|
I'm thinking ahead to 6th April and researching cash ISA interest rates ~ realising, of course, that the rates will probably all change on 6th April. So far I haven't found a comparison site which includes Barclays and/or Halifax. Have you?
|
|
I find the forum on moneysvingexpert.com to be the best place for up to date info on Cash ISAs. There is a sub forum dedicated to finding the best accounts which has a "Cash ISAs: The Best Currently Available List". The list contains accounts in various categories and seems to be updated regularly as forum subscribers post up details of new deals. See: tinyurl.com/644v5y .
Last edited by: Rhubarb on Sat 3 Apr 10 at 14:01
|
|
Thanks Rhubarb, that has a much more comprehensive list than any others I've seen so far ~ and it contains Barclays and Halifax.
|
Are you thinking of putting money into an Isa? Think again
www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article7083418.ece
and similar articles in all other newspapers on that day.
Last edited by: John H on Sat 3 Apr 10 at 15:31
|
|
Fortunately the ISA I already have pays a high rate of interest, and the one I'm proposing to get on 6th April (currently, at least) pays even higher. Both are highly rated by Martin Lewis. I'm very aware of the need to keep a track of interest rates generally and to transfer when necessary.
Last edited by: L'escargot on Sat 3 Apr 10 at 15:38
|
|
Daily Teleg has its own fund supermarket for top selling ISA funds "at big discounts" - investdirect.telegraph.co.uk
|
The vast majority of financial investments these days, including ISAs, are a big con.
Why invest money with banks at a rate of interest around two to three per cent (even with tax paid), whilst they charge borrowers up to seven or eight times that rate of interest?
Even the main sum invested loses money due to inflation.
To put it more simply. If I said give me a pound and I'll give you £1.02 or £1.03 back in a year's time, you'd tell me where to get off. Yet people are doing the equivalent of this all the time.
Perhaps reading the April edition of Which? magazine will also help to focus some people's minds...:-)
|
>>Perhaps reading the April edition of Which? magazine will also help to focus some people's minds...:-)
Oh do give us a clue.
|
>> To put it more simply. If I said give me a pound and I'll give
>> you £1.02 or £1.03 back in a year's time you'd tell me where to get
>> off.
Not really, 3% is fairly good interest rate at the moment. Sure, banks loan out money at higher rates but that is really a different matter and the have to factor in the risk of it not being paid back, but the 3% is only bad if you find a better rate somewhere else (and factor in the risk of money in the bank vs money in that other investment). Some of the best corporate bond returns are only standing at 6% now, and there is much more risk built into those. The returns on short term (less than 5 year) Gilts are below 3%.
If you can stomach potentially losing money for a period of time, before gaining it back, some kind of stock market investment is probably still the best bet at the moment. You can put up to £10,100 in a stocks and shares ISA this year I believe.
>> Perhaps reading the April edition of Which? magazine will also help to focus some people's
>> minds...:-)
I too am intrigued, any hints?
|
Basically the tale is that the magazine commissioned 11 people (all 55 or over) to research a total of 37 bank or building society branches belonging to the main high street financial institutions.
Their brief was to seek each branch's best advice on investing a lump sum from a one-year fixed-rate bond that had paid seven per cent, bearing in mind the tax implications, reasonable security level of the investment, fully explaining the recommended products and detailing any fees or charges likely to be paid.
Of the 37 branches visited, just four in all offered "good advice", with the remainder failing to match or reach the required expectations. Some of the advice given was often most unsuitable or failed to detail the implications of the £50k limit of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme if relevant.
Re the pound and investing it for a year... With current interest rates, I'd rather buy something now for a pound and enjoy it, than wait a year and have to pay, for instance, an extra five pence on top of the pound...:-)
Last edited by: Stuartli on Tue 6 Apr 10 at 11:14
|
Thanks for the info. Agreed it is an odd time to invest.
Agree with your comment... I'd rather buy something now for a pound and enjoy it, than wait a year and have to pay, for instance, an extra five pence on top of the pound...:-)
Since the start of the crash, house price dive and collapsing savings rates rather than conventional investment we've spread between easy access savings (you never know when a project will pop up out of the blue), settling the last dregs of the mortgage and sensible spending on longer term items (often at recession prices) much as you mention.
There was no point in taking advice as we knew exactly what we wanted to do.
|
Agreed it is an odd time to invest.
It's not odd for us, although we're actually saving and not investing. We're saving for a rainy day and a long term plan of indeterminate timing which requires us to have lots of capital.
Last edited by: L'escargot on Tue 6 Apr 10 at 14:32
|
>> Daily Teleg has its own fund supermarket for top selling ISA funds "at big discounts"
>> - investdirect.telegraph.co.uk
>>
A fairly generic piece of advice is that if you want to invest in funds, do so through a 'fund supermarket' such as Hargreaves Lansdown, Selftrade etc. (there are many others) who will either not charge, or forego almost all of, the 5% or so upfront charges that you would lose if you went direct to the fund or through an adviser who receives commission. Costs make a huge difference to the eventual value of a fund over a period of years.
The same caution should be exercised with ongoing charges. Subject to managing the level of risk you are happy with, the relevant index fund is usually much better value simply due to lower charges (typically 0.3% vs. 1.5%-2% for managed funds). This is the main reason why the majority (about 80%) of managed funds underperform the relevant index as to total returns.
As to holding cash or near-cash, there can be very valid reasons for this, especially the need to preserve purchasing power of savings or pension funds near to or after retirement. Consider index linked National Savings, paying I think RPI +1%. You don't need to use your ISA allowance for this as it's tax free anyway, and you can have up to £15,000 each invested.
EDIT - Apologies for drifting slightly there - the main point was to mention the NS index linked as a means of preserving the purchasing power of savings.
Stuartli has a point about the investment industry being a con, but most of us need to save. Always look at the charges, and never ever use an adviser who receives commission.
Last edited by: Manatee on Tue 6 Apr 10 at 14:26
|
Cash ISAs comparison websites - Rhubarb
