According to a survey by the owner of the Egg card, only around half of employees in the UK have savings that would cover them for at least 4 months. This is the average time people find themselves between jobs for having been made redundant.
Egg also looked at the amount of money needed to live in the UK today, which works out to GBP1,077 per month, without any luxury purchases included. So four months at this level should be the minimum level of savings held by people in the UK. As stated then half the UK working population would be unable to sustain themselves if they found themselves out of work.
An Egg card spokesman urged people to seriously consider their own situation as finding themselves in a position where they are unable to meet their monthly bills would be disastrous for many families.
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According to a study carried out by the Abbey National recently a number of UK people are dipping into their savings in order to pay their ongoing bills.
The Abbey National was looking specifically at money held in ISAs and, having seen around GBP6 billion taken out of them asked customers what the money had been used for. Just over 30 percent of people said it was to cover day to day expenses, the most popular answer provided.
Although it can seem easy to use savings to cover costs the issue comes a little later said an Abbey National spokesman. If a cash ISA had the maximum put into it then any withdrawals cannot be made up later, leaving the account holder with a reduced return through interest.
Two new offshore savings accounts have been announced by Alliance and Leicester, called the eSaver Offshore Notice 50 and eSaver Offshore Issue 2.
The issue 2 Alliance and Leicester Offshore savings account replaces the original one and now pays interest at 6.25 percent gross p.a, variable. The Notice 50 savings account is better suited to those who can keep the money in place, or at least give good notice on withdrawals. This one offers a 6.35 percent interest rate on balances of GBP25,000 and over, again gross p.a.
An Alliance and Leicester spokesman explained that it was customer demand that had brought these new savings accounts to the market. They combine excellent interest rates with flexibility and so meet customer requirements very well.
