Safe bank for large sum of money

Soldato
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I'd speak to a financial advisor. I'm sure there are quite a lot of people with more than 85k in savings or 170k as a couple (eg from sales of properties and what not) so a decent financial advisor should know exactly the best way to approach it. I think for less than 500k it'd be pretty easy. A few joint accounts in different institutions and then some on premium bonds perhaps gold/commodities also but more and I'd be taking professional advice.
 
Caporegime
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Buy shares, sell shares, don't pay capital gains tax? Surely that would be possible.

This is the case of a digital nomad.

Why do you need a Swiss bank account to do that?

If you want to buy and sell shares you open an account with a broker(s).
 

daz

daz

Soldato
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Bucks
You might keep ~10% as cash but realistically you want as much of the money invested as possible otherwise you're losing 2% per year in real terms due to inflation.

From a safety perspective, NS&I accounts offer relatively quick access and the full amount is protected. Alternatively you have government bonds and so on to look at.

As has been said above, you really need a financial advisor to help plan this type of thing out because they will work out the best way to achieve your financial goals.
 
Soldato
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Say you won a million pounds cash where would you deposit it, given that normal banks are insured only to £85,000?

1. Pay off any debts, including mortgage.
2. Set aside some money for spash purposes. (New car, holiday.)
3. Speak to some wealth management types - Brewin Dolphin, St James' Place, and the like - about investing the rest.

A critical point - one I cannot emphasise enough - is that you should act not on the basis of having won £1M but rather that you have won a sum of money that will give you an income of £X. And you need to think about inflation and fees and level of risk. That £X may only be £10,000 per year. Not enough for you to give up your job if you're young.
 
Caporegime
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So it's basically like tailored investment advice, similar to an independent financial advisor?

Generally it's a bit more than that - yes you'll get financial advice but also say tax advice, estate planning etc... a mate of mine did his chartered tax advisor courses after uni at one of the big 4 accountancy firms then moved to a private bank.

Also you'll get a higher level of customer service - you'll not be going through a bunch of menu options to end up with some call centre in India but rather you'll be speaking to someone who knows you and doesn't need to read off a flow chart act like a robot etc... plug figures into a system and then say "computer says no" etc.. rather they can actually give advice on what is feasible and why etc..

Tailored financial products - for example regular banks have standard mortgages, loans etc.. the bloke that wants to use his fine wine collection or classic cars as collateral is going to draw a blank stare from Barry down at the Halifax.

If Lord Pontyby-Smythe wants to get a short term interest only mortgage to finance the rebuilding of some workers cottages and a new stable block on the estate and hopes to pay it pretty quickly once the sale of the London Mews house or his stake in one of the family businesses goes through next year but these things are tied up in different trusts etc..etc..* someone might need to advise on all sorts of convoluted arrangements various posh types have for maintaining their wealth. Often it isn't that they can't afford something but that they need some short term liquidity because most of their wealth is tied up somehow.... again Barry from the Halifax is going to be like "WTF???".

*just some waffly made up example that probably doesn't make sense... but just trying to make the point that the customers might have complex financial arrangements and need tailored products.
 
Caporegime
Joined
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38,372
Say you won a million pounds cash where would you deposit it, given that normal banks are insured only to £85,000?

There are specialist banks which offer more than £85k protection.

For example where do you think billionaires keep their money.

Or the likes of amazon, BP, Google, Microsoft, Intel, etc.

They don't have it spread across 1 billion bank accounts I'll tell you that much.
 
Caporegime
Joined
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There are specialist banks which offer more than £85k protection.

For example where do you think billionaires keep their money.

Or the likes of amazon, BP, Google, Microsoft, Intel, etc.

They don't have it spread across 1 billion bank accounts I'll tell you that much.

Can you be a bit more specific with regards to what you're referring to?
 
Man of Honour
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Plymouth
When I sold my company I had an account with Tesco bank. They were great!

A million squid really isn't that much for a bank these days (eg - property sales), so as long as you're not depositing it all in cash....
 
Caporegime
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21 Jun 2006
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38,372
Can you be a bit more specific with regards to what you're referring to?

Fidelity Cash Management account uses bank partnerships to place up to $1,250,000 in FDIC-insured accounts (but read about the details to ensure that you’re protected).

https://www.thebalance.com/top-accounts-used-by-millionaires-4165695

Basically specialist banks aimed at high net worth individuals or businesses that offer more than £85K worth of protection.

A company like Google you can imagine could have several billion sloshing around in an account or even trillions.
 
Caporegime
Joined
29 Jan 2008
Posts
58,899
Fidelity Cash Management account uses bank partnerships to place up to $1,250,000 in FDIC-insured accounts (but read about the details to ensure that you’re protected).

https://www.thebalance.com/top-accounts-used-by-millionaires-4165695

Basically specialist banks aimed at high net worth individuals or businesses that offer more than £85K worth of protection.

You've highlighted a novel solution that is essentially just splitting your cash across seemingly 5 banks, nothing to do with specialist banks with any special additional protection but rather ordinary banks with the same standard protection limit offered to everyone - just the US equivalent of the UK's 85k limit - in the US it is $250,000. You could do the same in the UK, just split your cash across multiple UK banks - this is just a service offered that does that for you.

A company like Google you can imagine could have several billion sloshing around in an account or even trillions.

A company like google is irrelevant here tbh... their funds are potentially at risk if the bank collapses. But they don't leave all of it in cash - they'll frequently buy US treasuries.
 
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