What to do with 40k cash savings

[Hg176]

Hi Mumsnetters!

I have 50k of savings that I’d like to put to good use.

Other financial bits;
Now on 60% LTV mortgage with 1.2% interest rate so don’t think worth overpaying more.
Have 6 months ‘essential outgoings’ cash buffer and a stable job (3 months notice too)
Have used my stocks and shares ISA allowance for the tax year
Have a small amount of crypto (ETH and BTC) worth just over 20k today but who knows in future given how volatile and high risk that is)

What should I do with the remaining 50k I have in previous years cash ISAs (easy access)? They’re making me no money with a 0.5% interest rate and keen to invest somewhere else where I’m at least inflation beating.

One q I have if it’s worth investing in property abroad (Or in the UK) and Canada springs to mind as I have family connections and could put down the required 35% deposit in GBP on a 2 bed house in a touristy area (Nova Scotia for anyone who knows the market)

Thanks!!!

Edit, it says 40k in the title but is 50k or very close to.

Oh and edit edit, sorry to drip feed. My pension contributions are 30% and 35 years old

So this £50k is in addition to the cash ISA, or is the money in the cash ISA?

I would transfer the cash ISA to the S&S ISA. You have an emergency fund so do you need all that cash ISA sitting as cash? If you felt you need some sitting as cash that's fine... you could leave it in cash ISA or take it out and put it in NS&I Premium Bonds or in a standard savings account - 90 day notice perhaps.

If you are comfortable with crypto there are quite a few things that can be done if you have the inclination to get over the learning curve.

This isnt financial advise but in your situation (crypto-familiar and primarily fiat orientated), I would move half to eth, half to USDC, provide liquidity on Uniswap (uniswap.org/) and deposit on Visor (vault.visor.finance/).

You will need to operate on the eth network directly to do this - metamask (metamask.io/) is the best way to do this and it will link with your hardware wallet.

Do not chuck the whole £50k at this, but its worth investigating. Once you get confident using metamask/dapps/defi, there is a whole world to explore!

You mention your % pension contributions but not your actual contributions or total pension savings. If you’re not already contributing your annual allowance and/or feeling very comfortable re projections, then I’d consider boosting your pension.

Failing that, transferring into a stocks and shares ISA seems a good idea.

Offset mortgage?

Yes you could move the cash ISAs into S&S ISAs

I've just posted on a similar thread that I invest quite a lot in Vanguard Global All Cap Index Fund (or similar funds or ETFs) for me and my family but you might not like a fund which is less than 5% UK while having 50+% in USA. I do that because the large UK companies are a pretty mediocre bunch and investment returns have echoed that. But don’t do this if you aren’t prepared to leave it for at least 5-10 years

I have and am invested in property and have come to the conclusion that while it sounds low-risk, you probably have to be a lot more adventurous and hard-faced than I am to make really good returns. Having just one property isn't great either - it works much better when you have a few

Premium bonds!

Depends what you want it for. What are your financial goals?

I would keep 3-6 months expenses as cash eg premium bonds and invest the rest in a low fee diverse fund from somewhere like Vanguard.

I'd move the cash ISA into an investment ISA. You can reasonably expect growth in the medium and long term, although there will be good years and bad ones. First put aside enough cash to last six months of unexpected difficulty.

A low-charging one, and, unless you are an enthusiastic stock-picker, put it into a small number of low-cost tracker ETFs

Perhaps a UK, a European, and an International.

Yields will be small but one reason for taking an income fund is that you can reinvest the income when you don't need it, but turn on the income tap if you want a bit but don't want to start selling your holdings. It is likely to be better than the interest your cash can earn.

Have you considered Premium Bonds?

I'd be looking at property.

With £50k in your shoes I'd be looking at a doer-upper in the UK, a 2 up, 2 down repo to do up and sell on then rinse and repeat. Or if that's not your thing, a BTL with large deposit.