Savings and Interest

An-na

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Hi Shedders,
I wonder if someone could advise me on where is the best place or places to stash my hard earned dosh? I have been looking around and that has only confused me more. Where do I put all my filthy lucre to get the best interest rate that I can without too much of a risk? At the moment my bank account gives me a measly 0.5% interest and I’m sure I could do better than that.
I have been looking at ISA’s, but which one? I don’t know. A Life ISA is not what I need so I can rule that out. What am I left with?
I would prefer easy access to my cash if I need it but I could also stick some away for a year or two. I can’t do anything too high risk at the moment but I would consider some risk.
As you can see, I haven’t got a clue. All advice very welcome folks. Thanks
:D
 

sunnydays

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Hiya,

Coventry Building Society have best instant access Cash ISA rates at present at 1.5%. I use it and find them very efficient regarding transfers etc.
Charter bank best 1 year fix Cash Isa at 1.62%
Marcus savings account is great for non Isa savings also 1.5%
hope this helps
 
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homie

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At 1.5% you would be losing around 1.5% a year to inflation.
Have you considered one of the peer to peer lenders, like funding circle or lending works?

I remember when I use to get 5.5% on my ISA.
Seems a very long time ago now.
 
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mikecmr

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im getting 7% using P2P savings theres risks involved but good return
 

mikecmr

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What would be the term length to get 7% and which company may i ask?


p2p lending is slightly different to your normal savings account you could invest in it for one month or 5 years once you want to stop investing you just sell your loan parts and get your money back

theres a link here which explains the one I use, and if you invest 2k you get £50 and so do i:)

https://www.fundingcircle.com/investors/refer/KMWHNG
 

An-na

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Hiya,

Coventry Building Society have best instant access Cash ISA rates at present at 1.5%. I use it and find them very efficient regarding transfers etc.
Charter bank best 1 year fix Cash Isa at 1.62%
Marcus savings account is great for non Isa savings also 1.5%
hope this helps

Hi sunnydays, thanks for your reply, it is really helpful and gives me somewhere to start. I am really surprised by how low interest rates on savings are so I may start to investigate some higher risk options. As always should I find anything I will let you all know :)
 
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paulb

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Just remember that P2P investments aren't protected by FSCS, so the funds are at risk (as a couple of recent collapses have shown). Some providers have their own protection (provision funds) which should help, but are not guaranteed.

That being said - if you're looking for decent returns, I can recommend Assetz Capital which you can sign up at https://investors.assetzcapital.co.uk/lender/registration/?lenderReferral=SAVTTJ . This is obviously a referral link, which I hope is OK in this part of the forum, but if it's not, please let me know.

Edit: I forgot to mention, it's a £50 bonus if you use the referral and invest £1000, but you do have to leave it there for a year.
 

Queen Jess

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P2P is a bigger risk and different places have different rules regarding: taking it your money. Can take a while to "sell" your share back.

Not sure how much money you have, but you should definitely put cash in fixed savings add you get 5% a year (usually £250/month max you can put in) and then at the end of the year it comes back out again.

If I were you I would make sure I have enough in an emergency fund that is instant access (could be an ISA). Just go for the highest rate you can find. Then diversify and put some in fixed rate savings (tied up for a year)/bonds and some more tied up in longer term investments (whether that is P2P or some sort of FTSE tracker etc). Just work out how much risk you are happy with and what length of time you want your cash tied up for.
 

An-na

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P2P is a bigger risk and different places have different rules regarding: taking it your money. Can take a while to "sell" your share back.

Not sure how much money you have, but you should definitely put cash in fixed savings add you get 5% a year (usually £250/month max you can put in) and then at the end of the year it comes back out again.

If I were you I would make sure I have enough in an emergency fund that is instant access (could be an ISA). Just go for the highest rate you can find. Then diversify and put some in fixed rate savings (tied up for a year)/bonds and some more tied up in longer term investments (whether that is P2P or some sort of FTSE tracker etc). Just work out how much risk you are happy with and what length of time you want your cash tied up for.

Hi Queen Jess :)

That is great advice. Thank you very much.
I know from life experience that an emergency fund is vital so I am factoring that in. There is so much research to do but I am getting there slowly.

Thanks from An-na :D
 
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paulb

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P2P is a bigger risk and different places have different rules regarding: taking it your money. Can take a while to "sell" your share back.

Not sure how much money you have, but you should definitely put cash in fixed savings add you get 5% a year (usually £250/month max you can put in) and then at the end of the year it comes back out again.

If I were you I would make sure I have enough in an emergency fund that is instant access (could be an ISA). Just go for the highest rate you can find. Then diversify and put some in fixed rate savings (tied up for a year)/bonds and some more tied up in longer term investments (whether that is P2P or some sort of FTSE tracker etc). Just work out how much risk you are happy with and what length of time you want your cash tied up for.

Yes, P2P lending is certainly not the place to put money you can't afford to lose, or will need guaranteed immediate access to. I've got some funds (on another P2P platform, which I wouldn't recommend) which have been stuck for months, and I don't expect to get back any time soon. However, the one I recommended (Assetz Capital) can be used more like an instant access savings account (though, importantly, without FSCS protection) at a much higher rate than you'll find at a bank (though the money is more protected in the bank).

The regular savings account is a good idea if you have a regular amount to save which you won't need before the end of the term, and you actually have access to one - I believe the ones offering decent rates do require to to also hold a current account with them, and that may have requirements for money going in/out each month.
 

Sherliarty

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What did you decide to do in the end?

I tend to put bulk of my money in stocks and shares ISA and then spread the rest in an instant access, a cash ISA and a notice savings account. When it comes to the savings account, none pay much interest. I also have a small amount in IF ISA with a P2P lender, I basically ignore it, don't add to it but it's on reinvest mode and then my plan is to check it when I am near retirement and hope to be pleasantly surprised!
 

An-na

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What did you decide to do in the end?

I tend to put bulk of my money in stocks and shares ISA and then spread the rest in an instant access, a cash ISA and a notice savings account. When it comes to the savings account, none pay much interest. I also have a small amount in IF ISA with a P2P lender, I basically ignore it, don't add to it but it's on reinvest mode and then my plan is to check it when I am near retirement and hope to be pleasantly surprised!

Hi Yingers74,

Thanks for asking. There appears to be a lot of options out there but when you look at ISA’s for example, they are all much of the same. 1.2% to 1.6% interest.

What I decided to do was to just put my money into an ISA till the next tax year. This will give me time to learn more about other investment options as well as see what happens with the political situation in the UK and how that will affect interest rates.

I have learned that several banks have dropped their interest on savings accounts, Nationwide and TSB, plus there are several articles in the financial pages of many online papers about the slump in peer-to-peer lending in the face of uncertainty around the Brexit.

At the moment I don’t have the knowledge or experience to take calculated risks so I shall play it safe till I do.
 
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jbr2020

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Be aware that a lot of providers are now sadly reducing their interest rates in line with the BoE base rate drop. It's getting difficult to find anything over 1%.
 

An-na

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Monzo have a few with rates from 1.0-1.15%

Hi @kathcake,

Monzo had rates of 1.15% with Shawbrook and I grabbed that in December. Fortunately for me these rates haven't dropped yet. However, from the beginning of this year their other interest rates have been dropping fast. So fast that I took a screen shot on 12th April '20 showing their highest easy access saver from Investec at 0.93%. Then it dropped to 0.80 %, then 0.6% and as I look at it now it is 0.5% with Paragon.

I think stuffing the mattress is looking like the best option in the near future. Once the coming recession hits I wonder if there will be a run on the banks like there was with Northern Rock in the last recession, 2007 credit crunch?
 

mrcbo

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I think banks are required to have a certain capital to debt ratio now and are a lot better than 2008... stress tested as well (come next week they all go under :p)
if you considering P2P you might as well consider shares as well.
 

rninja

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The problem with circa 1% is losing money to inflation.

Peer to peer lending is to be avoided surely? It might be better to consider an all-weather investment trust or risk parity fund for a small portion of money - depending on the sums involved. Or even a ladder of fixed term savings accounts.
 

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