High Interest Savings Accounts?

[The Reverend]

Hello guys,

Ok so I want to start putting money away to save up for cars/holidays/women/whisky - maybe all at the same time.

So at the minute i've got a Natwest current account, which is fine, it gives me access to my money online and at ATM's, so thats all good. But I want to start putting away a couple of hundred or so a month in preparation for holidays and the likes, so i'm interested in setting up some sort of high interest savings account. Now, I know nothing about this, so would be grateful if someone could point me along the right lines.

I just want to put the money away, be able to transfer it from account to account etc, and be allowed to take it out when the times right i.e enough it saved for what I want to use it for... An ISA is also something i've heard about... anyone know anything about these?

Any help would me much appreciated. The time has come to stop frittering money away and start being a little bit more sensible with my money.

Gracias.

[Legend_in_blue]

Hello guys,

Ok so I want to start putting money away to save up for cars/holidays/women/whisky - maybe all at the same time.

So at the minute i've got a Natwest current account, which is fine, it gives me access to my money online and at ATM's, so thats all good. But I want to start putting away a couple of hundred or so a month in preparation for holidays and the likes, so i'm interested in setting up some sort of high interest savings account. Now, I know nothing about this, so would be grateful if someone could point me along the right lines.

I just want to put the money away, be able to transfer it from account to account etc, and be allowed to take it out when the times right i.e enough it saved for what I want to use it for... An ISA is also something i've heard about... anyone know anything about these?

Any help would me much appreciated. The time has come to stop frittering money away and start being a little bit more sensible with my money.

Gracias.

Morning Rev!

You need to get yourself an ISA as you have suggested. The Natwest do one, everyone pretty much does one, but you're limited to £3600 per year that you can put into one. That's per tax year - which means you have until April 5 to put up to as much as £3600 in it. This is tax free meaning you won't have to pay tax on it, unlike other savings accounts. It's also worth pointing out that this limit is set to rise to £5100 (I think) after this current tax year.

In terms of putting money in, you can put in as much as you like and when you like. No problem. However, if you want to achieve a maximum interest return on your cash, it's best to limit the amount you take out of the account throughout the year. With the interest rate being pretty crap though, it won't make too much difference at the minute tbh.

It's up to you where you get your ISA from. Don't be tempted to go with your bank, shop around for the best interest return. There's bound to be someone offering some sort of deal - even if it's for an extra 0.2% or whatever.

Hope this helps. Cheers.

[Monk]

Note that with an ISA you have a max amount of money you can put in each tax year, 3600 I think. If you take money out, that still counts towards your total.

I'd suggest opening a regular savings account - view rankings here:

http://www.moneysupermarket.com/savings/

Put maybe half of your savings in this. These are your short term savings. Say £100 pm.

Then put £50pm in an ISA or fixed term bond where you cannot touch it. This is your medium term savings to go towards buying a car or a deposit on a house.

With the other £50pm start a Self Select Pension. I'm guessing you're not that old, so this is an ideal time to start because the compound interest now will have a huge effect when you come to cash it in.

If you have credit card debt, hold off all of the above until you have paid it off.

[Sir Fynwy]

Keep your money well away from banks, they are all thieves just looking to make their next bonus/dividend. I recommend sending $10,000 to Mr. Ngatoa in Nigeria, he has $50m worth of diamonds in a briefcase he will send to you.

[Babylon]

Note that with an ISA you have a max amount of money you can put in each tax year, 3600 I think. If you take money out, that still counts towards your total.

I'd suggest opening a regular savings account - view rankings here:

http://www.moneysupermarket.com/savings/

Put maybe half of your savings in this. These are your short term savings. Say £100 pm.

Then put £50pm in an ISA or fixed term bond where you cannot touch it. This is your medium term savings to go towards buying a car or a deposit on a house.

With the other £50pm start a Self Select Pension. I'm guessing you're not that old, so this is an ideal time to start because the compound interest now will have a huge effect when you come to cash it in.

If you have credit card debt, hold off all of the above until you have paid it off.

Monk just pretty much saved me typing... follow his advice.

[Raj]

Monk just pretty much saved me typing... follow his advice.

Monk is the moneysavingsexpert of Foxestalk!!

P.S Dont Alliance & Leicester still do their high interest current accounts?

Im sure ive got one paying about 6% upto 2500 pounds(Might only be for a year though)

Monk the moneyexpert will answer

[Babylon]

Monk is the moneysavingsexpert of Foxestalk!!

P.S Dont Alliance & Leicester still do their high interest current accounts?

Im sure ive got one paying about 6% upto 2500 pounds(Might only be for a year though)

Monk the moneyexpert will answer

We both are, I've saved/made so much cash in the last 4 years thanks to that site and others.

[Alexikokopops]

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/s...s-best-interest

[Jon the Hat]

If you have credit card debt, hold off all of the above until you have paid it off.

This only works if you cut up the credit card first. Otherwise you will end up in 2 years not having saved anything, and still having a credit card debt. I know this.

[Tabou]

Most important piece of advice everrrrr.

Ignore everything that Martin Lewis 'advises'. That man is an absolute cock who knows f**k all about anything.

[Alexikokopops]

Most important piece of advice everrrrr.

Ignore everything that Martin Lewis 'advises'. That man is an absolute cock who knows f**k all about anything.

You've said this before but I've saved a lot using his advice (most recently £200 when sorting out car insurance) so I'll keep listening to him thankyouverymuch

[Shrenchel]

Most important piece of advice everrrrr.

Ignore everything that Martin Lewis 'advises'. That man is an absolute cock who knows f**k all about anything.

How so?

MSE has saved me queenies on a number of occasions.

Do you have some sort of personal grudge against him?

[Zingari]

Most important piece of advice everrrrr.

Ignore everything that Martin Lewis 'advises'. That man is an absolute cock who knows f**k all about anything.

have you been taking financial advice from this Martin Lewis

http://www.martinlewis.com/

[Babylon]

Most important piece of advice everrrrr.

Ignore everything that Martin Lewis 'advises'. That man is an absolute cock who knows f**k all about anything.

That website doesn't advise anything. It just puts the information in front of you, if you have been burnt then I can only assume you didn't do your own research first.

And this is from someone who nearly lost over 30k when icesave when tits up. That was my own fault for not looking into the facts, not his for presenting an option to me.

[Sir Fynwy]

Whenever I've looked at the MSE site I've come away thinking that most of the advice is bloody obvious, it might put a load of stuff together but none of it isn't readily available if you look yourself.

MSE's advice on mobiles is very poor imo.

[Bellend Sebastian]

I prefer that camp black fella with the bow tie. Whatshisname. He tells it like it is without talking to people like they're a c***.

Alvin Hall!

[Raj]

We both are, I've saved/made so much cash in the last 4 years thanks to that site and others.

Right then...You AND MOnk can GIVE me a tenner each...NOW!!!

You've said this before but I've saved a lot using his advice (most recently £200 when sorting out car insurance) so I'll keep listening to him thankyouverymuch

I Like him!

I prefer that camp black fella with the bow tie. Whatshisname. He tells it like it is without talking to people like they're a c***.

Alvin Hall!

I Like him too...even though he is abit batty!!!

[The Reverend]

Morning Rev!

You need to get yourself an ISA as you have suggested. The Natwest do one, everyone pretty much does one, but you're limited to £3600 per year that you can put into one. That's per tax year - which means you have until April 5 to put up to as much as £3600 in it. This is tax free meaning you won't have to pay tax on it, unlike other savings accounts. It's also worth pointing out that this limit is set to rise to £5100 (I think) after this current tax year.

In terms of putting money in, you can put in as much as you like and when you like. No problem. However, if you want to achieve a maximum interest return on your cash, it's best to limit the amount you take out of the account throughout the year. With the interest rate being pretty crap though, it won't make too much difference at the minute tbh.

It's up to you where you get your ISA from. Don't be tempted to go with your bank, shop around for the best interest return. There's bound to be someone offering some sort of deal - even if it's for an extra 0.2% or whatever.

Hope this helps. Cheers.

Thanks mate, dunno about ISA's though, because I'd be taking the money out, not sure if it'd be worth it.

Note that with an ISA you have a max amount of money you can put in each tax year, 3600 I think. If you take money out, that still counts towards your total.

I'd suggest opening a regular savings account - view rankings here:

http://www.moneysupermarket.com/savings/

Put maybe half of your savings in this. These are your short term savings. Say £100 pm.

Then put £50pm in an ISA or fixed term bond where you cannot touch it. This is your medium term savings to go towards buying a car or a deposit on a house.

With the other £50pm start a Self Select Pension. I'm guessing you're not that old, so this is an ideal time to start because the compound interest now will have a huge effect when you come to cash it in.

If you have credit card debt, hold off all of the above until you have paid it off.

I already have a proper pension with my current employer where I think I put in £24 p/m and my employer doubles it, so thats sorted already. I'm 19 aswel by the way.

I havent got any credit cards either. I'm debt free!

Monk is the moneysavingsexpert of Foxestalk!!

P.S Dont Alliance & Leicester still do their high interest current accounts?

Im sure ive got one paying about 6% upto 2500 pounds(Might only be for a year though)

Monk the moneyexpert will answer

I was actually looking at that one.

Cheers for the advice folks, give me more!

[Babylon]

Cheers for the advice folks, give me more!

Give it to me and i'll invest it in the stock market... I predict shares in balloons and yeast will rise.

[James.]

Hyper inflation in a few years time (following Gordon's "prudent" management of the economy) will seriously erode the value of your savings, be they in current accounts, ISA's, whatever.

My advice therefore is to spend any money you have on cocaine and women.

[Dr The Singh]

Hyper inflation in a few years time (following Gordon's "prudent" management of the economy) will seriously erode the value of your savings, be they in current accounts, ISA's, whatever.

My advice therefore is to spend any money you have on cocaine and women.

James, that's thr best advice i've heard all day, cu u guys later, i'm off to snort and shag my savings away!!!!

[The Reverend]

Hyper inflation in a few years time (following Gordon's "prudent" management of the economy) will seriously erode the value of your savings, be they in current accounts, ISA's, whatever.

My advice therefore is to spend any money you have on cocaine and women.

I'm bored of that now!

[Sirloin]

Open a stocks and shares ISA and whack it in a China ETF. Savings accounts are for nonces.