Savings/investment HELP

Apeandguy

Hi all,  I have a spare £10k sitting in a Santander current account.  

What is the best thing to do with it?   I hopefully won't need to touch it for the next 5 years+.   

I'm 51 and have no ISAs and 3 very small private pensions from previous jobs etc..

How can I save/move/invest this to give me the best return?

Any advice would be much appreciated.   Many thanks

El_Torro

The first thing to decide is whether you want to save or invest. Investing will probably give you a better return over the long term, though investment returns are volatile and depending on when you withdraw the money you might get back less than you put in. 

If you're investing then a Stocks & Shares ISA makes sense, you can put the whole £10k in straight away, since the amount you're allowed to put in an ISA every tax year is £20k. A pension is more tax efficient than an ISA though less flexible on when and how you can take the money out. 

If you want to save the money rather than invest it then it's a case of finding the best interest rate and sticking it there. Cash ISAs are good for this. Currently there are some Cash ISAs with good interest rates. Sometimes it's better to put the money in a savings account (not ISA) and pay tax on all or some of the interest, however last time I checked Cash ISAs were pretty competitive when compared to savings accounts.

You can even use regular savers, some of them offer 7% interest. This will give you a better return than using a savings account though requires some admin and juggling money around.

Yorkie1

There is a helpful flowchart which hopefully someone will be able to post a link to, which helps you think through various priorities.

It is usually suggested that you should have 3-6 months' expenses readily available in cash funds. 

eskbanker

Yorkie1 said:

There is a helpful flowchart which hopefully someone will be able to post a link to, which helps you think through various priorities.

It is usually suggested that you should have 3-6 months' expenses readily available in cash funds. 

The Flowchart - UKPersonalFinance Wiki

saverkev

I would consider putting some or all into a SIPP or added onto one of your private pensions - you would be able to withdraw if really necessary from age 55 (or 57 from April 2028) 

Beddie

That sounds to me like it's your emergency fund. Stick it in an instant access ISA account in case you need it at any point.

https://moneyfactscompare.co.uk/isa/easy-access-cash-isas/?quick-links-first=false&product-favorites-first=false&sort-order=AER&sort-order-text=Rate

Apeandguy

Beddie said:

That sounds to me like it's your emergency fund. Stick it in an instant access ISA account in case you need it at any point.

https://moneyfactscompare.co.uk/isa/easy-access-cash-isas/?quick-links-first=false&product-favorites-first=false&sort-order=AER&sort-order-text=Rate

No sorry,  so I have £15k in a Santander savings account (making me nothing).   So I was looking to move £10k into an ISA/savings account with a decent interest rate to at least earn a little on it,  but I CBA to keep moving it around for a few extra £££.   Any ideas??  

eskbanker

Apeandguy said:

Beddie said:

That sounds to me like it's your emergency fund. Stick it in an instant access ISA account in case you need it at any point.

https://moneyfactscompare.co.uk/isa/easy-access-cash-isas/?quick-links-first=false&product-favorites-first=false&sort-order=AER&sort-order-text=Rate

No sorry,  so I have £15k in a Santander savings account (making me nothing).   So I was looking to move £10k into an ISA/savings account with a decent interest rate to at least earn a little on it,  but I CBA to keep moving it around for a few extra £££.   Any ideas??  

If you have a spare £10K in a current account and £15K in a rubbish savings account then you could just put all £25K into a market-leading easy access savings account for simplicity and ease of management, but if you want to "save/move/invest this to give me the best return" (your original steer) then chances are you could beat those sort of returns with a bit more effort, including pension contributions, regular savers, etc.

LHW99

Or put £20k into an easy access ISA now (if you haven't made any ISA contributions yet this year). That will

a) give you a change to make further ISA contributions next year or use any extra cash next year for additional pension contributions

b) allow you to split the ISA £20k at some future point, by opening either an S&S ISA or a fixed rate cash ISA (1 year or longer) and asking the new company to part transfer from your easy access ISA. So you could eg keep £10k on easy access and have £10k on a 1 or more year fix, or S&S, ISA.

moneysaver9099

If you're talking about the best return then right now there's a dip in the US markets. You could put this into a S&S ISA and wait for it to go back up. Having said this there's always a risk with S&S so you may be better putting it into a cash ISA as others have suggested to ensure the money is safe.