What to do with £10k

rambo43

Hi,

I'm 18 years old and have just finished sixth form, I have built up £10k in savings over the last 2 years. I will be entering full-time employment soon and will probably be able to save around £7/800 per month.

I'm no expert with this stuff, but this is what I have at the moment.

Online Saver Account
Online Bonus Saver Account (Difference?)
Cash e-ISA (Just opened today)
(All with HSBC)

Everything is in the Online Saver right now, but I've just opened a cash e-ISA too.

I've had a look at alot of options - bonds etc but want some user advice too.
I'm not planning on spending the money, I want to save it and have a nice balance in 4-5 years (Hopefully will help me get a house )

Any advice would be appreciated

Many Thanks
:T

[Deleted User]

Generally ISA's are a good place to start:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=401374

You could also consider regular savings accounts:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=608697 and http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=942779

Regular savers are generally a good place for new money e.g. monthly pay cheques however as pointed out in post 5 of the above link...

consider £3k in a 6% easy access account dripping into the 10% account - that's essentially 8% average on the £3k. Which beats most fixed rate products - albeit with a bit more work?

Something to consider when choosing which savings vehicles are best for you.

If you want something with a little less work then Fixed Rate Bonds are a good option:

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/saving-and-banking/best-savings-rate/article.html?in_article_id=431812&in_page_id=50

One other thing you might like to consider is getting a decent instant access savings account:

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/saving-and-banking/best-savings-rate/article.html?in_article_id=394164&in_page_id=50

An overview of your accounts:

Online Saver Account

Comes up under the 'Products No Longer Sold' on HSBCs site.
4.75 AER for £1+
Poor rate, a lot better out there as discussed above.

Online Bonus Saver Account

2.50% AER for £1-50,000
Very poor rate, a lot better out there as discussed above. When taking inflation into account if you put money into this account your savings will actually shrink :eek: See this page:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/1147184319,20969

Cash e-ISA

6.25% AER variable for £1+

Not a bad ISA, decent rate however it is variable so you should be aware this can go up and down.

PasturesNew

If you just want to keep it simple:

Bookmark Martin's pages on savings accounts.
You've got an ISA for now, but next year look at his best cash ISA recommendation
In the meantime, go through his top accounts and pick the best paying one (a couple are paying over 7% for now). Just shovel it all in there.
So each year: investigate the best ISAs; each quarter check your savings are in the best account.

And never have more than £35k in one bank (which won't be an issue for you for a couple of years anyway)

MILLWALLFC

Online Bonus Saver Account pays 5.25% if you make no withdrawls. I just moved mine to Icesave 6.86 but i had to lock it away for 6 months. Also just opened a Birminham Midshires online saver @6.5%.

HSBC new ISA is 6.3% so i doubt you get better elsewhere. I think Barclays do one at 6.5% but you need to have a current accoutn with them.

Baldur

MILLWALLFC wrote: »

I think Barclays do one at 6.5% but you need to have a current accoutn with them.

Barclays Tax Haven ISA dropped to 6.25% AER on May 1st - no Barclays current account is required, but there are a lot of unhappy Barclays ISA customers, judging by this thread.

rambo43

Thanks to all who replied.

How easy is it to open an account with IceSave for example, put money in (Do I just tranfer money from my HSBC online banking to the new account?) for 1 year (I saw the 7.01 one)? Can i do everything online?

I'll max out my ISA with HSBC and have the rest in the online bonus saver (and maybe sign up with one of these other providers once i read up about it all)

MILLWALLFC

Yes you can do all online.

I signed up and you need to put in your Driving licence number or Passport number when signing up. You setup a link account to your HSBC account in case you need to transfer money back and that's all.

They may ask for originals copies but I think they only did that with me as i was transferring some ISA accounts.

You have to put a set amount in and you cannot add to it, however you just open another account for another year, 6 months or instant saver depending on what you want.