NS&I

[Nicolastuffedone]

Have a fairly substantial amount of money to invest. A friend has recently invested in NS&I after an inheritance. I will to take advice from a financial advisor but I wondered if anyone here has any money in NS&I and if they’d recommend it?

i am watching with interest, ds has recently been given some money and I have been recommended NS&I, i am led to believe the interest rate is 3.5%.

My friend is quite financially savvy, so I’d trust him to know what he’s doing. There’s quite a few options you can invest in eg ISA, Premium bond etc. Just with a recession, I’m frightened to lose money iykwim, but this seems to be a good option, it’s backed by the government and it seems you can’t lose your investment.

I don't consider my money with NS&I to be an investment. It is my emergency fund. The benefit of NS&I is that it is safe. You can park a large amount there for a while whilst you decide what to do with it. One of their accounts will take up to £2million and all is protected, not restricted to the FSCS protection limit.

I have money in premium bonds - because it's completely safe, my savings in other accounts are hardly earning any interest and i like the excitement of possibly winning a cash prize each month .

I have money in premium bonds its my 'if the shit hits the fan' pot because its pretty much instant access. I've won a small amount a few times. At one stage my parents had the max amount and won something every month.

Depending on age you could put it away in a Lisa max £4000 a year but £1000 from govt + interest. It can only be used for first home or pension though.

There is some very interesting information here. See what I did then. I hadn't heard of Lisas but it is worth a thought for my Ds's. Our first thought was Premium bonds.

Depending on the size it may be worth getting financial advice (expect a financial plan to cost £2000-£4000). If the amount is under £100k then it may not be worth paying for advice and instead learn about it yourself. There are videos, podcasts and online courses.
For example: www.meaningfulacademy.com Build Wealth phase or do Foundation and Build Wealth if you need budgeting help as well as learning about investing.

Thank you for responding! I haven’t heard of Lisa?

A LISA is a Lifetime ISA. As pp says, there are age limits.

More info here www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/lifetime-isas/

We held maximum in Premium Bonds for several years and won very very little, but that's the chance you take.

Interest rates are so low now though that we've started buying into Premium Bonds again, hopefully we will have more luck this time.

Please don't rush into financial advisor territory, even for substantial sums. Take time to educate yourself - moneysavingexpert is a good place to start.

Being financially astute is a life skill and it will serve you very well for the future.

Moneysavingexpert says that the NS&I is the best at the moment in terms of interests.

(am led to believe the interest rate is 3.5%.*

The income bonds interest rate is 1.16%. I don't know of any account with a 3.5% rate.

Foggyday124 yes, that’s what my friend told me.

NS&I Junior ISA is currently 3.25%. Maybe some confusion about that product which is for children rather than products like Direct Saver.

If you end up doing premium bonds then come join us on the relevant thread - we're a friendly bunch. My winnings on max holdings have been beating any easy access interest rates I can get elsewhere, plus it's all tax free and I like the excitement of maybe winning big someday

Thanks for all replies!

I have a LISA. With the government top up and fund growth, it's built up really quickly!

When you say invest in NS“I which product are you looking at? I thought they only did Savings products and premium bonds.

The full guarantee on your savings ISA is plus if you have over the maximum but otherwise like any savings account it's simply about the interest rate, there's nothing to recommend as such.

If you are young enough for a LISA it's worth doing. I have one from moneybox it's app based but linked to a normal bank with the normal financial protection. I don't deposit money in it but have it linked to my other debit and credit cards and have it set to round up each purchase, it's rounded up £600 in the last nine months and then hasa 25% govt addition and interest on top and because its rounding up purchases I barely notice it.

Perhaps ‘invest’ was the wrong word.....put my money into, in order not to lose it was probably more what I was meaning!

Too old for LISA