Best place for savings

Is it me, or is saving at the moment more complicated than ever. I have a sum I want to save and somehow I've ended up with 4 current accounts and 3 regular savers since...

- best interest seems to come from a current account, which is normally limited on max amount that can earn it

- obviously you can't put lump sums into regular savers to get the good interest so you have to drip it in

- there's always a quirk like you need a minimum, maximum, direct debits, lock it away, have an attached current accounts etc.

Then after 12 months the rates that enticed you there are gone and you have to look all over again.

I just want to put the money together in an account with reasonable interest, and from what I can see, unless I complicate things with multiple current/reg saves, juggling direct debits and don't want to lock it away - the best bet right now is probably a cash ISA at around 1.05% vs 5% with all the hassle.

Anyone else in the same place here?
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Comments

  • ColdIron
    ColdIron Posts: 8,893
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    Everyone I think, but I don't mind as once it's set up it runs itself like clockwork
  • Eco_Miser
    Eco_Miser Posts: 4,708
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    Alex_W wrote: »
    Is it me, or is saving at the moment more complicated than ever.
    It doesn't seem more complicated than it's been for the past several years.

    Rates don't always drop after a year. Unfortunately several dropped recently after a long stable period.

    The best interest rates have always (as far back as I can remember) been on limited amounts/ regular savers.
    Eco Miser
    Saving money for well over half a century
  • bigadaj
    bigadaj Posts: 11,531
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    You need to be well into double figures of accounts before asking if it's too complicated on these boards.
  • TheShape
    TheShape Posts: 1,777
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    Alex_W wrote: »
    - obviously you can't put lump sums into regular savers to get the good interest so you have to drip it in

    Once you have enough accounts you can drip-feed 'lump-sum type' amounts. I've got far fewer regular savers than some but my regular savings deposits totalled £2900 last month.
  • jimjames
    jimjames Posts: 17,532
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    Really depends what you need the money for and when you want to use it. If you want to make the most of it and have sufficient emergency funds in the main current accounts then investing some would certainly take the hassle away if that's an issue for you.
    Remember the saying: if it looks too good to be true it almost certainly is.
  • Eco_Miser wrote: »
    The best interest rates have always (as far back as I can remember) been on limited amounts/ regular savers.
    You must be quite young then. Prior to the 2007-2008 financial meltdown I recall getting interest rates of 6%+ on normal (not "limited" or "regular") savings accounts. In those days we didn't have to indulge in all these gimmicks of setting up fake current accounts / direct debits / moving money around between accounts and all today's pantomimes and similar nonsense to get a reasonable rate of interest on our savings.
  • YorkshireBoy
    YorkshireBoy Posts: 31,541
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    You must be quite young then. Prior to the 2007-2008 financial meltdown I recall getting interest rates of 6%+ on normal (not "limited" or "regular") savings accounts.
    Indeed. I had a NatWest cash ISA paying 7.xx% (that accepted transfers in!) in the immediate lead up to the crash and their subsequent bale out?
  • soulsaver
    soulsaver Posts: 5,867
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    Blow-by-blow...
    Interest rate history on my e-saver - Yorkie BS:

    31/03/2017 0.50 General rate change decrease
    23/11/2016 0.60 General rate change decrease
    02/09/2016 0.75 General rate change decrease
    02/08/2016 1.00 General rate change decrease
    14/07/2014 1.24 General rate change decrease
    16/09/2013 1.49 General rate change decrease
    04/03/2013 1.64 General rate change decrease
    29/03/2009 2.08 General rate change decrease
    22/02/2009 2.72 General rate change decrease
    01/02/2009 3.20 General rate change decrease
    28/12/2008 3.69 General rate change decrease
    30/11/2008 4.41 General rate change decrease
    02/11/2008 5.37 General rate change decrease
    27/04/2008 5.56 General rate change decrease
    02/03/2008 5.60 General rate change decrease
    30/12/2007 5.84 General rate change decrease
    23/09/2007 6.03 General rate change increase
  • Sea_Shell
    Sea_Shell Posts: 9,272
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    bigadaj wrote: »
    You need to be well into double figures of accounts before asking if it's too complicated on these boards.

    Yeah, tell me about it!!!:beer:
    How's it going, AKA, Nutwatch? - 12 month spends to date = 2.47% of current retirement "pot" (as at end February 2024)
  • bowlhead99
    bowlhead99 Posts: 12,295
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    edited 12 April 2017 at 5:51AM
    Eco_Miser wrote: »
    The best interest rates have always (as far back as I can remember) been on limited amounts/ regular savers.

    You must be quite young then. Prior to the 2007-2008 financial meltdown I recall getting interest rates of 6%+ on normal (not "limited" or "regular") savings accounts. In those days we didn't have to indulge in all these gimmicks of setting up fake current accounts / direct debits / moving money around between accounts and all today's pantomimes and similar nonsense to get a reasonable rate of interest on our savings.
    Yes of course you're right that back before the financial crisis you could get 6% on 'normal' accounts as Soulsaver's YBS account history shows. But in July 2007 the UK bank base rate had just ticked up from 5.5% to 5.75%. So, no wonder that prior to that uptick you could get 6% on a top e-saver from HSBC or Sainsbury when base rate was only a half percent under that. Many people wouldn't even bother shopping around for the extra half percent because it was only an extra tenth on their bank interest.

    Whereas now the top instant access accounts (in an account without a low per-month or total limit or jump-through-hoops requirement) are more like 0.75% which is still a half a percent better than base rate.

    Eco is still completely right that the best rates are and were paid on limited amounts of money per month or on accounts with caps. That's the only way the banks can afford to pay you a super-premium rate over what the market is paying. For example, at the start of July 2007 when base rate was 5.5% and top e-saver was 6%ish, if you were an Abbey current account customer you could get 10% on their £250pm regular saver and if you were an Alliance & Leicester premier account customer you could get 12% on theirs. (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/savings/2811417/Savings-acccounts-dont-be-tricked-by-the-vanishing-act.html).

    Similarly I'm sure we all remember cash ISAs paying more than normal savings accounts because the banks knew you could only put £3k into them each year so it was a relatively low-cost giveaway for them to be able to advertise a high rate.

    If you go back to the late 80s / early 90s you could have got 15% without shopping around too hard because bank base rate reached 14.875% for a year. Of course, you don't remember shopping around on the internet for the top rates on limited amounts of money because you didn't have the internet then. You got what you were given. But those who did more window-shopping for rates would still generally find the top rates were paid on accounts with some restrictions such as a notice period or account maximum.
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