Best place for £200k cash for a year to 18 months

[Deangtv]

I appreciate it wouldn't be under the mattress and I assume the ISA route, but i'm selling my house and cashing out the equity in the hope of purchasing some land and heading down the self build route.
We will be renting for a year or so so i need to get my £200k working as hard as it can in the mean time whilst i sort the planning out.

What are people thoughts. Low risk please, not silly loan shark ideas gents

[ziggy328]

How about maximum holding in Premium Bonds for starters - no interest, but no risk and you may get lucky?

[Jon39]

Don't do anything related to equties.

Hindsight might show they obtain the best return. However, as you have a fairly fixed time scale, when you need your money to be available, that sell timing breaks one of the golden rules of equity investment. Perhaps see good results initially, but just when you need to sell everything, the market turns down. Serious investors would just wait, and perhaps buy more, but too risky for your particular circumstances.

[sidicks]

Deangtv said:

I appreciate it wouldn't be under the mattress and I assume the ISA route, but i'm selling my house and cashing out the equity in the hope of purchasing some land and heading down the self build route.

£20k ISA limit per tax year?

Deangtv said:

We will be renting for a year or so so i need to get my £200k working as hard as it can in the mean time whilst i sort the planning out.

What are people thoughts. Low risk please, not silly loan shark ideas gents

For 12-18 months, if you can't afford a capital loss then a fixed rate bank account is your only realistic option.

[FredClogs]

Best cash savings you can, split between a few providers just so you're covered. You won't beat inflation though. One of those peer to peer lending companies at a medium/low risk profile might beat the inflation, but there is no such thing as a low risk / high return short term strategy.

Just buy bit coins and a bottle of whisky...

[philcray]

Premium bonds are worth considering, the wife & I had £100k's worth for a couple of years and while the return was not great, it was better than the bank and you might just strike lucky with a big win (we didn't...) Also access to your cash is pretty much immediate so not tying it up.

[jeff m2]

Wait for Carne to raise int rates because of inflation which should give the Pound a small boost, then put half in Euros.
Equity is out for that period.

Emerging Market local currency bonds could work as long as the initial charge is modest.
(Most Emerging market sovereign debt is better on paper than UK/US and pays a higher rate.)
Around 5.6% last time I looked.

[sidicks]

jeff m2 said:

Wait for Carne to raise int rates because of inflation which should give the Pound a small boost, then put half in Euros.
Equity is out for that period.

Emerging Market local currency bonds could work as long as the initial charge is modest.
(Most Emerging market sovereign debt is better on paper than UK/US and pays a higher rate.)
Around 5.6% last time I looked.

I’m sorry, but that is absolutely ridiculous advice, given what the OP’s requirements are:

Deangtv said:

Low risk please

Edited by sidicks on Wednesday 25th October 23:38

[cadmunkey]

Let’s face it, with that time scale you are going to get pennies if you’re not willing to risk it a little. Pointless thread. Stick it in your savings account, next 12 months will fly by.

[crouchingpigeon]

https://moneyfacts.co.uk/savings/1-year-fixed-rate...

Split it out over three investments, none over £85,000 to ensure all have FSCS protection. Also make sure the banks are not linked (RBS/Natwest) etc as the protection is per institution rather than individual bank.

Or have a look at NS&I offerings which are government backed.

https://www.nsandi.com/interest-rates

[LeoSayer]

What about investing in a property fund?

It should go some way to reducing your exposure to mad market movements during the year you are out of the market and give you some income as well.

[sidicks]

LeoSayer said:

What about investing in a property fund?

It should go some way to reducing your exposure to mad market movements during the year you are out of the market and give you some income as well.

Expensive and potentially volatile. Exactly what he doesn’t want.

[sidicks]

crouchingpigeon said:

https://moneyfacts.co.uk/savings/1-year-fixed-rate...

Split it out over three investments, none over £85,000 to ensure all have FSCS protection. Also make sure the banks are not linked (RBS/Natwest) etc as the protection is per institution rather than individual bank.

Or have a look at NS&I offerings which are government backed.

https://www.nsandi.com/interest-rates

Agreed.

[drainbrain]

Deangtv said:

What are people thoughts. Low risk please......

Never mind risk, how would you like CERTAINTY that your cash will be worth less next year than now? Say 2-3% less?

If that's your cup of tea put it in a bank account, or even add a bit of extra time resource to the loss and put it in several.

Real inflation should do the rest.

[768]

Split it across FTSE100 shares.

[sidicks]

768 said:

Split it across FTSE100 shares.

Did you miss the part from the OP about low risk?

[768]

I guess it's a matter of perspective, but most of the above seems no risk to me.

[sidicks]

768 said:

I guess it's a matter of perspective, but most of the above seems no risk to me.

FTSE vol is around 11% and an option to protect your investment at current value over 1-year is priced at 4-5%. That shouldn’t be viewed as ‘low risk’!

[Jon39]

sidicks said:

768 said:

Split it across FTSE100 shares.

Did you miss the part from the OP about low risk?

768 said:

I guess it's a matter of perspective, but most of the above seems no risk to me.

Do you know what happened in;

Oct 1987
Aug 2001
May 2002
May 2006
Jul 2007
May to Oct 2008
Jan to May 2009
Apr to Jun 2010
Jul 2011
Mar to May 2012 ?

If anyone needed their money back on those occasions, oh dear.

[768]

I do. I know what happened in between those dates too.

It was just a suggestion!