Under the bed??

[morlandg]

Once I have sold my house over here in Spain where should I invest some of the money? I cannot buy unit trusts, ISAs etc in the UK as I'm resident here in spain. So what should I do with it I wonder!

[El Cid]

Putting it under your bed might be the best bet. Alternatively, if I send you my bank details you can put it under my bed.

Seriously though, there are very few investments that offer any sort of return that don't carry a high risk.

At the moment, all my cash is in current accounts as I can't be bothered to chase around to get 0.5% interest.

Sid

[morlandg]

Thanks Sid.
I suspected as much but if one doesn't ask.....
Graham

BTW - check under your bed tomorrow morning

[Wicksey]

What about premium bonds? We are getting a reasonable rate of return (about 1.3%) and the limit you can hold has gone up to 50k now. Plus there's always the small chance you could win the million! I notice they also have some income bonds with 1.25% return that is no worse than most banks or building societies.

[El Cid]

Less than 1% after you pay tax on the winnings. Also, you have to declare them on Form 720 if more than €50k.

Sid

[Free at Last]

Leeds Building Society in Gibraltar are paying 1.6% on their 1 year fixed rate bond atm (interest is paid gross but of course you have to declare it on your Spanish tax return and on Modelo 720 if over €50,000). Not very good return but at least it's something and it's safe. I've had a series of these bonds over the past few years and been pleased with their service. You can open accounts with them as a Spanish resident, with your passport and utility bills as proof of address.

http://www.leedsbuildingsociety.co.uk/g ... vestments/

[Wicksey]

If you put the money into any UK investment or just have it in the bank and it's over 50k, you'd have to declare it on the 720? If you don't earn enough to pay tax here then you'd get the full winnings surely. There are some advantages to being pobre

The Leeds account looks a lot more generous than most accounts. Can you handle it all online or do you have to go to Gib?

[Free at Last]

The Leeds account looks a lot more generous than most accounts. Can you handle it all online or do you have to go to Gib?

You can't deal with them online. You can open an account by post, but I didn't fancy entrusting my passport to the mail so I went on a day trip to Gibraltar and did it then (the Phoenix Social Club runs one on the first Friday of every month, departing from Lidl at Algarrobo Costa or Torre del Mar bus station, cost €11). The interest gets paid to my UK current account. When the bond matures they transfer it to a Maturity Account and you can then open a new fixed rate bond if you want to, all of that can be done by post without having to supply more proof of ID. One good thing about these fixed rate bonds is that you can make a withdrawal of up to 25% of the money with no loss of interest if you should need to for some unforeseen reason.

[elusive]

There are a few uk accounts that are available to non residents. with have an account with BLME. excellent custome service the years with have been with them. you have to invest of minimum of £25k though. remember the protection limits are being reduced to 75k from jan 2016. we have struggled ti fibd many accounts. I wish we hadnt brought as much cash with us but at that stage we didnt know if we would buy or not. now they are in accounts with crap intrest rates and charges if you want to take anything out. i asked in other banks but they want you to open a current account first. are there any banks that let you open just a savings account

the gib account looks good but its only one year and the hassle of reopening another after a year puts me off

[Mowser]

I just got 2.5% with Cajamar but there's a paltry limit.

[El Cid]

If you put the money into any UK investment or just have it in the bank and it's over 50k, you'd have to declare it on the 720? If you don't earn enough to pay tax here then you'd get the full winnings surely.

Yes, you would have to declare it and at the present exchange rate the limit is £35k.

As for tax, it depends on how much you win. It would not take much of a win to tip a UK pension into the tax trap.

Sid

[Free at Last]

the gib account looks good but its only one year and the hassle of reopening another after a year puts me off

The fact that it's only a one year bond is actually a good thing at the moment, because if interest rates start to rise as it is widely predicted they will next year (albeit not by much) you are not locked into a long term bond and possibly a new one with a higher interest rate will be available when the first one matures. I have had 3 year fixed rates with them in the past but they are not offering those atm, no doubt because rates are so low and expected to rise.

It really is very little hassle to open a new one. The LBS send a letter advising you of the maturity date and enclose an application form for whatever bonds they have on offer at that time, you fill it in and post it back with your passbook and they send you back the updated passbook. That's all there is to it.

Setting up the account in the first place is the most work, but even that only involves a day trip to Gib if you don't fancy trusting your documents to the post.

[ashtondav]

I've been using p2p lender zopa for ten years now. Never had any problems and currently getting 5.2%. I can't recall if non UK residents can use it. If not, I am sure some of the other p2p companies will accept non residents.