Cahoot Sunny Day Saver / Simple Saver

avocado1988

Hello. New to the forum and beginning to start thinking about investments.

I have read different things on this but I was wondering if someone can clarify this - I'm thinking of opening up a Cahoot Sunny Day Saver as an easy access earning 5% (max it to £3k) and a Cahoot Simple Saver (where I suppose the rate of 4.17% is OK but not fantastic).

I'm planning to open up many regular savers this year having now discovered these but I'm waiting for the bonuses to be good! - I currently have a Nationwide account to which my salary would come, then transfer this to the Cahoot Sunny Day Saver until it is maxed out. I'm then thinking of adding to the Simple Saver (a very very limited amount - e.g. £1) - is it then possible at the end of the 12 months to upgrade the Simple Saver to a Sunny Day Saver, keep the old Sunny Day Saver and open a new Sunny Day Saver? I'm a bit confused on this having read previous comments - the 5% rate is fantastic and beats the bonds I'm saving in! Thank you in advance.

mon3ysav3r

The Nationwide BS Flex Regular Saver Issue 7 would seem like an easy first choice of a regular saver given your current account is with them, 6.5% variable, 200 a month.

janusd

you can upgrade a Simple Saver to a SDS (or vice versa) at anytime during the 12 months (or at maturity)… if you end up with more than 1 SDS account, then that should be fine.

if you're starting to look at regular savers, then Nationwide have a 6.5% RS account (one I don't have!) that might be worth looking at.

friolento

Lesson #1: what you describe is possible, but it is savings, not investments. The latter deals with funds and stocks, the former just with savings accounts of various forms.

For Regular Savers, a special and one of the most popular form of savings accounts on this forum, there are many options: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6652858/the-top-regular-savers-discussion-thread/p1

For a complete lost of savings accounts, you can check https://moneyfactscompare.co.uk/savings-accounts/. As a newbie saver, I wouldn't presently settle for 4.17% as you can do a lot better.

allegro120

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81980529#Comment_81980529

Some Building Societies call deposits to savings accounts investments in their literature😀 The term can be easily confused. For me the main difference is FSCS protection.

friolento

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81980723#Comment_81980723

I know some of them do. Even NS&I do. Doesn't mean they are right, and doesn't mean the MSExperts shouldn't do their bit in helping people understand the difference 😎

avocado1988

Gosh, you have all been very helpful already especially being new to the forum - thank you! Sorry when I mean beginning to think about investments/savings(!), I mean more than the boring inactive ones I have (I usually try to find 1 year fixed rate bonds and just leave the money in there) but I want to become more active in managing this and managing things better.

I'm thinking of using the savings/easy access accounts to fund these regular savers (rather than locking the money away in bonds and thus not having the liquidity to fund these regular savers). I came across the Cahoot Sunny Saver and realised the 5% looked very good as a holding account to fund the regular savers each month - I suppose I'm thinking if I was to open about 7 of the best regular savers in the upcoming year, then my salary alone would not fund this and thus need to use part of any maturing bond and put it in a good savings account. So my thought was if I opened an SDS as well as a Simple Saver (which now you've confirmed I can upgrade soon enough to another SDS), then I could make use of £6000 @5% rather than £3000 - I didn't realise the Simple Saver could be upgraded at any time in the year:)

[As a side note, I'm also trying to think how I could make best use of switch bonuses so that I can maximise the bonus before going for the regular saver]

silvermum

Unless I've misunderstood your plans, I don't think it will work, as you can only have one Sunny Day Saver (or two, if you have a joint one too) at any time, and after 12 months the account and interest reverts to a normal savings account. So I can't see how you could have £6000 @5% ?

Also I assume you realise that you will have to manually move from the SDS each month to your regular savers as this account won't support DDs out?

friolento

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81980757#Comment_81980757

You wouldn’t fund any Regular Saver with a DD (Direct Debit), mainly because Regular Savers, like 99.9% of savings accounts, do not allow deposits by DD. People use SOs (Standing Orders) or FPs (Faster Payments) for their monthly deposits into Regular Savers. Even if it would be necessary to shift money from an SDS via a current account to the Regular Saver(s) once a month, this would not be an issue as transfers out of SDS accounts are instant. In fact, it’s what I do on a regular basis.

I won’t comment further on realistic numbers of SDS accounts and I hope nobody else will 😎😎😎. The OP will no doubt find arrangements that suits their needs.

silvermum

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81980877#Comment_81980877

Yes, my mistake, I meant standing orders (or faster payments), not direct debits.

Still worth making sure the OP has considered the practicalities of shuffling money, via likely nominated current accounts, into seven different regular savers every month. Certainly lots of people do it, but it requires a certain level of organisation and commitment that only the OP knows of they can meet.

avocado1988

Thank you both so much for both your extra helpful comments! My plan is to start with one and then two and then build up as the year goes by and see if I can commit well enough (I'm generally very organised/dedicated with my normal job and I need to apply the same principles here now!). I suppose I'm trying to find the best tools/all your expert knowledge to help out here in the meantime so that I can make the most of this mindset I'm trying to adjust for myself.