What to do with £11,000 for a year?

[Easty-5]

Basically, me and the other half are currently saving for a house deposit. We have amassed 11k over the last 6 months and it is just sitting in an easy access savings account. We will be looking to buy in approx. 12-18months so the money would need to be accessible then.

Is there anything smarter to do with the money other than maxing out mine and the missus's ISA accounts?

[speedy_thrills]

Linky to one of the last times we gave investment advice.

The original thread doesn't let me update any more but here is where we would be (Starting with an investment in August '08 until today).

I suggested:
GSK - Paid: 1,258.50p - Current: 1,402.00p - Gain approx. 11%
Tesco - Paid: 392.90p - Current: 322.05p - Loss approx. 22%

Some one else suggested:
RBS: - Paid: 247.00p - Current: 25.05p - Loss approx. 90%

I've not accounted for the GSK or Tesco dividends but they'd only account for a few percent at this point. RBS haven't return a dividend of course, I guess their spare cash is used on bonuses to reward their brilliant board.

[Easty-5]

speedy_thrills said:

Linky to one of the last times we gave investment advice.

The original thread doesn't let me update any more but here is where we would be (Starting with an investment in August '08 until today).

I suggested:
GSK - Paid: 1,258.50p - Current: 1,402.00p - Gain approx. 11%
Tesco - Paid: 392.90p - Current: 322.05p - Loss approx. 22%

Some one else suggested:
RBS: - Paid: 247.00p - Current: 25.05p - Loss approx. 90%

I've not accounted for the GSK or Tesco dividends but they'd only account for a few percent at this point. RBS haven't return a dividend of course, I guess their spare cash is used on bonuses to reward their brilliant board.

I can't afford to take any risks with this money. So I don't think investing is the way to go. Is there any better way of saving than ISA accounts?

[limpsfield]

I think with interest rates so low a cash ISA sounds as good as anything. There's no clever, risk free cash you're missing out on.

[uncle tez]

Im pretty much the same situation. Im involved in several share schemes where i pay £100 per month over 3 yrs and then sell the shares after with bonus and profit. Ive built up the money collected and put a similar amount to you in premium bonds. Theres no risk at all. You can just get the money back whenever you need it. Its basically a raffle with the top prize being £1 million. I normally win about £25 a month but some months its been up to £75 and i just have it set to reinvest any winnings earnt. Fingers crossed for a large prize.

[craigb84]

uncle tez said:

Im pretty much the same situation. Im involved in several share schemes where i pay £100 per month over 3 yrs and then sell the shares after with bonus and profit. Ive built up the money collected and put a similar amount to you in premium bonds. Theres no risk at all. You can just get the money back whenever you need it. Its basically a raffle with the top prize being £1 million. I normally win about £25 a month but some months its been up to £75 and i just have it set to reinvest any winnings earnt. Fingers crossed for a large prize.

Well, the risk is that you may not necessarily beat inflation and that the earnings may not actually be any more than you could earn from a decent savings account but yes it's risk free in that you can pull out what you put in.

Read the PB thread on here. There's guys with £30k and never had anything significant from the bonds. It's pretty interesting stuff. Ive had a grand in there for 10+ years and had one £25 win. The money is now worth less than it started out at.

[GTIR]

I've currently got £7k at RateSetter, a peer2peer lending site.
It's guaranteed and there is no "bad debt" as with other sites like Zopa (which I'm also with) but the downside is they pay less % if you opt for the monthly access rate of 4.1%. (I'm currently on average 6% at Zopa)

1 year fixed bond is 5%.

http://www.ratesetter.com/lender_choose_term.aspx