200,000 to invest for 1-2 years what would you do?

[somewhereovertherain]

Just that selling house and renting for a year or two. How would you invest the money?

I’m thinking Markus and maxing premium bonds and also maxing regular savers

Have thought about buying a smaller property to let.

Thoughts ideas. Best return we can get over a max of two years.

I'll look after it, OP - should I PM you my bank details?

Seriously thought, I'd get a financial adviser. An independent often won't charge you if they get commission and it's in their interests to get a good deal.

Will get some advice but just interested in what things might be out there.

If you invest it, eg unit trusts, there will probably be an upfront charge, the value of which you would need to recoup before you even start to make a profit. 1-2 years isn't very long to do that in.

You might be better just parking the money in building societies etc for a paltry return. So Premium Bonds, cash ISAs, fixed rate bonds (the latter two offer higher rates for one or two year fixed years). Probably won't get more than 1%. Make sure to spread the money between different providers to benefit from the £85k savings protection scheme.

Coventry Building Society have a fixed rate bond (both ISA and non-ISA) paying 1.4% until end April 2020.

www.coventrybuildingsociety.co.uk/consumer/savings-accounts/bonds.html

Plexie is right - you need to ensure you don’t put more than £85K into a single bank (watch for banks under the same umbrella group).

Will you be using the money to fund something in sterling? If not, I would consider hedging against currency exposure given a hard Brexit May see sterling fall further.

If it’s literally just 2 years and then you want the capital back (sterling), I would

• max out ISA allowance
• consider safe harbours like government bonds
• consider high yield savings like Marcus.

Definitely do not buy a BTL as legal and other costs will eat into profits and aren’t liquid enough if you need the money in the short-term.

Is it a risk to put £85k into two separate accounts, but same bank?

National Savings are very safe.

@thenightsky yes it is foolish. A single investor gets protected for £85k in an institution regardless of which accounts it is in.

Also some of the challenger banks like Revolut do not have a banking license so I would not use them at all. Others have so do your homework!

For 1-2 years just put the money in the best instant access/premium bonds/fixed rate you can find. You'll get 1.5% with Marcus, might get fixed rate at 2-2.5% (look on Moneysupermarket) and you never know with premium bonds, but that's your lot without risking your capital - check the £85k limit per banking licence (eg Lloyds and Halifax are on the same banking licence - I think Moneysavingexpert has all the details on this).

Any 'investment' type product carries risk and you might beat the above returns, but you'll be screwed if the markets are low when you need to use the money.