The holidays are over and everyone is knuckling down again after the summer. Autumn is a time when many people review their finances and a new habit that might be on your radar is starting to save a regular amount of money each month. So how do you decide on the right savings product for you?
Know your time horizon
This is a really important factor in deciding upon the right product. Are you saving for your retirement, looking to build up a rainy day fund or maybe saving towards a deposit for a house? Or maybe are you saving simply to be able to buy Christmas presents? Each of these events has completely different time horizons and so should hugely impact your choice of product.
If you’re saving for a better retirement, pension products offer valuable tax reliefs that really boost the impact of your savings. But these products are only suitable for retirement planning.
On the other hand, if you’re saving for Christmas, put your money in a deposit account. It won’t grow much (if at all) but at least you’re keeping it a bit out of reach for a few months!
To get the best product for your time horizons, talk to a Financial Broker who will find the right one to meet your savings objectives.
How much risk do you want to take
Do you like to know that the value of your money will never fall, while at the same time realising that it probably won’t grow much either? Or are you open to taking some risk with your savings, being willing to suffer drops in value, but in the hope that your money will exceed inflation and deliver real returns for you? Being willing (or not) to take risk has a fundamental impact on product choice. Again your Financial Broker will tease out your appetite for risk and find the best savings product to meet your needs.
Access to your money
So you’ve decided your timeframe and your appetite for risk. The next question is whether you potentially will want access to your money at an earlier stage. If this is highly likely, again this impacts the choice of product. Your Financial Broker will help you decide whether your money should be in an instant access deposit account, a notice account, a savings product with a life company or something else. And because your Broker has access to all of the products across the market, he/she will be able to find the very best one for you.
Growth prospects & charges
And finally you need to consider the growth prospects of the various products on offer and also their charges. Does the product you’re looking at offer the potential to grow in line with your objectives, and will the growth be swallowed up in charges?
Can you consider all these factors alone? Maybe it’s time to seek out the services of a professional Financial Broker.