Why are SAVERS PENALISED?

Its political. There are ten times as many people who are reckless and greedy than sensible ones like yourself so naturally politicians who want reelection pander to their needs.

?

unless you consider a mortgage to be a debt

sorry mate but yes, that is a debt... and your repayments on it are probably saving you more money that that what your missing out on in with your savings, with todays low interst rates.

Flying V

You are not being punished. In the longun the value of your pension, the value of your home, and shares etc will be higher BECAUSE interest rates are what they are.

Why be so concerned about losing a couple of % on your savings when the implications of stock market and house values crashing are so much greater.

House prices are up over 10% since rates were slashed, stock market (pensions etc) are also up 50% .. Why moan about a couple of % . Your money is safe and you have no debt. Just make teh most of being in a good financial position!!

A bit of advice.. You could invest your money in the stock market or in property. This is a bull market after all!

money safe? lol.

Low interest rates are unsustainable, when will that get into your heads!!

Fedhater - to repeat what you have already been told, your best investment is to pay off your mortgage debt (leaving some short term/available cash for emergencies.

Fedhater/Munchman - it's not in the country's interest to have people saving at the moment. Saving sucks demand out of the economy, and the govt has at the same time decided to also suck demand by taxing more and spending less. Their hope is that the slack will be taken up by the private sector (i.e. you) so you've got to spend mate.

If you still have a mortgage, then pay it off - that's a no-brainer.

There's a disconnect between the topic title "Why are savers penalized?" and the statement in the lead post "I have a mortgage". In this case it sounds like you ARE NOT being penalized. 

The general statement however "savers are being penalized" (ie, those without debts -including a mortgage- but rather just money in a savings account) is correct. In that case, savers ARE being penalized.

^^^^^^^

simple really, because without exponential growth in credit/money supply, the fiat monetary system collapses

i don't feel i'm being penalised cos i have no mortgage and have a fair amount of savings, not when i look around and see many of my friends struggling with debt who'd love to be in my position, i just think i'm very fortunate.

Trying to get my connection between the last 2 posts.

struggling with dept = getting rewarded for being sensible.


I think you need a holiday Chisel,have you booked anything yet?

I've booked a week in Portland to have a closer look at the
Ocean Views development.

JML

I am unsure why you are struggling!! If you read gresty post which I was responding to , you would know what the connection was!!

And Yes, I do need a holiday, but not likely to go anywhere too exciting this year  !! Maybe Weston Super mare!

For anyone interested i came across a very good savings account with santander. 5% gross variable with no fixed term limitations. Its called first home savers account and is not widely marketed. When i opened the account yesterday i was told i was the first person to do so in my branch.

Requirements are you must be under 35 and not have been a homeowners previously. You cant deposit £5,000 on opening the account and up to £300 each month thereafter.

The only other stipulation is that when you close the account you have a 5 minute chat with santanders mortgage advisor but this is only a technicality. Basically you can just say no thanks to any mortgage advise.