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Savings made clear


Putting a little money away regularly is the best way of saving up for expensive things, like a holiday, furniture, or a special family occasion.

There are two ways to save - short term and long term. Savings accounts are for times when you may need to get at your money quickly. They're different from investments, which are really for the longer term.

This section of the site will tell you about the different types of savings products, how they work, and where you can go to compare savings accounts. It will also make things clearer by explaining all the jargon.


How can you save?


You usually put your money into an account where it earns interest without the risk of losing any of it (short of a bank, credit union or building society collapse). You can usually get your money out immediately or after a
notice period, sometimes 30, 60 or 90 days.

Your money grows from interest being added either monthly or yearly, but this can be a slow process and can take many years for your original deposit to grow by very much. You also need to save regularly and not dip into it, if you can help it. Be aware of the impact inflation can have on your savings - see Inflation.

There are also other ways to save, for example, saving stamps or schemes but your money doesn't earn any interest, so doesn't grow - see Types of savings.

 

Where can you save?

A wide range of savings accounts is available from banks, building societies, credit unions and National Savings and Investments (NS&I) - for more information visit Types of savings.