How Much Interest 1 Million Pounds 2024 – Per Month, Week & Day (+ Calculator)

Have you ever wondered how much interest you would earn with £1 million pounds in the bank?  Or £2 million, £10 million or even £50 and £100 million?

Use our calculator and also be sure to check the other factors you need to bear in mind to work out what you will really get.  Plus a look at alternative ways to get higher returns.

Interest On One Million Pounds

It’s one of those questions we often ponder before actually having a million in the bank, how much would you earn in interest if you had a million pounds.  After all, interest is one of the most well-known forms of passive income.

Well, the answer is not as much as you might think even though interest rates have been rising lately.

This is probably why most wealthy people don’t aim to save cash as they can get better returns elsewhere.

However, there are ways to get higher returns which we also look at.

How Much Interest on 1 Million Pounds?

In 2023 the best interest you can get on a million pounds is for a 5-year fixed rate at 4.4% which would earn you £45,100 a year in interest.   For an easy-access account, you could get a rate of 3.05% and earn £30,500 a year.

Interest rates change often, so use our calulator below to work out the interest on different amounts at different rates.

At the time of writing, the Chip App was offering the highest rate of easy-access interest in the Uk.  Use our Chip App promo code to when you sign up.

If you were to need more flexible options as regards access to the million pounds, you would have to opt for lower rates as follows:

Interest rates on £1 million pounds:

  • Easy access interest rate of 3.05% you would earn £30,500 a year
  • Notice account* rate of 3.5% you would earn £35,000 a year interest
  • 1 year fixed at 4% would earn you £40,000 a year
  • 2 years fixed at 4.25% on up to a million would get you £42,500 a year.
  • 3 years fixed at 4.3 would get you £43.000 a year
  • 5 year fixed 4.4% £44,000 a year

All figures are before tax.

*On a notice account, the notice tie you need to give to make a withdrawal varies but could be up to 120 days.

Interest rates as of February 2023.

While it is possible to get higher interest rates, they are only available for relatively small sums.  For example 2% of on only £1500.

Also, bear in mind interest in taxable income so in reality, you would receive less based o your personal taxation, see more below.

How Much Interest on 1 Million Pounds a Day?

At the best savings rate of  4.4% fixed for 5 years, you would earn the equivalent of £120.54 a day (£44,000/ 365 days).

If you opted for more accessible options to your cash you would earn the daily equivalent of:

  • Easy Access Savings rate of  3.05% you would get £83.56 a day
  • Notice account rate of 3.5% you would get £95.89 a day
  • 1 year fixed at 4.0% would get £109.58 a day
  • 2 years fixed at 4.25% get £116.43 a day
  • 3 years fixed at 4.3% would get £117.80 a day
  • 5 year fixed 4.4% £ get £120.54 a day

All figures are before tax.

If you are intent on saving a million pounds one day, you might find these best savings apps for the UK helpful, some are designed to help you save without realising.  Others utilise one of the key rules for building personal wealth which is to pay yourself first (3 ways and why you should).

Interest on Savings - Piles of £1 coins

How Much Interest on 1 Million Pounds Per Week

At the current best savings rate of 4.4% if you fixed for 5 years you would get £846.15  a week if you have a million pounds in the bank.

For more flexible access to your cash, you would get the equivalent of:

  • Easy Access Savings rate of  3.05% you would get £586.53 a week before tax
  • Notice account rate of 3.5% you would get £673.07 a week before tax
  • 1 year fixed at 4% would get £769.23 a week before tax
  • 2 years fixed at 4.25% get £817.30 a week before tax
  • 3 years fixed at 4.3% would get £826.92 a week before tax
  • 5 year fixed 4.4% £ get £846.15 a week before tax

All figures are before tax.

How Much Interest on 1 Million Pounds Per Month

At the current best savings rate of 4.4 % on a 5-year fix,  the monthly interest on 1 million pounds would be £3666.66 a month if held in the bank savings account for the entire duration.

For more flexible access to your cash, you would get the equivalent of:

  • Easy Access Savings rate of  3.05% you would get £2541.66 a month before tax
  • Notice account rate of 3.5% you would get £2916.66 a month before tax
  • 1 year fixed at 4% would get £3333.33 a month before tax
  • 2 years fixed at 4.25% get £3541.66 a month before tax
  • 3 years fixed at 4.3% would get £3583.33 a month before tax
  • 5 year fixed 4.4% £ get £3666.66 a month before tax

All figures are before tax.

Of course, in reality, a person could choose to split the million pounds between any and all the account types.

Interest Calculator

Use this simple calculator below to see how much you would earn on a million or more at various interest rates.

With this calculator, you can play around with higher interest rates or return rates you might get from other investment types.

For example, 7% rental yield on a million-pound property, or 5% dividend yield on high-yield stocks.  Or even a 7-10% return from investing in the stock market.

Of course, none of these rates is guaranteed, but you’ll realise why millionaires don’t typically keep the bulk of their wealth in cash.

If you are more interested in the interest you can earn on US$ check out our US Dollar Interest Calculator which highlights best rate options for the US.

Savings in a pot

Best Savings Rates

The best savings rates range from 3.05% for easy access up to 4.4 % for a 5-year fix.

You can find the current best savings rates over on MSE.

Interest Rates are at all-time lows here in the UK.  The current rates are nothing more than pitiful.  In past years you’d have been able to get 2-4%, but those years seem further and further away.

At the time of writing, the best rate for easy access was 3.05% (half of one per cent).  This was available on deposits of up £250,000 to £500,000, but there were multiple options at this rate and enough to spread a total of 1 million.

Tax on Savings

As with all most forms of income, we get taxed on them.

The Personal Savings allowances allow basic rate taxpayers or less to earn £1000 tax-free.  Higher rate taxpayers only £500 tax-free.

You will then pay tax on the rest.

  • Basic rate taxpayers pay 20% on interest over £1000
  • Higher rate taxpayers pay 40% tax o interest over £500

For up to date information see the latest Gov.uk tax on savings interest.

There’s no tax to pay on interest for money held in Cash ISA’s.  However, you are limited to adding £20,000 a year.  Interest rates can be less competitive, especially for fixed-rate deals.

Savings Protection

As you can see from the figures above, while banks are considered a safe way to save a million pounds your money is only protected up to £85,000 per financial institution, or £170,000 for joint accounts. Therefore, if the bank or building society goes bust your total balance isn’t guaranteed to be safe.

Temporary high balances up to £1 million can be protected for up to 6 months, more info here.  This is useful if for example you sell a house, receive a large inheritance or a large win on the lottery.

In actual fact, some close friends of ours actually won exactly 1 million pounds on the lottery.  (Yes really!!).

Inflation (the enemy of cash)

If inflation is higher than the interest on your cash, you are effectively losing buying power.

The million you have this year will buy less next year even with interest added if inflation is higher.  Everything else on average would have gone up more.

Interest on More Millions

Many of the accounts offering the above interest rates were for maximum deposits of £1m.  If you would have to do look into savings accounts for over 1 million pounds.  Assuming you could get the equivalent of the same best rates as a million pounds, you could expect to  earn the following:

How Much Interest on £500k?

Assuming the easy access rate of 3.05%  you would get £15,200 a year in interest on £500,000 or half a million pounds.

That equates to:

  • £41.78 a day
  • £293.26 a week
  • £1270.83 a month

How Much Interest On 2 Million 

Assuming the easy access rate of 3.05 % you would get £61,000 a year in interest on £2 million pounds.

That equates to:

  • £167.12 a day
  • £1,173.07 a week
  • £5,083.33 a month

How Much Interest On 5 Million 

Assuming the easy access rate of 3.05% you would get £152,500 a year in interest on £5 million pounds.

That equates to:

  • £417.80 a day
  • £2,932.69 a week
  • £12,708.33 a month

How Much Interest on 10 Million Pounds?

Assuming the easy access rate of 3.05% you would get £305,000 a year in interest on £10 million pounds.

That equates to:

  • £835.6 a day
  • £5865.38 a week
  • £25,416.66 a month

How Much Interest on 50 Million Pounds?

Assuming the easy access rate of 3.05% you would get £1,525,000 a year in interest on £50 million pounds.

That equates to:

  • £4,178.08 a day
  • £29,326.92 a week
  • £127,083.33 a month

How Much Interest on 100 Million Pounds?

Assuming the easy access rate of 3.05% you would get £3,050,000 a year in interest on £100 million pounds.

That equates to:

  • £8,356.16 a day
  • £58,653.81 a week
  • £254,166.66 a month

How Much Interest on 175 Million Pounds?

Assuming the easy access rate of 3.05% you would get £5,337,500 a year in interest on £175 million pounds.

That equates to:

  • £14,623.28 a day
  • £102,644.23 a week
  • £444,791.66 a month

How Much Interest on 1 Billion Pounds?

Assuming the easy access rate of 3.05% you would get £30.5 million a year in interest on £1 billion pounds.

That equates to:

  • £83,561.64 a day
  • £586,538.48 a week
  • £2,541,666.67 a month

Alternatives to Saving a Million in the Bank

Fortunately, there are many alternatives to saving a million pounds in the bank which pay much higher rates of return, although do come with added risk to your capital.

For example, you could get an income from:

  • Buying and renting properties
  • Investing in the stock market (dividends or income or index funds)
  • Buy a business

When it comes to saving large sums some people mention Premium Bonds, however, they currently only offer the equivalent of a 1% win rate and only have a maximum holding of £50,000.

A good qualified financial advisor may present you with a whole range of alternatives.  Just always make sure to keep an eye on the fees and do your own research and comparisons.

If you are new to investing you may want to check out some of the best investing apps for beginners in the UK I have covered.

You might also be interested to start or build on your investing journey with some free shares worth up to £200 each.

If you could get the following rates of annual returns you would earn:

  • 3% on a million pounds would earn £30,000 a year
  • 4% on a million pounds would earn £40,000 a year
  • 5% on a million pounds would earn £50,000 a year
  • 7% on a million pounds would earn £70,000 a year
  • 10% on a million pounds would earn £100,000 a year

Can You Live Off a Million Pounds?

Whether you can live off or retire on a million pounds will depend on your personal circumstances.

As you can see above with interests increasing 6 fold between 2021 to early 2023 its a lot more feasible to live off a sizeable sum of cash than it was when easy access interest was less than half of one percent.

You always have the option to invest the money for higher rates of return over the long term.

However, this will all depend on your :

  • Age
  • Lifestyle
  • Risk appetite

Is your mortgage paid off, do you like to travel, or do you prefer living frugal the simple life?  All these and more are factors to consider when working out how much you income and or capital you need in order to retire at your comfort level.

Frequently Asked Questions

How Many Pennies in a Million Pounds?

There are one hundred million pennies in a million pounds.  100 pennies to every pound times 1 million pounds gives you 100,000,000.

Alternatively, a million pennies in pounds would be £10,000.

 

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