Index-linked Savings Certificates

- R
- Roger Mills
  
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posted
16 years ago

Thu, Jan 17, 2008 9:21 PM

Anyone know which 'Index' these Savings Certificates use?

As far as I can see, the RPI is currently around 4% - but Gordon Brown was standing up in the Commons yesterday and talking about inflation at 2% - presumably based on a different set of 'adjusted' figures.

There seem to be so many different indexes - adjusted for different things - none of which appears to exactly match the wording used by NS&I!

Assuming inflation stays at the same level, what return can I expect if I buy an index-linked certificate?

- G
- GSV Three Minds in a Can
  
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posted
16 years ago

Thu, Jan 17, 2008 10:11 PM

Bitstring , from the wonderful person Roger Mills said

Yes, they use RPI, which is clearly stated on all the documentation relating to them. Which piece of

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'increase in line with RPI' was not obvious?

He's using CPI, which is the one that you can compare between us and Europe (allegedly).

There are three in common use, RPI, RPIX, and CPI. Read all about what is in which at the ONS website. Latest CPI data at:

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4% plus whatever rate-above-inflation they promise (which varies from issue to issue, and is usually different between 3 and 5 years certs - right now both seem to be 1.35%).

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- R
- Roger Mills
  
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posted
16 years ago

Fri, Jan 18, 2008 10:12 AM

Thanks for your reply. It was the answer I was hoping for - but seemed too good to be true, bearing in mind the rates currently available on fixed interest certificates.

Having previously looked at

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I wasn't totally sure whether 'RPI' was a generic term which included a lot of variants, or whether it was one specific index. Bearing in mind that public sector pay settlements are being held to 2% in line with 'inflation', and that the NS&I is a government institution, the cynic in me suspected that there would be some weasil words somewhere which would enable the NS&I to apply a figure closer to 2% to index-linked certificates.