Should you try and save money by constantly moving energy suppliers, mobile phone contracts and credit card companies? Should you make sure you make the most of every penny of your savings by moving from bank to bank as rates change? And should you be constantly watching the charges on your current account just in case they rise when you aren't watching?
The answer to all these things should obviously be yes, of course you should. But when people ask me about it, I very often say they probably shouldn't bother because of the hassle factor.
Move current accounts and it will probably be completely fine. But if it isn't, there will be hours of boring admin to do. The same goes for energy suppliers: how likely is it that your first bill from the new lot will be wrong, and how long will you then spend on the phone trying to sort it out?
Subscribe to MoneyWeek
Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE
Sign up to Money Morning
Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter
Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter
And what of savings accounts? If you have to fill in a ten page application form every time you move, is it really worth the bother? Perhaps you value your time and your sanity over an extra 0.01% of interest. I know I do.
But what if you could have your cake and eat it too the ability to switch without any of the admin horror? I'd like that, and I suspect most MoneyWeek readers would, too.
So I was pleased to see a piece in the Daily Mail that suggests the nation's entrepreneurs are getting on with finding a way to find us this Nirvana. A new company called Flipper will automatically compare gas and electricity tariffs for you and move you up to four times a year without you having to lift a finger (or more importantly a phone).
Better still, another new firm SavingsChampion will do the same for savings accounts if you have more than £100,000 to look after. It will monitor deals and fill in forms for you. All you need to do to shift your money is to sign at the end.
It isn't free (it will cost you 0.2% of your pot a year). But paying 0.2% in exchange for making 1.3% a year (the best of the instant access deposits at the moment) has to be better than paying nothing and getting 0.1% (the rate on my savings account at the moment).
I like it. If you have £100,000 in savings that you know you aren't getting enough interest on, go look it up.
-
Our pension system, little-changed since Roman times, needs updatingOpinion The Romans introduced pensions, and we still have a similar system now. But there is one vital difference between Roman times and now that means the system needs updating, says Merryn Somerset Webb.
-
We’re doing well on pensions – but we still need to do betterOpinion Pensions auto-enrolment has vastly increased the number of people in the UK with retirement savings. But we’re still not engaged enough, says Merryn Somerset Webb.
-
Older people may own their own home, but the young have better pensionsOpinion UK house prices mean owning a home remains a pipe dream for many young people, but they should have a comfortable retirement, says Merryn Somerset Webb.
-
How to avoid a miserable retirementOpinion The trouble with the UK’s private pension system, says Merryn Somerset Webb, is that it leaves most of us at the mercy of the markets. And the outlook for the markets is miserable.
-
Young investors could bet on NFTs over traditional investmentsOpinion The first batch of child trust funds and Junior Isas are maturing. But young investors could be tempted to bet their proceeds on digital baubles such as NFTs rather than rolling their money over into traditional investments
-
Negative interest rates and the end of free bank accountsOpinion Negative interest rates are likely to mean the introduction of fees for current accounts and other banking products. But that might make the UK banking system slightly less awful, says Merryn Somerset Webb.
-
Pandemics, politicians and gold-plated pensionsAdvice As more and more people lose their jobs to the pandemic and the lockdowns imposed to deal with it, there’s one bunch of people who won’t have to worry about their future: politicians, with their generous defined-benefits pensions.
-
How the stamp duty holiday is pushing up house pricesOpinion Stamp duty is an awful tax and should be replaced by something better. But its temporary removal is driving up house prices, says Merryn Somerset Webb.
