£1k that I’m happy to lock away for a year or more

Alex.T

Hi everyone. I’m looking for some helpful advice regarding some investing or interest earning on a sum of £1k that I’ve managed to put away over the last year. My plan is to do £2k next year, £3k on third year and so on up until 5 years. I’m open to ideas of putting it all in one investment, or different ones year.

So I’m wondering if anyone would have any ideas and advice as to what I should be looking to put some money into. 

Thanks for your help. 

eskbanker

Difficult to offer anything particularly specific in the absence of any meaningful detail about your financial circumstances and when you're likely to need the money, but you could do worse than starting at https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/which-saving-account/

Swoosh84

If you are an RBS or Natwest customer you can open one of their digital saver account, this offers 3% interest on balances up to 1k. Despite what the literature says on their website, you can pay the full 1k into the account month 1 and earn the 3% interest straight away.

For investing, you are ideally looking to lock the cash away for 5-10 years as a minimum.

J

jimjames

Unlikely you'll find an account paying more than the 2% you can get on £1000 with Virgin money. For the next year 3% with the digital saver would work. Or vice versa and start with that if you can pay in one go

El_Torro

Another vote for a Virgin Money Current Account. You can have up to 3 current accounts with them so a return of 2.02% annually is pretty good in the current market. This will cover 3 years worth of your savings.

You can make more by investing, though you'll need to be flexible on when you access the money (i.e. don't sell when markets drop) and you need to invest sensibly as well. Invest badly and there's a good chance you'll end up with less money than what you started with.

Alex.T

Thanks guys. I have a five year plan for saving some money. £1k a year seemed pretty easy, and I’m happy to lock it away if I have to. 

I’m currently earning 3% on £2k in each of our children’s Santander Mini accounts, but that money is accessible straight away and we may have stuff earmarked for it this year. 

I’m interested in learning about investments and potentially even cryptocurrency with the first £1k, and pending how that goes looking at doing the same in the following years. 

Zanderman

Swoosh84 said:

If you are an RBS or Natwest customer you can open one of their digital saver account, this offers 3% interest on balances up to 1k. Despite what the literature says on their website, you can pay the full 1k into the account month 1 and earn the 3% interest straight away.

Are you sure about that?  It's a regular saver that clearly states £50 max per month and also clearly states that whilst you can add money within the month the total cannot exceed £50 per month.

If you have put in £1000 from the start then you've breached the t&c of the account big time and, I'd guess, you're unlikely to be paid 3% on that £1000 at the end of the year.   Just paying in £1000 doesn't mean you'll get the interest on £1000 - the max interest the account can generate (in the first year), according to the t&c, is £9.88, based on 12 x £50 over 12 months.  
  
Do you have firm evidence otherwise?  Genuinely curious!

swaledale_one

Swoosh84 said:

If you are an RBS or Natwest customer you can open one of their digital saver account, this offers 3% interest on balances up to 1k. Despite what the literature says on their website, you can pay the full 1k into the account month 1 and earn the 3% interest straight away.

For investing, you are ideally looking to lock the cash away for 5-10 years as a minimum.

J

How do you go about putting in the £1k in month 1 when the t+cs say if you pay more in than £50 a month they close the account.  Do you do the transfer the whole amount in a oner once its open? Or during application?

Swoosh84

@Zanderman @swaledale_one - Might breach their T&C's but they don't seem to care. Actually got this advice on this forum from another user.

Bottom line, I opened the account, paid in the full 1k and have been receiving the full interest monthly ever since.

Swoosh84

swaledale_one said:

Swoosh84 said:

If you are an RBS or Natwest customer you can open one of their digital saver account, this offers 3% interest on balances up to 1k. Despite what the literature says on their website, you can pay the full 1k into the account month 1 and earn the 3% interest straight away.

For investing, you are ideally looking to lock the cash away for 5-10 years as a minimum.

J

How do you go about putting in the £1k in month 1 when the t+cs say if you pay more in than £50 a month they close the account.  Do you do the transfer the whole amount in a oner once its open? Or during application?

I done it once it was open VIA the app.

swaledale_one

Swoosh84 said:

swaledale_one said:

Swoosh84 said:

If you are an RBS or Natwest customer you can open one of their digital saver account, this offers 3% interest on balances up to 1k. Despite what the literature says on their website, you can pay the full 1k into the account month 1 and earn the 3% interest straight away.

For investing, you are ideally looking to lock the cash away for 5-10 years as a minimum.

J

How do you go about putting in the £1k in month 1 when the t+cs say if you pay more in than £50 a month they close the account.  Do you do the transfer the whole amount in a oner once its open? Or during application?

I done it once it was open VIA the app.

Ah so you went into your natwest app and transferred the full amount from your current account straight into the savings account...I'll give it a go thanks.