bank account for seperating money?

misterwillguitar

Heya gang,

My apologies for being as basic and poor with money, I'm just starting to conquer some of the nonsense and fears about it all. Anyways Im doing pretty well at the moment, and one thing that occured to me was to have money in different places so that I can clearly see what I have available. Eg an "emergency fund" I have set up with Santander that has £1050 in it now - a current account with Lloyds (£4,000 or so). But I wanted to open accounts that were minimum fuss that I could just divert money to and see - for example "holidays fund" or "musical instruments fund" etc. I know its all possible if you can use Xcel (which I can) to just track them virtually, but I got into a mess before - I feel I need this sort of step to simply segment everything a little - paying so much % of my income each month then I can clearly see what I have to spend on a particular item.

I feel a bit silly writing this, because it seems such a basic thing, but I'd like to get this system sorted. Does anyone have any advice for these sorts of bank accounts? I did read the best accounts and basic accounts stuff here, but it just boxed my head a little. Do most banks offer an account I can just put money into each month etc? Im not overly bothered about switching everything from my Lloyds current account

Many thanks for reading

Gromitt

Lloyds allow you to create Easy Saver accounts, these only give you something like 0.75%, but they can be renamed, so you can call one Emergency Fund, etc. You could also open the online only eSaver and get a whopping 0.80%.

Lith

Rule #1

Always have more than one bank account and spread your money even over the accounts.

Having a savings account with the same bank isn't very wise better to have a different bank for saving money while another bank for wages.

ColdIron

Similar to Gromitt's suggestion, if you can put up with low interest rates (0.85-1.25) Barclays allow you to create many named savings accounts online

misterwillguitar

Lith wrote: »

Rule #1

Always have more than one bank account and spread your money even over the accounts.

Having a savings account with the same bank isn't very wise better to have a different bank for saving money while another bank for wages.

Is that signature at the foot of your posts how you have your accounts set up?

Lith

Yes

I have more but i have a limit to add on my sig lol.

misterwillguitar

Lith wrote: »

Yes

I have more but i have a limit to add on my sig lol.

So its a good strategy generally then? I knew theroetically it can all be tracked on xcel or something, but I think having a real bank balance for each item somehow reinforces things. I take it its working well for you?

robatwork

misterwillguitar wrote: »

So its a good strategy generally then? I knew theroetically it can all be tracked on xcel or something, but I think having a real bank balance for each item somehow reinforces things. I take it its working well for you?

There was a thread on here a few weeks ago about a bank (or BS) that had the concept of "pots" where you could open sub accounts online called things like Holiday, New Les Paul Custom, Emergency etc etc. that were in fact just part of the account.

I think the thread was complaining about the fact that this functionality had just been removed which is a shame as it's a great idea, and you wouldn't have needed to open lots of different accounts. Frankly if you have less than £85,000 you don't need to spread your money around different major banks for safety. If Barclays or Lloyds goes under we're all in trouble.

Anyhow I don't know of any other banks that do this but perhaps someone more helpful may be along soon....

Bublin1

I'm with Natwest and have opened 4 savings accounts including an eISA. You can rename the accounts and make instant transfers to them and between them.
When you log in all the accounts are clearly listed with their balances.
I now have different pots of money that I can see all in the same place.
1. Current Account
2. eISA - Emergency Fund
3. eSaver - Car repairs/tax
4. eSaver - Big Spends Fund
5. eSaver - Holiday Fund

The_pc_tech

This is an extremely good idea and helped me get a handle on my finances.