Sorted Kids - Now me!

jimjames

Mimi_Arc_en_ciel wrote: »

Ok, so do you mean - open up a tsb account with £1000

Yes

Mimi_Arc_en_ciel wrote: »

Transfer £750 into the Halifax say on the 1st of each month...
then transfer it back into TSB on the 2nd of each month ...

Yes. Or you can do it on 1st once payment arrives in Halifax. Faster payments are almost instant and normally within an hour or so.

Then repeat on 1st of next month.

Mimi_Arc_en_ciel

Ah fab thanks Jimjames!


Now need to go sort out the 2 Direct debits for the Halifax account

Mimi_Arc_en_ciel

Do I need to open Tesco accounts for the 2 Halifax DD's? Could I not set up DD's into my childrens savings accounts?

I currently just transfer the money using my Natwest App. I could knock £1 off each of their deposits and have the £1 coming out of my Halifax acc then?


Also - for interest purposes - Do I use the £800 I am transferring monthly (£750 float plus £50 that I am saving) or just the £50?

atush

The children's maintenance is for just that- their living costs. Inlc keeping them safe and secure if your employment stops/ends/you get sick. So you really need to sort your savings out before theirs.

So saving 1164 for child one per year, and 828 for the other ( a total of nearly 2K just this year), when you only have 1K to keep the wolves from both yours and the children's door is unwise.

How will you pay the rates when due for instance? How much per month will your homeowners insurance be?

B_G_B

All of the above posts offer excellent (spot on) suggestions to maximise interest on the amounts stated. If I was to try and explain my own current accounts setup to someone who hadn’t done this before, they would probably glaze over. But to someone who is used to this sort of setup…… simples.

So lets start from scratch...

So, lets say that you have £1000 pounds to start with and will add a small amount every month.

Set up 2 TSB plus accounts and split the £1000 between them however you like (I would suggest £900 & £100 in accounts 1&2)

Then once a month transfer minimum of £500 from TSB1 to TSB2. Then transfer the same amount back straight away. I personally do this on a normal working day (normal banking day), bearing in mind that the TSB month for these purposes runs from 2nd working day of the month to the !st working day of the next month.
I would keep things simple and go for lets say 8th of the month. This will keep the transfer well out of the way of weekends/ bank holidays. This will fulfil the funding requirements for interest. (Please bear in mind to set all correspondence/statements to paperless for TSB accounts). Your additional monthly savings can be added to either account as you see fit.

So far so good…..

Lets move on…….

As has already been mentioned, Halifax reward pays £5 providing that you stay in credit, have 2 DD’s set up and fund with £750 per month.

So, you could fund all all accounts as follows.

On lets say the 8th of the month
£750 from TSB1 to Halifax.
Then £750 halifax to TSB2. Then £750 TSB2 to TSB1. That takes care of the funding of all 3 accounts for the month. Keep a minimum fund in the Halifax account to cover DD’s and a maximum in the TSB accounts for interest.

With regards to setting up DD’s, only a few savings accounts have this facility. Tesco accounts seem to be the simplest for most people, although there are certainly others.

Phew, I think that’s about it.

Archi_Bald

Mimi_Arc_en_ciel wrote: »

Do I need to open Tesco accounts for the 2 Halifax DD's? Could I not set up DD's into my childrens savings accounts?

If their accounts support DDs, sure. But very few savings accounts do.

Mimi_Arc_en_ciel wrote: »

Also - for interest purposes - Do I use the £800 I am transferring monthly (£750 float plus £50 that I am saving) or just the £50?

just £750 (or 2 x £350 etc - it just needs to add up to £750 each month)

Mimi_Arc_en_ciel

atush wrote: »

The children's maintenance is for just that- their living costs. Inlc keeping them safe and secure if your employment stops/ends/you get sick. So you really need to sort your savings out before theirs.

So saving 1164 for child one per year, and 828 for the other ( a total of nearly 2K just this year), when you only have 1K to keep the wolves from both yours and the children's door is unwise.

How will you pay the rates when due for instance? How much per month will your homeowners insurance be?

Yes it is for their living costs but if i am able to do without it for a whole year (Which i have done) then i dont see a problem in carrying this on.If i was at an absolutle loss, with no other option, then I could close the kids accounts down and use the money thats been saved - It isnt locked away in an ISA, It's in a regular / young savers account.

I could up my savings from £100 a month but i know, for sure, that i can put away at least £100. I dont see the point in budgeting for more - If I can save more one month, great, but at an absolute minimum i know i can afford £100.

Homeowners insurance - I already have contents so its just a matter of adding building. Again, if i only budget £100 I will know what disposable income i will have once everything has settled down (does that make sense?)