How much can you save?

ljaneyr

edinburgher wrote: »

Am I right in thinking that that's a Santander branch-based account? How have they been? I ask as my fiancee and I have both closed Santander ISAs as the customer service through their contact centres has been dire Still, the rate was good for the account you mention (if it's the same one that I'm thinking of!)

They have been OK so far. What I don't like is the fact that everything I have seems to get taken over by santander. I had a halfords store card to buy bikes for myself and the OH. I paid mine off within the 6 month interest free period but he is still plodding away at his and now it's reverted to a santander card. My car finance turned out to be with them, then I opened this years ISA with them as it had the best rate, now my A&L account has changed to them too! I don't know about taking over the world but they are certainly taking over my banking! I opened the FHS with them purely for the high rate of interest. The branch staff were fine, only thing I don't like is that I can't see it with my internet banking.

tara747 wrote: »

Does anyone else find it difficult to believe that their savings really exist? I have mine spread across several different accounts to maximise interest, and sometimes I don't really feel that I actually have that much. Seeing a total of over £38,000 written in black and white is just surreal, maybe if it was all in one account I would 'believe' it more easily. 5 years ago, if you'd told me that I would one day have almost £40,000 saved, I would have laughed my head off. I feel like I'm imagining it lol!

I feel a little bit like this although my amount is a lot lot smaller . But it's spread between 2 ISAs and the regular saver so it still looks a bit odd.

dippykitty

tara747 wrote: »

Does anyone else find it difficult to believe that their savings really exist? I have mine spread across several different accounts to maximise interest, and sometimes I don't really feel that I actually have that much. Seeing a total of over £38,000 written in black and white is just surreal, maybe if it was all in one account I would 'believe' it more easily. 5 years ago, if you'd told me that I would one day have almost £40,000 saved, I would have laughed my head off. I feel like I'm imagining it lol!

So glad I'm not the only who feels like this! I have £5k in an ISA and the rest is tied up in a bond and I just get a yearly statement to remind me how much is in there so to be honest, I sometimes forget about that altogether as I can't log into online banking and see it. It definitely feels strange because of that!

The_Pixi

I do a spreadsheet as well, I have it set up so it goes online and gets the latest share prices and calculates my 'Live" total.

It also automatically adds the funds I save on the correct day and "Buys" new shares and adds them to the total.

I say I do spreadsheets, actually my partner does them

cashbackproblems

I dont bother with spreadsheets but it was only recently i put all the account totals together and realised that i had 21k (9k in equities rest cash/isa's), there were a few regular savers which i had even forgotten I had as they had matured into a account which i dont have a debit card for and can only access it in branch. This is however a good thing as ur always thinking u dont have much money and need to save more, whereas if everytime u looked at ur balance and saw 20k ud think a few hundred wont matter!

However while it may seem like alot it still doesnt get u far thesedays, especially if ur young and u dont have ur own property/other assets.

MissBes

Hello Everyone! I'm new, although been reading the thread for a while! Well done on all your totals.

I wonder if anyone holding a First Home Saver with the dreaded Santander can help me. When I opened the account 6 weeks ago, the staff in the branch knew NOTHING about it - I felt like I was the one working there. I wasn't given a passbook or anything that actually proves the account is open. I was just wondering what any of you have to manage the account? It's just at the moment I feel like the money is going out of my account and could be anywhere!

Thanks in advance for your help!

ljaneyr

MissBes wrote: »

Hello Everyone! I'm new, although been reading the thread for a while! Well done on all your totals.

I wonder if anyone holding a First Home Saver with the dreaded Santander can help me. When I opened the account 6 weeks ago, the staff in the branch knew NOTHING about it - I felt like I was the one working there. I wasn't given a passbook or anything that actually proves the account is open. I was just wondering what any of you have to manage the account? It's just at the moment I feel like the money is going out of my account and could be anywhere!

Thanks in advance for your help!

As far as I know it's a branch based account so you just have your account number, sort code and the paper work. My standing order is set up and if you want to withdraw you have to close it and so need to go to the branch for the mortgage interview thing. I'm not worried about it, I just add the SO amount to my spreadsheet each month. I must say I'm looking forward to the yearly statement though!

Rob_192

cashbackproblems wrote: »

I dont bother with spreadsheets but it was only recently i put all the account totals together and realised that i had 21k (9k in equities rest cash/isa's), there were a few regular savers which i had even forgotten I had as they had matured into a account which i dont have a debit card for and can only access it in branch. This is however a good thing as ur always thinking u dont have much money and need to save more, whereas if everytime u looked at ur balance and saw 20k ud think a few hundred wont matter!

However while it may seem like alot it still doesnt get u far thesedays, especially if ur young and u dont have ur own property/other assets.

Cashback

I would urge anybody to set up a spreadsheet - it's not just for counting your money but an essential money management tool.

I have a rather complicated spreadsheet which has a list all my savings and investments down the left side and then each month I put the totals in the next column. I leave the previous month showing and just keep adding columns. I then have sub-totals for my pensions, cash Isas, S&S Isas, cash savings, kids saving etc. By doing this I can rapidly see the improvement on last month or see how things have improved year on year etc.

I also have listed the house value less mortgage (thankfull now paid off), and the money tied up in my company. This allows me to calculate our net worth (I don't bother with cars and chatels etc, that really would be getting a bit daft!)

Doing this is great for morale, but also it's great for planning ahead. By using the comment function, I can leave notes allowing me to track money - for instance when a cash Isa gets transfered, I can leave a comment saying 'balance transfered to halifax' or such like. It's also a great aid memoir for making sure you start looking for new transfer accounts at the right time or sometimes you realise you could be getting a better rate on something.

I have been doing this for about 8 years now and now have an really useful database of my savings and could tell you exactly where my fanances stood in Sept 03, 04, 05, 06, etc - to see the improvement in this way is a real motivator to keep at it.

It was also amazing to see how the total accelerated once we had cleared our mortgage - that transistion from net borrower to net saver is incredible, when compound interest starts working for you rather than against you - more encouragement for all those MFWs if ever you needed it!

R

davej87

Thanks for the advice everyone.

I think your all right about I shouldn't put myself in a bad financial circumstance just because I want to move out, especially as I an only on temp contracts and with living at home if I am out of work for a couple of months at least I know my parents wont be chasing me for rent and will allow me to skip a months or two. Which I am sure a landlord wouldn't.
From the advice and what others have written on the board I think im going to start an emergency fund of £5000 so when my contacts do finish I have enough money for everything, Im also going to put the full amount into an ISA because I have been lazy the last couple of months and not sorted it out to have the full amount available. Once I have that money aside I am thinking of starting the Santander first home buyer account, as with the account I can lock the money away so I dont touch it but I will still have the emergency fund and ISA to fall back on.

So thats the plan, Im going to keep posting here to keep myself focused and my first goal is to have the accounts sorted and start saving again by the end of the month. And also a new job at the latest of end of October, hopefully a permanent one this time.

hostie1985

Hi everyone

Just an update from me - I've now hit and beated my saving target (£20,062.66!!!), but think I am going to change my target to £25,000 (and see how far I get). Not planning to buy anything just yet.

Welcome to the thread MissBes - I opened a First Home Saver with Natwest about 18 months ago - havent had any problems - I can access it online and in branch.

Seems that everyone is doing well with savings :T

Hostie

xx

fuzzybear01

hostie1985 wrote: »

Hi everyone

Just an update from me - I've now hit and beated my saving target (£20,062.66!!!), but think I am going to change my target to £25,000 (and see how far I get). Not planning to buy anything just yet.


xx

Well done, from your username I', guessing you are about my age. My savings currently stand at just under £400, will be relieved when I get to over £20,000 in a couple of years.