The Savings Fountain Discussion Area

jimclark1967

cjn wrote:

Firstly, great article. I haven't been through the whole of this thread so apologies if I'm repeating anyone, although if I could just pick up on one minor point:

While a Cash ISA may be higher up on the savings fountain than a regular saver, many regular savers offer higher rates of interest. Even after (standard rate) tax, Halifax RSA pays me 5.6%, favourable against 5.25% on my HSBC Cash ISA. Therefore, it would seem worth waiting until March to use my annual ISA allowance; putting the money into the RSA in the meantime.

Very true, if you can get the timing right this is the best way to do things.

Remember though that ISA interest is tax free for the life of the ISA (another 5+ years potentially) so it wouldn't normally be worth missing a tax year's worth of ISA subscriptions just to feed a regular saver for a few months.

JC

lipidicman

cjn wrote:

Therefore, it would seem worth waiting until March to use my annual ISA allowance; putting the money into the RSA in the meantime.

Remember you can't withdraw from the RS early, so if you opened it in March that's OK. If not you will lose your interest to get it out and into your ISA

jack1_2

What is wrong with putting savings into a long term individual company corporate bond in an ISA ?

Circle_2

I don't know where to post this so here goes!. My son has an ISA with Skandia and he has been send stuff to join something called Money Spider but I can't work out if that is a replacement for Skandia or an addition and what he could gain from it. We are both numpties where investments are concerned. It's all gobbledigook to me and he's dyslexic!

Is he doing the right thing? Anyone heard of Money Spider?

grumbler

Circle wrote:

Anyone heard of Money Spider?

Moneyspider thread ...

deemy2004

jimclark1967 wrote:

Very true, if you can get the timing right this is the best way to do things.

Remember though that ISA interest is tax free for the life of the ISA (another 5+ years potentially) so it wouldn't normally be worth missing a tax year's worth of ISA subscriptions just to feed a regular saver for a few months.

JC

Its highly likely that existing cash ISA's will remain tax free indefinetly , much as the TESSAs turned into the TOISA's

jordylass

Sorry if this has been asked before but I can't see it anywhere. I am about to come into a sum of money which I expect to be between 30-50K. I have read all through the savings fountain and I'm au fait with that if it's the best thing to do with my money, but would it be better to overpay on my mortgage. It has 10 years to run at 4.89 and is for approx 80K, there are no penalties for overpayment.

SallyB_3

I've a question about saving - my other half and I are planning to buy together (once we've sold his house and remortgaged mine to buy to let). In the interim, we want to open up a "joint account" into which we'll pay £x amount a month until we move (which at this rate could be next year!!) and then make it our joint slush account - i.e we'll have our own current accounts, but anything housey will come out of the joint slush fund! If that makes sense - what's the best way to do this or to start it? And who with?! Help!!

goodform_2

Is it best to try & pay off capital on your mortgage prior to starting the savings fountain scheme or would starting a maxi ISA be more beneficial?

Miss_Penny_Pincher_2

Goodform - welcome to MSE. A similar question to yours was pondered on this thread here:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=220885

Some key things to consider are if you have a savings buffer (generally around 3 months living costs or income) and if there are penalties for making overpayments on your mortgage.

The thread at the link above looks at how to calculate whether it's best to invest your money into a regular saver, an ISA or to use it to help pay off your mortgage. In terms of savings this depends on the interest rate of your mortgage but please read the thread and let me know what you think / if you have any further questions.

Hope this helps,
Penny x