Isa vs savings account vs premium bonds

[AnotherDayAnotherDoller]

What are your experiences with savings?
I have 10k that was in a fixed term Isa. Now wondering if we would be better with something different.
Don't pay high tax so Isa is generally a good option but I have never saved any other way.
Would love to hear others experiences/preferences.

Is it a stocks and shares ISA? If a cash ISA what's the rate? And what's the rate of the saving account you are looking at (best rates are always for those you pay into monthly but don't have a lot in - often need to open a new account every year to keep accessing the best rates)? And how much are you talking? The premium bond 'rate' isn't great if you average it out - but obviously if you hold the max amount you can then statistically you are more likely to win.

Thanks @Rainsdropskeepfalling
So it's a cash Isa 3.6%
I have 10k in there and would like to save on that at £100 a month. I don't have much else to spare, I'm just aiming to keep the savings going.

I can see the rates on cash Isa's are better at the moment that what I have but wondered if my savings would do better somewhere else.

So I think you could get a good rate on £100 a month with one of these

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/best-regular-savings-accounts/

And then once a year shift it all to you cash ISA.

And yes you could probably get a better cash ISA as well

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/best-cash-isa/

I should add that I have absolutely no financial qualifications, just what I pick up from reading.

If this is your only savings then the security of a cash ISA is probably the way to go - stocks and shares have the potential to return more, but also less.

Premium bonds can return high but it's not a given so I'd max out ISAs first.

PB's are totally safe, a bit of fun but not good if you want guaranteed growth. Also you need a good holding to get regular returns (we have both maxed out and get anything between £150-£850pm) but they are totally tax free (including winnings).
ISA's are good if you are happy to lock your money away but know it will be safe and have guaranteed growth. The term and rate is open to you to choose. This is where we have the majority of our savings.
Stocks & shares ISA's can be more volatile so although you can make good growth, it isn't guaranteed.
Instant access accounts usually have lower interest rates but you can get hold of your money as and when required (you can use PB's for this).
We have shares but although they have made us large sums in the past, nowadays they are just providing an income about equal to current interest rates but this is in no way guaranteed (and for a few years was even lower).

If these are your only savings, I would decide if/how long you can put it away for and choose the best interest rate available.

The thing with premium bonds is that it's completely random as to whether you win anything at all. Alternatively, you could win a million. I had 10k in PB for a couple of years but over last year I only won £300 ie 3% of the value. I decided with interest rates being higher that I'd be better off with an ISA paying a guaranteed return and found one with smartsave at 6.1% - i.e.over twice what PB had paid me.

The rates have gone down again now but you can still find cash isas paying over 5%. PB say their prize fund rate is equivalent to 4.65% so cash ISAs still look like the better deal to me.

What are the savings for?
Long term (5+ years) then stocks and shares ISA.
Shorter term (1-5 years) if you're not a higher rate tax payer find a good fixed rate bond through savingschampion.co.uk
Money you might need to dip into ('emergency savings') find the best rate you can easy access.
If you like a gamble and have >£10,000 - give premium bonds a go for your easy access savings!

I did some reading on Premium Bonds (PB). Based on what I read, it is hardly worth it if the amount saved in there is not closer to 50K, unless you are one of those who are born lucky. ISA only makes sense if you expect that the interest you gain is more than £1000 per tax year. If you don't expect to accumulate that amount of interest, then any savings that offers the highest interest is best. Quite a lot of them would be fixed term. So if you don't need to access them in 1 year, then fixed term saving is better. Once you expect to have more than £1000 interest per year, you can start shifting some of them to ISA and the remaining in any saving with good interest rate. Just based on what I read which is what I am currently doing with my saving.

We have premium bonds and ISA’s. At the moment we are getting more from ISA’s interest rate. We do win on Premium Bonds but over the year it has worked out around 4%, whereas I can get 5% on ISA.

Thanks everyone.
The savings is for long term, I plan to continue to add to it and in a couple years will be able to add about 300 each month so hope to see it build up nicely. This is specifically a long term savings.
Premium bonds sound tempting with the prizes but I am aware I could earn nothing on this and have missed out on having the money in a good interest account. I don't really want fast access to the money - so happy for fixed term accounts.

I have always done all my finances with my bank but realise there are better deals out there so this is all food for thought

As you want to save every month, and it sounds like getting guaranteed and regular interest is important to you, I would recommend a flexible cash ISA or an app called Chip that I have some of my savings in, which has an account that generates 4.84 interest.

https://www.getchip.uk/

I also have Premium Bonds, but for the amount you have are really only for the fun factor, unless, as a PP says, you’re a very lucky person.

I could be wrong, but from what I know, OP, fixed term ISA’s don’t allow you to regularly save.

You are right they don't allow you too. So I would have to, as I am doing now. Put my 10k, plus the interest accrued and the money I have saved over this term, back into a fixed rate and save my 100 a month seperarely again. Which I'm OK with but just hoping to scope out alternatives and see if I could be doing something better.

Saving regularly into a stocks and shares ISA helps weather the ups and downs of the market https://restless.co.uk/money/savings-and-investments/the-benefits-of-saving-regularly-into-a-stocks-and-shares-isa/
I think this is the best option for you

I have a cash ISA through Moneybox at 5%. I put a lump sum in and then they take a weekly direct debit - I'm set up for £25. I also have some instant access savings but need to keep them below the level to kick in tax which I think is £500 as I am HR tax payer.

Santander do a 7% instant access saver if you have a current account. You only get interest for £4k though so cannot keep lots in there.

@AnotherDayAnotherDoller If you are planning for long term saving (more than 10 years), then stock and share ISA is also another option. I split my saving 50:50. 50% cash and 50% stock and shares ISA. I use stock and share ISA on Vanguard. It is really easy to set up. I made a mistake of using lump sum to buy mutual funds when the price was high so the value went down a lot in the last two years. So, if you do decide to use Vanguard, buying the fund monthly would be the safest option. I also made a mistake of buying funds that are heavy weighted to UK.

If this are your only savings I'd stay in a cash ISA..if you have a rainy day fund somewhere else then as a PP said over longer term a regular sum into a stocks and shares ISA has the potential to deliver more, depending on how it's invested (just checked mine and did 8% last year but I'm relatively old so starting to move it out of riskier investments as it's part of my retirement fund.

Thanks everyone.
I think the stocks and shares ISA is a bit daunting for me - maybe come back to that another time. Ive had a read into all your suggestions, thanks for sharing.