Best Easy Access Account For £25,000.

JohnAnt

Many thanks KeithEssex, SpinnerB et al. In fact I do have the 350 with Northern Rock, so it should be protected (that was one of my concerns). Originally it was intended to be a temporary deposit to throw up enough monthly interest to pay the rent while I looked for a new property after selling last year, but as prices fall I'm less keen to buy right now, and don't have to, but I do need to protect my investment from the inflationary effect of falling interest rates, as you rightly point out. So maybe I'll keep 20K or so in a high interest easy access account (to pay the rent and leave a bit over), and put the rest in a high-interest one year bond - or in an Income fund, using my CGT exemption allowance. I've been cautious about tying it up in case the property market suddenly recovered, but there's less chance of that happening in the next 12 months (I do also have quite a lot of equity ISA funds, and as I'm virtually retired there's a limit to any further market exposure I want to have right now.

Yes, IFAs. I've had some poor experiences with IFAs over the years - poor recommendations, no proper advice when the markets changed, no proper overview of tax and changing tax laws. I prefer to do my own investment research, and it's worked out well so far, but maybe a one off payment might get better IFA advice for this particular chunk of capital. I'll explore that avenue.