Ca. 50K to sit for 9-12 months

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gramlab

Registered User
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Have about 50K whish I will be using in about 9-12 months time for some building work. Wondering what options there arebesides just leaving it in the bank, considering its not going to be there for a relatively long time.
 
Rabodirect offering 4.75% for 12 motnhs up to 10 k, 3,7% (i think) on the balance. No risk and accessible when you want it.
 
Or, if deposits are the only option, then €10K in Rabo at 4.75%and the balance in NR at 4.15% perhaps? Both rates are gross CARs.
 
Cheers for the advice. Would not want to risk it CC, as I have plans for it, but will have some more so to invest later in the year and may think about something besides straight forward deposits then.

Was looking at rabo myself, but thought I'd just throw it out there and see if anybody had any other opinions.
 
I know this will probably sound naive, but how safe is it to invest with Rabo and NR. I have never done internet banking and naturally would be very cautious. Like the original poster I would have approx €40,000 to invest for probably 18-36 months before I need to touch it .
 
You have stated that you do not want to risk any of the money. Therefore, deposits are the only option. Where you put the money depends on how much hassle you would be willing to go through in order to achieve maximum return. The three options are as follows:


If you only want to open one account, you are better of opening a Northern Rock account and deposit the €50K with a return of 4.15%.

If you are willing to open two accounts (which shouldn't take much extra effort as you will have the documentation anyway), you are best to open a Northern Rock and a Rabodirect account and lodge €10K in the Rabodirect account and the balance in the Northern Rock account. This will mean around €50 per year in additional interest.

If you are willing to put in that little extra effort to open additional accounts, you should do as in option 2 above and then open an account in each of the four top payers in the following thread:

http://www.askaboutmoney.com/showthread.php?t=20747

You can then feed a total of €3,050 per month into these accounts. I have worked out that in one year, this should give an additional €340 interest (after DIRT has been detucted)
 

It’s probably true that all online banking does pose some element of risk but so does walking into a branch! I’ve had a NR account for over 2 years and have never any issues with security. The use of customer ID, passwords and an additional question to prove who you are does provide some level of security. According to NR some 11,300 online accounts are open with them. For what its worth Rabo claim to be “the worlds safest private bank”. Their online banking requires you to use a digipass (size of a small calculator). Which works in conjunction (“conjection” according to their website!) with other securities measures to provide added safety.

Not only have I used the 2 accounts above but I also use the online services of the “regular” banks. In general, they are pretty secure as long as you take reasonable precautions like keeping your ID and pin/password confidential. Most banks that offer online banking will tell you never to respond to email purporting to be the bank and you should never click on a link to your bank instead type in the address directly. A decent security/anti-virus programme doesn’t hurt either. A case in point http://home.eircom.net/content/irelandcom/biznews/9733906?view=Eircomnet. But these are the exception

I would recommend using the accounts above and using them to feed a regular savings account like Halifax (6.65%) or BOI (6.25%) for the period you are thinking of savings for. Given the 18-month min duration the BOI offer might suit better. You’ll be pleased to note that Halifax doesn’t offer online banking facilities yet and BOI don’t offer the facility for this account.
 
Thanks very much for taking the time to respond. Your comments are very helpful.
 
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