Regular Savers - are they worth it?

eskbanker

SeanLucas said:

I haven't seen it mentioned elsewhere wut if the account allows it (Nationwide and Beehive do), if you open and fund the account at the end of the month and then start the regular saving on the 1st of the next month you can maximise the interest received.  Effectively double the monthly allowance in the first month and 13x the monthly allowance in the final month.

It's discussed extensively in another current thread, so probably not worth replicating all the debate about how to calculate the benefit in this one as well:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6475319/8-nationwide-regular-saver-13-payments

surreysaver

SJMALBA said:

Fewer customers opting for regular savings deals despite interest up to 8%

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/saving/article-12570103/Fewer-customers-opting-regular-savings-deals-despite-8.html

'... But the maximum a saver could earn from the Nationwide deal is £104 - meaning an underlying rate closer to 4.25 per cent, rather than 8 per cent.

The reason is the unique way interest is worked out on regular savers, where savers only get the headline rate for one month of the year, and get a fraction of it for the remaining 11.'

No wonder some people don't understand how regular savers work! 🤦🏻

Because a year ago Regular Savers were paying only 1%.  It takes a year to fill the up

eskbanker

surreysaver said:

SJMALBA said:

Fewer customers opting for regular savings deals despite interest up to 8%

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/saving/article-12570103/Fewer-customers-opting-regular-savings-deals-despite-8.html

'... But the maximum a saver could earn from the Nationwide deal is £104 - meaning an underlying rate closer to 4.25 per cent, rather than 8 per cent.

The reason is the unique way interest is worked out on regular savers, where savers only get the headline rate for one month of the year, and get a fraction of it for the remaining 11.'

No wonder some people don't understand how regular savers work! 🤦🏻

Because a year ago Regular Savers were paying only 1%.  It takes a year to fill the up

If your comment is in response to the headline, it's perhaps worth highlighting that the article itself quantifies the 'fewer customers' by quoting the actual drop of less than 2%, so (shock, horror!) they've gone for the clickbait approach to an entirely unremarkable non-story (which IMHO is just as likely to be due to inflationary pressures, etc, as low rates):

Britons held £20.7billion in regular savers by the end of August 2023, compared to £21.1billion in the same period in 2022.

Fingerbobs

SJMALBA said:

Fewer customers opting for regular savings deals despite interest up to 8%

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/saving/article-12570103/Fewer-customers-opting-regular-savings-deals-despite-8.html

'... But the maximum a saver could earn from the Nationwide deal is £104 - meaning an underlying rate closer to 4.25 per cent, rather than 8 per cent.

The reason is the unique way interest is worked out on regular savers, where savers only get the headline rate for one month of the year, and get a fraction of it for the remaining 11.'

No wonder some people don't understand how regular savers work! 🤦🏻

Oh my goodness, that's absolutely deplorable. OK, this is a common misconception about regular savers, but I really wouldn't expect a (supposedly) professional journalist to completely misunderstand them and perpetuate the misunderstanding. Terrible.

phillw

Fingerbobs said:
Oh my goodness, that's absolutely deplorable. OK, this is a common misconception about regular savers, but I really wouldn't expect a (supposedly) professional journalist to completely misunderstand them and perpetuate the misunderstanding. Terrible.

Some people only want a current account, a savings account and maybe a credit card.

When I tell people how many current accounts I have, I'm often asked whether you are allowed to have more than 1.

Fingerbobs

phillw said:

When I tell people how many current accounts I have, I'm often asked whether you are allowed to have more than 1.

I get that too!

housebuyer143

phillw said:

Fingerbobs said:
Oh my goodness, that's absolutely deplorable. OK, this is a common misconception about regular savers, but I really wouldn't expect a (supposedly) professional journalist to completely misunderstand them and perpetuate the misunderstanding. Terrible.

Some people only want a current account, a savings account and maybe a credit card.

When I tell people how many current accounts I have, I'm often asked whether you are allowed to have more than 1.

Very true. I mentioned to someone I need to keep a list of where all my varying accounts are and the balances because otherwise I would have no clue and they looked at me like I was nuts.
We are clearly not the norm. 

Rustin

Planning a large purchase in 24 months and putting a way 2k per month until then. Also have the Chase 4% easy access, any better alternatives? 

eskbanker

Rustin said:

Planning a large purchase in 24 months and putting a way 2k per month until then. Also have the Chase 4% easy access, any better alternatives? 

Regular savers make sense for drip-fed monthly contributions, but you don't say which ones you're using, so not sure anyone can offer better alternatives?  Or are you looking for a better alternative to 4% easy access?

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/savings-accounts-best-interest/#easyaccess
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/best-regular-savings-accounts/

Kaizen917

Once the 5.2% instant access Sant saver popped up, around half my regular savers went kinda obsolete...but its no big deal - it both gonna simplify my list of RSs I keep and the lower rate ones are about to end within the next two months anyway.