Savings Accounts

Having skimmed the thread I can also understand how it's good to have a buffer ,I was on sick for 6 months and got zero off the state but didn't have to worry about finances I suppose it's deciding the size of the low return buffer needed first
 
Yeah I couldn't sleep last night for thinking about it all.

My plan is a 6 month wage buffer in easy access savings which is the Chase 1.5%

Another chunk which I'll move around fixed rate savings accounts but I need to save a bit more to get the minimum most of them demand and keep an eye on it moving to the best deal every time one expires

The other part of the plan is to understand and contribute more to my pension, I started reading about that this morning but it's so complicated it's going to take me a while to get my head around it especially with changing jobs soon and then overpaying the mortgage and which comes first Pension or Mortgage!? :eek:

On top of all that I've kind of lost my car savings fund as it's been absorbed into the above two savings pots so not really sure what I'll do next time I need to buy a car, I wanted to avoid loans so something else to think about there

On top of all that the amount I can save per month will inevitably be going down, cost of living increases has seen my disposal income drop significantly this year so there is that to keep in mind too, the worst is yet to come for cost of living increases
 
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All of our ability to save is decreasing because of increasing costs. Which is why doing it at source (i.e. pension contributions) makes the most amount of sense (usually) - however I really urge you (despite some good advice in this thread) to go and speak to an independent expert who can help with your financial planning based on your goals, current status etc.... Most of us that work full time even without a family don't have the ability to track markets/shares/indexes etc... to maximise their effectiveness, long term strategies are far more effective for the average joe like us in my opinion.
 
Freefaller said:
All of our ability to save is decreasing because of increasing costs. Which is why doing it at source (i.e. pension contributions) makes the most amount of sense (usually) - however I really urge you (despite some good advice in this thread) to go and speak to an independent expert who can help with your financial planning based on your goals, current status etc.... Most of us that work full time even without a family don't have the ability to track markets/shares/indexes etc... to maximise their effectiveness, long term strategies are far more effective for the average joe like us in my opinion.
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Yup, full time employment and a young family means no time, that's why I was reading it all last night and couldn't sleep because my brain was on fire and now today I'm tired

Who are these advisors, are they free or do you have to pay and how do you know of a good one? Always assumed you would just do stuff like that through your bank and they would just sell you their products
 
You don't need an IFA. You need a pint and someone to talk calm and logically. You are probably getting exhausted because you are reading so much nonsense you don't need to.

Just whack your money in Chase, and keep doing what you're doing. It sounds like you are moving employer any way, so then you can take a look at your pension.
 
200sols said:
Personally don't see the need to speak to an IFA, they charge a fortune and will tell you nothing you cant research yourself in an afternoon. If you really have no idea, pick a vanguard retirement fund and just pay in monthly either through a SIPP or ISA.

Vanguard Asset Management | Personal Investing in the UK | Vanguard UK Investor

www.vanguardinvestor.co.uk www.vanguardinvestor.co.uk
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Do you have one, so its like an additional private pension on top of your work and state pensions so you have 3 pensions to keep track of, why not just pay more into work pension?

Also why wouldn't you prioritise mortgage overpayments?
 
Relentless81 said:
Do you have one, so its like an additional private pension on top of your work and state pensions so you have 3 pensions to keep track of, why not just pay more into work pension?

Also why wouldn't you prioritise mortgage overpayments?
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That's the thing you need to find out from work, is what is your current scheme and what perks are there. No point opening another pension if the existing scheme is good enough.
 
I believe it's a good one, it's a defined benefit scheme and only two people Inc me in the entire organisation have it because they don't offer it anymore and I only have it because I've been there 11 years

That's all I know other than it's called SHPS.

Making me wonder if I should change jobs if my current pension is a good one, need to understand what defines a good pension and compare it to potential new employer offering
 
Relentless81 said:
I believe it's a good one, it's a defined benefit scheme and only two people Inc me in the entire organisation have it because they don't offer it anymore and I only have it because I've been there 11 years

That's all I know other than it's called SHPS.

Making me wonder if I should change jobs if my current pension is a good one, need to understand what defines a good pension and compare it to potential new employer offering
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Definitely get some more information on this. You may be sitting on a relative goldmine. You should be entitled to speak to someone at the provider and get them to explain it in simple terms.
 
Anynoe remember Buffett's $1million bet with a fund manager? You have to be really good and really lucky to beat a tracker. And that is if you are a professional doing it as a job...as a side person doing it at home, I would just stick it into Vanguard.

www.forbes.com

How Buffett Won His $1 Million Bet

Warren Buffett bet $1 million on a boring investment technique. Here's how he won his bet.
www.forbes.com www.forbes.com
 
Relentless81 said:
I believe it's a good one, it's a defined benefit scheme and only two people Inc me in the entire organisation have it because they don't offer it anymore and I only have it because I've been there 11 years

That's all I know other than it's called SHPS.

Making me wonder if I should change jobs if my current pension is a good one, need to understand what defines a good pension and compare it to potential new employer offering
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Defined benefit is very good usually and quite rare these days. The new pension with a new employer is likely to be 'defined contribution' which is basically like a SIPP but managed via your workplace. They will outsource it to a pension company and they invest in their funds, usually charge a hefty ongoing fee as well which is usually hidden deep in the small print.
 
Relentless81 said:
Yup, full time employment and a young family means no time, that's why I was reading it all last night and couldn't sleep because my brain was on fire and now today I'm tired

Who are these advisors, are they free or do you have to pay and how do you know of a good one? Always assumed you would just do stuff like that through your bank and they would just sell you their products
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Well it seems it's not a popular suggestion here. I personally have employed a wealth manager (that's what they seem to call themselves) and already in 3-4 years I have worked with them I have made a significant improvement to my savings and retirement planning.

Sure they take a small fee from your profits but I still get significantly more return than I would have should I have tried to do this alone. I just don't have the time. I work long hours, have a busy family life, and a busy active life - I do not want to sit in front of the computer at home or at night managing this stuff when I could be spending time with my wife, family, kids or whatever. So I pay to have my time to myself basically.

Go with whatever you feel is right. Some of the people here know much more about this stuff than I do, so they're probably happy to manage it themselves. I don't. I know my limitations and as such I pay to have someone help me manage my investments, whether it's property, stocks and shares, pensions etc etc... I can't work out the projections and tax reliefs etc for my current savings and planning, what I do know is compared to where I was before I now have a better understanding of my financial situation and earlier retirement is looking more promising as a result.

Heck as a result of the conversation I had with them increasing my pension contributions by 2% has saved me a huge amount of tax (after self assessment - which again will be done for me). No way would I have had the time or inclination to work this out.

Of course the people here are right you don't NEED someone to do that you CAN do it all yourself. And if you have the time and knowledge to do it, you can probably do it a lot better - so listen to the experts here and make your decision. I've made mine and I can now forget about it other than my quarterly catch up with account manager.
 
I just put some money in a 1-year fixed bond at 2.5% I cant touch it for a year but quite happy with 2.5%. Its with Sainsburys bank, there are a couple paying 2.6 but they are banks I have never heard off which made me a bit twitchy.
 
Freefaller said:
Well it seems it's not a popular suggestion here. I personally have employed a wealth manager (that's what they seem to call themselves) and already in 3-4 years I have worked with them I have made a significant improvement to my savings and retirement planning.

Sure they take a small fee from your profits but I still get significantly more return than I would have should I have tried to do this alone. I just don't have the time. I work long hours, have a busy family life, and a busy active life - I do not want to sit in front of the computer at home or at night managing this stuff when I could be spending time with my wife, family, kids or whatever. So I pay to have my time to myself basically.

Go with whatever you feel is right. Some of the people here know much more about this stuff than I do, so they're probably happy to manage it themselves. I don't. I know my limitations and as such I pay to have someone help me manage my investments, whether it's property, stocks and shares, pensions etc etc... I can't work out the projections and tax reliefs etc for my current savings and planning, what I do know is compared to where I was before I now have a better understanding of my financial situation and earlier retirement is looking more promising as a result.

Heck as a result of the conversation I had with them increasing my pension contributions by 2% has saved me a huge amount of tax (after self assessment - which again will be done for me). No way would I have had the time or inclination to work this out.

Of course the people here are right you don't NEED someone to do that you CAN do it all yourself. And if you have the time and knowledge to do it, you can probably do it a lot better - so listen to the experts here and make your decision. I've made mine and I can now forget about it other than my quarterly catch up with account manager.
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How much money are you playing with though? There is of course a point where the return makes sense but doesn't sound like OP has enough cash to worry about it just yet.
 
Yeah, the "Wealth Manager" situation is very much dependent on how much you're working with, your goals and what they provide/charge. There's one in the town I live in, how much they charge?

The typical fee for Stages 2-5 (the consultation basically) is £3,000. This is a one-off fee + Our fees for this range between 0.5% -1% per annum but is typically set at 0.75% with a minimum of £1,500 per year.
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Obviously if you just inherited half a million, might be worth looking at it :)
 
VaderDSL said:
Yeah, the "Wealth Manager" situation is very much dependent on how much you're working with, your goals and what they provide/charge. There's one in the town I live in, how much they charge?



Obviously if you just inherited half a million, might be worth looking at it :)
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Still wont tell you anything you cant research yourself, but £3k + 0.75% a year. Yeah easy money.
 
dLockers said:
How much money are you playing with though? There is of course a point where the return makes sense but doesn't sound like OP has enough cash to worry about it just yet.
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That's a fair comment. (For context this covers my wife's finances too so it sort of joins everything up together). I'll stand down, just trying to offer a different perspective, but as I said people here are probably more expert than me, so I'll back out and accept this is out of my area of expertise. :) Though I'm sure a professional financial expert "could" help even to get the OP started?
 
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