Savings

We haven’t accumulated a lot of savings, we haven’t had inheritances and have always helped our children and grandchildren especially in the last few years as there is sickness on both sides. We have a decent income because we both had jobs with final salary pension schemes, DH paid in as much as he could to the pension fund over the 47 years he was employed in the railway industry, I wasn’t allowed to join the pension fund until the last few years of my employment in teaching as I worked part time but I paid in AVCs. We have enough to fund our cremations and to fund any major expenditure in the house and garden. We do not intend to buy another car either as neither of us want to drive after the age of 85, it may be decided for my DH earlier than that as he has macular degeneration. We have enough income to pay for a cleaner and gardener when the time comes.

Yep....I'll also spend on things like having my windows cleaned every couple of months, a gardener in for anything heavy. I don't want to get a cleaner in personally - too security-conscious and privacy-conscious - so I've gradually been working my way towards making housework as quick/easy as possible for me to do - eg years back in my first house cleaning my kitchen floor meant getting down on my hands and knees with a scrubbing brush but these days I've just invested in one of those Vileda mop/broom sets and I gather that should do the trick without any question of getting on my knees.

Yep....all round I don't think the State would be entitled to try to proscribe having a very ordinary lifestyle (warm home/healthy diet/standard type holidays/hobbies & social life stuff).

Do I spend or save?

Depending on the size of the inheritance, can you not do both? Save the capital in a savings account and spend the interest on holidays?

The best savings, for me, are the regular savers at high interest. I try to do at least one a year, to finish in january the next year. Principality christmas reg saver again this year, £150 in pm at 6.5%. That does me very nicely and pays the bills which come during february

Stocks and shares ISAs do extremely well if carefully managed. Mine is 34% up from this time last year.

Aveline

Stocks and shares ISAs do extremely well if carefully managed. Mine is 34% up from this time last year.

Agreed.

ISAs do well tax sheltering investments, helping money grow more efficiently. Our return was less at 31% which beats inflation!

karmalady

The best savings, for me, are the regular savers at high interest. I try to do at least one a year, to finish in january the next year. Principality christmas reg saver again this year, £150 in pm at 6.5%. That does me very nicely and pays the bills which come during february

You have to be on the ball with those, though, because usually there is a limit on how much you can save each month and the interest rate might be very attractive for the twelve month term but then slumps to practically nothing at the end of the term.

Not too much work. Set up a Standing Order to pay in the monthly amount. You get notification before it matures so you can cash it in and put the money somewhere else.

Cabbie21

Not too much work. Set up a Standing Order to pay in the monthly amount. You get notification before it matures so you can cash it in and put the money somewhere else.

You only get a message online so best to make a note in your diary or on your phone.

We both have a monthly saver associated with our current account with Santander.
It runs from July each year and we can each pay in £200 a month.
The interest rate for the 25/26 year is 5%.
When it matures the total is automatically transferred into the current account and a new monthly saver starts.
Very simple and straightforward.

Allira

karmalady

The best savings, for me, are the regular savers at high interest. I try to do at least one a year, to finish in january the next year. Principality christmas reg saver again this year, £150 in pm at 6.5%. That does me very nicely and pays the bills which come during february

You have to be on the ball with those, though, because usually there is a limit on how much you can save each month and the interest rate might be very attractive for the twelve month term but then slumps to practically nothing at the end of the term.

Allira principality got in touch with me several times, to say the account was due to mature. The money transferred to my halifax current account on the day principality matured

The nationwide reg saver slumped but again I did get notice

I only have one reg saver this year, everyday living is too expensive for anything else now

Halifax have a reg saver at 5.5%. I managed to do 8 months last year and the maximum is £250 pm. I managed to do 8 months last year but it was too much of a stretch, wasn`t worth it for the overall interest

The best ones pay over 7%.
Keep an eye on the dedicated thread on MSE Regular Savings Accounts in their Forums. That’s the website Martin Lewis set up.

karmalady

Allira

karmalady

The best savings, for me, are the regular savers at high interest. I try to do at least one a year, to finish in january the next year. Principality christmas reg saver again this year, £150 in pm at 6.5%. That does me very nicely and pays the bills which come during february

You have to be on the ball with those, though, because usually there is a limit on how much you can save each month and the interest rate might be very attractive for the twelve month term but then slumps to practically nothing at the end of the term.

Allira principality got in touch with me several times, to say the account was due to mature. The money transferred to my halifax current account on the day principality matured

The nationwide reg saver slumped but again I did get notice

I only have one reg saver this year, everyday living is too expensive for anything else now

I did log on to Lloyd's and realised, karmalady.
They used to write but all communications are online now.

6.25% for the Regular Saver slumped to 1% after the 12 month term

They don’t really slump as if it’s unexpected. They are clearly marketed as term investments paying a fixed rate of interest, usually for a year - no different to bonds and ISAs and other fixed term accounts. The Terms & Conditions always explain what will happen at the end of the term, usually that the money will be transferred to a low yielding account. It’s a prompt to review what to do with the money next.

The institution is taking a risk in offering a fixed rate which is why you will be offered lower rates on longer term fixes. They may still prove very good if interest rates come down.

I do similar to karmalady, open a high interest account each year that I put a regular monthly amount into. Because it’s only simple interest calculated at a daily rate and not credited until the end of the year and the amount which can be saved each month is limited, it isn’t going to yield much, but better than a mattress or a tea caddy and a good way to budget for next year’s bills.

£200 a month, £2,400 a year at 6.5% will pay just under £85. At 7%, just over £91.

Graphite

They don’t really slump as if it’s unexpected. They are clearly marketed as term investments paying a fixed rate of interest, usually for a year - no different to bonds and ISAs and other fixed term accounts. The Terms & Conditions always explain what will happen at the end of the term, usually that the money will be transferred to a low yielding account. It’s a prompt to review what to do with the money next.

The institution is taking a risk in offering a fixed rate which is why you will be offered lower rates on longer term fixes. They may still prove very good if interest rates come down.

I do similar to karmalady, open a high interest account each year that I put a regular monthly amount into. Because it’s only simple interest calculated at a daily rate and not credited until the end of the year and the amount which can be saved each month is limited, it isn’t going to yield much, but better than a mattress or a tea caddy and a good way to budget for next year’s bills.

£200 a month, £2,400 a year at 6.5% will pay just under £85. At 7%, just over £91.

Agreed.

One receives x% for the year, well explained in the terms and conditions.

When they are about to mature, that’s the time to see what be Regular Savers are available. With the Bank of England lowering interest rates we are unlikely to find high interest rates now. A 5% fixed rate is worth getting. There are higher ones but most are variable and can be expected to drop.

Our current regular saver will mature in July, a couple of weeks before we need to pay the balance of our winter holiday 😎

I have a decent balance in my current account for immediate emergencies, a small amount in a BS which doesn’t need notice and the rest in PBs.
At my age I like the frisson of excitement each month “just in case” and actually had a decent return last year.
It suits me, if no one else.

Spend it. Maybe save a little, but life is for living and experiences are the way to go before you’re too old or ill to go anywhere or do anything. Die With Zero is a great book & my new motto, so I’m spending & enjoying life while still able to.

They don’t really slump as if it’s unexpected. They are clearly marketed as term investments paying a fixed rate of interest, usually for a year

Well, I do know that Graphite.
But changing from 6.25% to 1% interest is a slump in rates imo. It may not be the technical term.

The bank used to write to remind savers it was coming to the end of the term but no longer. Mea culpa for not remembering and so I lost about 10 days' interest.

Usedtobeblonde

I have a decent balance in my current account for immediate emergencies, a small amount in a BS which doesn’t need notice and the rest in PBs.
At my age I like the frisson of excitement each month “just in case” and actually had a decent return last year.
It suits me, if no one else.

It suits me UTTB.

The interest rate can be as good as many other safe savings accounts and, very occasionally, exceed anything else.

I had £40000 in PBs. I worked out that last year, the winnings only gave me something like 3 %
So, I took out £30000, split it between my 3 children. I left £10000 and assumed that my chances of winning, will be the same, knowing my luck 😂

I've not even managed that interest rate on premium bonds! I keep telling myself it can't be much longer before I get enough to give me "real" interest on them to date and there is the chance I'll get a big win somepoint.

I'm a Capricorn - I've come to the conclusion we're made to wait and wait and wait some more and finally get something years after other people do - grr! We just about have to stand there and wave our fist very threateningly at the Universe with "Everyone else in my circle gets x by y age - so why am I still having to wait?"

Though everyone I know/know of in this agegroup owns their own home and, except in one case, it's mortgage-free (in that case I think her husband hadnt been as good as he should have been with money and so she informed him in no uncertain terms they were moving here in order to be able to buy a house again (albeit with a mortgage) and made it plain she was so livid to not be a home-owner (when they had been previously and he'd lost it) that he'd better start packing. He knew it was more than his life was worth for them to go into retirement without her getting her home ownership back again - so he started packing.

I have PBs, also I think at an overall 3% and thats ok, as it is tax-free.

7 years ago I decided to give my dgc £20k of premium bonds each, now out of IHT. They have all done well and any winnings are automatically re-invested. They are all well aware that the stipulation (within the bounds of reality) is for the sum to go towards mortgage deposit. Better that than a random sum left to them in my will. Thay are now aged between 16 and 18 and sensible, with a good future

I too love checking the Pbs every month