🔔 💬 Anna's two pence worth (#11): Is cash king again?

Anna Bowes is a regular contributor to the BBC’s Money Box, Breakfast and News programs, as well as the national press, providing expert analysis and commentary on the UK savings market. Anna has worked in the financial services industry for more than 20 years and for most of that time has been helping people to make the most of their savings.

Cash is king once again - or so it seems. Even as cash interest rates remain at historic low levels, with jitters on the stock market, it seems that people are moving money into cash to ride out the storm.

Now, we wouldn’t recommend such a move without seeking truly independent financial advice - but what we would say is if you have made the move, then make sure you make the most of that cash.

🔖 Read: Is cash king again?

If you’ve been tempted by one of the more popular cash savings platforms, Raisin UK, you may have noticed some changes. There’s been a lot of work going on behind the scenes to improve its website, but what do these changes mean for new and existing customers?

🔖 Read: What’s new with Raisin UK

With just 24 days to go until Christmas, the high streets are filling up with people stocking up in preparation. As one of the more expensive times of year, it’s easy to see why January can cause a pretty bad financial headache without some planning and preparation.

This week, we look at how to use savings accounts to plan ahead for Christmas. It’s a little late for this year but there’s nothing stopping you getting the baubles rolling for next year.

🔖 Read: Saving up for Xmas…2019

Another week and another damning review of death taxes, as they’re often called. Firstly, the House of Lords has blasted the impending rise, for some, in Probate fees - branding it a misuse of power by the Government for planning to raise fees from April next year. If you haven’t already seen our article, Probate fees for some to rise by more than 2500%, take a look.

In addition and more encouraging is that the Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) has launched a review of the Inheritance Tax system, voted one of the most hated taxes. The OTS has taken on board comments from more than 3,500 members of the public when reviewing the process, including the painful administration.  

The review has been requested by the Chancellor, Philip Hammond, so you’d hope that the findings would be taken into consideration and that improvements might be made. If you’d like to speak to someone about IHT or any other tax planning, call Claire or Leighton and they can point you in the direction of someone who can assist.

With just one year left to take advantage of the popular Help to Buy ISA, we’ve looked at what your options are now and in the future, if you miss the boat.

🔖 Read: It’s the final countdown...

And finally, our regular Rates Rundown includes details of new fixed rate accounts from Investec, including our Product of the Week, a two year fixed rate bond paying a market leading 2.35% AER. Top-paying short term fixed rate bonds aren’t hanging around for long, so if you’re interested, grab it while you can.

That’s all for this week. Next week we’ll be announcing all the winners in our annual Savings Awards, recognising those providers that have offered great value to savers over the year.

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