The "Save 12k in 2016" Thread!

bobobski

kitty_ wrote: »

First Direct ISA: £2509.15 (Rubbish rate, can't wait to change it)
TSB Classic Plus: £816.28

This doesn't look right to me. Why do you have so much in a cash ISA when there's space for it in a 5% current account? I would open another account (e.g. FlexDirect) for the remainder. Not clear if the ISA is for a fixed term though.

Are you maxing out your regular savings accounts? Are you getting £5 cashback p/m using TSB contactless?

kitty__2

You are right about the ISA, I guess part of it was being in the mindset of 'don't take money out of an an ISA as you will lose that bit of the allowance that forever'. Well I'm probably never going to use full amount allowed the way ISA interest rates are! I guess I will take some out to max out my TSB Classic and see about the rest.

When the new tax year comes around I will be opening a HTB ISA and potentially an IFISA, depending on the rates they are offering.

No I'm not using the contactless, just looked into it, damn it, I have missed out on £5 this month!

I am maxing out my regular savings accounts, the first £550 of my savings goes into those.

Thanks for the advice boboski

RichyRich

Boboski, as I hope you know I have a great deal of respect for you. And I certainly do not disagree that, whatever tax band somebody might be, they should maximise the amount of savings in high interest current accounts as opposed to ISAs, given the significant interest differential. The TSB 5% contactless cash back does cause me concerns however. It is probably a mindset thing. But I separate my 'current' accounts from my 'savings' accounts. i count my TSB money as 'savings' money. By definition I don't spend it. While I accept this is a potential loss of £60 p.a, I accept this because once I send funds over to TSB they are 'crystallised' as savings. If I start spending from savings, how does one delineate what are 'savings' funds from what are 'current' funds?

No offence intended if caused. I have drunk some wine.

Carrie85

Number 119 declaring £1500 for January!


My invoices haven't been paid yet, so I'm not going to update the form (or my sig) until its paid and transferred to savings.

This is so much better than I expected, had freelance work all of Jan, which I don't normally get.
I've got more than expected coming up in Feb and March too which will be positive! Feb will be a much smaller number so it will probably all even out, we are at this for a year after all!

On top of all that, with what I earned in Jan, I will also be able to pay off my credit card! Waiting for the invoices to be paid is frustrating, but month 1 of hard work has most definitely paid off!

geoffers4

1 month done already...and gosh I see some people are already posting amounts for February! I'm still sorting out January numbers here; and savings-wise it's been a good start to the year. No unexpected expenses in the spreadsheet, so reporting a total saved of £2516.62.

Have spent quite a bit of time recently reading-up on more frugal or minimalist lifestyles, as this seems a great way of saving unnecessary costs. If you are interested, I'd recommend reading Theminimalists.com, Frugalwoods.com, MrMoneyMustache.com .... and our very own SlowlyFading's blog too of course!

Looking ahead, we have just 32 pay-days to go to financial independence... and escaping from the world of work forever. Hope Slowlyfading can keep this thread running that long!

Happy saving everyone.

Wentthedaywell?

RichyRich wrote: »

Boboski, as I hope you know I have a great deal of respect for you. And I certainly do not disagree that, whatever tax band somebody might be, they should maximise the amount of savings in high interest current accounts as opposed to ISAs, given the significant interest differential. The TSB 5% contactless cash back does cause me concerns however. It is probably a mindset thing. But I separate my 'current' accounts from my 'savings' accounts. i count my TSB money as 'savings' money. By definition I don't spend it. While I accept this is a potential loss of £60 p.a, I accept this because once I send funds over to TSB they are 'crystallised' as savings. If I start spending from savings, how does one delineate what are 'savings' funds from what are 'current' funds?

No offence intended if caused. I have drunk some wine.

I too have this account that I use as a savings, not a current one(although strictly speaking that is what it is).

I know what you mean Richy, one doesn't want to dip into the savings bit. I get over that by transferring in £610 pm. £500 goes straight out again into another savings account (as you know, you have to pay in £500 pm). The other £110 I spend on my contactless card and stop when I hit £100. The extra £10 is just a bit of latitude - I can spend up to it or not.

It's a shame to dip out of £60 free dosh!

bobobski

RichyRich wrote: »

Boboski, as I hope you know I have a great deal of respect for you. And I certainly do not disagree that, whatever tax band somebody might be, they should maximise the amount of savings in high interest current accounts as opposed to ISAs, given the significant interest differential. The TSB 5% contactless cash back does cause me concerns however. It is probably a mindset thing. But I separate my 'current' accounts from my 'savings' accounts. i count my TSB money as 'savings' money. By definition I don't spend it. While I accept this is a potential loss of £60 p.a, I accept this because once I send funds over to TSB they are 'crystallised' as savings. If I start spending from savings, how does one delineate what are 'savings' funds from what are 'current' funds?

No offence intended if caused. I have drunk some wine.

Props for drinking wine I would have done too, but I had a little too much last night and had an "ow-y" day.

And no offence taken at all. I only started using the cashback card this month (I've had the account since June) for exactly the same reason, but what I do now is use the contactless and immediately repay from my normal current account (where I would have paid from). It's only £60 a year, but over my "5 year plan" that'll total £300, which will help to pay for the solicitors or something. And I'll be getting interest on that money too. Not much, granted, but I'm climbing a mountain here with my goal so using every trick I can find!

I've just applied for a Tesco current account for my "emergency" fund as I want it physically separate from my other accounts. My local Tesco does not take contactless, so I'll use the Tesco debit card in there to collect the points instead, and repay it immediately using the same logic.

Moral of the story: I am lost without mobile phone banking

I do get that some people have issues with contactless, and I completely get your logic because I was completely the same until a month ago. End of the day, it's your money!

bobobski

Also, Richy, your post really made me laugh. You sound like a good lad to have a drink with

Wentthedaywell?

geoffers4 wrote: »

Looking ahead, we have just 32 pay-days to go to financial independence... and escaping from the world of work forever. Hope Slowlyfading can keep this thread running that long!

I'm looking at 19, so am salting everything away this year as I won't be saving once I retire - it'll be another 6 years till I get the state pension.

19 months; where did my working life go and why did I not get money canny a lot earlier?!

bobobski

kitty_ wrote: »

You are right about the ISA, I guess part of it was being in the mindset of 'don't take money out of an an ISA as you will lose that bit of the allowance that forever'. Well I'm probably never going to use full amount allowed the way ISA interest rates are! I guess I will take some out to max out my TSB Classic and see about the rest.

When the new tax year comes around I will be opening a HTB ISA and potentially an IFISA, depending on the rates they are offering.

No I'm not using the contactless, just looked into it, damn it, I have missed out on £5 this month!

I am maxing out my regular savings accounts, the first £550 of my savings goes into those.

Thanks for the advice boboski

All good stuff Kitty! Are you aware of the personal savings allowance? The cash ISA has gone from being bad to being pointless (or will do so from April) for most people. Why keep savings in tax-free interest accounts when no accounts will charge tax on interest? Unfortunately ISAs being inherently good was rammed down our throats and it's hard to break that habit, much in the same way that we consider cannabis a drug and alcohol not a drug because we've been brought up in a country where one is illegal and the other is legal.

I say all this, but I am one of the unlucky few who - if my savings go to plan - will be paying tax on my interest. But I am a 40% taxpayer making the most of these high interest savings accounts. And I'd rather pay 40% tax on £13 (the amount by which I project to go over £500 interest) than earn a shoddy 1.5% on my savings.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/personal-savings-allowance