Savings comparison

Numberwang_2

Is there a tool I can use to help quickly compare savings rates. 

Eg I can save £200 a month at 5.25% or save £2400 at 3.5% (both for 12months). Which is best option.

Obviously I can work out manually but looking for a quicker way. Thanks

friolento

Try this: https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/regular-savings-calculator/

You need to compare apples with apples - but 5.25% is always more than 3.5%

MX5huggy

Presuming you have £2400 a month. The best option is to save £200 per month at 5.25% and £2200 at 3.5%. 

But 3.5% is not great.

kempiejon

The tool I'd use is my caculator. £2400 @ 3.5%apr for 12 months = £84 ish interest (2400x3.5/100)
When you invest regularly over the year roughly, on average only half the money gets the full rate of interest so 
£200pm @ 5.25 each month = £63 ish interest as (2400*5.25%=£126, halved = £63)

InvesterJones

I'm guessing this is a question about regular savers and lump sums - it depends what you do with the remainder that doesn't go into the regular saver. Higher is nearly always better, just keep the remainder in as good an account as you can in the mean time while you drip feed into the regular saver.

Mark_d

Numberwang_2 said:

Is there a tool I can use to help quickly compare savings rates. 

Eg I can save £200 a month at 5.25% or save £2400 at 3.5% (both for 12months). Which is best option.

Obviously I can work out manually but looking for a quicker way. Thanks

The best one for me is £200 a month at 5.25%.  I don't have £2400 sitting around in my current account but I do have £200 left over in my budget at the end of each month.
If I did have £2400 in my current account earning 0%, then I'd rather earn 3.5% on all this money than earn 5.25% on a small portion whilst the rest is earning 0%

friolento

Mark_d said:

Numberwang_2 said:

Is there a tool I can use to help quickly compare savings rates. 

Eg I can save £200 a month at 5.25% or save £2400 at 3.5% (both for 12months). Which is best option.

Obviously I can work out manually but looking for a quicker way. Thanks

The best one for me is £200 a month at 5.25%.  I don't have £2400 sitting around in my current account but I do have £200 left over in my budget at the end of each month.
If I did have £2400 in my current account earning 0%, then I'd rather earn 3.5% on all this money than earn 5.25% on a small portion whilst the rest is earning 0%

It doesn’t have to be an either or if you have the £2400 sitting there. The money saving expert will use the drip feed method to maximise the return - see the calculator in my earlier post.

The money saving expert also wouldn’t settle for 3.5% for easy access at this stage, as up to 4.99% is still available. Similarly, more than 5.25% can be had for RSs 😎

grumpy_codger

Numberwang_2 said:

Is there a tool I can use to help quickly compare savings rates. 

Eg I can save £200 a month at 5.25% or save £2400 at 3.5% (both for 12months). Which is best option.

Neither and both - and you don't need any tool in this case. 
>> Should I get a regular savings account? >> 4

Numberwang_2

friolento said:

Try this: https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/regular-savings-calculator/

You need to compare apples with apples - but 5.25% is always more than 3.5%

Thanks for the reply, but £200 per month at 5.25% would earn £68 interest and £2400 at 3.5% would earn £84, after 12 months, so in this case 5.25% isn’t more than 3%. Or am I missing something? 

The figures are irrelevant I think, just trying to workout if better to save monthly at higher interest or in one lump sum at lower interest. In the above it would be better to invest in one go at the lower %. (I think)

wmb194

Numberwang_2 said:

friolento said:

Try this: https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/regular-savings-calculator/

You need to compare apples with apples - but 5.25% is always more than 3.5%

Thanks for the reply, but £200 per month at 5.25% would earn £68 interest and £2400 at 3.5% would earn £84, after 12 months, so in this case 5.25% isn’t more than 3%. Or am I missing something? 

The figures are irrelevant I think, just trying to workout if better to save monthly at higher interest or in one lump sum at lower interest. In the above it would be better to invest in one go at the lower %. (I think)

Every month you drip feed the money from the 3.5% account into the 5% account and overall you'll earn more than in one or the other. You don't leave your lump sum earning nothing whilst drip feeding it into the better paying account. Btw, you can do better than 3.5% on instant access.

Dazed_and_C0nfused

Numberwang_2 said:

friolento said:

Try this: https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/regular-savings-calculator/

You need to compare apples with apples - but 5.25% is always more than 3.5%

Thanks for the reply, but £200 per month at 5.25% would earn £68 interest and £2400 at 3.5% would earn £84, after 12 months, so in this case 5.25% isn’t more than 3%. Or am I missing something? 

The figures are irrelevant I think, just trying to workout if better to save monthly at higher interest or in one lump sum at lower interest. In the above it would be better to invest in one go at the lower %. (I think)

You aren't doing that though.

In month one you have £200 earning 5.25% and £2,200 earnings 3.5%.

In month two it's £400 earning 5.25% and £2,000 earnings 3.5%.  And so on.

Why do you think 5.25% is less than 3.5% 🤔