Shop around and save in long run

The first offerings under the new Government special savings incentive scheme have scarcely emerged and already it is clear that the Government and the savings industry have two very different ideas about the proposal.

For the Government, it is an attempt to encourage people to put a little aside every month at a time when the governor of the Central Bank, Mr Maurice O'Connell, is issuing yet more dire warnings about the pace of credit growth - borrowings - in the State. It is a worthy idea that the Government is backing up with one of the more generous top-up schemes around.

For the savings industry, such small savers can be more trouble than they are worth. The administration involved in processing £10 a month - the entry level in the new scheme - is as much or more than the cost of processing much larger sums. Not surprisingly, therefore, several of the products emerging this week are pitched at the more substantial saver. Friends First set a minimum entry level of £75 a month on its product while New Ireland was holding out the prospect of lower charges for those saving larger sums.

There are also novel approaches to charging structures in some of the schemes coming to the market. This will only make it more difficult to measure one product against others. Prospective savers need to be aware of where both sides of this equation are coming from. Bide your time. You can only avail of one scheme and you can't start saving until May anyway.