Hi. I've recently finished University and have started a job, which means I have money which I would like to save. I'm a little confused about what to do at the moment and would appreciate any advice that anyone would like to offer.
I currently have a mini-ISA at The Royal Bank of Scotland which was setup for me to place my savings into a couple of years ago. Can I invest more than £3000 into this account in total or is it that I can only add £3000 to it each tax year? My understanding is that mini-ISAs are tax-free (which few schemes are), so they are one of the best places to put your initial savings until you exceed the limit. Is this correct?
I've been checking on the moneysupermarket website, and it appears that my bank doesn't pay very good interest rates for their ISAs. I know I'm only allowed to have one open at any on time, so how do I go about changing to a better account? Will the new bank I choose open a new ISA account, transfer the money over for me and inform my old bank to close the ISA there?
Finally, does anyone have any general advice on how to invest about £3000-£6000 a year which I would be happy to tie up for about 2 - 3 years, given that my ISA limit is reached? The Halifax are offering a
7% rate to regular savers at the moment which looks good to me, but that has a £3000 limit. If I filled that up too, is a regular savings account with around 5% interest which isn't tax-free about the best you can do? I'm also aware of premium bonds but they seem more like a bit of fun to me unless you can meet the maximum £30,000 limit.Sorry about the number of questions, but finance is very confusing to me. There seems to be so many options with so many rates and conditions that it's hard to know what to do.
Thanks.