Optimum number of Regular Savings accounts

UKX69

slinger2 said:

simonsmithsays said:

winkowinko said:

Has anyone worked out what their hourly rate is for the amount of research and dedication required to set up and manage all of their regular saving accounts?

Mine is insignificant. I.e. there is a thread which highlights them and I'm subscribed to swathes of institutions and setting up s.o's takes seconds..

Similarly 'has anyone worked out what their hourly rate is for commenting on (and then having to edit) threads on which they have little interest in'?

Surely the point is that it's not 100% to do with money. Some people like regular savings. Others are mad keen on vouchers, coupons, bargains, cashbacks etc. etc. And, of course, that's something that MSE encourages. Do it if you get pleasure out of it, but it's not going to make you rich. Treat it as a bit of fun, with the bonus of making a few extra quid out of it.

Exactly! I’ve come to RS accounts after many years investing in the stock market. I find the process of going through the research of various accounts and writing spreadsheets enjoyable and relaxing. It is treated as a hobby that will not make me rich, but then I won’t loose anything either.

t1redmonkey

winkowinko said:

Has anyone worked out what their hourly rate is for the amount of research and dedication required to set up and manage all of their regular saving accounts?

I mean personally, it's essentially zero, since I'm just doing regular saver related activities when I've got downtime during my workday most of the time, since we go through peaks and troughs.  But I still have to be at my desk in case something comes up, so during the downtime I'll either send money to my accounts (if it's the start of the month), or do some updating of my spreadsheet, or check this forum or other sites for whether rates have changed/new accounts have become available. 

Once you've been doing this a while, things like sending money to your different accounts takes a matter of seconds, and opening new accounts takes a handful of minutes, so none of it is particularly time intensive.

boingy

I've just scanned through this lot so apologies if it's already been mentioned but you also need to consider what happens at the end of a regular saver.

Many are for a fixed period of time and the transition into the "next" regular saver is not always smooth or quick. Sometimes you have to wait for the provider to convert the account into a normal saver account, almost always with a dreadful interest rate, then you have to withdraw that, close it and open a new regular saver. It's not a big deal in itself but if you have dozens of accounts you may well find you always have one or two accounts "in transition" which just adds to the admin and if you take you eye off the ball you might have a chunk of money earning half a percent for a month or two, which might well cancel out any extra gains you made by using the RS. 

I rationalised my RS accounts to focus on the three or four with the best interest rates that also have a sensible monthly limit. Before that I had some that I could only put in £50 per month and if you work out how much extra interest that gets you over a year it really is not much at all.

friolento

In my experience, it never takes a month or two to transition from a matured RS to another. It’s more a matter of hours, or minutes. Sure, you need to have good records but that is so easy to achieve.

Kim_13

Just set my Cambridge maturity instructions in app, £300 to a new RS and the remainder to my nominated account (details correctly quoted during the process.) A vast improvement from two years ago when I had the faff of giving instructions by secure message, only to find when I asked them to confirm the details that they hadn’t updated my nominated account as requested following the closure of all the Tesco accounts. Hopefully another RS secured at the same rate as last year.

I had thought I would have to receive the proceeds and then post off a cheque for the new account, so that certainly saves time.

Eco_Miser

boingy said:

Sometimes you have to wait for the provider to convert the account into a normal saver account, almost always with a dreadful interest rate, then you have to withdraw that, close it and open a new regular saver. It's not a big deal in itself but if you have dozens of accounts you may well find you always have one or two accounts "in transition" which just adds to the admin and if you take you eye off the ball you might have a chunk of money earning half a percent for a month or two, which might well cancel out any extra gains you made by using the RS. 

I've certainly had accounts not available until the working day after maturity (and interest paid at the RS rate for that night, or nights if a weekend), but no longer; and the true date of access has been given in the maturity letter, so no taking the eye off the ball or leaving money at a low rate for even a day.

Bobblehat

winkowinko said:

Has anyone worked out what their hourly rate is for the amount of research and dedication required to set up and manage all of their regular saving accounts?

Would it be meaningful to calculate my hourly rate being retired? I assume I would have to factor in the extra interest generated by the RS's (vs EA etc)! If I did come up with a figure, would it be relevant to deciding whether to send my time on doing something else instead of spending the little time I do in keeping an eye on my RS's?

I doubt it ... so I won't bother trying!

Jami74

winkowinko said:

Has anyone worked out what their hourly rate is for the amount of research and dedication required to set up and manage all of their regular saving accounts?

My interest and bank rewards total over £100 a month and probably takes less than an hour to manage. For me it pays more than my paid job, but I enjoy it and do it in my down time so it feels like money for nothing.

The limiting factor for me though has never been time, it's been having the money available to circulate and move. It probably cost about the same amount of time in the beginning when I was only getting a few pounds each month.