Oxx, we are talking long term here. The Ftse 100 hasn't gone up in 15 years. Well, it has gone up, but also down. in 2000 it was higher, went down, back up in 2008, went down, back up in 2014, down again a bit. Still lower than in 2000. It has been a lousy investment this century unless you bought in when low.

The FTSE 100 has done much better than you're suggesting. I haven't been able to find a full history of the FTSE 100 TR Index. This graph is the best I can find. It misses the last year and a half:

So, over 13 years £8,000 invested in the FTSE 100 (end 2001) with dividends reinvested would have turned into £18,000 (end 2014) - a total return of 125%. Not too shabby, and rather better than your cash savings, methinks.

And yet there is nobody who has made 125% on the FTSE over the same period.

Methinks it is a very optimistic level of dividends. I have had a FTSE 100 tracker since 2002 ok there are some minimal management costs - i made nearly 100% by 2007 - and it is still under 100% gain now over 8 years later ..... even with those reinvested dividends. Unfortunately i kept it after 2007 because i tried to diversify my investments, like the 'experts' said. Fortunately i wasn't dumb enough to put my redundancy pay into them like my 'expert' told me or i wouldn't have been able to retire to Thailand.

When i said 50% on interest, i forgot to mention that is not since 2000 - but 2007, just over 8 years. i locked in interest rates of over 6% over the first 3-5 years and around 3-5% since then.