Where to put our £75k savings as first time buyers?

EmCass

Hello Forum

Me and my partner have just over £75,000.00 in a standard joint savings account (0.1% interest). We're both first time buyers and have Help to Buy ISA's open (with £5.00 in each) which we haven't moved our money into because as far as we understand, this wouldn't benefit us because we are likely to buy a property that is £375k+ (just outside of London).

It is possible that we will not buy anything until late 2021, but we are completely clueless on what to do with our money - do we leave it in the joint savings account or is there a better strategy that we aren't aware of?

Any advice is welcomed.
Thank you.

Alexland

A cash https://www.gov.uk/lifetime-isa each if under 40 and can wait 12 months?

eskbanker

It certainly doesn't make any sense to leave money in a 0.1% account, so shift it out of there sooner rather than later!  As above, a pair of Lifetime ISAs are likely to be worth doing if you won't be buying for at least a year, and other suggestions are at https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/which-saving-account/.  Premium Bonds are also worth considering, as they compare well with easy access savings now....

grumiofoundation

I third the suggestion of 2 x lifetime ISAs. 

Alexland

If you each add £4k into LISAs this tax year then another £4k each next tax year (from 6th April 2021) then you will have wrapped £16k into LISAs by the time you buy in over 12 months time and received £4k in bonuses which is an over a 5% return on your £75k plus whatever interest/return you can get on the LISA and sticking the rest in cash savings or premium bond accounts (timescales much too short to consider S&S investing) so overall probably around 6% return. Read the LISA terms carefully as early withdrawal penalties can apply if you need access to the money for anything other than a qualifying property purchase or from age 60.

EmCass

Hi all - this is super helpful! Thank you for taking the time to explain this, it's much appreciated.