How many accounts do you have?

poshrule_uk

subjecttocontract said:

It doesn't matter how much or how many you've got, it's what you do with It that matters.😇😇

That's what she said. Boom Boom!

handful

subjecttocontract said:

handful said:

caeler said:

9 and I thought that was too many!! 

Well having just read through this I'm feeling rather lazy and inadequate! I think I have 8 from memory including some in my wife's name and rather like you I thought I was OTT!!

Surely if the accounts are in your wife's name then the accounts (and everything in them) belong to your wife.

In theory they do now. I inherited some cash and it was paid into a joint account and I opened some in her name( I trust her) to take advantage of her tax allowances because I maxed out pension and ISA contributions. To be fair, if we split then she would be entitled to half anyway.

madlyn

I have 11.

Nationwide.
Current account 
ISA
Credit card
Start 2 save

Natwest.
Current account
Regular saver

Marcus
Coventry Building Society
Tandem
Beehive

Vanguard.
S&S ISA

I'm astounded at the amount some have and if they are all active and you keep on top of them all, then well done.

subjecttocontract

The numbers are not comparable....some include certain accounts, some dont.
I wouldn't set my limits on the basis of what others do.
I don't really see the point of this thread other than it seems to keep others happy.

Thumbs_Up

I kept a £1 in a Newcastle base rate tracker savings account currently 4.46% monthly interest. I was waiting to see how the BoE was going to respond today, now I have the answer, this account will be for the chop.

 

Hurdler

subjecttocontract said:

The numbers are not comparable....some include certain accounts, some dont.
I wouldn't set my limits on the basis of what others do.
I don't really see the point of this thread other than it seems to keep others happy.

Is anyone suggesting people follow suit? That is not how I read the OP, and if you object with a thread, surely it is easier to scroll on by than call out someone for doing something you .... don't? 
I found it interesting as I haven't been financially in a position to really take advantage of better savings accounts, but I came away from it knowing I want to change one thing for 2024 and hopefully have some additional prosperity from there.

subjecttocontract

Hurdler said:

subjecttocontract said:

The numbers are not comparable....some include certain accounts, some dont.
I wouldn't set my limits on the basis of what others do.
I don't really see the point of this thread other than it seems to keep others happy.

Is anyone suggesting people follow suit? That is not how I read the OP, and if you object with a thread, surely it is easier to scroll on by than call out someone for doing something you .... don't? 
I found it interesting as I haven't been financially in a position to really take advantage of better savings accounts, but I came away from it knowing I want to change one thing for 2024 and hopefully have some additional prosperity from there.

You're entitled to express your opinion and it therefore follows that I'm entitled to express mine. Lots of people here loose sight of the fact that it's a discussion forum where we all have different views to each other

Hurdler

subjecttocontract said:

Hurdler said:

subjecttocontract said:

The numbers are not comparable....some include certain accounts, some dont.
I wouldn't set my limits on the basis of what others do.
I don't really see the point of this thread other than it seems to keep others happy.

Is anyone suggesting people follow suit? That is not how I read the OP, and if you object with a thread, surely it is easier to scroll on by than call out someone for doing something you .... don't? 
I found it interesting as I haven't been financially in a position to really take advantage of better savings accounts, but I came away from it knowing I want to change one thing for 2024 and hopefully have some additional prosperity from there.

You're entitled to express your opinion and it therefore follows that I'm entitled to express mine. Lots of people here loose sight of the fact that it's a discussion forum where we all have different views to each other

I haven't lost sight of it at all ... have a fantastic money-saving life.

Hurdler

My question to the savings account gurus... How do you go about your savings account odyssies? Is it a case of reviewing what's the best accounts on MSE and then tracking the optimal time to keep them/sweep them on a spreadsheet (because I do love me a good spreadsheet!)

My plan as a result of this thread is that in 2024 any freelance earnings that cover my outgoings and credit cards is taken care of and all lodger and tenant earnings get put aside - buffer, planned outgoings and then I guess my options are to funnel some of that back into the life savings I plundered during the pandemic or maybe take advantage of savings accounts... keen to know what others have done.

Ta!

Bridlington1

Hurdler said:

My question to the savings account gurus... How do you go about your savings account odyssies? Is it a case of reviewing what's the best accounts on MSE and then tracking the optimal time to keep them/sweep them on a spreadsheet (because I do love me a good spreadsheet!)

My plan as a result of this thread is that in 2024 any freelance earnings that cover my outgoings and credit cards is taken care of and all lodger and tenant earnings get put aside - buffer, planned outgoings and then I guess my options are to funnel some of that back into the life savings I plundered during the pandemic or maybe take advantage of savings accounts... keen to know what others have done.

Ta!

I mainly use moneyfacts for finding the best savings rates (you can often get different results by changing the settings so I would have a play around with the settings at some point), plus a combination of the top easy access discussion thread and the regular saver thread. I've found the main tables on the MSE website misses a lot of the top savings accounts so never use it myself these days. I check for new savings accounts on a daily basis, doing a monthly "census" of my accounts once a month and doing a spot of "fine tuning" of my accounts every now and then.

I plan to buy my first home at some point next year so I've focused my savings efforts very much on short term savings, mainly on easy access accounts and regular savers, with the latter being the centrepiece of my financial affairs. I know some will open a fixed rate bond each month and have a steady stream of funds from maturing accounts that then gets fed into other new fixed rate accounts and/or regular savers so that may be an option worth considering if you don't need all of your money immediately but it's largely down to personal preference as to how many accounts you want and how accessible you want your money to be. If you're looking to save for the long term it may also be worth looking at topping up pensions/investments.

Like yourself I do love a good spreadsheet and I've found them to be invaluable when it comes to organising my accounts. I would start by just listing your accounts with balances and build it from there, there's not really a right or wrong way to organise it and indeed mine is forever evolving. I treat all of my accounts and balances as being one item and divide things up from there.

One thing I will say is beware of cut-off times for payments. A lot of banks and building societies will treat payments received outside of their normal working hours as having been received the following working day, e.g. if you deposited £150 into the Natwest digital regular saver on Saturday 1st July 2023, it would be treated as having been received on Monday 3rd July 2023 for interest purposes so in effect your £150 would sit there earning no interest for 2 days, which very much undermines some of the benefits of having multiple savings accounts. As long as you check the terms of each account carefully you should be fine in this respect though.

It can also be useful to keep an account with most banks/building societies, particularly if they offer online accounts, so that if they launch a competitive account in the future you can often get it up and running a bit quicker. Also many banks/building societies offer loyalty rate products to existing members from time to time so having an account sat there with £1 in it that you can ignore most of the time can prove profitable. Specifically to my knowledge the following have offered products exclusively to existing customers before:

Bath BS

Cambridge BS

Chorley BS

Coventry BS

Darlington BS

ESBS

Leek BS

Mansfield BS

Market Harborough BS

Monmouthshire BS
Nationwide BS

Newbury BS

Penrith BS

Principality BS

Saffron BS

Skipton BS

YBS

Most of these offer accounts that can be opened with £1 and then ignored.