NS&I Underrated by this website

dougz_2

Maybe it's because their biggest value is as a tax break for the rich, and this site is aimed at people for whom money is tighter?

baby_boomer

Paying 40% tax in London is not being rich - it's not far above the average.

Anyway, Martin has spilled much ink reminding us to keep our savings in several £50K blocks - hardly aimed at "people for whom money is tighter".

And the MSE savings calculator includes an option for higher rate taxpayers.

moneysavinmonkey

BobbyBlade wrote: »

I suspect that the reason why Martin doesn't rate these savings vehicles too highly is because the rates that they are based on are susceptible to manipulation by the Government. Does anybody believe the inflation figures that are published?
IMO best AVOID. I would rather put my money in the latest Barclays regular saver account at a guaranteed 7.75% AER for 12 months. And /or the Nat West 12 month e-saver account at 6.5%AER.
If you have trust in the government then go ahead and invest in these "magnets for morons"

I agree with you to some extent - national statistics are open to covert manipulation and consistently underestimate personal inflation levels experienced by many groups of people.

There is a risk with these bonds that you won't get the 'top' rate available with a commercial savings account - but that is offset to my mind by the 100% safety guarantee (above 50k) along with the potential for high returns.

Regular savers are great and I have 2 of these as well - trouble is you can only drip feed money into them so they are no good for saving lump sumps and would be no substitute for me.

"magnets for morons" is completely un-called for and only serves to demean any rational argument you put forward. If you can't make your point without alliterative name calling then you've already lost the debate.

bazster

I've got some money in an NS&I ISA, interest rate was great when I opened it but it's pants now. Will be shifting it elsewhere once the rates settle down.

Of course, with people flooding into NS&I for reasons other than the rate of return, the rates are unlikely to be competitive for the forseeable. Ironically NS&I is probably no safer now than most of the major banks since the government now seems to own nearly all of them!

pumpndump

dougz wrote: »

Maybe it's because their biggest value is as a tax break for the rich, and this site is aimed at people for whom money is tighter?

No. It's because they have overlooked it. It has sod all to do with your income tax. And they are not the only ones who have overlooked it. I get at least one client a week coming to me talking about these !!!!!! sheets. I then give them a calculator, and let them work out for themselves how much they are really getting from these things. And I watch their jaws drop. Then I tell them how they can get round the flaws with these things, so they are getting much more than the rate of inflation. Then their faces look as though they have just washed in the Pool of Siloam. There is also a limit on how many of these !!!!!! sheets you can buy, whereas if you do it the right way, you can invest virtually as much as you please.


And, as other posters have pointed out, the RPI, in its present form, is a rather innaccurate way of measuring inflation.

moneysavinmonkey

pumpndump wrote: »

No. It's because they have overlooked it. It has sod all to do with your income tax. And they are not the only ones who have overlooked it. I get at least one client a week coming to me talking about these !!!!!! sheets. I then give them a calculator, and let them work out for themselves how much they are really getting from these things. And I watch their jaws drop. Then I tell them how they can get round the flaws with these things, so they are getting much more than the rate of inflation. Then their faces look as though they have just washed in the Pool of Siloam. There is also a limit on how many of these !!!!!! sheets you can buy, whereas if you do it the right way, you can invest virtually as much as you please.


And, as other posters have pointed out, the RPI, in its present form, is a rather innaccurate way of measuring inflation.

what an eloquent poster - are you going to share what the 'right way' of saving is then?

amcluesent

>And I watch their jaws drop.<

LOL. And of course financial advisor's don't make a brass farthing off NS&I products, not that that colours your judgement in any way...

donnykebab

moneysavinmonkey wrote: »

what an eloquent poster - are you going to share what the 'right way' of saving is then?

Very much doubt it - all hot air at a guess

pumpndump

moneysavinmonkey wrote: »

what an eloquent poster - are you going to share what the 'right way' of saving is then?

Well, you know everything. You tell everybody.

marksmith99

pumpndump wrote: »

No. It's because they have overlooked it. It has sod all to do with your income tax. And they are not the only ones who have overlooked it. I get at least one client a week coming to me talking about these !!!!!! sheets. I then give them a calculator, and let them work out for themselves how much they are really getting from these things. And I watch their jaws drop. Then I tell them how they can get round the flaws with these things, so they are getting much more than the rate of inflation. Then their faces look as though they have just washed in the Pool of Siloam. There is also a limit on how many of these !!!!!! sheets you can buy, whereas if you do it the right way, you can invest virtually as much as you please.

I'm intrigued by what you claim. I have the max in these because even if, say inflation over the three years is at 2.5%, that means 3.5% net rate, which equates to a 5.83% gross rate, which isn't the best that's out there but isn't bad for the security offered.

As someone else has said the security angle may be diminished now as govt seems to be happy to bail out anyone, but at the time I invested this wasn't the case.