The Top Regular Savers Discussion Thread

Kim_13

Section62 said:

Kim_13 said:

...
If I ran out of other allowances and the difference between an ISA and an RS was fractions of a percent, I’d take the ISA knowing that would be tax free year after year.

...

It doesn't have to be an either/or though.  A flexible cash ISA allows withdrawals that could be used to fund RS accounts paying a higher rate of interest, and so long as the money is returned to the cash ISA before the end of the tax year the ISA allowance is retained.

Are Flexible ISAs not a little less useful than they once were though? Since prior year money must now be returned to the same ISA as it was withdrawn from, unless you are flexibly withdrawing all but the minimum balance, there’s a high chance said ISA is no longer the best payer during the year and as a result, money left in it is earning less than it could be. 

If it were only fractions of a percent, I’d likely still take the ISA and avoid the faff of tax code adjustments and checking that HMRC had done it all correctly.

GetRichOrDieSaving

A couple of interesting points made about using the ISA allowance and returning it before the new allowance starts. As I’ve said a couple of times, I'm not currently attempting to max out my annual ISA allowance but will considered this approach for the future. Thank you for the contributions. 

janusd

Bobblehat said:

Every penny of interest gets recorded in my spreadsheet every month, including an end-of-year column for 1st April to 5th April, by month for each account. The accounts are split into sections ... taxable interest/payments & non-taxable interest/payments. I even work out interest prediction figures(*) for future months and even for the next tax year if appropriate to the account. Actual interest figures are fill-coloured "green" when received (or confirmed as predicted) and "orange" for predictions. Anything amiss (or I miss  ) stands out well with this colour method and I can investigate when it's spotted. 

(*) This sounds like a fair amount of work, but once set up, it's the spreadsheet formulae that do nearly all of the work for me each month and each year. I just have to enter, and/or just change the fill colour of, a few interest figures received each month. For reference, I also have the time to do it, having retired well over a decade ago!

that sounds eerily similar to my spreadsheet - every account (saving, current, isa, rs) listed in a separate row, the year split into 13 months/columns (April there twice due to tax year split); sorted by interest rate; actual interest added when received (filled blue for tax liable, lilac for ISA, red for fixed interest that I don't have access to); column at the end filled green if I have the certificate of interest for that account and they match what's recorded (red if it doesn't *screams* or light green if it's one of those accounts that don't usually supply CoI); accounts closed/matured are struck through.

as you say, it's the formulae that does all the work - it can total based on cell colour, so I know my taxable liability at any time - per account, per month or annually; it counts the number of open accounts, number of closed/matured accounts, works out tracker rates based on current BoE rate... and following a bizarre conversation with my dentist about savings, now works out my average interest rate across all open accounts (he asked me and I literally had no idea what the figure should be)... for anyone interested, it's 4.45% for all saving accounts and 6.25% for RS specifically... useless info, but there you go.

I don't bother with estimating - those accounts with annual interest are a pleasant surprise when I get to know their amounts.

Dizzycap

allegro120 said:

Hattie627 said:

Principality BS

I've got a couple of RS's (Healthy Habits RS and a Christmas 2025 RS) both maturing on 22nd December. Maturity options should be open online for both this coming Monday (8th). I'm thinking that I might delay entering maturity instructions until things become clearer. Cannot be bothered with the hassle of an illegitimate rollover being either rejected at the time of entering the instructions or allowed but later reversed. Anyone else got a maturity on or around 22 December? 

Yes, both are to mature on 21st December. I have the 8th in my diary for taking action. 

I'm not too hopeful about Healthy Habits, not all Principality's RSs had maturity option, Triple Access RS didn't.

Me neither  

Bobblehat

janusd said:

Bobblehat said:

Every penny of interest gets recorded in my spreadsheet every month, including an end-of-year column for 1st April to 5th April, by month for each account. The accounts are split into sections ... taxable interest/payments & non-taxable interest/payments. I even work out interest prediction figures(*) for future months and even for the next tax year if appropriate to the account. Actual interest figures are fill-coloured "green" when received (or confirmed as predicted) and "orange" for predictions. Anything amiss (or I miss  ) stands out well with this colour method and I can investigate when it's spotted. 

(*) This sounds like a fair amount of work, but once set up, it's the spreadsheet formulae that do nearly all of the work for me each month and each year. I just have to enter, and/or just change the fill colour of, a few interest figures received each month. For reference, I also have the time to do it, having retired well over a decade ago!

that sounds eerily similar to my spreadsheet - every account (saving, current, isa, rs) listed in a separate row, the year split into 13 months/columns (April there twice due to tax year split); sorted by interest rate; actual interest added when received (filled blue for tax liable, lilac for ISA, red for fixed interest that I don't have access to); column at the end filled green if I have the certificate of interest for that account and they match what's recorded (red if it doesn't *screams* or light green if it's one of those accounts that don't usually supply CoI); accounts closed/matured are struck through.

as you say, it's the formulae that does all the work - it can total based on cell colour, so I know my taxable liability at any time - per account, per month or annually; it counts the number of open accounts, number of closed/matured accounts, works out tracker rates based on current BoE rate... and following a bizarre conversation with my dentist about savings, now works out my average interest rate across all open accounts (he asked me and I literally had no idea what the figure should be)... for anyone interested, it's 4.45% for all saving accounts and 6.25% for RS specifically... useless info, but there you go.

I don't bother with estimating - those accounts with annual interest are a pleasant surprise when I get to know their amounts.

I'll pinch that one off you if you don't mind 

solartom

Re Principality  
Just given maturity instructions for Health Habit RS  due 21/12/25 they included the 6 Month RS,Christmas RS and RS Issue 36. No issues so far will report if/when/what happens.
 

surreysaver

solartom said:

Re Principality  
Just given maturity instructions for Health Habit RS  due 21/12/25 they included the 6 Month RS,Christmas RS and RS Issue 36. No issues so far will report if/when/what happens.
 

Just done mine. Asked for a 2026 Christmas Regular Saver. Let's see what happens.
I've currently three 2026 Christmas Regular Savers and five Six Month Issue 4 Regular Savers 

flaneurs_lobster

janusd said:

Bobblehat said:

Every penny of interest gets recorded in my spreadsheet every month, including an end-of-year column for 1st April to 5th April, by month for each account. The accounts are split into sections ... taxable interest/payments & non-taxable interest/payments. I even work out interest prediction figures(*) for future months and even for the next tax year if appropriate to the account. Actual interest figures are fill-coloured "green" when received (or confirmed as predicted) and "orange" for predictions. Anything amiss (or I miss  ) stands out well with this colour method and I can investigate when it's spotted. 

(*) This sounds like a fair amount of work, but once set up, it's the spreadsheet formulae that do nearly all of the work for me each month and each year. I just have to enter, and/or just change the fill colour of, a few interest figures received each month. For reference, I also have the time to do it, having retired well over a decade ago!

that sounds eerily similar to my spreadsheet - every account (saving, current, isa, rs) listed in a separate row, the year split into 13 months/columns (April there twice due to tax year split); sorted by interest rate; actual interest added when received (filled blue for tax liable, lilac for ISA, red for fixed interest that I don't have access to); column at the end filled green if I have the certificate of interest for that account and they match what's recorded (red if it doesn't *screams* or light green if it's one of those accounts that don't usually supply CoI); accounts closed/matured are struck through.

as you say, it's the formulae that does all the work - it can total based on cell colour, so I know my taxable liability at any time - per account, per month or annually; it counts the number of open accounts, number of closed/matured accounts, works out tracker rates based on current BoE rate... and following a bizarre conversation with my dentist about savings, now works out my average interest rate across all open accounts (he asked me and I literally had no idea what the figure should be)... for anyone interested, it's 4.45% for all saving accounts and 6.25% for RS specifically... useless info, but there you go.

I don't bother with estimating - those accounts with annual interest are a pleasant surprise when I get to know their amounts.

Thank-you both, this sounds exactly what I should be doing. I'll set this up as of today even though the actual totals will be of little use since they will have no YTD numbers nor the data from closed accounts which I've shifted elsewhere. Idea is to make sure everything works before running live in the new tax year.

I now realise that if I order my absolutely everything spreadsheet by interest rate there's no reason to have a separate subset monthly fund checklist sheet, just an extra column.

masonic

Kim_13 said:

Section62 said:

Kim_13 said:

...
If I ran out of other allowances and the difference between an ISA and an RS was fractions of a percent, I’d take the ISA knowing that would be tax free year after year.

...

It doesn't have to be an either/or though.  A flexible cash ISA allows withdrawals that could be used to fund RS accounts paying a higher rate of interest, and so long as the money is returned to the cash ISA before the end of the tax year the ISA allowance is retained.

Are Flexible ISAs not a little less useful than they once were though? Since prior year money must now be returned to the same ISA as it was withdrawn from, unless you are flexibly withdrawing all but the minimum balance, there’s a high chance said ISA is no longer the best payer during the year and as a result, money left in it is earning less than it could be. 

If it were only fractions of a percent, I’d likely still take the ISA and avoid the faff of tax code adjustments and checking that HMRC had done it all correctly.

Prior year money always must be returned to the same ISA that it was withdrawn from and that has been the case ever since ISA flexibility was first introduced.

jameseonline

Bob2000 said:

Well, l can see from the last few posts that Principality is wising up to multiples  of same issue number accounts.

So, who has had their accounts  closed, and are we talking hours, days, or weeks before they get in contact?

I've so far closed on maturity  my issue 3s, had three of them, but currently  have two Xmas savers. 
Do you think one of them will be shut down eventually?

Bob if you have seen the posts then surely you wouldn't need to ask?🤔

Principality send emails to people saying to login to view messages.

Seems to me it's an issue that doesn't really matter to you yet you want to stir the pot