Ideas for left over money

Financial Chat
#12

I’d say if the 3% was a lot higher then there’s more incentive to reduce quicker.

As mentioned above it’s best not to think about gaining interest when you’re paying interest, I guess about £2,000 for borrowing £13k over 5 if you made no additional payments. So it’s better to work on reducing that I guess ~£33 a month in interest rather than trying to gain a few quid elsewhere.

You’ll need to obviously check the loan agreement on any penalties for early repayment.

But you might as well put in Marcus to build a small emergency first like one or two months expenses covered and earn the most whilst still having instantish access.

I’d stay with your parents for as long as possible as it’ll be much easier to save/payoff good chunks.

#13

Interesting to read this thread, I’m currently building up my emergency fund but curious to understand why everyone has suggested putting it in a Marcus account? What’s the benefits vs others, for example Monzo’s easy access savings pots? Considering I’m full monzo, for convenience sake I thought monzo would’ve been better?

#14

It offers a very competitive rate of interest for an easy access account. Some people value that over the advantages of keeping all their funds with one provider.

So, yes, for convenience sake Monzo is better, for maximising interest’s sake, Marcus is better.

5 Likes
#15

It’s only the recommend atm as it gives the highest instant access rate.

As the rates are low these days the gap is minimal between say Monzo average and Marcus highest. If you prefer under one roof then you’ll only be losing out on a few quid over a year.

£10,000 Marcus at 1.45 AER = £145
£10,000 Monzo at 1.15 AER = £115

So ten thousand pounds is £30 difference.

Obviously it makes sense to use other products that are fixed and locked away for cash you wouldn’t need access to until the time is up.
Regular savers paying 2.5-3% would be the next easy choice to only lock in for 12 mths. Nothing to stop doing both. Shame the 5% no longer exist.

At a certain point it starts to make sense paying off mortgage but that again depends on circumstances. If you can access the overpayments if you really needed to then it seems a great choice.

Anything going into shares it makes senses to look at as long term investments, and only cash in if you see things are turning sour or you win with a nice multibagger and want a nice :oncoming_automobile: or such.

Freetrade and soon Robinhood are worth keeping tabs on and will save wasting a tenner each time you buy/sell like legacy AJ Bell if you don’t mind only having access to specific companies and funds.

Re pensions I have a workplace pension but dubious about the government screwing it up and rather make my own investments that I can manage and access, and have that with the workplace and the state pension.

3 Likes
#16

Just to say, if you don’t have that much, TSB offers a free current account which provides 3% interest, paid monthly, on balances up to £1,500. You have to pay in £500 pm, but I pay it in by standing order, and withdraw it by standing order a few days later. It works out to a bit over £43 interest pa.

#17

Didn’t I read this week that they’re scrapping that and introducing a charge?

#18

Yep, no interest on the free account, and charging £3.

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#19

It’s not something I’ve heard (yet). I’m sure they won’t be too sad to see me go, though. I must have cost them several hundred pounds over the years.

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#20

Here’s one article on it if you believe that paper.

#21

Ah right. Not something that’s going to happen, something that might happen.

I’ll just jump ship for a switching bonus if and when the time comes (unless the packaged accounts are worth having).

#22

It’s the Mail so it could be something TSB haven’t even thought of doing

3 Likes
#23

Yeah it’s a might but it’s probably true.

Here’s the official slides shown. No interest on the paid account either, the £3 subscription text says “£3 bolt on let’s you withdraw cash abroad with no unexpected fees”. :roll_eyes: great

Screenshot_20191205-212319
Screenshot_20191205-2123192160×1080 539 KB

Screenshot_20191205-212953

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#24

Looks rather similar to Monzo Plus. Even down to the card colours. :joy:

#25

you%20take%20that%20back

:sweat_smile:

1 Like
#26

Just seen a TSB TV ad still advertising the 3% so looks like they’re keeping it going. Would anyone be so kind as to send me a referral via PM?

#27

**sent

#28

The TSB website now shows the following on the Classic Plus Account:

3% AER / 2.96% gross variable interest paid on balances up to £1,500 only. Please note the interest rate will be 1.50% AER/1.49% gross variable from 2 May 2020

Sad as I’ve just switched, but I’ll take my switching bonus and use this instead of Marcus once the bonus runs out.

#29

Was it always £1500. So basically instead of the max being £45, they’ve halved that to £22.50 a year or ~£1.88 month.

#30

Not sure how long it’s been £1500 but the recent change was halving the interest rate.

It’s still a pretty good rate considering the market but a bit disingenuous that they’ve just been running a TV ad campaign (might even still be running) with the 3% headline.

#31

We’ll all the rates are poor at the moment so it makes little difference. If you took the Marcus 1.35% Vs 1.5% instead as an example.

£1500*0.0015 = £2.25 over a whole year.

Lucky to get a sandwich these days for £2.25