The trick with finance is to always AVOID the barsteward whose charges and commission lumber you with a dud product that lines his pocket.
First against the wall come the revolution.
No way would I risk my hard earned cash buying into the stock market, It's fine for those who are willing to take the risk. I invested £10000 of my lump sum when I retired in 1999. I lost £9000 of it. Yes..you guessed...I invested in Technology.
Well I suppose I've regained some of my loss. I moved the remaining £1000 into a Managed Income Fund. It's now worth around £3800. It was £4000 but it's gone down again.
You can earn 4% from a Lloyds current account on up to a certain limit. 5% from TSB and Nationwide again with a cap on total balance. Santander is OK too. You just have to pay in a certain amount each month. Once you have the income into one account the income requirement for the others can be recycled around each account.
In/Out shake it all about,
Get the banks paying out!
These interest amounts may change soon though but have been running for years.