Making your jewellery fund grow through savings
Gold and silver jewellery can increasingly be viewed as not only classic adornments, but wise investments, given the impressive growth that the price of gold has shown over recent years as other investments bound up in the stock markets have lost value. Additionally, if you are looking for a special piece, it may take you a while to save up – sometimes it is better to wait than to compromise. If you are thinking of setting aside some savings to specifically invest in gold and silver jewellery, or to buy something special for an anniversary, you should make sure that your money is working for you.
There are several different types of financial products commonly offered by the high street banks that can achieve growth for your money, even with the current record low base rate of interest. The first place to look to put money aside as savings should always be the range of ISA options, if you have not already reached your annual limit. A cash ISA allows for tax free savings; any growth that your money achieves over the year will be free from taxation. The interest on normal savings accounts is taxable. Stocks and shares ISAs can offer better potential growth, but this potential comes at the price of greater risk; and this kind of investment is only really suitable for the medium to long term – that is, five years or longer.
In all probability, you'll want to make your investment/ purchase within 5 years, and if this is the case, and you have already reached your cash ISA limit for the year, there are other options to consider. If you can afford to wait for a couple of years to achieve growth on your money, banks like Santander offer savings options in the form of fixed rate savings bonds, in terms of 18 months and 2 years, that offer a relatively high rate of interest to those who can afford to tie up some money. This last point is crucial, as while access to the cash invested in fixed rate bonds is usually possible, there can be quite a considerable time lag between requesting to withdraw the money and actually receiving it, so the fixed rate bond is only of use if you will not need to access the money in an emergency.
There are a range of instant access savings accounts on the market that provide both flexibility and a reasonable rate of interest, and these are perhaps best suited for the purposes of a jewellery war chest; after all , you want to be able to pounce when the perfect piece becomes available!