Savings Week

topyam

A total disappointment...
Or have I missed something?

subjecttocontract

I did hear a rumour that this week was savings week but there's been little evidence to back up that rumour so I'm fairly sure it could have been cancelled........unless someone else has proof it's still on going ?

mebu60

I had an email from YBS.

But I didn't read it! 

clairec666

It exists, but it doesn't seem to involve any amazing savings accounts being offered. Mostly consists of some articles about getting into a good savings habit, and Darlington offering drop-in appointments.

The whole point of savings week is to encourage and educate people who aren't savvy with their savings, so we shouldn't really grumble that it hasn't produced anything for the likes of us, who are already fairly knowledgeable savers.

friolento

clairec666 said:

It exists, but it doesn't seem to involve any amazing savings accounts being offered. Mostly consists of some articles about getting into a good savings habit, and Darlington offering drop-in appointments.

The whole point of savings week is to encourage and educate people who aren't savvy with their savings, so we shouldn't really grumble that it hasn't produced anything for the likes of us, who are already fairly knowledgeable savers.

We have been spoiled in previous years with some juicy accounts, on which we jumped in significant numbers. Seems that gravy train is not going this year for one reason or another - may be the providers are looking for less savvy savers. Or they are just not very interested in additional capital (see the paltry £50 YBS RS)

subjecttocontract

friolento said:

clairec666 said:

It exists, but it doesn't seem to involve any amazing savings accounts being offered. Mostly consists of some articles about getting into a good savings habit, and Darlington offering drop-in appointments.

The whole point of savings week is to encourage and educate people who aren't savvy with their savings, so we shouldn't really grumble that it hasn't produced anything for the likes of us, who are already fairly knowledgeable savers.

We have been spoiled in previous years with some juicy accounts, on which we jumped in significant numbers. Seems that gravy train is not going this year for one reason or another - may be the providers are looking for less savvy savers. Or they are just not very interested in additional capital (see the paltry £50 YBS RS)

I have a different view. There have been some fantastic offers in the previous few weeks.....think Monmouth 7%, Principality 7.5%, Darlington 6% and others, so the offers have already been made. We don't need a 'savings week' to promote savings. I've seen nothing to promote savings to people who dont, over and above the usual stuff. There seems to have been little to no effort from any providers this year. But it doesn't matter provided we still see good offers outside of savings week. Savings Week seems dead in the water.......but there are a couple of days to go yet.

clairec666

friolento said:

clairec666 said:

It exists, but it doesn't seem to involve any amazing savings accounts being offered. Mostly consists of some articles about getting into a good savings habit, and Darlington offering drop-in appointments.

The whole point of savings week is to encourage and educate people who aren't savvy with their savings, so we shouldn't really grumble that it hasn't produced anything for the likes of us, who are already fairly knowledgeable savers.

We have been spoiled in previous years with some juicy accounts, on which we jumped in significant numbers. Seems that gravy train is not going this year for one reason or another - may be the providers are looking for less savvy savers. Or they are just not very interested in additional capital (see the paltry £50 YBS RS)

I assume that providers that offer enticing rates on regular savers are not really aiming them at MSE-forum regular saver pros with 40 accounts to their name - they will be making a loss on our accounts while getting no loyalty in return. I do wonder if Monmouthshire knew what they were letting themselves in for!

SH88SH88

mebu60 said:

I had an email from YBS.

But I didn't read it! 

The YBS Spam Machine seems to be in overdrive for Savings Week. However, they're not (yet) offering anything new or interesting,  merely waffling about 'saving with us' etc ...

TheWoodler

Savings Week is certainly on and is about financial education. 

https://uksavingsweek.co.uk/
It has been nice when they’ve offered products to coincide with Savings Week, but to me that doesn’t really appear to be the intention, it’s more about encouraging people to start saving or to save smarter. 

With official and financial research statistics both demonstrating how few people have a significant financial buffer, we shouldn’t forget that some people struggle to save or are bamboozled by savings. We’re the converted, other people may need help to navigate this world.

They have made their toolkits available and as a representative of a community group I asked if we could use the toolkit for our group and yes, no problem. Rather than being disappointed, I’m glad that they have made this initiative available under a non-brand-specific umbrella and in plain English, absolutely suitable for a discussion on savings at the group I represent and which went very well. 

There’s loads of excellent articles on savings on individual banks’/building societies’ websites, but you wouldn’t necessarily look at them if you weren’t a customer, and the way you navigate to discover articles varies from institution to institution (it’s not just financial education articles, navigation to access eg accessibility info, ironically enough, also varies.) Savings articles might be on a blog stream at one institution and under Help at another, for example. 

Differing web structures and templates are part of security design, but it doesn’t always make it straightforward for the customer. We shouldn’t forget that there are people who may not be financially enabled to save much, digitally savvy or linguistically empowered (eg BSL users).

When I think of people who haven’t had financial education at home or school, who are disadvantaged by their circumstances to only be able to save a very little, or who still struggle to access our digital world, I don’t consider Savings Week disappointing at all. We’re more fortunate than many and as PP have pointed out, there have been some good accounts lately. 

Education and being able to help yourself and help others are also what MSE is about IMHO. Savings are a great and lucrative hobby, and I’ve certainly benefited from both the site and the forum (and its helpful and wise users) - but the frequent conversation about whether one can grab a branch account as well as the online offering, or complaining that certain institutions’ top offerings are branch-only, doesn’t sit well with me particularly. 

Others may disagree, but let’s be pleased about impartial efforts to promote financial education. 

clairec666

TheWoodler said:

When I think of people who haven’t had financial education at home or school, who are disadvantaged by their circumstances to only be able to save a very little, or who still struggle to access our digital world, I don’t consider Savings Week disappointing at all. We’re more fortunate than many and as PP have pointed out, there have been some good accounts lately.

There is a worrying amount of people who are not particularly clued up about financial matters in general - I can't recall being taught anything at school (except for compound interest questions in GCSE maths), and any knowledge I have probably comes from my parents, or through reading up about things myself.

I overheard a colleague this week talking about their payslip and it seems they have a complete misunderstanding of how taxation works - they assumed if they worked more than a certain number of hours they would be taxed 20% on everything, not just the amount above the threshold. A few colleagues work multiple jobs yet had never heard of tax codes and had no idea how much tax they were paying.

friolento

clairec666 said:

friolento said:

clairec666 said:

It exists, but it doesn't seem to involve any amazing savings accounts being offered. Mostly consists of some articles about getting into a good savings habit, and Darlington offering drop-in appointments.

The whole point of savings week is to encourage and educate people who aren't savvy with their savings, so we shouldn't really grumble that it hasn't produced anything for the likes of us, who are already fairly knowledgeable savers.

We have been spoiled in previous years with some juicy accounts, on which we jumped in significant numbers. Seems that gravy train is not going this year for one reason or another - may be the providers are looking for less savvy savers. Or they are just not very interested in additional capital (see the paltry £50 YBS RS)

I assume that providers that offer enticing rates on regular savers are not really aiming them at MSE-forum regular saver pros with 40 accounts to their name - they will be making a loss on our accounts while getting no loyalty in return. I do wonder if Monmouthshire knew what they were letting themselves in for!

They wouldn't know though how many savings accounts, or how much money, any of us have. But yes, I agree, most providers are unlikely to be terribly interested in savvy savers like most of the gang on this particular part of the MSE Forum are.