Safest place to invest

7136

Sorry if it’s a stupid question so please be kind. I have most of my retirement money in a savings account with the post office I’m just wondering how safe it is, with all the negative press and they are bankrupt should I look at moving it. 

eskbanker

7136 said:

Sorry if it’s a stupid question so please be kind. I have most of my retirement money in a savings account with the post office I’m just wondering how safe it is, with all the negative press and they are bankrupt should I look at moving it. 

As long as you have less than £85K in your account, then it's protected by FSCS, so you wouldn't lose out if the provider was to go bust.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/safe-savings/

However, Post Office-branded financial products are operated by other regulated entities, and so are essentially unconnected with the current scandal anyway.

That's not to say that it's sensible to leave your money in a product unless it's competitive though - what interest are you earning?  Retirement money could cover a multitude of scenarios - are you actually retired or are you saving towards future retirement, in which case a pension is likely to be far more beneficial than a savings account?

p00hsticks

As long as you have less than £85,000 then your savings  would be protected by the FSCS scheme in the (extremely unlikely) event of the Post Office failing
FSCS Protection| Protect Your Savings | Post Office

Whether it is financially a good move to keep all of your retirement money in a single Post Office savings account is anothr question ,and will mainly depend on how much money you have and when you need access to it. It's generally  a good idea to keep funds in more than one location in case of any short term problems experienced with one that temporarily step you getting access to your money (e.g. computer system failures, etc)

wmb194

7136 said:

Sorry if it’s a stupid question so please be kind. I have most of my retirement money in a savings account with the post office I’m just wondering how safe it is, with all the negative press and they are bankrupt should I look at moving it. 

Bank of Ireland provides Post Office branded savings accounts.

Beddie

7136 said:

Sorry if it’s a stupid question so please be kind. I have most of my retirement money in a savings account with the post office I’m just wondering how safe it is, with all the negative press and they are bankrupt should I look at moving it. 

Hi, it's not a stupid question at all - yes, your savings are safe, as others have said above. However, if you have more than £85,000 it would be prudent to split it across different providers for full FSCS protection.

Bigwheels1111

85k protection sounds great.
So you put 85k in an account at 5% and the bank goes bust.
You get your 85k back and loose out on £4,250 in interest.
Just a thought.

InvesterJones

Bigwheels1111 said:

85k protection sounds great.
So you put 85k in an account at 5% and the bank goes bust.
You get your 85k back and loose out on £4,250 in interest.
Just a thought.

Depends where you're having your interest paid, but yes, I'm sure people realise that if adding interest to the same account you want to make sure to keep within the £85k protection.

GeoffTF

Your money's safe with the Woolwich :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYbXHdC45ko

dosh37

I am also concerned over PO Savings after reading this on Sky News...

"The Post Office may have underpaid more than £100m in tax by deducting payments to victims of the Horizon scandal from its profits, say tax experts.Claiming tax relief in this way could count as a breach of the law and could mean it is at risk of insolvency."

PO Savings get pretty poor reviews here:-

https://smartmoneypeople.com/post-office-bank-reviews/product/savings

My PO Savings acccount is currently paying 4.9% and I am well below the £85K FSCS limit. It's not one of the the top easy access rates but I was reasonably happy until the scandal hit the headlines.

I am wondering if PO Savings could be affected if The Post Office gets into financial trouble. I am unsure of the relationship between PO Savings and the Bank Of Ireland.

wmb194

dosh37 said:

I am also concerned over PO Savings after reading this on Sky News...

"The Post Office may have underpaid more than £100m in tax by deducting payments to victims of the Horizon scandal from its profits, say tax experts.Claiming tax relief in this way could count as a breach of the law and could mean it is at risk of insolvency."

PO Savings get pretty poor reviews here:-

https://smartmoneypeople.com/post-office-bank-reviews/product/savings

My PO Savings acccount is currently paying 4.9% and I am well below the £85K FSCS limit. It's not one of the the top easy access rates but I was reasonably happy until the scandal hit the headlines.

I am wondering if PO Savings could be affected if The Post Office gets into financial trouble. I am unsure of the relationship between PO Savings and the Bank Of Ireland.

Don’t worry about it, they’re just branded Post Office.

Swipe

Bank run on the Bank of Ireland incoming if you are lucky enough to get through to customer services