Savings generally fall into two categories. “Cash cushions” provide a soft landing for life’s bumps. “Goal-orientated” savings help us to make key purchases, large and small. Perhaps the clearest example of this is saving for the deposit on a house. Whatever your stage of life, savings can make a big difference to it, particularly if […]
Savings
The Advantages of ISAs
Most people benefit from a combination of savings and investments. Savings make sure that we have access to cash in case of need. Investments grow our net worth and make it possible for us to achieve our financial goals. Putting our savings and/or investments into a tax-free wrapper helps us to enjoy more of the […]
Looking After Your Pennies
Look after your pennies and your pounds will take care of themselves. It’s an old piece of wisdom and it still has a lot of value in a modern world. Even though it may seem pointless just to save a few pennies here and there, those pennies do add up and will make pounds. With […]
Inflation – The Race Against Time
The Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England is tasked with keeping inflation at exactly 2%. If inflation moves more than 1% away from this target (up or down), then the governor of the Bank of England has to write an open letter to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, explaining why this has happened […]
Understanding ISAs
Individual Savings Accounts, commonly known as ISAs, were originally introduced way back in April 1999, replacing Personal Equity Plans (PEPs) and Tax-Exempt Special Saving Accounts (TESSAs). While the rules and savings limits have been tweaked somewhat over the intervening years, the standard ISA is, at heart, much the same product as it was back in […]
How Are You Saving?
Saving money probably ranks right up there with joining a gym in people’s lists of New Year’s Resolutions, hopefully though now we’re in February, that determination hasn’t faded. The good news is that there are lots of ways to go about saving money which are much less effort than sweating it out in a gym. […]