How to make the most of your savings accounts

Learn some simple steps that can help your savings account balances increase.

10:03 23 May 2013

With the ongoing debate about Scotland’s future in their quest for independence, there’s been concern regarding the country’s ability to ensure people’s savings accounts and pensions. Those are definitely legitimate concerns and make us all take a look at our own savings accounts and pensions to see how they are faring, and if we will be financially stable when it comes to the time we retire.

 

There are a few ways we can make sure that we’re getting the most out of our savings accounts and pensions:

 

• Contributions—make sure that you contribute the maximum allowed, and if your employer has a policy of matching a certain amount of the funds you deposit, try to make the most of that policy as well.

 

• Reinvest—if you earn interest or dividends of some sort, don’t just take the money as an extra bonus, reinvest it in your savings accounts so it can continue to earn more even more interest for you.

 

• Periodic checks—you’ll want to check periodically to make sure that you are receiving the best interest rates for savings accounts and loans. It will mean checking your existing rate, and then also comparing with rates from other institutions. You may need to move your funds around to keep earning the best return.

 

• Different banks—if you have significant amounts in your savings accounts you will want to make sure you have them distributed among a few different banks. If one bank suffers any type of loss that could potentially effect customers, you won’t be completely devastated if you have funds spread out in other savings accounts or other forms of savings with different institutions.

 

When you follow these steps, along with professional, independent investment advice you’re sure to have a secure financial future. Even if you just follow these steps you should see some growth from your savings accounts that will help you become financially stable.