By the time you reach your mid-50s, you may have achieved many of the savings goals you set earlier in your adult life. Perhaps you’ve bought your perfect home, paid for your children to go to private school or even been on that once-in-a-lifetime holiday.
But just because you’ve accomplished what you set out all those years ago, it doesn’t mean you should take your eye off the ball when it comes to saving.
The opposite, in fact.
Saving as much as you can - and earning as much interest as possible on your cash - should remain high on your list of priorities.
You’re arguably entering the most important period of your financial life - the decade or so before retirement. The decisions you make and the actions you take now could influence not only when you retire but also how financially secure you’ll be in later life.
Cash rich
You could also be at a point in your life when you have a relatively large disposable income. Maybe you’ve paid off your mortgage. Or your kids have left home. Or you’ve reached peak earnings.
You may also have investments that are paying out dividends or even a buy to let property that you’re receiving rental income from.
You could even have taken some cash out of your private pension. Thanks to rules that came into force in 2015, anyone aged 55 and over can withdraw some or all of the money from their pension and do anything they want with it. What’s more, they can withdraw 25% tax-free, with the remaining 75% subject to income tax.
Put your funds to work
Whatever your reason for having sizable amounts of cash, it’s important to make sure your money is working as hard as possible because the more you save now, the more you’ll have down the line.
In the past decade or so, with interest rates at rock bottom levels, it was easy to become despondent when it came to finding a home for your savings. Aside from the odd headline-grabbing deal, rates were pretty dire across the board.
Now, however, the situation has changed. With inflation soaring to its highest rate in 40 years interest rates are rising and there are attractive deals to be found, if you know where to look.
Unfortunately, not all banks are passing on rate increases to savers. In fact, some of the big players have yet to pass on a single penny to customers despite several Bank of England base rate rises since last December.
If you have money languishing in a poor-paying account, the best thing you can do is switch to a better deal. You’ll also have to monitor your accounts as new deals launch all the time, but you have to be quick off the mark to snap them up as they’re often pulled in a matter of days when they become oversubscribed.
If you don’t have time to scour the internet to seek out the best deals, you could outsource your cash management to a wealth manager or advisor, which would, of course, cost you.
Alternatively, you could use a deposit aggregator like Akoni with lots of Banks and savings products to choose from.
Akoni takes the hassle out of finding the best savings accounts. All you have to do is select the type of account you want - instant access, notice or term - and the cash planner will find the deals for you. You can then seamlessly open as many accounts as you’d like.
You’re able to monitor and switch deals on your personalised dashboard and you can even receive prompts and alerts when new deals launch.
Akoni has 20 banking partners, including 13 challenger banks and two building societies, and because they’re more forward-thinking and competitive, the providers on our platform are more likely to pay market-leading rates.
Setting up an Akoni account is quick and easy. No tedious paperwork or lengthy account opening forms. You’ll be able to put your cash to work in just a few clicks.
Ready to start earning more interest? Sign up now.