Saving Accounts and other useful tips

Safety first
Given the difficult financial situation in the world today, you need to be very careful with your money. In particular you need to find the safest place to keep savings accounts, whilst trying to get the best return or interest that you can.

The credibility of the banks
One good thing to have come out of the bad economic times we are currently experiencing, is that the government have stepped up and have put stronger guarantees in place to support the banks, so you run less risk in leaving your savings with them.

Even though Bank interest rates are pretty low at the moment on savings accounts, the banks are still considered by many to be the safest bet, especially given the new government backing.

Check out the Bank's Savings Products
One thing you will find is that the banks will offer you a range of savings accounts with different interest rates. The way it works is that the longer the notice period you give the bank before accessing your savings, the higher the interest rate they will offer you. So it's worth going for the longest notice period you think you can stand in order to get the best rates.

Government Bonds
Government bonds are an option but there is still a small amount of risk attached to them. Normally government bonds are considered to be very stable. After all it's not very often that a government will go bankrupt. They pay out fixed dividends once or twice a year, but the only downside is that they are traded on the stock exchange, and are therefore subject to market fluctuations. However, that risk accepted, you will get a higher return (by way of a fixed dividend) than you are likely to get from a savings account with a bank.

Stocks and shares
Finally you have stocks and shares. The consideration here is that you have a very much larger risk factor. Normally dividends are not fixed so they can fluctuate from year to year, sometimes paying out nothing. Also the market is subject to fluctuations, so the share price may rise or fall. The advice with stocks and shares is not to invest unless you are prepared to lose your money or at best, to leave your money where it is to ride out any adverse market conditions.

Mel C writes about a variety of subjects including saving accounts and low cost business savings accounts