A question about : Savings Advice For 22 Y/O Before Temporarily Moving To Canada
Hello! So I'm temporarily moving to Canada (won't be a permanent resident or have citizenship) to live/work on the 9th of April 2015 for at least year, more likely three. I've done a bit of investigating but just after some advice/feedback as to what to do with my savings before I head off..
Currently 22 years old, no debts or mortgage, self employed. I have the various current accounts (Club Lloyds, Santander 123 etc.) set up to receive interest on my balances totalling around Ј36k. I have just over Ј11K in a Virgin Money ISA paying a gross interest rate of 1.31%.
My plan is to transfer the equivalent of $20K CAD (Around Ј10.5k) to my Canadian bank account when that's set up using something like Transferwise. I'll keep Ј5k in my Lloyds account for anything that crops up. This leaves around Ј15k to do something with...
I still have this years ISA allowance to use and understand that I can still hold an ISA and earn interest even if I'm living temporarily in Canada but can't make any further deposits when I'm not resident in the UK. So if I were to go this route would the best bet be to transfer my current Virgin ISA to a 3 year fixed ISA (looking at the Virgin Fixed Rate Cash E-ISA Issue 105 that has a rate of 2% fixed for 3 years)? This would total Ј26k in the ISA.
Another route I thought of but can't quite get my head around is fixed rate savings accounts. I was looking at Harrods 3 Year Fixed Rate Deposit Account which pays 2.50% AER/2.50% Gross P.A on balances above Ј20k. I understand that rates advertised are pre-tax, but once I move I will be a non-UK tax payer- does this mean I would get the full 2.5%? If this is the case should I unwrap my current ISA and put the full Ј26k into this account? Best of both worlds- transfer my existing ISA to a better paying rate and put the Ј15k into a Close Brothers Select Gold Fixed Term Deposits account that pays the same 2.5% rate as the Harrods account but minimum deposit is Ј10k and fixed for 3 years.
Or do I forget about the above and keep my Club Lloyds and Santander 123 account going? Do they allow you to keep a current account if living abroad?
I have no long term plans for my savings- buying a flat/mortgage is probably a good 5+ years away.
Sorry that's a lot of information to absorb- feel free to ask me anything! Apologies if I've missed anything on here with people in a similar situation- tried a search but couldn't see anything that related. Thank you for your help!
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