http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8301418.stm

Amnesia, what have you got to say about all this?

Oh, crap. There goes my plans to save for my old age. I’ll have to go to the building society and ask them about anything that can get me a better return than 0.2%.

I'm looking forward to the fact that the ISA limit is going up, but not the fact that the rates will be sh1t

Have you got an ISA or guaranteed savers rate from somewhere? I'm also in one of those 'put a set amount away each month with a bank' schemes...

I have an ISA, and it’s value bombed earlier this year. I fear I’d be throwing good money after bad. I’m waiting for the more recent statement to see how much it has recovered by (if at all).

You shouldn't be saving for retirement in bank accounts anyway. Shares are more appropriate than cash and bonds, especially if you are saving long term.

Given that my Gran's estate is worth about a 10th of what is was worth 18 months ago, because most of it was shares, I wouldn't invest a cent in the stock market!

FTSE 100 18 months ago 5900 pts
Today 5200 pts
change -11.9%

So my guess would be that what she held was badly diversified. As I already mentioned, shares are a long term investment. And because saving for retirement is long term too, they both make sense together.

Recession is the perfect time to be investing. I wish I was in a position to buy some banking shares last year...

I switched to M+S this year as they had the best rate going at the time... I've never had the guts for shares, I wouldn't be able to sleep at night

I question this wisdom. As we have seen this and last year, people who DID have index linked savings took a massive hit. Those whose pensions matured got far less than they expected to. The warning that the value of savings can go down as well as up is just that: a warning - and not some “health and safety” warning implying that while it may happen, the values will really just keep on going up. People lost buckets of cash - not everyone can be their own stock broker, and they have to rely on products sold to them by banks and building societies.

It is highly likely that those with stock based ISAs will see a recovery as purchasing power is improved in a recession, but when you see about 4 years worth of value wiped off in a couple of months, you have to ask if trusting your money to such a system is really worth it.

As long as they're still lowish when I have to remortgage in 2014.

To be honest they need to rise. So that mortgages are at a stable level and to encourage savings. All it does is force those that rely on their savings income to gamble to make up the shortfall. Which is worse than raising interest rates. Mortgages should be higher to clear out the speculators and to make house prices more affordable for every one. House price stability should be the aim not to create another property bubble. If that means stable mortgage rates then that is good as well. Property should not be treated as an investment it is a home.

+1, well put

Increase the interest rates? Are you quite sane? We haven't even left recession yet and you'd run the risk of deflation.

I took Amnesia to mean in the future, since he was also talking about house price stability etc.