No pain, more gain! Make savings work harder so you don't have to

As most good things in life require effort, the well-worn mantra of ‘no pain no gain' is often apt. But when it comes to finances, it really doesn't require that much work to increase earnings on savings. In fact, getting more from your savings is one of the quickest and easiest ways to make money. Here are our financial fitness rules to help you get the most from your hard-earned cash.

• Financial Fitness Rule 1: Don't stand for paltry interest
Any money that you have sitting in savings should be working for you - not sitting idly doing nothing. And this means getting a savings account that gives you the best return available.
Rates might be currently low but there are still some decent savings accounts available - such as HSBC's regular saver, which pays up to 8%* on a one-year fixed rate account. Plus there are great easy access accounts on offer if you look in the right places - ING Direct pays 3.2% for example.

• Financial Fitness Rule 2: Read the small print
The highest rate will not always be the best product for your needs. Many of the best rates come with a first year bonus, meaning your interest will drop significantly after 12 months. This is fine as long as you are aware of it, or are willing to switch again in a year's time. Other savings accounts limit your withdrawals or insist you make a minimum deposit each month.

• Financial Fitness Rule 3: Do a thorough search
You might think it makes sense to use your ISA allowance to avoid paying tax on interest earned. And in many cases you would be right. But there are currently some standard accounts that beat the best buy ISAs, even after tax, so it is worth widening your search to include all savings accounts.
If you want to work out what a standard account pays after 20% tax take the gross interest rate and multiply by 0.8 (or 0.6 for higher rate tax payers).

• Financial Fitness Rule 4: Don't forget your current account
Your current account is also important when it comes to making your money work harder for you. Many banks pay shockingly low rates of interest on current accounts and this costs you potential earnings for every day you are in credit. Such slim pickings are madness when other banks like Abbey and Alliance & Leicester offer up to 6% on their current accounts. There may be strings attached but if the deal meets your needs you could gain significant interest on your day-to-day money.

Any money you are not spending should be earning interest for you, and at the best rates possible. Luckily it is easy to boost your savings or current account interest quickly by switching provider.
Great results with very little effort required - a money workout we can all be comfortable with.

*Rates correct on 08/09/2009.

Find out more about how to make savings work harder for you at http://www.confused.com/savings