OMG they cut my interest rate!

[vickster]

Having savings but no mortgage makes interest rates too depressing to think about.

Indeed!

 

[kynikos]

Premium bonds? You'll get my share. Not many held but not a single penny by way of return in 62 years.

But I'm still getting 1.88% on a 90 day notice account at Chartered Trust.

 

[Dave7]

I put £500 in premium bonds for my son 2 years ago, not seen a penny yet

I bought £100 in PB some 10 years ago. Had one win.... .£20 if I recall.

 

[ColinJ]

I put £500 in premium bonds for my son 2 years ago, not seen a penny yet

1.4% of £500 would be £7 a year but the smallest prize is £25 so on average he should win that roughly once every 3-4 years.

I had £6,000 worth a few years ago and was winning about £100 a year, which supports the figure of around 1.4%. I have less than £1,000 left now and it has been over a year since I won my last £25 prize.

My sister has a full holding and wins hundreds of pounds a year, usually £25 at a time but sometimes bigger amounts.

 

[ianrauk]

Averaging about £100 return a year with Premium bonds.

 

[Jenkins]

Having savings but no mortgage makes interest rates too depressing to think about.

This.

I was probably lucky in being able to get a 1 year bond at the start of May with 1.45% interest as it's now 1.1% with the same lot.

 

[srw]

I've had £3 worth of premium bonds for much longer than I'm going to admit. I've never won a sausage, even when effective interest rates were north of 10%

 

[gbb]

Not really. Banks would be delighted to hang on to your money so that can do something useful with it. It's more about protecting

I caught a discussion on R4 the other day and negative interest rates were mooted as a result of the turmoil the markets are in. I didn't catch the what's and whereby... but I suspect as you say, it will make money easier to get hold of given the current circumstances... but ultimately it would cost you to have money in the bank. While the banks might need your money,negative interest rates wont make people want to keep it in the bank, Catch 22.

As a saver with no mortgage, it's not a pretty prospect

 

[oldwheels]

I'm glad I haven't won £1,000,000 on the lottery. I wouldn't be able to live on the interest any more .

To blazes with the interest. I would just spend it. It would probably see me out.

 

[derrick]

View attachment 523570

It's plummeted! Every £1000 I have in my savings account will now earn me, every year, a massive....10p!

Just spend it, you cant take it with you.

 

[oldwheels]

Averaging about £100 return a year with Premium bonds.

I expect to get on average about 5 or £600 return per annum. If I get a big win it puts it up but highest single win was £600 so that was a good year at double expected amount.

 

[gbb]

To blazes with the interest. I would just spend it. It would probably see me out.

Sometimes i like that mindset. We are savers, not ridiculously so but perhaps more avid than many, balanced with the fact we can and do spend carefully and freely if it suits, but i remember two things...

One guy i used to work with used to say...
Live like a rich man, don't die like one....which i liked, even if i don't live that mantra.

Another was we were talking to a friend years ago and mentioned the savings (sub £1000 at that time) were getting a bit low...
Friend immediately replied...
I've only got £30 to my name....and i'm going to spend that soon

 

[SpokeyDokey]

We've just put a chunk of money into this 5 year a/c - we don't need the money to be available short-term.

Interest rate is a currently competitive 1.8% and is FSCS protected.

https://www.rcibank.co.uk/savings/5-year-fixed-term-account

 

[srw]

caught a discussion on R4 the other day and negative interest rates were mooted as a result of the turmoil the markets are in.

They're already a reality. A UK 3-year government bond was sold this week with a negative interest rate. Switzerland and the EU have been doing it for some years. And in the UK, we've had negative real interest rates (i.e. stripping out the effects of expected inflation) for a decade or so. If you have specific cash outflows at a known point in time in the future it makes a lot of sense to invest like that.

 

[silva]

An interest rate should never be judged relative to zero, but relative to price increases / inflation, and to other interest rates.
Examples on an annual time scale:
- An 8% interest on bank deposits. And inflation 14%. Despite getting 8 pound on every 100, you lose 6% purchasing power.
- A -2% interest on bank deposits. And inflation 0%. Despite losing 2 pound on every 100, you only lose 2% purchasing power, just 1/3 of the loss of aboves case.