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Save £12k in 2026 challenge (or any other amount to challenge yourself!)
Here are the details below of the savings challenge @enthusiasticsaver and I have been running this year and will continue to run next year. This is the new Challenge thread for savers in 2026. The aim is to get more people saving throughout the year and this thread gives a space for people to record and track their…
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The Save £12k in 2025 challenge
I give details below of the savings challenge I have been running this year and will continue to run next year with the help of @Suffolk_lass This is the new Challenge thread for savers in 2025. The aim is to get more people saving throughout the year and this thread gives a space for people to record their progress. The…
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The New Top Easy Access Savings Discussion Area
This thread is for discussion of the Easy Access Savings Guide A previous version of this thread which ran from Nov 2007 to June 2024 can be found here: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/596724/the-top-easy-access-savings-discussion-area/p1
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The Savings & Investments Sticky
FCA Unauthorised Firms and Individuals List The Top Instant Access Savings Discussion Area How much can you save? Share Dealing Discussion Area Regular Savings Accounts: The Best Currently Available List! Top Child Trust Funds Article Discussion Area >
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Venezuela impact on markets
Trying to assess the possible impact of the Venezuela situation. US get access to more oil, price goes down, inflation lower in the US, fed accelerates US interest rate cuts, dollar cheapens..do non-US equity markets do better? Opinions?
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Ulster limited edition saver
I opened a limited edition saver (well transferred my loyalty saver over) last year and received the first months interest paid November. Now expecting a payment in December nothing arrived yet. Given Christmas break etc surely it should have arrived by now? Anyone else had theirs yet post Christmas, my November payment…
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How to Estimate Potential Losses
Someone wrote the other day that a particular mixed asset fund would probably loose 25% in the event of a crash. That made me wonder if there is any practical way to estimate the potential losses of a partiular equities fund, if the market turned down, to different degrees. Taking the Downside Capture ratio as percentage…
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Dividends on funds
I am trying to sort out selling Accumulation funds before the end of the tax year to utilise my CGT allowance of £3,000 as best as possible. In doing this, I believe I can deduct (from the sale price) the notional income (dividends) on the units to be sold to date. Obviously I have this information from the tax…
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The Top Regular Savers Discussion Thread
Welcome to this thread The main purposes of this thread are two-fold: * To provide a list of the top regular savers currently on offer * To provide a place for all forum users to discuss regular saver accounts and ask any questions about them that you may have This thread is intended to complement Martin Lewis' article…
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Risk Management in 2026
Interesting and potentially useful comments about investment risk management in 2026, from the CIO at Morgan Stanley, intended for their wealth management clients. Portfolio Moves to Consider Investors should remember that bull markets are meant to be ridden, not timed. That means: focus on staying invested, rather than…
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Tax on savings interest
Hello, My elderly mother is selling her current home and has found a place that she wants to rent moving forward. As she will not be using the sale proceeds to buy another home, she would like to put them into NS&I guaranteed income bonds, where she will receive interest every month. However, she first wants to understand…
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Bond fund duration
I have been dithering for too long and need to get my portfolio sorted, but find myself blocked by one main question that I am hoping I might be able to get some help with here: the question of what is an appropriate effective duration for a bond fund. The portfolio is actually my SIPP but I am trying this sub-forum as…
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Derisking against large tech. stocks
Hi, Just wondering really here. My equity investments are generally in Global index funds. These are obviously very heavy in US and in particular tech stocks. If I wanted to reduce my exposure to say, the top 10 tech stocks, are there funds that attempt to achieve this? Or would I have to look at a set of funds and have a…
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Is there any benefit to investing through a bank compared to using a trading platform?
I'm considering getting started with investing. I would most likely be investing with a stocks and shares ISA. I feel comfortable accepting the higher level of risk which accompanies investing, compared to just putting money in savings accounts, which I have always done until now. I am only looking to invest small amounts…
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Ulster Bank easy access Saver - 4.5% interest, but is it lost forever if you go under £5k?
Hi there. I recently opened an Ulster Bank regular saver. It offers interest of 4.5% so long as the balance is over £5k. However, I’m not totally clear what happens if the balance drops under £5k. The guidance is not clear to me and when I spoke to someone at Ulster via the app they could not answer the question either!…
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Best place to park 6‑figure remortgage funds for <1 year while waiting on planning?
Hi all, I’ve just completed a re-mortgage on a 5‑year fix, which includes an extra 6‑figure amount to fund an extension. We’re still going through planning, so the building work won’t start for a while. We hope in the next 3 months we will be near the end and can appoint a builder. In hindsight I wish I had just gone with…
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Capital Gains Tax on Shares
Hi All, I earn approximately 25k Gross per year in my day job. I have sold shares in this tax year making a profit of approximately £50k. I know I have the 3k allowance. My question is would the profit on the 47k be taxed at 18% (basic rate income tax) or would it be added to my salary of £25k and mean it would be taxed at…
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FTSE100 best single year return since 2009.
21.5% return not including dividends, fuelled mostly by defence, banks and mining companies. I honestly didn't think I'd ever see the FTSE100 perform this well ever again, needless to say this is obviously an outlier year, a one off fluke, but perhaps the FTSE100 might regain some lost ground over the coming years I dunno.
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The Cashback for Bank or Investment Accounts Discussion Thread
What is this? This is a list of cashback offers that might be of interest to MSE forum users, focusing on: * Savings accounts including ISAs; other bank accounts may be included too * Investments including pensions, but note there’s already a related thread on the Pensions board * Offers you can get in addition to bank…
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iWeb Change to Scottish Widows
I've just logged into my iWeb account and noticed a banner that they are now going to be known as Scottish Widows sharedealing which will also give access to the Scottish Widows app. https://www.iweb-sharedealing.co.uk/changes.html I wonder if this name change will increase their reach and profile to gain more customers…
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Premium bonds winnings and odd pattern
Hello. I'm guessing that this is an age-old topic, but here we go... My wife and I both have had premium bonds for quite some time, and I have records of all of our purchases of bonds and wins from April 2022. There may be a very minor discrepancy in our holdings over time, but we have basically tracked each other with our…
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ISAs
Hi, I have an Barclays ISA maturing soon and want to take some back, but reinvest the remainder into a new ISA! I am aware that any existing money in an ISA that you wish to transfer to a new ISA does not affect your annual allowance. However, is this only right if I take out a new ISA with Barclays OR can I actually…
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Premium Bond Winner ?
im interested in winning premium bond holders , or not as the case may be , please post your winnings and holding as well as length of time held , i have a theory that newer bonds win more prizes , id prefer not to make this a discussion area of that arguement but i would be interested in your winnings just a bit of…
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My investment return - which one is correct?
I use Interactive Brokers for buying shares in US companies, but I've come across an issue when calculating my end-of-year wealth which I compile manually on a spreadsheet. Interactive Brokers shows a total return from my shares standing at 51,387 in Pounds, but because IB shows each individual US stock in Dollars, I've…
Have a savings question you're keen to discuss? Here is where posts around ISAs and tax-free savings live.
