What's the best thing I can do with £40k savings (may buy a house in a year)

bp5678

I'm 25 years old and have been living with my parents since graduating uni in summer 2016. So for the last nearly 4 years I've managed to save £40k.
I'm looking to move out & buy my first home although I've been saying this for at least a year and not got anywhere! As I say, in a year's time I'd like to have my own place but there's a possibility I'll still be living here and nothing changed in 1 year. At least living with my parents allows me to save £1.1k a month.

The £40k I have saved up is in a LISA and Help To Buy (I use this as a savings account basically but will move it into the LISA when it comes to buying). I then have most of my money in my Marcus account, although I also have £1.5k in a TSB account for the interest, as well as an HSBC monthly saver and M&S bank monthly saver. I did utilise the Nationwide FlexDirect interest rate but have had an account for over a year so the interest has dropped. So in essence, I have lots of bank accounts to maximise my interest.

However with everything going on in the world, interest rates are dropping. I know the general consensus is to only look into investments like stocks and shares if I plan to keep my money in there for the long term. As I say I could be moving out in 1 year but I don't know what the future holds. In 3 years time I may look back at this and have only just moved out (or perhaps I may even be renting).

Should I stick with what I'm doing currently or is there something else I should be doing in the current economical/financial situation?

EdGasketTheSecond

National savings. Premium bonds return 1.3 % average

Thrugelmir

If the money isn't required immediately. Consider depositing it into a series of fixed term accounts. Shopping around may boost your savings a little. 
With regards to investments avoid, in terms of using same to save for a house deposit. The crisis now is an illustration of how quickly markets can turn when the mood turns sour. This time it's a virus. Triggers can be for any number of reasons. 

snowqueen555

I had mine in a 1 year fixed rate saver, but the rates are terrible now. It is is just a year before you buy, keep it in the highest paying interest account you can find.

Sebo027

If you want to use the money for a house and keep your cash readily accessible, stick with what you are doing. You are already shopping around to get the best interest rates and seem willing to do the extra administration to maximize your interest on ISAs and bank accounts. With everything going on, it would seem unwise to enter the stock market now if you're looking to use that money to buy a house in the next year. Exception given for battle scarred investors and seasoned stock market traders, of course. 

blinko

What kind of time frame are you looking at buying the house , investing the cash for ?
ironically now is a very good time to put money in to the stock market

Thrugelmir

blinko said:

What kind of time frame are you looking at buying the house , investing the cash for ?
ironically now is a very good time to put money in to the stock market

If you like playing roulette. 

badger09

OP, if timescale for house purchase is more than 1 year, you could also look at the current accounts with linked regular savers paying 2.75% (First Direct, HSBC Advance, M&S). Perhaps grab a switching bonus at the same time and drip feed into the regular savers.
Coventry BS has a standalone Regular Saver (iss 2) paying 2.5% on up to £500pm and Virgin one paying 2%. As Virgin  release further issues, you can open additional reg savers. These are instant access.
There may be others