New Year’s Eve will mark the 25th anniversary of millennium celebrations and figures from independent financial advice firm Continuum show the value of regular saving since then.

Someone who set aside £100 per month since 1 January 2000 would now be worth:

• £30,000 in a sock under your mattress
• £37,130 in a typical bank savings account or cash Isa
• £72,248 in a fund tracking UK equities
• £62,854 in an “average” managed fund
• £79,338 in an “average” managed fund in a pension

Martin Brown, managing partner at Continuum, said: “For those that have saved regularly since then, the results are startling.

“Something we always stress to clients is the benefit of regular saving over the longer term,” Martin Brown said.

“This mitigates risk from those unexpected events that can and will hit the value of savings hard in the short term. Since we celebrated the millennium, there have been a fair few and there is no reason to expect the next 25 years will be any easier to navigate than the past 25.”

The past quarter of a century has thrown up plenty of unexpected events, some of which affected savings significantly in the short term. The bursting of the dotcom bubble, the pandemic, a financial and banking crisis, a flash crash, Russia’s war in Ukraine, and 2022’s ill-received mini-budget, to name but a few.

“None of these challenges were foreseeable. All underlined the importance of calm, regular investment for the medium- to long-term, and of seeking expert financial advice to help savers make the most of whatever they can afford,” said Mr Brown.

To mark the 25th anniversary of millennium celebrations, Continuum is running a competition.

Email the media relations team at one of the addresses below with what you consider to be the single event to have hit long-term savings hardest, peak to trough, in the past 25 years.

A winner will be drawn out of the hat between Christmas and New Year, and a decent bottle of wine from 2000 will be heading their way.

garyparkinson@mycontinuum.co.uk / press@mycontinuum.co.uk

kmitchell@brandonconsultingservices.co.uk