Savings Accounts - maximising the interest from them?

I’m not saving Bruce. This is my private pension money which for prudence I have withdrawn as real cash (the 25% lump sum). It is not savings. It is part of the pension money that I will be living off for the rest of my life. I withdrew the lump sum for 2 reasons.

Firstly because it is highly likely that some financial collapse will happen in the future which will affect everyone’s pensions so by taking 25% of it as a lump sum I at least have that amount in real cash to invest or save.

Secondly because taking that 25% out (which is tax free) means that later on when my state pension kicks in and adds greatly to my private pension, I won’t then go over the tax threshold.

Therefore I have that large lump sum of cash and want to ensure it is working for me rather than sit there. Ideally I would invest it in something tangible, I’m just not sure what.

I understand perfectly the value of my pension mate. It is vitally important to my future.

I personally will remain uber sceptical of such claims until such time as someone properly and honestly analyses their position. Like all gamblers PB holders are always happy to mention the odd £25 they won but seldom mention the total amounts of cash they have put into PBs and how long they have been sitting there.

PBs are known to be a dire “investment”. The odds are badly against anyone making a decent return.

There you go. This indicates that what you believe is a good return is not based in hard fact but your feelings. I would encourage you to do the sums to see for yourself how the PBs have performed. How much money have you had in PBs and how many years has it been there?

The LOVE of money is the root of all evil. Nothing wrong with money itself, it’s a handy trading mechanism which saves us lugging lots of goods around to bareter with :slight_smile:

I appreciate this Omah. My problem is that maximum amount they impose. £200 a month means I can only invest a total of £2400

That’s no good to me. My pension lump sum is way more than that.

I mean I COULD do that but I would have to open similar accounts with a whole bunch of separate accounts to get the full amount invested which would be a real faff.

I think in the end I’m going to have to find some kind of investment. I could buy physical gold/silver but since people have been doing that for the past 5 years or more, the spot prices are now already high. So I would likely lose a lot when the price of gold drops.

I could but stocks/shares in what would be deemed really safe companies but that too is a gamble. Things like BrExit could see stock prices tumble quickly.

Just currently stuck. There doesn’t seem to be anyone offering a simple savings account in which you can put a sizable sum of money and get a decent interest rate return.

If you want to try P2P Saving, Ratesetter are offering:

3.0% Rolling Market
Capital reinvested so you earn continuously.
Interest paid every month or can be reinvested.
Access your money at any time without a fee.

3.4% 1 Year Market
Capital and Interest repaid at term (normally 1 Year).
Capital and Interest can be reinvested so you earn continuously.
To access your money early a 0.3% fee will be charged.

5.7% 5 Year Market
Capital and Interest repaid monthly.
Capital and Interest can be reinvested so you earn continuously.
To access your money early a 1.5% fee will be charged.

The RateSetter ISA also pays 5.7% but tax-free.

I only do the Rolling Market but regularly get over over 3%.

Cheers Omah I will take a look

I assume there must be some level of risk with P2P?

I believe P2P means Peer to Peer lending which I mentioned in my first post. It is NOT without risk, but can be lucrative.

https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/articles/peer-to-peer-lending–what-you-need-to-know

Not as much as people think:

We set up the Provision Fund as a buffer to reimburse investors, and whilst this is not a guarantee the Provision Fund has a 100% track record. To date £3 billion has been invested with every investor receiving back every penny of their capital and interest.

Do some research, e.g. Which Magazine, then try a small investment first - that’s what I did … :wink:

CHeers.

I read the links with interest and this looks suitable. I will allocate a finite portion of my money to one ofthese sites and see how it goes. I think I will use another portion of the money to invest in one or more stable stocks that pay dividends.

Cheers

You also have to take into account the interest is taxed.

Not necessarily - the lower your income, the more tax-free savings opportunity you have:

The starting rate for savings is aimed at supporting savers on the lowest incomes.

For 2018-19 it is £5,000. This means that up to £5,000 of the interest received from savings is tax-free.

You can earn up to £16,849 a year and still be eligible for the starting rate for savings.

This upper income limit is higher if you’re claiming the Blind Person’s Allowance (increasing the amount you can earn by £2,390 for the Tax Year 2018-19 to £19,239) or the Married Couple’s Allowance (which gives an amount that’s dependent on your personal circumstances).

The starting rate for savings is reduced by £1 for every £1 you earn over the Personal Allowance. The Personal Allowance is the amount you can earn tax-free from non-savings income like a job or pension, and is currently £11,850.

As well as the starting rate for savings, there is also a Personal Savings Allowance.

Like with the starting rate for savings, the Personal Savings Allowance lets you earn a certain amount of interest from your savings tax free.

Depending on the Income Tax band your income falls under, the Personal Savings Allowance is a different amount:

Basic rate tax payer – £1,000

Higher rate tax payer – £500

Additional rate tax payer – £0

Yep and you can also do this P2P investing in their ISA which would give tax relief.