Savings/Investments advice

[forest07]

megaphone said:

silentbrown said:

megaphone said:

Don't be fooled by the headline rates on these regular saver accounts, what you actually get back, after a year, is less. The interest in calculated on a daily basis and paid once a year, so the first months £300 will achieve the full rate, but the later months investments will not. I think they're a bit of a con.

I think the clue is in the name "Regular Saver". You don't expect them to pay interest on money you haven't yet invested, surely? FWIW, I think the "con" is the way they revert to a near-zero interest rate at the end of 12 months.

OP wanted to squirrel away £200-£400 per month. This is perfect for regular saver accounts, but yes, you're left with the challenge of where to invest the 'lump sum' and the end of each year. Multiple regular savers account from multiple banks is possible, but a pain, dribbling the lump sum into each over the course of the year. You'd basically get roughly half the headine rate, which is still a lot better than most savings accounts.

Yes, I think my use of the word 'con' was a bit strong, should have written 'misleading', quoting headline rates of 6% when you're never going to get that rate is not right imho.

Don't forget this is the banking industry. Bankers & honesty don't go together. Although we do keep being told how they are worth their vast salaries!

[walm]

forest07 said:

Don't forget this is the banking industry. Bankers & honesty don't go together. Although we do keep being told how they are worth their vast salaries!

Don't confuse retail bankers (AKA your "friendly bank manager") with investment bankers.

One screws the man on the street directly, the other screws him indirectly by demanding taxpayer bail-out money.

Both of them are worth paying whatever the market will bear.
Just like everyone else outside Mother Russia and TFL.