A little amount to invest help please

mcqueen_2

I am a pensioner 66 years old with £5000 cash to invest plus £200 per month.
I have no other savings, isa etc. Can someone please suggest how I should invest this. I have no real need to access this funds in the short term

Thank you

a11waysindebt

Hi,
Welcome to the boards,First of all I know your asking for help but please do not give your address or any other personal details on this forum.

The easiest way I can think is selling on an auction site,You will have to do your homework though.

Your sales could be priced on percentage, which will give you a better and safer return than it just sitting in the bank.

CLAPTON

mcqueen wrote: »

I am a pensioner 66 years old with £5000 cash to invest plus £200 per month.
I have no other savings, isa etc. Can someone please suggest how I should invest this. I have no real need to access this funds in the short term

Thank you

Invest usually means buying stocks and shares.

If you have no other savings then I would suggest

3000 in a cash ISA
2000 either in government Index linked saving certificates (tax free and linked to inflation rate)
or a high interest saving a/c


with the 200 per month I would suggest a regular saving a/c ... if your bank does a good one them maybe there or something like the Yorkshire BS which has a regular saver requiring 10-500 per month and pays 6.85%

a11waysindebt

If the op was at a younger age yes.But at 66.

Toe to toe the percentage sales allways win hands down.Giving 30 to 40% per sale.

You have little or no risk off loosing any cash.

dunstonh

66 is not old. Just because you get to retirement it doenst mean you should stop investing. Your risk profile and aims may be different but there are investment options to suit that and it doesnt mean you should not involve the stockmarket.

ryan07

i would suggest that you invest the 5000 in property and the rest 200 per month you should invest in stocks.. you can join a good brokerage firm... which will guide you well..

Aegis

ryan07 wrote: »

i would suggest that you invest the 5000 in property

What?? Why?? Property's currently looking very shaky indeed, why would you suggest investing the entire lump sum into that sector? It would be a lot better to diversify, assuming the OP even wants to risk his capital.

Nomad25

a11waysindebt: sorry, I'm baffled -I dont understand your replies to OP, am I missing something?

mcqueen_2

Thanks for the replies but I must be having a senior moment or two and am a little confused by some of the suggestions. Could someone please help with an easy to understand suggestion

Thank you again

jamesd

mcqueen, are you willing to accept a decrease in value due to changes in stock prices, assuming that eventually the value will recover? If yes, would you accept a 10% drop? 30%, 50%? Are you familiar and comfortable with unit trust or stock market investing? Do you rely on pension credits for your income? Do you have an income below about 9,000 a year? Do you have an income from all sources of above 21,000 a year? Each of these could indicate that different options are more or less suitable for you.

If you will not accept any drop at all the safe options are cash ISA and regular saver accounts. Cash ISA up to the 3,000 annual limit for this year then add another 2,000 of the 3,600 limit that applies next year. Regular saver for the monthly money then transfer most of it to the cash ISA once the end of the regular saver term is reached.

A bit more risky is corporate bonds inside a stocks and shares ISA and that's a reasonably safe option with some low loss potential (maybe up to 10% drop). If you're cautious you'd use these just for the money that exceeds the cash ISA limit.

King_Weasel

mcqueen, we're all confused by allwaysindebt here, who must be answering a different question.

I'm not a qualified financial adviser, so you should judge my comments accordingly.

You say you have £5000 to invest, but also say you have no other savings or isas.
May I suggest that you have £5000 to save but not to invest? Investment, whether in shares, property, bonds, commodities etc, entails a degree of risk. Savings means money that will always be there, though a bad choice could mean its value rises more slowly than prices. Of course I only know what you've told us but pretty well everybody needs some cash that they can use in emergency or to exploit an unforeseen opportunity.

So I recommend you save rather than invest the £5000. The obvious choice is some form of cash ISA - £3000 now (the maximum) and £2000 after April 5.

Your next choice is between instant access ISAs, notice ISAs (eg 3 months) and term ISAs (where you tie the money up for a year or more).

On instant access ISAs you could pick either an ISA boosted by a temporary interest rate bonus or an ISA with a good underlying rate (preferably one that guarantees to stay ahead of the Bank of England rate for a year or two). With the bonus rate ISAs you should be prepared to switch to a better provider after the bonus finishes. I'm not abreast of latest offers so I can't make any specific recommendations.

Regular savings schemes that CLAPTON also suggests are fine, but you should remember that after April 5 you will be able to add another £1600 to the £2000 in that second ISA.

Hope I haven't confused you further.

King Weasel