options are quite overwhleming.

Currently, my money is with Natwest in various accounts. I have a current account with ~£10K which earns no interest. I also have a Savings account (~£30K) with them, which used to earn me good interest but now earns 1.5% (up to 10K) and 0.2% (over 10K). Finally, I have a Help to Buy ISA which pays 2.5% (AER).

I put the £200 into the ISA each month from my current account and £100 a month into the savings account. My current account gets around £12-1500 a month paid in.

From reading around, I think I need to change these accounts! I was told Marcus is a good account. First Direct has a 5% on the regular saver, but I'd need a First Direct current account as well. I'm struggling to work out the best way to move my money into all the right accounts to maximise on the bonues and interest rates.

Given that I don't need instant access to all this money, would it make sense to start putting money into investment accounts? If so which accounts and how am I best to start with this?

Thanks in advance for any help!

Hi i was in exactly the same situation and still looking for other ways to invest. I moved my current account and opened a savings account also to take advantage of the 5% interest offer. However I was able to open a current account with nationwide flex direct without having to close my old current account but when I opened my HSBC account I did have to close my old account (I didn't realise this or I didn't read the small-print until after the account was being processed!) I opened a post office savings account which gives me 1.45% for the 1st year. I'm not familiar with Marcus but I hear great reports about the bank.

I was going to mention to you to consider opening an ISA but you already have your ISA opened now.

grumiofoundation

If looking to buy a house in >1 year you should look at opening a lifetime ISA (current best rate is 1.4% with Moneybox). (This might be impacted by the amount in your HTB ISA).

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

If you want to maximise interest on smallish amounts nationwide pay 5% on up to 2.5k (for 1 year), TSB 3% on 1.5k.

grumiofoundation

P. S. Don’t know your pension situation but you should at a minimum be maximising any employer contribution.

DrSyn

Just to make sure what you are asking about.

SAVINGS: Your money is safe, you expect to at least take out what you put in. In practice this mean with either,
(a) NS&I, loaning money to the UK government.
(b) Bank/Building Society covered by the FSCS protection (at present up to £85K).


INVESTING: Putting your money at risk. You hope to take out more than you put in, but this is not guaranteed. You should not think of investing if you need the money within 5 years. Think of investing for at least 10 years. The longer the better.

SAFE BONDS LOW RISK BONDS

Will be regulated investments where you can expect to get your money back. You get them from either
(a) NS&I
(b) A bank or building society cover by the FSCS protection.


OTHER BONDS

These will be unregulated investments, where there is the potential loss of all your money. So they should also mention there is risk to your money.

Bond Scams:- Occur in unregulated investments.



Watch Both of these first

http://www.kroijer.com/
https://www.ifa.com/indexfundsthemovie/


Then consider one of these:-

Global Multi-Asset Funds

Vanguard Life Strategy
HSBC Global Strategy
L&G Multi Index Funds
Blackrock Consensus
Architas Passive

These have wide diversification while minimising risk, at low cost.

Vanguard Life Strategy (VLS) seems the most often mentioned.

https://www.vanguardinvestor.co.uk/investing-explained/what-are-lifestrategy-funds?intcmpgn=lifestrategyfunds_learnmore_link

[Deleted User]

DrSyn wrote: »

Just to make sure what you are asking about.

SAVINGS: Your money is safe, you expect to at least take out what you put in. In practice this mean with either,
(a) NS&I, loaning money to the UK government.
(b) Bank/Building Society covered by the FSCS protection (at present up to £85K).


INVESTING: Putting your money at risk. You hope to take out more than you put in, but this is not guaranteed. You should not think of investing if you need the money within 5 years. Think of investing for at least 10 years. The longer the better.

SAFE BONDS LOW RISK BONDS

Will be regulated investments where you can expect to get your money back. You get them from either
(a) NS&I
(b) A bank or building society cover by the FSCS protection.


OTHER BONDS

These will be unregulated investments, where there is the potential loss of all your money. So they should also mention there is risk to your money.

Bond Scams:- Occur in unregulated investments.



Watch Both of these first

http://www.kroijer.com/
https://www.ifa.com/indexfundsthemovie/


Then consider one of these:-

Global Multi-Asset Funds

Vanguard Life Strategy
HSBC Global Strategy
L&G Multi Index Funds
Blackrock Consensus
Architas Passive

These have wide diversification while minimising risk, at low cost.

Vanguard Life Strategy (VLS) seems the most often mentioned.

https://www.vanguardinvestor.co.uk/investing-explained/what-are-lifestrategy-funds?intcmpgn=lifestrategyfunds_learnmore_link

This is very helpful thank you I've watched the Lars Kroijer video.

Would you recommend opening a Vanguard Life Strategy at low risk but I also have an ISA Stocks & Shares account? I wonder would it be wise to have both.
thank you!

bowlhead99

Deleted_User wrote: »

This is very helpful thank you I've watched the Lars Kroijer video.

Would you recommend opening a Vanguard Life Strategy at low risk but I also have an ISA Stocks & Shares account? I wonder would it be wise to have both.
thank you!

An ISA stocks and shares account is a type of tax protected account in which you can hold investments in company shares, funds etc

A Vanguard Lifestrategy is a type of investment fund, which could be held in an ISA account (or a pension account, or a general investment account)

You could think of the ISA accounts, pension accounts and general investment accounts which you get from financial service providers as shopping bags which can hold food and other groceries. Depending where you get the account, sometimes the food and groceries are pre-selected, in other cases you pick them yourself.

The Vanguard fund is something that you might like to have for breakfast, lunch and dinner, which you could put in one of the shopping bags.

Your question is like: "I already have a bag full of groceries. Would it be wise to have both:
(a) a bag full of groceries AND
(b) food for breakfast lunch and dinner?"

If the bag of groceries already contains food for your breakfast, lunch and dinner, then no you don't need to go and get Vanguard's version of breakfast, lunch and dinner.

You are only allowed to load one 'S&S ISA' shopping bag per year. If you like the Vanguard Lifestrategy fund and it is significantly different to what you already have in the S&S ISA bag, then depending where you got your bag, you could perhaps add the Vanguard fund into the bag, or get a different (non-ISA) bag in which to hold the Vanguard Lifestrategy fund.

MaxiRobriguez

If offering advice we need to know more about your situation.

Home-ownership status, remaining mortgage if any, age, married/single, employment status, salary, pension contribution so far... etc.

I know it sounds like a lot of personal information to give on a forum but it's those combination of things that help give clear guidance over what will likely be the most suitable road for you to take.

[Deleted User]

bowlhead99 wrote: »

An ISA stocks and shares account is a type of tax protected account in which you can hold investments in company shares, funds etc

A Vanguard Lifestrategy is a type of investment fund, which could be held in an ISA account (or a pension account, or a general investment account)

You could think of the ISA accounts, pension accounts and general investment accounts which you get from financial service providers as shopping bags which can hold food and other groceries. Depending where you get the account, sometimes the food and groceries are pre-selected, in other cases you pick them yourself.

The Vanguard fund is something that you might like to have for breakfast, lunch and dinner, which you could put in one of the shopping bags.

Your question is like: "I already have a bag full of groceries. Would it be wise to have both:
(a) a bag full of groceries AND
(b) food for breakfast lunch and dinner?"

If the bag of groceries already contains food for your breakfast, lunch and dinner, then no you don't need to go and get Vanguard's version of breakfast, lunch and dinner.

You are only allowed to load one 'S&S ISA' shopping bag per year. If you like the Vanguard Lifestrategy fund and it is significantly different to what you already have in the S&S ISA bag, then depending where you got your bag, you could perhaps add the Vanguard fund into the bag, or get a different (non-ISA) bag in which to hold the Vanguard Lifestrategy fund.

Well... this is an interesting and easy way to explain this! Thank you for taking time and to break that down, I totally understand. Probably won't take this out then and drip feed funds throughout the year to the max. 20k into my S&S ISA for 2020/2021.

[Deleted User]

MaxiRobriguez wrote: »

If offering advice we need to know more about your situation.

Home-ownership status, remaining mortgage if any, age, married/single, employment status, salary, pension contribution so far... etc.

I know it sounds like a lot of personal information to give on a forum but it's those combination of things that help give clear guidance over what will likely be the most suitable road for you to take.

I am a home-owner no mortgage, age 44, married, no children. Employed full time with NHS, approx. 16.3k pa after tax, pension contribution 5.6%