Cash "aggregation" saving platforms?

[bitchstewie]

I was looking at savings rates as I have a reasonable chunk of cash doing sod all.

It seems it would be nice to have a "cash ladder" with amounts on different terms that may get a better overall return.

However I don't really want to be managing several accounts.

I'm with HL for my investments and noticed they have their Active Savings product.

Doing a little homework there appear to be platforms such as Octopus and Raisin too.

Has anyone any feedback or experience of these?

Are they worth it over what may turn out to be £100 over the course of a year given the utterly pitiful rates we have if you don't lock away for several years?

[bitchstewie]

Thanks all, depressing how little is being paid on cash and almost re-enforces my thinking about deploying more into some low volatility/risk funds and keeping bare minimum "pure cash" on the sidelines.

That one's psychological though

I see DA's point that Octopus appears more about a "single pane of glass" whilst dealing with FSCS maximums which I'm just about below.

So far as I'm aware so long as I'm below £2K/year of dividend income the only thing I need to think about is CGT.

[bitchstewie]

The "funny" thing about the psychology aspect is that it's not so much about risk it's simply about drilling it into myself that you can actually sell investments if you need to free up some cash.

Sounds dumb I know

I need to understand CGT a bit better so as to be clear what can and can't be done to avoid inadvertently breaking the rules.

At a basic level am I right in thinking that in an unwrapped account CGT applies to each individual holding rather than to the total balance?

[bitchstewie]

Hmm so let me use a bit of wishful thinking as an extreme example.

General account and I put in:

Fund A £10K
Fund B £10K
Fund C £10K
Fund D £10K

I don't touch them and when I next look the balances are:

Fund A £20K
Fund B £20K
Fund C £20K
Fund D £20K

I decide I need £60K.

As CGT is on each holding not the sum total, I could sell the entirety of any three funds and even though I've taken out £60K CGT wouldn't apply as the individual gain on any one fund is within the limits?

[bitchstewie]

Mr Pointy said:

JPH will reply I'm sure but no, you only get £12k personal allowance per year. If you wanted £60k you could take out your original £40k (£10k from each) & then £20k of gains. Of that £12k is tax free so you's pay tax on £8k.

(Fervently hoping I've got that right).

Ah makes sense so the allowance is total not per gain.

I'm just trying to think of a circumstance where this would even an issue given that sitting in a bank I'm earning jack st.

[bitchstewie]

Mr Pointy said:

It's worse than that: you're loosing 2-3% a year. The issue of course is that you probably need to pick an safe investment so the funds are not at risk, or at least the same level of risk as those you've stuck your SIPP & ISA into.

It didn't click with me until recently that this is what the Fund & Share section of the HL account is for.

Oddly I'm reasonably comfortable picking the investments.

I should add I don't have a SIPP my pension is through my employer, I get the arguments for SIPPs I simply don't want this money totally out of reach even if there's less there than I put in should I need it quickly.

The challenge is how "low" I'm comfortable letting the direct cash accounts run down to.

Sitting here typing it out and reading it back it's patently ridiculous to be "concerned" that you only have enough cash in the bank to go and buy a Range Rover or god only knows what.

I feel stupid yet it's where I find myself.

[bitchstewie]

Julian thanks, very kind offer.

I think I know what needs to be done it's just the psychology angle I mentioned earlier and the point Mr Pointy pointedly made.

One question, how far off are you from having your unwrapped products available?

I keep seeing it mentioned on the IM thread but no mention of when, that I can remember.

[bitchstewie]

Thanks all, that's all useful stuff

Presumably you mean sell but just leave the money in the General Account as cash for 30 days?

You don't literally need to withdraw it to the bank or anything?

Next dumb question, do HL or any of the platforms give you anything to help with this?

I'm sure there must be lots of people who've never given CGT a second thought yet have no deliberate intention of avoiding it, it's just not very "in your face".

[bitchstewie]

Ever think when you have a bunch of financial professionals who are (nicely) disagreeing on how it works, what chance the mug punter like me?

[bitchstewie]

A question:

Assume I have £50K in an unwrapped account and I have around £2k/month of income to invest and this years ISA allowance has been used.

Next year in April does it make sense to put the "new" money coming in into the ISA or can it make sense to "buffer" and sell/transfer from the general account to the ISA?

The savings are slowly being moved into investments but in the meantime there's a steady salary/income that can also be invested.

Edited by bhstewie on Monday 26th August 16:31