# What can I do to increase my savings?



## zach21uk (Jun 26, 2014)

Hi all,

I am hoping to gain the benefit of peoples experience in terms of what I can do with my savings both short term and long term to increase their value.

I saw a post on one of the "other" forums yesterday where a poster talked about how they started out with €30000 euros a few years ago, which was placed into some kind of savings account and over the years, they have drawn on it a few hundred euros per years and paid a few other expenses that were over €1000 euros each and today, with all said and done, they have almost €32000 euros, which is significantly more than they started with.

This has inspired me to explore what can be done with my savings. I am always hearing about "ISAS" and "Bonds" and various other things but really do not have any knowledge or undrstanding of what they are and how to utilize them.

Are there things I can do here in Cyprus to increase my savings or can it only be done in the UK? (which is harder now that my UK account with Barclays was shut).

I am looking for both short term (6 month, 1 year) options and also longer term options (2 years, 5 years, 10 years etc). 

Thanks for any advice / info.

Zach


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## Veronica (Apr 5, 2008)

The problem with ISAs and bonds is that there is often a minimum term you need to leave your money in and to be honest the gain is not brilliant. If you want to take money out before the term stated you pay a penalty which can often wipe out any gains you might have made.
There are a lot of financial advisors here in Cyprus and our experience of them is that they are only interested in getting you into whatever scheme pays them the most commission regardless of whether it is the right one for you. We lost a lot of money thanks to one of these sharks.
Unfortunately even if they are under the umbrella of well known British companies, as they are trading here in Cyprus you do not have the protection of the ombudsman if they give you bad advice


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## zach21uk (Jun 26, 2014)

I'm not interested in market trading or anything like that. Thats too risky for my blood.

You mentioned that with ISAs and bonds there is often a minimum term involved - I assumed as much. I am aware that you have to "lock" the money away for a certain amount of time before you're allowed to touch it, so thats not unexpected.

When you say the gain is not brilliant - do you have any rough estimates? For example, say I wanted to lock away €5000 for a year? Is that possible with an ISA or bond? If so, what do you get out of it?

The assumption is that the same €5000 would be sitting in a savings account untouched regardless, so I figure it might as well earn me a little bit of money in the meantime. Even if its only a 1% reward, thats still €50 I did not have before.

Then again, I really do not know what kind of rewards you get on that type of thing so maybe I am over-optimistic when I say its a 1% reward? 

The way I figure it, at the moment my money is sitting in a savings account earning nothing (AFAIK Bank of Cyprus do not pay interest on savings) so ANYTHING that gets me something back is an improvement on that.


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## bencooper (Mar 20, 2013)

You really are best advised to seek professional advice (ideally from several different companies) particularly if you are talking about a significant sum or something you are not prepared to lose. As Veronica says there are a lot of sharks around (even in highly regulated countries), but you don't have to follow their advice. Something like UK Premium Bonds can be a suitable home for say a couple of thousand pounds with odds, albeit pitiful, better than the various lotteries AND your capital is safe, with a little excitement every month when the draw is made.
I often think the best investment I made was over the years to keep up payments on my UK National Insurance Class 3 contributions to secure the standard pension, little as it is.


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## David_&_Letitia (Jul 8, 2012)

zach21uk said:


> I am always hearing about "ISAS" and "Bonds" and various other things but really do not have any knowledge or undrstanding of what they are and how to utilize them.
> 
> Are there things I can do here in Cyprus to increase my savings or can it only be done in the UK? (which is harder now that my UK account with Barclays was shut).


I can't advise about Cyprus, other than to say that there are some expat sharks out there and you would need to be very careful about who to trust. I have found over the years that there is no such thing as free financial advice. Most professionals who purport to give free financial advice are only trying to lead you to the limited range of products which they sell and those individuals are invariably the ones who get all the benefit. Although I have no personal dealings here, there is an individual who advertises his services on Rock FM daily, but if you search his name in the other Forum, you will find many disgruntled individuals who claim to have been fleeced by him.

As far as the UK is concerned, a cash ISA would have been ideal for you. This is a method of saving a lump sum with various solid institutions - we used the Halifax - and the interest is free of all tax. Cash ISAs ensured good rates of interest as the intent is to lock up the money for a set number of years, although you were able to draw down some money annually or withdraw completely at any time before maturity. There are limits of how much you can put into a cash ISA each year and for FY15/16, the maximum is £15,240. Unfortunately, Zach, you need to be resident in the UK to start a cash ISA, although if you already have one or more ISAs before becoming an expat you are allowed to retain them through to maturity. 

There are also Bond ISAs where your money is invested in stocks and shares - a riskier form of ISA - where the profits are not subject to tax (including capital gains tax). However, the same annual limits apply and you would need to be UK resident to start a Bond ISA.


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## PeteandSylv (Sep 24, 2008)

You will find that most UK investments, particularly ones paying tax-free, require you to be a UK resident. This includes ISA's and Premium Bonds.

For alternative investments there are the Peer to Peer companies (P2P) where you control the length of investment but receive substantially more interest than the banks. They are regulated but although working towards it, do not come under the UK financial compensation scheme. The 2 main ones take strong active measures to safeguard investment money against bad debt by means of provision funds and none have lost money for investors to date.

I use the 2 main ones although I have a preference. If you are interested in seeing more about these please PM me and I will give you the referral links which, if taken up, are financially beneficial.

Please note I am not endorsing these companies or recommending you take them up but offer to pass on their details as a satisfied customer earning substantially more interest than the banks or building societies offer.

Pete


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## Rema (Aug 12, 2012)

PeteandSylv said:


> You will find that most UK investments, particularly ones paying tax-free, require you to be a UK resident. This includes ISA's and Premium Bonds.
> 
> 
> Pete


Pete is right on this point. You will not be able to open an ISA account or a building society account without a UK address although I don't believe there is any restriction on premium bonds, mind you the returns are pretty poor unless you are very lucky that is. I've had them for years and have only managed a couple of £100 wins.

You will be aware that interest rates are very low, especially for Euro investments right now, so any form of institutional investment will not return much in the long run. Be aware that you will be locked into the interest rate you get from day 1 and most pundits are pointing to interest rate rises in the near to medium term, so now may not be the right time to invest in a term bond.

Depending on your appetite for risk then the stock market is presenting some interesting opportunities. The markets have been in a virtual free fall for some time and many blue chip stocks are trading at very attractive prices. Of course you can lose as well as gain but if you choose a couple of good dividend paying stocks you can turn a decent profit and have access to your funds at any time. You don't even need to go through a broker either, many investment houses allow you to open a trading account which you, and only you, have access to. 

I'm not a professional financial advisor or anything of the sort, but like you I need to make my money work for me. My best advice is therefore to take the time to read the financial press (Morningstar is a very good source as is Bloomberg and 'This is Money") then make your own mind up and don't trust anybody else with your money.

Incidentally, re the individual who advertises on Rock FM, I do have personal experience of him - stay very clear, he is a con artist like so many of the so called 'professional advisors' here

Best of luck!


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## PeteandSylv (Sep 24, 2008)

Rema said:


> ....although I don't believe there is any restriction on premium bonds


I'm sure there used to be restrictions requiring a UK address but these seem to have changed. The NS&I T&C's state:

_You can buy Premium Bonds from abroad, but only in some countries. First you should
check whether local regulations allow you to buy and hold Premium Bonds, as some countries don’t allow this.

The first time you apply will have to be by post, as you’ll need to send us some documents to prove your identity and address. We’ll also need your Tax Identification Number and date and place of birth if you live in the European Union._

Quite a performance to apply and I agree that the returns are disappointing. At my age I should have had at least 1 £1 million win instead of the occasional £25.

Pete


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## Baywatch (Mar 30, 2014)

zach21uk said:


> Hi all,
> 
> I am hoping to gain the benefit of peoples experience in terms of what I can do with my savings both short term and long term to increase their value.
> 
> ...


I have made it simple for us. Perhaps we lose some percentage but it is no work and a stable interest.

I invested about 5 years ago in 1000 H&M shares for around 30000 €. The share value increase every year with a little more than inflation, but for me the yearly dividend is more interesting. It has these 5 years been around 3% or 1 euro per share. It is a very popular share and can be sold any time. If I would sell them just before the annual report come out, I would probably get 2% extra interest per year.

Anders


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## GSmith (Nov 9, 2015)

*Tax Free*

There are many mentions in this thread about ISA and Bonds. ISAs are only tax free in the UK and are treated in Cyprus as just another savings account (Cash ISA) or investment (Stocks & Shares ISA) so are subject to Special Contribution for Defence here in Cyprus. If you have been resident for less than 17 out of the last 20 years in Cyprus you may be considered 'non-domiciled' under a recent change in legislation and be exempt from SCD. Having said that, you have to be UK resident for tax purposes to pay money into an ISA anyway.

There are also many references to 'shark' Financial Advisers here in Cyprus and that is also very correct. There are many laws regulating the activities of Investment Advisers but there are also laws on crash helmets, speeding, mobile phones and driving and seat belts.......... 

You shoiuld consider your savings as separate pots of cash, some short term some medium and some long term and look at dividing and using each 'pot' as the term dictates. It would be unwise to use savings earmarked as a child's college fund the same as saving for next years holidays for example. This is where good, professional Financial & Investment advice comes into it's own.

There is a saying often used by tradesmen that fits this scenario perfectly.

"If you consider professional financial advice expensive, what until you find out the cost of unprofessional advice"

A good adviser will charge you fees for the work he does and will not be permitted to take commissions. check out the website ofCyprus Securities and Exchange Commission under regulated entities, Cypriot Investment Firms for a list of regulated Cyprus companies. As someone posted in this thread, UK companies operating in Cyprus are still regulated by CySEC (Cyprus Securities & Exchange Commission)

Garry


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## PeteandSylv (Sep 24, 2008)

GSmith said:


> There are many mentions in this thread about ISA and Bonds. ISAs are only tax free in the UK and are treated in Cyprus as just another savings account (Cash ISA) or investment (Stocks & Shares ISA) so are subject to Special Contribution for Defence here in Cyprus. If you have been resident for less than 17 out of the last 20 years in Cyprus you may be considered 'non-domiciled' under a recent change in legislation and be exempt from SCD. Having said that, you have to be UK resident for tax purposes to pay money into an ISA anyway.
> 
> There are also many references to 'shark' Financial Advisers here in Cyprus and that is also very correct. There are many laws regulating the activities of Investment Advisers but there are also laws on crash helmets, speeding, mobile phones and driving and seat belts..........
> 
> ...



Very interesting advice, Garry.

You wouldn't happen to be a financial advisor would you?

Pete


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## GSmith (Nov 9, 2015)

PeteandSylv said:


> Very interesting advice, Garry.
> 
> You wouldn't happen to be a financial advisor would you?
> 
> Pete


Hi Pete,

No, I'm an Investment Adviser. I'm not trying to be picky but 'Financial Adviser' is a bit too generic and technically isn't recognised here in Cyprus whereas Investment Advice is a regulated activity. We aren't all the same and I can well understand the comments posted previously. 

Garry


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## Torto (Jan 4, 2014)

With two words-invest the money
In long term(20-25 years or more),you have almost 100 % to increase them significantly and it is almost completly safe-if you know what are you doing.............No,i am not joking with this.
If you invest them for shorter period 3-5 years(if we speak about stocks/bonds) you are more dependable of the velocity of the market.
Have you ever invest before ?


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## PeteandSylv (Sep 24, 2008)

Torto said:


> With two words-invest the money


I hope your investment maths is a bit better!!!!!










Pete


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## David_&_Letitia (Jul 8, 2012)

Torto said:


> With two words-invest the money


There are three types of people in this world - those who are good at maths and those who aren't.


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## Cbartram (Apr 10, 2014)

Have you thought of the Prue? There is a representative here fully accredited 

Christine


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