159-year-old Nelson-based building society's saving tips for 2019

With the new year in full swing and people getting back into a routine, the Head of Retail at Lancashire's largest building society has offered a few tips on how to go about saving those pennies as 2019 rolls on to make sure that dream summer holiday gets booked.
By The Newsroom
Published 16th Jan 2019, 08:41 BST
Updated 17th Jan 2019, 05:36 BST
Philippa Farebrother-Dunn, Head of Retail at Marsden Building Society.Philippa Farebrother-Dunn, Head of Retail at Marsden Building Society.
Philippa Farebrother-Dunn, Head of Retail at Marsden Building Society.

As well as being the perfect time to double down on that 'New Year, new me' health kick and reaffirm your pledge to stay away from some of life's more pernicious culinary vices for at least another few weeks, passing the halfway point in January is also a great time to set some financial goals for the 11-and-a-half months to come so that you can be sure to make the most of your money.

With pockets still tight - a study by the Money Advice Service (MAS) found that more than 16 million people in the UK have less than £100 in their savings this time of year - Philippa Farebrother-Dunn, Head of Retail at Nelson-based Marsden Building Society, has offered a few pieces of advice to enable people to make a few small changes to grow their savings.

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Firstly, Philippa suggests writing down your saving goals, explaining: "Having something to look forward to is a great way to motivate you to save money. Whether it’s your dream car, the holiday of a lifetime or some extra spending money at Christmas, focus on something exciting to motivate you and work out how much you need to put away each month to achieve your goal."

Key to setting goals, however, is making sure they're achievable, saying: "By setting realistic targets, you’re more likely to succeed and be more motivated when you do succeed. How many times have you gone into the New Year making unrealistic targets and undoing them all before the month is over?

"Keep an eye out for accounts that will encourage a savings style that will suit you, whether that’s saving little and often or fixing a larger sum of money," she added.

To avoid that temptation to spend anything you have in your account, Philippa also recommends setting up a direct debit so that cheeky temptation is immediately removed before you even get the chance to get your mitts on money which you know should already be earmarked as savings.

Every little helps, after all.