Multiple Regular Savers - maintenance

avocado1988

Hello,

I've recently started my journey on getting multiple regular savers. I was wondering for a newbie (who is happy to be incredibly organised and can be), what would be the key information one would write down for each and every regular saver in their spreadsheet? (I tried searching the forums and I'm sure this has been covered but unfortunately I have been a bit rubbish at finding an answer!). If there are any templates about on the forum that would be also be helpful:) Thanks very much in advance! (For some, to be able to access these, I've had to open up current accounts and so I suppose I need a note also next to it to make it clear if those also have any rules)

Brie

bank name/weblink/account number(s).

dates started/payments made/interest/regular amount required/maximum allowed.

can you have more than 1?

do you need an account for the money to be paid in to when the saving session ends? or does it just go to some dismal rate hoping you won't notice?

those are the obvious ones to me.

masonic

A maturity date column is very useful too, to allow them to be sorted to see when and how much money needs to be dealt with. Not all are strictly 12 months from opening. You should also note whether each account operates on a calendar or account month basis.

Yorkie1

I have an excel s/sheet which has columns for:

• Bank and account name, with last 4 digits of account number
• % interest rate
• all months April to March - for monthly / annual interest receipts (helps you know what your likely tax position is)
• Comments, including any limited withdrawals allowed / done; and when maturity is due for a fixed duration.

I then have a couple of rows' gap, and the same info for non-taxable (ISA) accounts.

On a separate tab I have what I call cashflow - whether the funds are available now, or at a particular date in the future (sorted by next available date)

Bridlington1

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6667485/multiple-regular-savers-maintenance

Firstly welcome to the forum and the world of regular savers.

If you haven't seen it already I currently maintain The Top Regular Savers Discussion Thread, p1 of the thread contains quite a bit of information including a summary of each of the currently available regular savers. Also feel free to use it to discuss regular savers and ask any queries you might have.

Every so often I also post a list of all of the currently available and no longer available regular savers, each of these is included on a read only spreadsheet, which might be useful to you as a spreadsheet starting point.

On my spreadsheet I use the following headings:

Bank/building society
Account Name
Interest rate
Account paid from
Balance prior to deposit
Day of Month
Matures
Interest paid
Withdrawals/early closure
Min deposit
Max deposit

Bobblehat

Apart from suggestions above, Bridlington1 has gone a long way in listing a lot of the important parameters that might be useful to you to record for each RS you hold. Just look at Page 1 of the Top Regular Saver Discussion thread, each RS has parameters that will serve as reminders/shorthand for the details in the T&C's.

It's a good idea to keep the T&Cs in an appropriate file/folder too. If inclined, you could also record the predicted maturity value where appropriate. The MSE RS calculator is useful for that figure.

Edit: Brid beat me to it as I was typing 😀

Bridlington1

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81991740#Comment_81991740

And if you don't want to bother with downloading the Ts&Cs, you can find them on p1 of The Archived History Of Regular Savers Thread *** NO CHAT*** thread.

Summaries of any regular saver that has ever appeared but since been withdrawn on p1 of The Top Regular Savers Discussion Thread can be found on the Regular Saver Thread Monthly Updates spreadsheet with links to the archived Ts&Cs.

allegro120

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6667485/multiple-regular-savers-maintenance

My spreadsheet shows the account title, account details, interest rate, date of opening and most relevant key features of the product (min-max allowance, withdrawal/closure rules, deposit/withdrawal timeline etc.). I also save t&c documents in case I need more detailed info.

janusd

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81991715#Comment_81991715

my spreadsheet is similar, but is primarily used for recording interest received for each account listed (table sorted by descending rate).

one difference is that my tax year is split into 13 columns to account for both Aprils in the same tax year… also a column at the end to indicate if the interest matches the value on the certificate of interest.

mine doesn't store any account balances - I use Moneyhub (now WPS Lifestage) to automatically get the balances and transactions from my accounts were possible and manually once a month for the others… not free after the trial period, but for the price (£15pa) I find it invaluable…. if you're just starting out, you might not need it yet though.

one day i'll get around to embedding @Bridlington1 google sheet into my excel sheet for reference.

my recollection is that templates have been previously posted - perhaps in @Bobblehat nosey RS thread - but not near PC to check if there or elsewhere.

Yorkie1

That's a good idea re. the 13 months - I just have April at the start, and colour it blue to show it's an end-of-tax year interest payment rather than start of tax year. Might adjust my s/s!

avocado1988

Thank you so much everyone! I just posted this before I went out and it's so helpful to see so many helpful replies on what to record/what to refer to etc. here in just only a few hours! Very much appreciate it and all the expertise you have all provided:) Incredibly impressive @Bridlington1 in terms of maintaining that whole thread (I've recently discovered it and it's just great!). Thank you all once again 😊