Saturday, 30 May 2026
Savings
Best savings accounts for young people, interest rates explained, and how to build an emergency fund on a student budget.
7 articles
lifetime isa
A Lifetime ISA gives you a free 25% government bonus on top of your savings, which is an amazing deal for students saving for a first home or retirement. You can stash up to £4,000 per year and get an instant £1,000 bonus, without it affecting your student finance. Here’s what you need to know about this game-changing account.
savings
Premium Bonds swap guaranteed interest for a monthly prize draw, with a prize rate of 3.6%. Your money is fully safe and prizes are tax-free, but average luck means most people earn less than a top easy-access savings account currently pays.
savings
Easy-access savings let you withdraw whenever you like, ideal for an emergency fund. Fixed-rate accounts lock your money away for a set term in return for a guaranteed, often higher, rate. The right one depends on whether you'll need the money soon.
savings
Inflation is the rate at which prices rise — 2.8% in the UK as of April 2026. If your savings earn less interest than the inflation rate, your money loses buying power over time, even though the balance looks the same. Beating inflation means seeking accounts that pay more than it.
isas
You can put up to £20,000 into ISAs in the 2026/27 tax year. You can split it across different ISA types, though the Lifetime ISA has a £4,000 sub-limit. Any unused allowance is lost when the tax year ends on 5 April 2027.
budgeting
The classic advice is three to six months of essential expenses, but for students that's often unrealistic — and a smaller buffer of a few hundred pounds still transforms how you handle a surprise bill. Start small, keep it accessible, and build gradually.
isas
An ISA is a tax-free wrapper around savings or investments — you pay no income or capital gains tax on what you earn inside it. You can put up to £20,000 a year across the different ISA types, and there are four main kinds to know.