Q. My wife and I are 85 years old. In December, we should have approx £150,000 sterling that we want to put into our bank account we have with Bank of Ireland. The money at the moment is in Jersey, it’s an old investment we had, it’s the last of our money. Can you advise us what is the interest we should try and get? We can put it into an account for 12 months without touching it. John Joe and Mary – Co Roscommon
A. First of all well done John Joe & Mary on accumulating £150,000 at the age of 85 ! You both I assume have the State pension and more than likely are living within your means i.e. you have surplus funds from your pensions every month. You have a number of choices.. you could ask Bank of Ireland to open a joint sterling account for you and leave it there – interest rate will not be great – until such time as you deem it prudent to exchange to euro.. currently sterling is strong and who knows when President Trump becomes President again and UK tariffs take their toll, that exchange rate might weaken…so is now a good time to swap into euro ? If you do switch, Irish deposit interest is not great and the prospects are even lower next year. Current best demand account is An Post Money’s 0.75% – 0.5025% after DIRT Tax ) while the best 12 month fixed account is 3% ( AIB Bank, Bank of Ireland – 2.01% net after DIRT tax ). No point in investing in the best asset class of them all – the stock market – as it really is a long term investment. What would I do ? Put it all in a joint Prize Bond account – you cannot withdraw for the first 3 months but then you can take it all out at 7 days’ notice ! But you are in the draw from day one and with the prize fund tripled last October year, you COULD win but more importantly it is SAFE – guaranteed by the government ! Apply at any post office. Stay healthy and best wishes.