Easy access, best return for £100k

[Andeh1]

After a death in the family, I need to plan on where to put the inheritance, we would put the money into renovations & extending our new place, but I have 6-9 months to set it aside until then. With only being covered by £85k by my bank I'd rather not leave it in a 0.5% savings account.

Can anyone recommend the best investment for returns, with least risk. The mortgage has been paid off & we have no loans or finance.

Thank you in advance.

[Rob_125]

You cannot invest for returns with no risk in these times, especially considering your investment horizon.

Depending how much you plan on spending on renovations and the short timescale, I'd be looking at:

NS&I premium bonds
NS&I savings bonds
Marcus by Goldman sachs
Vanguard equity 60 s&s isa, drip feed into this investment with a horizon of atleast 10 years (with any excess monies) - you should not invest in this for 9 months.

[I 8 a 4RE]

Are you worried about the £100k not being fully covered or the poor rate of return?

If 1) split it up into two banks.
(Marcus used to be the obvious second choice but won’t take your money anymore as they don’t take on new clients.)

If 2) it will always be a risk VS. reward conversation. If you NEED the money in 9 months, you’ve got a small window in a very volatile market and world economy (Brexit, US elections, COVID) and should just play safe.
If you’re not too bothered about it, you can take some risk and the various Vanguard LS funds provide nice % to align risk appetite.

[bitchstewie]

9 months and guaranteed to have > £100K in there when you need it?

As above start with NS&I.

[TR4man]

bhstewie said:

9 months and guaranteed to have > £100K in there when you need it?

As above start with NS&I.

Yes this.

Even perhaps put some of it into Premium Bonds and your numbers may come up.

[Andeh1]

Thanks very much all! NS&I premium bonds & saving account seems like the best bet!

[rustyuk]

If you don't already have an account it may take a while to open one.

I tried last year and gave up when then asked for my original passport to be posted to them

[eliot]

I 8 a 4RE said:

Are you worried about the £100k not being fully covered or the poor rate of return?

If 1) split it up into two banks.
(Marcus used to be the obvious second choice but won’t take your money anymore as they don’t take on new clients.)
.

There’s no need to split amongst banks for FSA protection on temporary high balances such as inheritance.
https://www.fscs.org.uk/how-we-work/claims-process...

[rigga]

rustyuk said:

If you don't already have an account it may take a while to open one.

I tried last year and gave up when then asked for my original passport to be posted to them

Don't know about the savings side, but I opened a premium bond account on line within minutes, transfered money and confirmation next day.

[valiant]

Done the same with the income bond account.

Set up in minutes and money transferred.

Nay bother.

[trickywoo]

rustyuk said:

If you don't already have an account it may take a while to open one.

I tried last year and gave up when then asked for my original passport to be posted to them

Strange.

If you have a UK bank account it should just be a couple of clicks.

I opened a new account recently and it was the easiest process I’ve ever done for a deposit type account.

[emicen]

Another +1 for NS&I’s ease of account opening, was actually shocked how fast and easy it was. Under ten minutes all in.

With it ultimately being a Govt. IT system I was pre-conditioned to expect a bit of a panto.

[Andeh1]

Thanks all!

Yes as said it was very easy to open up the relative accounts, only took 15 minutes to get it ready & test it out with some inital money movements.

[HarrySmash]

emicen said:

Another +1 for NS&I’s ease of account opening, was actually shocked how fast and easy it was. Under ten minutes all in.

With it ultimately being a Govt. IT system I was pre-conditioned to expect a bit of a panto.

Your last line is a brilliant comment