Looking for some advice on my UK savings account (currently living in Ireland)

H

helpmesave

New Member
Messages
4
Hi, so I have no idea on where to invest but I have considerable amount of savings in my UK lloyd's account. I don't want to buy a house here in Dublin with the money since I dont intend to live for long, I have enough to last me a couple of years in my local AIB account right now too. I'm in my mid twenties and was thinking where I should put all of the cash in my lloyd's account since it's just depreciating. I can't get in touch with the lloyd's financial advisors because they required you to have a UK NI number. Is it a good bet to invest it into Ireland? I'm a Austrian national so investing it in Austria is an option too.

I would like to have a portfolio of risky/less risky assets but I don't even know where to start or what apps or brokers to use. I was only getting a 0.03% interest rate before and it recently went up to 1.05% something. Getting a mortgage would be the best bet but I don't really want to deal with that right now. Any advice would be appreciated.
 
Start with what you want to do with your life, it doesn't have to be specific plan but sort of a general set of aspirations, goals, etc. Look at them as long/medium/short term and think about how they will need to be funded. That will give you an idea of how accessible you want that money to be.

Unless you are planning to live in the UK, you are probably better off with your money in the eurozone as then it won't be subject to the vagaries of exchange rates. So before you look into particular investment vehicles get it into accessible euro savings (check out the best buys here for some ideas of where to put it and keep in mind the deposit guarantee limit if it is a sizeable amount).

I would then suggest maybe talking to a financial advisor or a financial planner here but perhaps best to pay for the advice as it would then be independent.

The best value investment, assuming you are working and earning enough to be paying tax @40%, will be a pension because of the tax treatment. If you have a pension set up you could max out your avc using your savings. That however locks in your money for the long term, hence the reason that I am suggesting you look at your life plans first.
 
If you want to keep your money in cash and in sterling, Skipton Building Society is offering interest rates of 4% and above. I had money with them for several years, opened the account while living in Ireland and had no problems.
Lloyds also has a branch in Isle of Man. Have you looked to see if the interest rates are any better there?
 
@so-crates right now I'm still doing my masters degree so not in employment for now. UK does have a lot of great investing options but I don't have a resident number so I can't invest in ISAs as such or use platforms likt Nutmeg or Hargreaves & Lansdown. I am thinking if I should just bring it back to Austria and try finding investing options there? Ideally I would like to keep some money in some American companies too but I have no idea on platforms or trading fees
 
Hi helpmesave, like yourself I have a sterling account with a UK bank, Nat West. Returned to Irel from the UK over 20 years ago but kept account open. Availed of good UK savings rates until about 4 years ago. Just recently rates went up quite a lot in UK. For some reason though (possibly Brexit),as a non UK resident I can no longer avail of the best rates available (3-4% for term deposit of one year or more) and the best rate I can get is 1.6%. That's still better than the pathetic rates available from Irish banks currently. I also have a Current account with Nat West and, unlike Irish Banks, I have never been charged any fees for "account maintenance".

I phoned Skipton bank (mentioned above by Gervan) and they said that I couldn't avail of their rates (5.25% one year bond) because I was not a resident of UK.

Enjoy life.
 
Biggles said:
Hi helpmesave, like yourself I have a sterling account with a UK bank, Nat West. Returned to Irel from the UK over 20 years ago but kept account open. Availed of good UK savings rates until about 4 years ago. Just recently rates went up quite a lot in UK. For some reason though (possibly Brexit),as a non UK resident I can no longer avail of the best rates available (3-4% for term deposit of one year or more) and the best rate I can get is 1.6%. That's still better than the pathetic rates available from Irish banks currently. I also have a Current account with Nat West and, unlike Irish Banks, I have never been charged any fees for "account maintenance".

I phoned Skipton bank (mentioned above by Gervan) and they said that I couldn't avail of their rates (5.25% one year bond) because I was not a resident of UK.

Enjoy life.
Click to expand...
@Biggles I might shift back to UK so I might get a NI number in the future, but for now I guess I'll just keep it in the lloyd's while I'm studying in Ireland. I don't know much about rates in Austria or how much trading fee/any legal or tax implications there would be if I tried investing in American companies. Besides buying a house in Ireland which is a lot of work I don't know if there are any good investing options here. But UK in the future seems like a solid bet.
 
Yes helpmesave, it certainly makes sense to keep at least a Current account with Lloyds open if you think you will be returning to the UK in the not-too-distant future. I expect that, like Nat West , they don't charge maintenance fees on your account.
 
helpmesave said:
Hi, so I have no idea on where to invest but I have considerable amount of savings in my UK lloyd's account. I don't want to buy a house here in Dublin with the money since I dont intend to live for long, I have enough to last me a couple of years in my local AIB account right now too. I'm in my mid twenties and was thinking where I should put all of the cash in my lloyd's account since it's just depreciating. I can't get in touch with the lloyd's financial advisors because they required you to have a UK NI number. Is it a good bet to invest it into Ireland? I'm a Austrian national so investing it in Austria is an option too.

I would like to have a portfolio of risky/less risky assets but I don't even know where to start or what apps or brokers to use. I was only getting a 0.03% interest rate before and it recently went up to 1.05% something. Getting a mortgage would be the best bet but I don't really want to deal with that right now. Any advice would be appreciated.
Click to expand...
You are most likely non-domiciled (unless you plan to stay in Ireland forever) - if you bring the money to Ireland you will need to pay tax on the interest you earned in the UK. Investing in Ireland is not worth it in my opinion due to taxation (unless you pay into a pension or you buy a house).

The obvious option is to keep the money in the UK - especially if you consider to return there.

Alternatively would use the money to either buy property or shares abroad (in the UK or in Austria). I would not buy an etf as the deemed disposal tax is also charged on non domiciled tax residents in Ireland.

What are you long term financial and personal goals? If you consider returning to Austria you could buy a property there - use the rental income to pay the mortgage there (if you bring the rental income to Ireland you would need to pay Irish tax on that) and when you decide to return you have a property there waiting for you.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top