Investing ~£70k of cash

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Caporegime
Joined
13 May 2003
Posts
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Location
Warwickshire
What's current best tactics for saving / investing sub-£100k levels of cash?

Should I see a financial adviser, or is that overkill / unnecessary expense?

Main objectives are to maximise / fund children's education (relevant in 5 years) and help with a house move (again in c. 5 years).

I'm thinking:

- £5k holiday upgrade
- £20k short term access / emergency fund...no idea what vehicle though
- £20k S&S ISA
- £5k simply sitting in flex saver current account for unforeseen immediate expenses
- £20k in premium bonds? Which I gather are rubbish unless you're lucky, in which case should this it into my 2.5% mortgage? Or more equity?

Thanks.
 
IFA is overkill.

For short-term / e-fund at that volume you will end up with savings accounts - just have to accept that interest will be low unless you muck around with multiple regular savers e.g. HSBC / M&S / FD / Santander / Nationwide at 5%.

For ISA you can buy a low-fee tracker (buy it and leave it alone product) e.g. LifeStrategy via Vanguard (higher equity % gives higher return at cost of higher volatility, so if you have to sell it at short notice could end up losing money and if market crashes you'll have to wait several years for it to recover, e.g. 60% less volatile than 100%)

The £5k in the flex saver current account is an emergency fund, so don't get why you've segmented that.

£20k in premium bonds I don't get either. That's a very safe, but generally 1% return product. If it was me I would be bumping up the investment portion via next year's ISA allowance or a SIPP, but that's because I'm happy to sacrifice certainty / predictable returns for the probability of higher return.
 
1. Pay off high interest debt.
2. Set 1 year living costs aside in a savings account as an emergency fund.
3. Avoid future high interest debt. E.g. buying your next car in cash.
4. Get a S&S ISA at Vanguard, and buy a Vanguard LifeStrategy fund, 60% probably. Put your annual 20k limit in there until you're done. https://www.vanguardinvestor.co.uk/what-we-offer/life-strategy-products
5. Some mortgage overpayment is okay, but you usually can't get the money back so don't do too much. Often you're limited to 10% overpayment anyway.
 
Some decent advice already given and I'll have a look at the Vanguard fund mentioned twice above.
Depends on age, tolerance of risk and earnings and expenditure too. Getting rid of any debt (inc mortgage or at last lowering it) is always a nice thing to do if unsure where to put the money. Also saves time/expense on constant re-mortgaging malarkey too and you could then invest money saved from mortgage payment each money, potentially drip feeding into the markets (will give you a chance to buy lower if the market dives). Just don't be tempted to spend more each month once the mortgage is reduced :). If the 70k won't pay off the mortgage then maybe at end of fixed term you could use it to reduce your borrowing on the next mortgage.
THink 1 and 2 of what billy said definitely good to follow then maybe combination of reducing mortgage (either overpayments or lump sum or reduce mortgage at next re-mortgage) and exposing to a fund in an ISA wrapper.
Ultimately it's what you best feel comfortable with.
 
Em3bbs said:
Asking on an internet forum which has nothing to do with investing and where most people won't earn that in 5 years, just so you get to look cool. :D
Click to expand...
Well I didn't really earn this either, if it helps your ego.

Seems like there are quite a few on here that know what to do with this sort of sum.

Thanks for the help so far.
 
Get yourself on the list for a GT3/GT4 and flip it.

50K if you secure a GT3 and flip it, 25K if you secure a GT4 and flip it....probably.
 
It's also worth considering how long your happy not to have access to the cash, my parents put money into locked bonds (so you typically can't withdraw your money until a fixed term has expired - I think they start at like 2 years but 5 years is common too so I hear) - they generally offer better interest rates. Although it's been said it's overkill to see a financial advisor with upwards of 40K I'd be getting some (non-internet) advice.
 
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