Help please - what to do with £200k-ish??

[Hgsrh]

We are moving overseas next year, most likely for 5 years but possibly longer. Don't want to rent our flat out as too much faff and would never live here again (2 bed London flat, now have kids). We plan to sell before we move so would have about £110,000 from the sale after fees - and also have probably £50k in savings (after moving costs, currently in a 4% interest account (Flex rate) - didn't want to put anywhere more permanent in case moving costs more than expected - but we thought we'd move sooner so really it's been sat in this account for 3-4 years and feels like a wasted opportunity - don't want to make same mistake with 110k!) and £50k in premium bonds. We wouldn't buy in our new country for the first year at least, maybe first couple of years, maybe never! We'd need this 110k for our next deposit - whether that's here or there.

I think we'd plan to convert the £50k savings to use in next 5 years in new location and keep accessible, but:
1 should we keep premium bonds / can you still get prizes if no longer a UK resident?
2 what should we do with the 110k lump sum from selling, noting we definitely won't need it for 1 year, maybe 2, maybe longer - this is really the main question - not sure if we should invest it, noting then that when we decide we want to buy it might be a bad time to take the money out / convert it now or leave in GBP / put in a 2 year fixed term (though rates are barely better than limited access accounts) / split between accounts so it's covered by that savings protection thing up to 75k?

Sorry for long thread! Any advice would be much appreciated - I would rather not see a financial advisor as I'm not convinced by them!

NS&I savings account. Covered for more than the usual £80k or whatever it is.
Interest rate isn't stunning but it will be safe

Ooh great idea. It feels like a shame not to invest it really, and deep down I want someone to tell me it's ok to invest for 1&2 years even though I know it's probably silly!

2 year bond with national savings is 4.25% and as pp said you could put all the money in there. The stock market isn't recommended for a two year investment but you could put some money into a market tracker for fun - maybe an ISA?

Stock market not a good idea for a two year investment as others have said.

Personally I'd just put it in fixed rate savings, best rate you can get.

I can look after it for you, and if anyone else out there who has some spare lolly, I can help with that too.

(I also clean jewellery.)

Get your ISA allowance filled. With that amount in savings, you'll have to pay tax on interest, so get £40k of it into your ISAs asap and then again when tax year ends.

Just look for the highest interest cash savings accounts, maybe look at fixed term if you definitely don't want it for a year or two. You can get higher than 4%, though it'll be less than 5%, but if when you need it you're going to actually need it then I wouldn't invest it. You can spread it across 3x banks to make sure you're covered by the FSCS.

@BurglarAndSwag
that properly made me laugh 🤣
needed that this morning.
Thank you and have a great day !!

Hehe thanks all especially @BurglarAndSwag

It's annoying because there's also a chance we won't need it in 1-2 years and won't touch it for 5+ years - but realistically we might so I agree investing is risky...

**

https://www.gov.uk/individual-savings-accounts/if-you-move-abroad

2 years is too short for investing. Whilst premium bonds are safe and convenient, the (notional) interest isn’t great unless you get lucky.

personally I’d use on of the savings platforms like HL active savings or Flagstone. You can then split it into 50k chunks and put it into fixed term savings bonds, perhaps 1x 2 year bonds and 2x 1 year bonds. You should get around 4 to 4.5% interest across the piece.

Thanks

@Bruisername I've looked at that, all seems fine, can still have money in an ISA and obviously would need to declare interest in my new country as income

Yes - you just need to make sure you put the money in before you leave! Ns and I also have some restrictions to double check.

also worth bearing in mind the exchange rate - if it becomes favourable it might be better to move some of the money into savings in your new country

www.nsandi.com/help/join-nsandi/using-nsandi-outside-uk

People wiil advise you not to put it into stocks for less than five years, but their risk appetite will be different to yours. It's realy not so clear cut.

Split it across a couple of high interest fixed savings accounts for a year. Then you are protected.

MSE updates the best ones.

The easy access accounts have slightly higher rates at present but will probably fall as inflation is falling. So better to fix for a year.