How to make the most from your savings, whether you’ve got £100, £10,000 or

Finding a good home for your savings can be a daunting task, especially when there are more than 2,000 savings accounts from banks and building societies to choose from.

The best accounts for you will depend on how much you have in savings, how quickly you need to access it and whether you are at risk of being stung by a tax bill.

Soon, savers will face an even greater challenge if they want to shield their money from the taxman.

From April 2027, the amount savers under 65 can put into a cash Isa each tax year will be cut from £20,000 to £12,000.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced this is her November Budget and claims it is to encourage more of us to invest in the stock market instead of keeping money in cash. The entire £20,000 annual allowance can still be used for a stocks and shares Isa.

Cynics argue the move will push millions of savers into paying higher tax bills, as cash will be diverted into ordinary savings accounts instead, meaning more money for the Treasury.

Form your savings plan early to avoid getting caught out. There are golden rules to follow to hold on to as much of your own cash as possible. You will need to use clever tricks to tailor your strategy, depending on how much money you have saved.

Financial planning is important, no matter how little you plan to save

Your savings blueprint will look different, whether you are just starting out and putting £100 aside each month, or you have £10,000 already set aside, or your savings pot has reached the £100,000 mark.

Here’s my masterplan for saving ahead of the rule change, including where to put your money now to bag the best rates on offer – and how to shield as much of it as possible from the taxman.

Saving £100 a month

If you are starting out on your savings journey, you do not need to worry too much about tax just yet.

Go for a regular savings account rather than a tax-free cash Isa. They pay better rates and you shouldn’t have to pay tax on your interest.

Most people have a personal savings allowance – this is the threshold below which you don’t need to pay tax on any interest you earn from your bank.

Basic rate taxpayers can earn £1,000 in savings interest before paying any tax, while higher-rate taxpayers have a £500 allowance.

The exception is if you earn more than £125,140 a year, at which point everything you earn in interest is taxed at your additional income tax rate of 45pc.

The bottom line is that if you are a basic-rate taxpayer, you can have up to £25,000 in an ordinary savings account paying 4pc – about the top rate on offer right now on easy-access accounts – without a tax bill.

Higher-rate taxpayers can save up to £12,500 in one of these accounts before using up their allowance.

So if you are just starting to set £100 aside each month when you receive your pay cheque, and are comfortably within your allowance, then you should put it in an account for regular savers.

Rachel Reeves has hit savers by cutting Isa limits from next year

These accounts usually run with a bonus for a 12-month period – after that, you can put your savings into a cash Isa, where you can earn tax-free interest in the future. Regular saver accounts, where how much you pay in each month is capped, pay the top rates of about 7pc – far higher than other accounts.

Paying in £100 a month at this rate will leave you with £1,245 after 12 months – a gain of £45 in interest.

The mechanics behind these accounts vary. Some banks allow you to miss payments, while others don’t. Some let you take money out during the year without charges, while others won’t let you touch it or will charge you to do so.

Your first port of call is your current account provider. It may be easy to set up a regular savings account with them, but it is worth shopping around.

Co-op Bank has a variable rate of 7pc. You can save up to £250 a month, miss payments without losing out whenever you need to, and can dip into your money when you want without charge.

If you have signed up for the newest current account on the market, Biscuit from Zopa Bank, the rate is a tad higher at 7.1pc.

Both rates are variable. Lloyds Bank pays 6.25pc fixed. All three let you take money out. First Direct pays 7pc fixed for 12 months but doesn’t allow withdrawals.

Nationwide Building Society pays 6.5pc variable and allows you three withdrawals a year.

If your current account provider doesn’t offer an account to suit, both Newcastle Building Society and West Bromwich Building Society offer top rates.

Newcastle pays 6.5pc on savings between £1 and £150 a month on its Festive Regular Saver while at West Bromwich the rate on its Winter Ready account is 6pc on savings up to £100 a month. Yorkshire BS has just launched its Christmas Regular Saver at a lower but still attractive rate of…