One savings account or two?

Rummer

Hello

I am working hard to clear my debt at the moment and starting to think about saving for the future and I wondered if you could help me with some dilemas I have. Ideally I would like two accounts, one for long term savings and one for nice things like decorating/holidays etc. However with the small amount of money I will be saving every month I don't know if it would be better to just pull all the money together??
The other question is I am unsure how much to save every month, I know the right answer will probably be as much as possible/what I have to spare but I wondered if you save a % of your income or if there are other ways of working out a good amount?

Thank you so much for your advice!

Doomcow

personally im trying to save approx 1/3rd of my wage (which isnt much compared to some values ive heard batted about here).

the way im geared up the now is:
HBOS instant access savings account @ 1/3rd wages/week, whereby if i need cash fast, i can transfer it back into my HBOS current account. in that im rolling up to £1000 and then transferring £500 into a yorkshire BS e-ISA account, effectivly, storing it as a "long haul" saving.

myself and the mrs have a joint IASA which is sloooowly building (£10/week) for the wedding fund (and quarterly moving a few hundred into it from our joint current account)

so if i was you, i'd look into starting and ISA somewhere, and have a basic instant access savings account with your current account holder - even saving £50/month, with maybe 30 in the isa and 20 in the iasa, is better than saving nothing, and a good start to build on.

prove you can save for 3 months, and raise the amount you save from there - thats what i done, and for me its consistent - not like before where i was trying to save loads from the "get-go" and finding that i've not budgeted right or something.

just a few thoughts

oh, and remember - if its an instant access savings account, and you do need instant access, then the IASA with your current account provider will be easier than with another bank.. ie, if its with another bank, take into account the time to transfer from there to your current account.

of course, you can get a card with IASA's but its another pin to remember and a lot of flaffing about.

hope this helps and isnt too confoosing.

if im wrong about anything, please dont shoot me, its a friday night and i've had a wee vodka before winding down

jem16

Doomcow wrote: »

oh, and remember - if its an instant access savings account, and you do need instant access, then the IASA with your current account provider will be easier than with another bank.. ie, if its with another bank, take into account the time to transfer from there to your current account.

You could use Tesco Internet Saver whcih has Faster Payments both in and out. It pays 6.25%.

f im wrong about anything, please dont shoot me, its a friday night and i've had a wee vodka before winding down

You sure you only had one vodka? Last I looked this was Saturday night.