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83 yr old needing advice

L9XSS
Posts: 438 Forumite


My mum, wants to invest £40,000 but isn’t PC/tablet savvy.
ive invested a small sum of my own into NSI 1.16% and monthly income but it’s online.
ideally she would like monthly income and reasonable access to the lump sum (if required). Thanks in advance.
ive invested a small sum of my own into NSI 1.16% and monthly income but it’s online.
ideally she would like monthly income and reasonable access to the lump sum (if required). Thanks in advance.
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Comments
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NS&I income bonds pay monthly interest into a designated bank account, so once set up that would run automatically every month without needing to touch a PC/tablet and therefore satisfy that requirement.As for 'reasonable' access to the lump sum, would she be happy for you to do that for her as necessary?1
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Currently IMO she is not going to get much of a monthly income on £40K as interest rates are so low. How much is she wanting?
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Premium Bonds perhaps?
The income isn't guaranteed but the 'average luck' annual return on £40K would be about £500 (1.25%, tax-free), which would typically be expected to be paid out across most, but not all, months, and they can be bought by post for those choosing not to do so online.2 -
Your mum could give you power of attorney; then you could do the online stuff for her.
It would be wise for her to arrange LPA while she still has capacity to do so.6 -
L9XSS said:My mum, wants to invest £40,000 but isn’t PC/tablet savvy.
ive invested a small sum of my own into NSI 1.16% and monthly income but it’s online.
ideally she would like monthly income and reasonable access to the lump sum (if required). Thanks in advance.
If your mother requires a safe place for her capital and a monthly income, she can do the same as you have done.
https://www.nsandi.com/income-bondsYou can:
- apply for, and manage, an Income Bonds account online, by phone or by post
- open an account with at least £500, paid by a debit card or personal cheque drawn on a UK bank account in your name
- hold up to a total of £1 million per person in Income Bonds accounts
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The options are limited in terms of account types and interest rates if she doesn't want to open it online. And some institutions that have accounts that ordinarily can be operated offline aren't currently taking new paper-based applications, given the problems of lockdown - for example, the NS&I Income Bonds that you and xylophone mention above, or premium bonds, would usually accept paper applications but at the moment are only generally doing them online because they want to reduce the volume of paper processing to a level that they can handle. If you click to access the normal paper application forms to get them, they say that the service isn't available at the moment.
One option if she doesn't want to bank online is for you to operate the account under a power of attorney, which would open up the options a little, but interest rates are pretty low at the moment and many good instant access accounts are paying something like half a percent less than NS&I's 1.16%, if that.
If she is willing to give you a power of attorney, actually that does open up the opportunity to use NS&I monthly Income Bonds, because although the normal paper-based application forms are not available (https://www.nsandi.com/downloads-and-forms) you can click into 'applying on behalf of somebody else' at that link and find the "Income Bonds application form for an attorney, receiver or deputy" and send it off with your PoA or certified copy of it. She would then have an income bond account that could be funded with a cheque from her own account, would pay monthly income to her bank account, and the only wrinkle would be that if she wanted to make a withdrawal to her bank, the request would come from you operating the account under the PoA.
If she wanted to run it all herself (but not go online) one of the best paying accounts will still be with NS&I. Their "Investment Account" described at https://www.nsandi.com/investment-account is post-only, so they haven't turned off the ability to operate that one by post, despite the lockdown problems with handling mail. It pays 0.8% and can be funded by cheque, and withdrawals don't have penalty, so she has 'reasonable access' which fulfils that part of the brief. The access won't be as convenient as walking down her highstreet to a bank whenever she feels like it, as it's a postal account - but the highstreet banks might only pay her a couple of hundred pounds less in interest per year on her £40k.
The Investment account does not meet her preference for 'ideally she would like monthly income', as it simply credits whatever interest has accrued into the NS&I account once a year on 1 January. However, at 0.8% the interest on £40k is going to be £320 a year. Presumably if she already has forty thousand quid, and the interest only amounts to a little less than £27 a month, there is no major reason why she needs to have £27 arrive in her bank account each month. If she thinks she will really need that (e.g.) £160 of spending money over the next six months or so, simply hold back £160 in her bank account and make the initial deposit £39840 instead of £40000. She will still earn very nearly the same amount of interest, give or take a pound over the six months. After six months is up, she can decide if she wants to access more money and withdraw some, if required.
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for example, the NS&I Income Bonds that you and xylophone mention above, or premium bonds, would usually accept paper applications but at the moment are only generally doing them online because they want to reduce the volume of paper processing to a level that they can handle. If you click to access the normal paper application forms to get them, they say that the service isn't available at the moment.
Is the telephone option available (albeit with a queue)?
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bowlhead99 said:The options are limited in terms of account types and interest rates if she doesn't want to open it online. And some institutions that have accounts that ordinarily can be operated offline aren't currently taking new paper-based applications, given the problems of lockdown - for example, the NS&I Income Bonds that you and xylophone mention above, or premium bonds, would usually accept paper applications but at the moment are only generally doing them online because they want to reduce the volume of paper processing to a level that they can handle. If you click to access the normal paper application forms to get them, they say that the service isn't available at the moment.
One option if she doesn't want to bank online is for you to operate the account under a power of attorney, which would open up the options a little, but interest rates are pretty low at the moment and many good instant access accounts are paying something like half a percent less than NS&I's 1.16%, if that.
If she is willing to give you a power of attorney, actually that does open up the opportunity to use NS&I monthly Income Bonds, because although the normal paper-based application forms are not available (https://www.nsandi.com/downloads-and-forms) you can click into 'applying on behalf of somebody else' at that link and find the "Income Bonds application form for an attorney, receiver or deputy" and send it off with your PoA or certified copy of it. She would then have an income bond account that could be funded with a cheque from her own account, would pay monthly income to her bank account, and the only wrinkle would be that if she wanted to make a withdrawal to her bank, the request would come from you operating the account under the PoA.
If she wanted to run it all herself (but not go online) one of the best paying accounts will still be with NS&I. Their "Investment Account" described at https://www.nsandi.com/investment-account is post-only, so they haven't turned off the ability to operate that one by post, despite the lockdown problems with handling mail. It pays 0.8% and can be funded by cheque, and withdrawals don't have penalty, so she has 'reasonable access' which fulfils that part of the brief. The access won't be as convenient as walking down her highstreet to a bank whenever she feels like it, as it's a postal account - but the highstreet banks might only pay her a couple of hundred pounds less in interest per year on her £40k.
The Investment account does not meet her preference for 'ideally she would like monthly income', as it simply credits whatever interest has accrued into the NS&I account once a year on 1 January. However, at 0.8% the interest on £40k is going to be £320 a year. Presumably if she already has forty thousand quid, and the interest only amounts to a little less than £27 a month, there is no major reason why she needs to have £27 arrive in her bank account each month. If she thinks she will really need that (e.g.) £160 of spending money over the next six months or so, simply hold back £160 in her bank account and make the initial deposit £39840 instead of £40000. She will still earn very nearly the same amount of interest, give or take a pound over the six months. After six months is up, she can decide if she wants to access more money and withdraw some, if required.
It was first cheque I have written in about 10 years....1 -
123mat123 said:bowlhead99 said:The options are limited in terms of account types and interest rates if she doesn't want to open it online. And some institutions that have accounts that ordinarily can be operated offline aren't currently taking new paper-based applications, given the problems of lockdown - for example, the NS&I Income Bonds that you and xylophone mention above, or premium bonds, would usually accept paper applications but at the moment are only generally doing them online because they want to reduce the volume of paper processing to a level that they can handle. If you click to access the normal paper application forms to get them, they say that the service isn't available at the moment.
One option if she doesn't want to bank online is for you to operate the account under a power of attorney, which would open up the options a little, but interest rates are pretty low at the moment and many good instant access accounts are paying something like half a percent less than NS&I's 1.16%, if that.
If she is willing to give you a power of attorney, actually that does open up the opportunity to use NS&I monthly Income Bonds, because although the normal paper-based application forms are not available (https://www.nsandi.com/downloads-and-forms) you can click into 'applying on behalf of somebody else' at that link and find the "Income Bonds application form for an attorney, receiver or deputy" and send it off with your PoA or certified copy of it. She would then have an income bond account that could be funded with a cheque from her own account, would pay monthly income to her bank account, and the only wrinkle would be that if she wanted to make a withdrawal to her bank, the request would come from you operating the account under the PoA.
If she wanted to run it all herself (but not go online) one of the best paying accounts will still be with NS&I. Their "Investment Account" described at https://www.nsandi.com/investment-account is post-only, so they haven't turned off the ability to operate that one by post, despite the lockdown problems with handling mail. It pays 0.8% and can be funded by cheque, and withdrawals don't have penalty, so she has 'reasonable access' which fulfils that part of the brief. The access won't be as convenient as walking down her highstreet to a bank whenever she feels like it, as it's a postal account - but the highstreet banks might only pay her a couple of hundred pounds less in interest per year on her £40k.
The Investment account does not meet her preference for 'ideally she would like monthly income', as it simply credits whatever interest has accrued into the NS&I account once a year on 1 January. However, at 0.8% the interest on £40k is going to be £320 a year. Presumably if she already has forty thousand quid, and the interest only amounts to a little less than £27 a month, there is no major reason why she needs to have £27 arrive in her bank account each month. If she thinks she will really need that (e.g.) £160 of spending money over the next six months or so, simply hold back £160 in her bank account and make the initial deposit £39840 instead of £40000. She will still earn very nearly the same amount of interest, give or take a pound over the six months. After six months is up, she can decide if she wants to access more money and withdraw some, if required.
It was first cheque I have written in about 10 years....
"Investment account" is the one with no online alternative (and doesn't describe itself as 'savings bonds'), but the ones with online alternatives pay higher rates.1 -
Bowlhead, it was "income Bonds" - I couldn't see any obvious way to open on-line, and assumed it was due to NS&I being old fashioned and behind the times. Seemed odd to have to provide bank details on the account which cheque was drawn - as they are printed on the cheque, but again, it's NS&I, never an organisation one can accuse of being modern or efficient...
I downloaded and applied by post yesterday.
(Edit - just relooked and it seems you can open this product on-line, but this wasn't obvious to me by the way the site led me to opening the account...)0
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