New saver needs advice

fits

I hope this hasnt been posted a million times before. Probably has. I havent visited this forum much.

Anyway, I've recently started working after a long stint at uni and want to get into good saving habits from the start. So I'm looking at starting three savings accounts. I dont have any lump sum to start with or anything.

1 instant access 'rainyday' savings account.

1 'access after a year' account for medium expenses such as holidays, cars, maybe even a new horse

And a 3 year savings account for a deposit on a house.

now I'm new to all this, and it really is hard to understand what is out there. So do you guys have any tips or suggestions? I know I want all three accounts to be beating interest rates at least.

stepbar

fits wrote: »

I hope this hasnt been posted a million times before. Probably has. I havent visited this forum much.

Anyway, I've recently started working after a long stint at uni and want to get into good saving habits from the start. So I'm looking at starting three savings accounts. I dont have any lump sum to start with or anything.

1 instant access 'rainyday' savings account.

1 'access after a year' account for medium expenses such as holidays, cars, maybe even a new horse

And a 3 year savings account for a deposit on a house.

now I'm new to all this, and it really is hard to understand what is out there. So do you guys have any tips or suggestions? I know I want all three accounts to be beating interest rates at least.

I think you're looking at a regular saver a/c from the outset. You have no lump sum to put in therefore it would be difficult to recommend anything other than what's mentioned above. However, it would help if you could tell us how much you could afford to save per month (without having to dip into an overdraft).

Borrowing for medium expenses over a year miught be an alternative solution - i.e by taking out a loan or using a credit card like the BOI 2 in 1 where you can structure a purchase over 500 eur (80% of) on to a payment plan of 12 months

fits

I dont really need to borrow for any medium expenses at the moment. Just thinking about the future.
I'm not sure exactly how much I can afford to save as I'm also paying off 2 loans (one being an interest free travel loan) as well. I know I would save money by paying off the interest loan early but I want to start accumulating savings.

I think about 300 euro sounds right, so 100 in each account to start off with. Would I be better off sticking with one account for the moment? There will be more to save once the travel loan is dispensed with.

I've been looking at the First Active Regular Saver account to begin anyway.

stereo_steve

Clear your loans before doing any saving!

No offense but having two loans and opening 3 separate bank accounts is crazy talk.

Fix the loans, decide how much you'll be willing to save monthly after that and then come back here

sam34

can i hijack this thread

after a couple of years foolish overspending, i racked up debt.
thankfully, after hard work and perseverance (pats self on back!) i have now cleared all my loans early.
so i am ready to save.... but dont know what structure i should have on my savings

as it satnds teh only savings i have is a few hundred in the cu

i will be able to save a min of 1500 per month, more some months as i work variable amounts of overtime

any and all advice appreciated!
thanks

fits

stereo_steve wrote: »

Clear your loans before doing any saving!

No. I have two not very large loans. One will be gone by November. I am going to start saving.

No offense but having two loans and opening 3 separate bank accounts is crazy talk.

Fix the loans, decide how much you'll be willing to save monthly after that and then come back here

And what if my car needs fixing urgently. How on earth should I afford that?? I am going to start saving now. Your advice is not the best tbh.

Fair enough though, I think one account is enough for the moment until I've worked up a lump sum. I'm a new saver. Thats why I asked for the advice

Oh and btw, while having three seperate accounts might have been a stupid idea, having three different goals for saving certainly isnt.

stepbar

sam34 wrote: »

can i hijack this thread

after a couple of years foolish overspending, i racked up debt.
thankfully, after hard work and perseverance (pats self on back!) i have now cleared all my loans early.
so i am ready to save.... but dont know what structure i should have on my savings

as it satnds teh only savings i have is a few hundred in the cu

i will be able to save a min of 1500 per month, more some months as i work variable amounts of overtime

any and all advice appreciated!
thanks

Two words - Your Pension.

stepbar

fits wrote: »

No. I have two not very large loans. One will be gone by November. I am going to start saving.



And what if my car needs fixing urgently. How on earth should I afford that?? I am going to start saving now. Your advice is not the best tbh.

Fair enough though, I think one account is enough for the moment until I've worked up a lump sum. I'm a new saver. Thats why I asked for the advice

Oh and btw, while having three seperate accounts might have been a stupid idea, having three different goals for saving certainly isnt.

One a/c is plenty for everything, not a stupid idea to have 3 seperate a/c but until you have a lump sum to put away 3 a/c's is not necessary. Emergency expenses can be paid for using a credit card as I described above.

ntlbell

halifax have a good flexi saver at the moment

no monthly comital instant access online banking etc

they have other monthly saver for a max up to 350e a month

might be worth a look

I'd also concentrate on paying of the loan as much as possible maybe put a small some aside for emergncy sepding like your car but i'd concentrate most of the money on clearing off the loan

there's no point earning interest on savings while getting charged on the other money

the interest your being charged on the loan is more than likley a lot higher than one you will be offered for savings

fits

yeah I do know re the loans that I would save money doing that. One loan is interest free. The other is being paid off aggressively (and isnt a huge loan to begin with).

I still want to start saving separately. Halifax and First active look like two good options anyway so thanks to those who offered advice.

MarkR

I have the halifax monthly saver for a long while (got it when they allowed €750 p/m so happy with that). Wages go into my current account, which I try to keep to a balance of 2000 to get the best interest. Rest is transferred to flexi saver account, and an aib regular saver with another 350 a month which I've only just started up.

Waiting to hear back from a financial advisor that work put me on to about setting up a prsa.

I would recommend clearing your loan as quickly as you feel comfortable with though. Once those payments are gone each month you'll feel a lot better for it.

fits

MarkR wrote: »

I would recommend clearing your loan as quickly as you feel comfortable with though. Once those payments are gone each month you'll feel a lot better for it.

Thanks for the rest of your advice and I'll look into halifax.

I've already said several times that I'm addressing my loans aggressively. I'm not looking for advice on this (not addressed at MarkR).

Could anyone else please just advise me on good regular savings accounts?

LouOB

The best thing you can do is ring up the branches and ask them for their interest rates. Also look into depost day 30 60 and 90. 90will pay the highest as you have to give 90 days notice to draw money out
I recently got one for 5.25% apr. BOI are offering 8% over 18mths (think this is gross of tax). Look at the bank adds and ring them up.
There is also the Financial Times that gives you the interest rates.

err think thats enough to start you on

stepbar

I'd give Halifax a miss if I were you (for lots of reasons....).

ntlbell

stepbar wrote: »

I'd give Halifax a miss if I were you (for lots of reasons....).

Can you share some of them?