Help with investing £55000

lucylou

Hi, I wonder if anyone can help please?I have £55000 which I need to save as I would like to get the best interest on it asap.I have already filled my ISA.Is it better to open a few regular saving accounts with different banks ?thanks for helping;)

KiKi

Hi Lucy

If you only want to save it, and not invest it, then I would put the whole lot into a high interest savings account (look at Martin's article in the Savings section for the best one).

Then, I would open a regular savings account (one where you put in, for example, £500 a month) which has a higher interest rate than a normal savings account, and pay in the maximum you can pay each month to get the most interest there where possible.

Of course, you can put £3600 in your cash ISA again in April.

The other way to make the absolute most of it, is if you have a flexible mortgage which allows you to offset savings. I have £xx savings which I keep in an 'offset savings' pot. I therefore don't pay interest on £xx amount in my mortgage. Each month the savings I make on my mortgage through not paying that interest get credited to my offset pot. It effectively acts as a tax-free savings account at your mortgage rate.

I have no experience in investing at all, so I can only post about what I'd do in terms of saving!

HTH
KiKi

dunstonh

Can you clarify if you want to invest or save?

You say invest in the title but then say save in your post and mention interest which would suggest savings options.

ccluedo

KiKi wrote: »

Of course, you can put £3600 in your cash ISA again in April.

KiKi

£3600? I thought cash ISA's were limited to 3k?

jem16

The allowance goes up in April 2008 to £3600 for cash ISAs.

The_Economist

You can stash £4000 in a stocks and shares ISA as well as putting money in a cash ISA. Also if you are risk adverse some banks offer tax efficient bonds as far as i know.

lucylou

Thanks for all the replies.I meant save not invest sorry I made a mistake.I would like to gett he max interest out of my money stashing it away for a year without touching it.I will definetly put £ 3.600 in my ISA in april.Do you think I should open different savings account into different bankks and then open a regular saving account?

Jonbvn

Think about putting some money into index linked savings certs (if you are a tax payer). They are tax-free, and you must keep them for a minimum of 1 year to get any interest.