Being nosey... How many Regular Saver accounts do you have?

Bridlington1

janusd said:

Bobblehat said:

I should explain what the problem is I'm trying to solve (or head off).

As the table has grown, so has the size of the image file I insert into the post. A couple of weeks back I hit a forum "limit" when I tried to insert an updated image and I had to "resize" the image to lower the file size (~200KB) before the insert process accepted the image. Resizing the image lowered the readability of the text in the table as it reduced the apparent size of the font, and its "clarity". I'm not sure what property of the image is causing the rejection of the insert, is it the file size, file type, aspect ratio of the image, or something else?

A week or so ago, the table having grown again, I had to repeat the process and the text got slightly "fuzzier" again as I tried to keep the image file under the limit. I realised that this solution was not going to be repeatable for too many iterations. 

So one solution I thought of was the splitting of the image into several smaller images, such that each one was well within the forum insert limit .... this lead on to the "Divisions" idea.

I'm not dead set on that route if a better solution to the problem can be found, and there may well be forumites who have solved a similar problem here (or elsewhere), or can think outside the box and suggest an alternative solution. As I said a few posts back, the "Division" solution was just my initial thoughts and has a possible advantage of breaking up a long, thin image (and may get even longer!) which requires a good deal of scrolling to view.

All suggestions welcome.

a couple of thoughts...

1. could you not upload the image externally, e.g postimages.org and then use the direct link URL of the uploaded image in your post rather than uploading the images directly at mse forums ? that should bypass whatever upload issues you're running into here..

2. what format is the table created in? i'm just wondering if copy & paste could be a viable option?

I just created a dummy table in Excel, and if I copy & paste it into here, then I get this...

Forumite	Count	Per Month	Value	Return
exel1966	76
RosieRooBear + hubby	72
surreysaver	54			2500
janusd	19	6000	2600	>1800

that's not really practical or visually clear, but if you them manually centre the values of the cells in the last four columns (cell by cell - pita), it does become clearer...

Forumite	Count	Per Month	Value	Return
exel1966	76
RosieRooBear + hubby	72
surreysaver	54			2500
janusd	19	6000	2600	>1800

there is also the option of using a converter to change your code into either HTML or Markdown... you would just need to copy & paste your excel table into the page, and it can convert it to various formats...

so if you wanted to post a html table, then you just take the code provided by the above, enable the html view toggle above and paste the code in...

Forumite	Count	Per Month	Value	Return
exel1966	76
RosieRooBear + hubby	72
surreysaver	54			2500
janusd	19	6000	2600	>1800

alternatively, if you used Markdown as the output option, you would again enable html view toggle, manually enter < p r e > (remove spaces - just pre with angle brackets!) then paste the markdown code and finish with a closing < / p r e > (again remove spaces) after the markdown - it should look like this...

| Forumite             | Count  | PM   | Value | Return |
|:--------------------:|:------:|:----:|:-----:|:------:|
| exel1966             | 76     |      |       |        |
| RosieRooBear + hubby | 72     |      |       |        |
| surreysaver          | 54     |      |       | 2500   |
| janusd               | 19     | 6000 | 2600  | >1800  |

that may sound horrendous, but it's just copy & pasting from the spreadsheet to the converter and then the resulting code into the forum post... it might take a few goes to get it right, but it would remove the hassle of dealing with images, leagues, divisions, European places, play-offs etc. 

I do the same sort of thing for the excel tables I paste into the forum, for me it's just easier than doing screenshots as I usually have a screen dimmer on my laptop so have to temporarily turn off the screen dimmer before using the snipping tool. Also I prefer to copy directly from excel into the forum to give people to copy the table directly into excel themselves and edit if they wish.

I don't bother with using markdown editor though and don't bother to edit the data when it's in the forum, everything gets done on the spreadsheet then copied across without further editing.

A few things to note is that you can also force line breaks within cells in excel (using alt+enter), these copy across to the forum, a recent(ish) example of when I've done this is the list of regular saver interest rate changes. An excerpt would be:

Account	Old rate	New rate	Date
Leeds BS Home Deposit Saver Issues 1 & 2	4.80%	NO CHANGE	17/09/2025
Leeds BS Regular Saver (ISSUE 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 56, 57, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65 & 66)	4.70%	NO CHANGE	17/09/2025
Leeds BS Regular Saver Issue 55 & 58	4.85%	NO CHANGE	17/09/2025

Using alt+enter after the number 49 changes it to:

Account	Old rate	New rate	Date
Leeds BS Home Deposit Saver Issues 1 & 2	4.80%	NO CHANGE	17/09/2025
Leeds BS Regular Saver (ISSUE 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 56, 57, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65 & 66)	4.70%	NO CHANGE	17/09/2025
Leeds BS Regular Saver Issue 55 & 58	4.85%	NO CHANGE	17/09/2025

Beware though there is a limit to the number of characters you can include in a single post (though it is quite generous so @Bobblehat probably wouldn't hit that with the tables being used), this is why some of my lists on this forum go over multiple posts.

Another option would be to create a view only link to your spreadsheet and post that here so it updates in real time. I've a preference for having things pasted into the forum itself though but an upshot of posting a link to a spreadsheet is that you can keep any colours, fonts etc.

clairec666

I guess my absolute minimum is 5.5% but like Kim_13 it's more nuanced than that. Anything above 5.25% would beat what I'm getting in my ISA (after tax). I'm pilfering from my 5.5% accounts to fund the higher ones at the moment. Any new accounts would have to be 6.5% or higher to entice me right now.

dingling68

I have checked my spreadsheet after recovering from the post holiday lurgy that struck our group and it appears I have 41 regular saver as of today's date @Bobblehat . All in my own name, but some only minimal funding at the mo to rob Peter to pay Paul and fill the higher interest ones. I have a couple due to mature at the end of the month / early Nov so may be lower in due course. 

trickydicky14

But what does min % figures actually tell us, if person A has limited funds they will fund the highest RS's up to the point that the money runs out. Person B has much larger funds so may well fund accounts right down to say 4.75% as long as the rate is better than any easy access accounts. So what would we learn from this extra info? I know this is all a bit of fun but I would hope we would learn something from it.

Bobblehat

trickydicky14 said:

But what does min % figures actually tell us, if person A has limited funds they will fund the highest RS's up to the point that the money runs out. Person B has much larger funds so may well fund accounts right down to say 4.75% as long as the rate is better than any easy access accounts. So what would we learn from this extra info? I know this is all a bit of fun but I would hope we would learn something from it.

People with the lowest minimum have the most finds  ..... only joking. I'll let others chip in on this question!

nigelholl2

This thread is a regular read, along with Bridlington1's RS tread, and others in the S&I group
I will have an update on 1st Nov,  as I've picked the odd one up, and just opened a Virgin M-Plus for their RS on the 1st, part of my aim to getting 1xRS maturing each month.
Definitely an interesting hobby this game
Interesting week maximising top-ups to Nwest RS, with BS RS's & Ppal
Also 1st donor account opened and DDs tsfr'd, just need them to pay, then hit the switch button, the bonus's will be transferred to the RS feeder acc to assist the MSE project.
I really appreciate the effort that people put in to posting and updating threads on this forum, allows us all to squeeze as much as we can out of our £'s

allegro120

Bobblehat said:

Kim_13 said:

saverkev said:

Bobblehat said:

After Ch1ll1Phlakes experiment, I thought I'd see what the table would look like being generated directly from the spreadsheet (instead of coped from the forum) ....



Edit: Apart from the gap (which is not a blank line), I'd say this simple solution does the job! If the table were to expand to 3 figures of contributors in the future, I'd say this method will cope and provide a perfectly readable table.

p.s. Sorry Ch1lliPhlakes, it's pure coincidence that the split put you at the bottom of section 1. I feel slightly guilty about this after your help   

Looks good.
I aalso liked poolboy's idea of including peoples min % - atm I am going for above 6%

And thanks for your hard work @Bobblehat

To open currently, 6% fixed or 6.5% variable, although funding Stafford at £25 (4.4% - open ended) and Coventry Sunny Day at £10 (4.3% - prize draws.) The lowest receiving any significant funding is 5.5% (NatWest.) 

An interesting and detailed presentation of strategy, and perfectly understandable too.

I don't mean to sound particularly negative, but if I introduced another column pertaining to min%, as suggested by a few contributors, I'd be at a loss as how to summarise the strategy above into a single field! There lies my slight hesitance to expand the columns.

No offence meant to any individual contributor, but it might only be viable if a single % figure was posted. This does not stop contributors from explaining their strategy in a post, as Kim_13 has, which can be viewed in detail and applied by others who like the plan either wholly or in part 

If enough people indicated a single simple minimum percentage figure would be useful, I'd be happy to document it as and when contributors supplied it 

5.15% is my minimum at the moment.  I will update on changes in November, I think it's better to do it monthly rather than every time a change takes place.  I will maintain not to include the accounts I'm running for my spouse  

allegro120

Bobblehat said:

trickydicky14 said:

But what does min % figures actually tell us, if person A has limited funds they will fund the highest RS's up to the point that the money runs out. Person B has much larger funds so may well fund accounts right down to say 4.75% as long as the rate is better than any easy access accounts. So what would we learn from this extra info? I know this is all a bit of fun but I would hope we would learn something from it.

People with the lowest minimum have the most finds  ..... only joking. I'll let others chip in on this question!

trickydicky14 said:

But what does min % figures actually tell us, if person A has limited funds they will fund the highest RS's up to the point that the money runs out. Person B has much larger funds so may well fund accounts right down to say 4.75% as long as the rate is better than any easy access accounts. So what would we learn from this extra info? I know this is all a bit of fun but I would hope we would learn something from it.

If somebody is contributing say £2k pm and their minimum is 5.25% indicates that they are likely to be missing a few good offers.  Just a thought.

Bobblehat

allegro120 said:

Bobblehat said:

Kim_13 said:

saverkev said:

Bobblehat said:

After Ch1ll1Phlakes experiment, I thought I'd see what the table would look like being generated directly from the spreadsheet (instead of coped from the forum) ....



Edit: Apart from the gap (which is not a blank line), I'd say this simple solution does the job! If the table were to expand to 3 figures of contributors in the future, I'd say this method will cope and provide a perfectly readable table.

p.s. Sorry Ch1lliPhlakes, it's pure coincidence that the split put you at the bottom of section 1. I feel slightly guilty about this after your help   

Looks good.
I aalso liked poolboy's idea of including peoples min % - atm I am going for above 6%

And thanks for your hard work @Bobblehat

To open currently, 6% fixed or 6.5% variable, although funding Stafford at £25 (4.4% - open ended) and Coventry Sunny Day at £10 (4.3% - prize draws.) The lowest receiving any significant funding is 5.5% (NatWest.) 

An interesting and detailed presentation of strategy, and perfectly understandable too.

I don't mean to sound particularly negative, but if I introduced another column pertaining to min%, as suggested by a few contributors, I'd be at a loss as how to summarise the strategy above into a single field! There lies my slight hesitance to expand the columns.

No offence meant to any individual contributor, but it might only be viable if a single % figure was posted. This does not stop contributors from explaining their strategy in a post, as Kim_13 has, which can be viewed in detail and applied by others who like the plan either wholly or in part 

If enough people indicated a single simple minimum percentage figure would be useful, I'd be happy to document it as and when contributors supplied it 

5.15% is my minimum at the moment.  I will update on changes in November, I think it's better to do it monthly rather than every time a change takes place.  I will maintain not to include the accounts I'm running for my spouse  

Thanks allegro120. I appreciate the thought about frequency of updates, but whatever suits you as there really isn't a massive amount of work involved in keeping the table up-to-date. In reality it holds far less data than Bridlington1's lists and as I enjoy reading every new post that comes in on here and Bridlington1's thread, its quite easy for a retiree to punch the numbers in, as and when they arrive 

DRS1

Well I am tempted to give everyone a conniption by revealing that I have a regular saver paying 2.45%.