Hi,

I'm a final year student thinking of buying a house soon ish and wanted some advice as to what to do with my ISA/LISA.

I'm thinking of buying a house in probably two years or so, probably in the northern city like Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool, Newcastle etc. I'm thinking my budget will probably be around the £350-400k mark and I just wanted a sanity check to make sure that what I want to do is both feasible and that selling my indexes etc in preparation is a good idea. I have what I feel is a reasonable idea of personal finances but I'm no expert so I'd like to have this all looked over.

With regards to my investments, I'm not sure if I should sell it all now and move it into fixed term accounts or if I should sell some and do it over time to average it out, or how much of it to sell.

For context, this is my current financial position -

In terms of income at the moment (over this academic year), I've got:

• Student loans: £10k
• Bursaries: £4k
• Part time job 1: £18k
• Part time job 2: £2k

My expenses add up to about £13k a year, roughly broken down as £6.5k for rent, £2.8k for essentials (transportation, food etc), and a little under £4k a year for non essentials (takeaways, night outs, travel etc).

I'm not 100% sure of my current tax burden, but I imagine another £2k or so will go towards tax.

At the moment my savings look like this:

• Emergency fund: £2.5k
• S&S ISA (vanguard in their global all cap fund): £25k
• LISA (dodl, HSBC all world): £9k
• GIA (freetrade, some fun money): £500

I have a return offer from one of the companies I interned with (and is currently one of my part time jobs), everything has been signed etc and it's quite a large company within the industry so I have little concern of it falling through. I've been offered £55k base, 12% bonus and about £6k a year in equity (as RSUs that vest quarterly), so my total pay will add up to about £68k ish.

In the interim I'll probably end up renting a flat, I've taken a look and it'll probably end up costing around £600-700pcm, and then bills I think it's safe to assume for a 1-2 bed flat I'd spend around £100pcm as well, and I doubt that my other expenses would change much (although that might be a shaky assumption). I'm hoping I'll be able to at least max out my ISA/LISA allowances for a year or two.

My job is fully remote and I have no conern about RTO, so I'm running off the assumption that I don't need a car, although I might end up with one anyways to free myself of having to use trains etc so much.

I'm hoping in the end to have a deposit of around £40k (so I can put 10% down on a property around £350-400k), and then another £10-15k on the side as a sort of "everything else" fund for conveyancing, stamp duty, moving costs etc, whilst also keeping (and maybe increasing) my emergency fund as a pot of money that shouldn't need to be touched as a predictable part of home buying if that makes sense.

I know that for a £360k mortgage (assuming £400k house £40k deposit) I'll need to be earning £80k a year, I'm reasonably confident that that would be achievable within 2 years, I've been told I can likely expect a promotion within 6 months of graduation given I'm currently still gaining experience at the company, and so I'd probably be looking at 2 promotions before house buying. The company I'm currently at also bases annual payrises on inflation, I think we get like 1-2% above the current rate of inflation in our local area, so that should also help reach that figure.

Hi folks, I’m 25 and I’ve been investing consistently for just over a year now, mainly with a monthly deposit into VUSA and some other ETFs, while I keep some spare change for more speculative bets.

My question however actually relates to my parents. They’re both 60 years old and haven’t a clue about investing, however I have been trying to convince them of the benefits of it and it seems they’re now open to it and would be able to invest probably a few hundred pounds each month. My main issue is that I know their investment strategy at their age should probably be quite a bit different in terms of asset allocation when compared with mine.

In other words, I don’t want to tell them to dump all their money into VUAG when they probably shouldn’t be going 100% stocks, but at the same time they’re going to want to be able to grow their capital more than they could in their 5ish% savings accounts.

I’m sure many people on this sub are either in this situation or have been in similar situations, so I’d be very grateful for any suggestions on how I could approach this with them

Thanks!

Not sure where to post this, whether it’s in here or in LegalAdviceUk

Anyway, I am going through a situation which means I need to apply to court for a child arrangements order.

Has anyone else been through this process and if so how did you fund it? I’ve got a few grand I can shove straight into the process, but not sure how is best to pay the rest. Zero percent money transfer? Loan? Literally any advice would be helpful.

Please don’t go into the ins and outs of the court process. I’m fully aware it’s a bit of a shambles and have done months of research due to this being my complete and utter final resort. I am only looking for advice on the financial aspect.

Hello all,

Lets say I hold corporate bonds issued by a UK listed company (it trades on FTSE 250).

The bonds are denominated in USD, trade with a US ISIN and trade on the market in Luxembourg.

When they pay me interest in USD, is this foreign income for tax return or UK income?

Thanks in advance. Yes I should ask my accountant, I know.

I wondered if anyone knew if the SLC would switch my loan to interest only for 12-18m. I'm in some financial difficulty (my wife isn't very well so is taking some time off work)

Thanks peeps

I've been pretty lucky with job changes and got myself a chance to make good savings.

The only debt I have remaining is my 0% credit cards (calendar reminders are in place for when they need to be cleared before the deal ends), and my mortgage, which is locked at 1.28% until October 2026. Outstanding balance is currently £105k

I have filled my S&S ISA this year and have been pushing hard to fill my premium bonds. This will hopefully be useful come remortgage time to clear a good chunk, depending on what deals are about.

I'm putting money into a GIA account that come new ISA year I can zip across into my ISA.

I'm also putting money into my SIPP as my companies pension system is very restrictive, only qualifying earnings and a maximum of 10% that I can contribute. So on top I'm putting £1k into pension from my own funds.

But once premium bonds is full, I'm basically able to save an extra ~£2k a month. I could invest more into GIA, but then capital gains could eat into that.

I could do invest in savings accounts, but get taxed on that.

What do people do with their money once they've maxed out?

I know I'm privileged position and this sub has helped me get to this stage by keeping my outgoings small even once my income has increased.

Hi everyone,

I’m hoping someone can offer some advice or insight on a situation that has been weighing on me heavily. In 2020, I defaulted on a car loan due to losing my job during COVID-19. The vehicle was repossessed, and the account was reported as defaulted. This period was incredibly difficult for me, and the stress and worry I went through nearly pushed me to the brink of suicidal thoughts. I lost everything—my job, my home, my sense of stability—and I struggled to even keep my head above water.

Since then, I’ve been doing my best to rebuild my life and credit, zero missed payments etc in 4 years and sitting at 763 credit score. I set up a repayment plan with a debt collector handling the file (Debt collector A) and was making regular payments. However, there were some issues with Debt collector A such as changes to their bank details that were never communicated to me, which caused some issues. Now, my account has been transferred to Debt collector B but again, I didn’t receive any proper notification—just some emails that ended up in my junk folder. No letters, no calls, no clear communication about the transition. I was left in the dark.

I’ve continued to make my payments to Debt collector B but recently, I noticed that missed payments for July, August, September, and October have been reported to Equifax. I’ve attached proof of payments made through my bank for these months, but despite that, my credit file is showing these as missed payments. I feel like this is unfair and inaccurate, especially considering I’m trying so hard to rebuild my life and credit after a very difficult period.

I feel that both the transition to Debt collector B and the reporting of missed payments have been mishandled and have negatively impacted my credit file. Given that this is related to a defaulted account, I don’t think it should be reported as active credit with missed payments, especially since I have been making the agreed-upon payments for months.

Can anyone offer advice on what steps I should take to have these inaccurate missed payments removed from my credit file? Are there any legal or consumer rights I can use to challenge this, especially given the lack of communication from Debt collector B and the impact this has had on my mental health?

This whole situation has made me feel hopeless at times, and the added stress of seeing these missed payments reported when I’ve been doing my best to pay off the debt is incredibly frustrating.

I’d really appreciate any advice or guidance on how to approach this.

Thanks for reading and for your support.

I have £10K in a S&S ISA in Vanguard, and another £10k in Trading212 (Split evenly between Cash ISA and S&S ISA).

I want to use Trading212 to invest in stocks. Putting money into the S&S ISA seems the most straightforward, but that would take me above £20K.

Is there another type of account I should consider?

Anyone used this before? I wanted to buy a new laptop and the website says if I "Buy Now Pay Later" using their 43% credit option I can get 20% of the credit back?

I don't pay interest if I pay it off in 12 months. I've done these types of finance deals before and always paid on time. Just wondering if anyone has gone through this particular process and how you get the 20% off/credit back.

https://www.very.co.uk/first-order-discount.page

I'm around ten years from retirement and I have pension plans which, if I leave them as-is, will gradually transfer my investments from stocks to bonds, typically moving around 10% per year from risk level 4 investments to risk level 2 investments. This seems to be the default approach for most company pension schemes. I'm wondering if this is the best approach. My thinking is, I'd probably want to convert about half my pension pot into an annuity to provide guaranteed income, and the move to lower risk investments seems to make sense for this part of the pot. The other half I'd probably want to take on a drawdown basis and I'm thinking it might make more sense to keep this in higher risk, stocks based funds, knowing that I might have to accept taking out less in the first few years if the investments perform poorly then.

Is there any standard advice on this, or any recommended reading for preparing investments for approaching retirement? Thanks in advance.

I have a credit card with about £900 credit limit. I've been temporarily maxing this limit for the past few months, but have paid it off every time without problems.

I like the flexibility of having access to this line of credit. I've read that this is described as credit utilisation and mortgage lenders apparently like a responsible degree of utilisation, so something like 25%-30%. Does a history (whether brief or long) of high credit utilisation affect applying for a later mortgage?

I wanted to open a second credit card for rewards in particular — but after reading about how credit can be judged by prospective lenders, I'm having second thoughts. I want to get a mortgage in the next year and it doesn't seem worth setting a foot wrong with my credit for a bank to then pass judgement on my perceived financial habits, possibly reducing my borrowing power.

Also on the topic, what other things related to credit cards can affect a mortgage application? Any tips/advice?

Many thanks

I’m currently in a bit of a dilemma. My mortgage product expires early January for the bulk of my mortgage which is £220k and the monthly costs will be £1.2k at 4.29% on a 2 year fix.

As there’s two parts to my mortgage (second part was taken out to fund a btl) with different end dates I would need to pay a ERC of £1.5k if I end the second part early (it expires in Summer ‘25). The second part is around £57k.

I’m looking to stick with my current lender with a view to paying off the second part next Summer, leaving me with the main part of £220k. The lender has told me I can’t change the repayment term which would remain at 35 years, i can however make overpayments of £22k a year and have the means to do so. I’m fortunate enough to save around £4.5k a month after expenses.

I’m a high earner so pay 40% tax. Would I be best off paying the £4.5k a month into a SIPP or should I focus on paying the mortgage off? I’m 38 and think I could pay this off by 41, meaning I’d then have around £6k a month after expenses if I did this. The house is valued at £560k.

So, pension contributions via SIPP or pay the mortgage off? Or something else?

I turned 18 last month, I’d been looking into my Child Trust Fund as everybody born in a certain time in the UK has one. However, my dad set up the trust and then left, there has been no contact since. I’m assuming he set up the accounts using all of his details like his address as I’ve had none of the required letters sent to my address in regard to the trust. The only bit of information I need to get into the trust is the access code, which is what he has on a letter. The question I’m asking is it illegal for him to have that access code and make no attempt to give me it, since that money and account has been legally mine since the day I was born? Sorry if this is confusing but any advice is appreciated:)

Sorry if this post has been made loads of times.

I’m 23, saved about 9k in a hsbc 4% bonus saver. Earn about 30k a year. Want to open a LISA for a 2 bed house (250-350k in my area) for the next 5yrs but terrified that house prices will rocket again and then I can only use the LISA for retirement.

I know I could only put a small amount in but my personality makes me want to fully commit and chuck 4k in there to get the full benefit straight away. Is this time of year even the best time to do this?

Apologies if coming across naive or lazy.

Hi, I just took out some car insurance that starts on the 25th and I am moving house on the 30th. I selected the new address so I could accurately gauge the price as it’s more expensive than my current area and it’s just 5 days difference before I move anyway. They are now asking for proof of address which I can provide with a tenancy agreement but now worried if I do so and they see the move in date is 5 days after the policy starts they will void my policy. Should I cancel my policy or call them up to discuss?

Looking for some advice on why some people feel Trading 212 is a risky platform. Should I choose Vanguard S+S ISA over it to build up my life savings? Have just asked on FIRE and inspired by similar posts but cannot find a solid answer on the risks of T212.

From what I know:

Trading 212: Pros:

• No fees for S+S ISA (unless using other currencies or depositing from card)
• Allows purchase of partial shares (HMRC have clarified this week that this is now allowed in ISAs)
• According to their website "shares are protected protected by Interactive Brokers" ie if they fail. Presumably that's good?
• Great user interface

Cons:

• Bulgarian owned private company and much less established than other platforms
• App gives option of CFD and individual stocks, possibility of checking too often etc

Whereas Vanguard does have fees (although low cost), it seems the only benefit is the feeling of greater protection? Can anyone elaborate on the benefits of protection/risk of T212 please? I see both platforms are recommended by Martin Lewis/MSE which I hope counts for something.

Also if I started with Vanguard funds on T212 S+S ISA it is presumably easy enough to transfer to the Vanguard platform S+S ISA at a later date?

Thanks all

Hi everyone!

I'm a Spanish citizen who worked for a UK company for three years, during which my employer and I contributed to a pension plan with Aviva. According to HMRC, I’m not allowed to transfer this pension outside the UK or bring it into Spain (due to QROPS incompatibility). I called Aviva recently, and they told me that redeeming the funds - even with penalties - isn’t allowed.

Since I can’t withdraw from the pension until I turn 57 (and I'm in my twenties lol), I’m wondering if it’s at least possible to transfer the funds from Aviva to another provider. The fees with Aviva are outrageous... and the investment options on their platform are very limited - just a few equity funds. Ideally, I’d like access to more options, like individual stocks or at least ETFs. I looked into opening an account with Fidelity, but they won’t accept me since I’m no longer a UK tax resident.

Additionally, if transferring the pension is possible, would I need to register with the new provider, and would they manage the transfer, or would I have to initiate it with Aviva? Their customer service has been quite unhelpful...

Thank you so much in advance for the help and apologies for the ignorance! I’m completely unfamiliar with these types of schemes, as we don’t have them in Spain.

Sorry, I assume this had been asked before and I've searched for similar threads beforehand. Is there a catch with Trading212's stocks and shares ISA? From what I've read, there is no fee for buying stocks and you also get 5.17% AER. Is it unusual for a stocks and shares ISA to also give you interest like a savings /cash ISA would as my current one does not offer this. I have noticed though that It says if you enable interest, "cash will be held in qualifying money market funds as well as banks". What are these money market funds? I was worried that I wouldn't be covered by FSCS for up to £85000 but it states I will.

Hi,

I’m looking to invest approx £50k of my savings and want to do this as effectively as possible (obviously).

From my research so far I’m considering maxing out an ISA to £20k and putting the remainder into premium bonds. My salary puts me in the higher tax bracket so I could only earn £500 tax free in the ISA anyway. Another option seems to be putting £20k in an ISA this tax year and waiting to put another £20k in April but I’m not sure if that’s actually beneficial?

There’s a chance within the next year or so that I’ll be looking to buy a house for which the deposit would require use of the vast majority of this money so it needs to be (fairly) accessible. For this reason a cash ISA might be a better choice as this scenario of having a large sum to save is only temporary?

As you can probably tell I’m very new to all this and would appreciate any advice. Even if it’s just “you should speak to a financial advisor”. It’s likely I’ll have a few follow up questions too. It’s frustrating how little I know about finance at the age of 30 so I apologise in advance!

Cheers!

Last year we moved my elderly mother into a care home (self-funded) and have just sold her bungalow. She now has enough to fund her care for at least 5 years.

She says she wants to gift us a one-off sum to pay for a holiday as thanks for all the help. However we've resisted because, if she does live long enough for her savings to decline to the point where she needs to apply for Local Authority funding, I'm concerned that the authority may take a dim view of the payment, see it as an attempt at Deprivation of Assets, and perhaps penalise her or even refuse funding.

Does anyone know what the rules are in this situation? Should a person in a self-funded care home avoid making any cash gifts, just in case?

Hi all,

This is terrible because I put down the 20K deposit for my own house back in 2015. I live with my husband who I married in 2012. I was the principle wage earner in law until 2019 when I got cancer. I only just returned to re-qualify as a lawyer in 2023. My results are next Thursday. I now work in litigation for a firm. Currently I earn 9K a year part time. When I'm a trainee I get an extra £250 a month. My husband earns 48K a year in Web. My credit score is 1000/1000 and I have water bills and mortgage and CT in my name. However, for the life of me I can not get credit. My husband had to take out my i-pad. Now my phone died and I can not get updates, non school uniform days. I have 2 kids one 3 and one 5 who is autistic. I can not work more than 16 hours because my autistic kid can only handle 9-1 at school and she is still being threatened with being excluded and denied holiday clubs and afterschool clubs. My 'kid'/me applied for DLA we should get about £184 a week. She is highly autistic so I don't doubt this will happen but we applied in June and still have not heard anything but a 'we are looking at it letter'. I also get Child benefit of about £140 a month (estimate from my memory).

I tried to get a new phone from three it is £41 a month. Again it was declined. I am so upset and disheartened. I live in this stupid society that doesn't consider my husband's wages at all. If I divorced him right now. I would probably get the phone. But I don't want to do that. I can't get school updates I miss non school uniform and book days. I can't do anything on phone.

I am so upset that I am about to start as a trainee part-time lawyer and I can not get a phone in my own name. What do I do? is there any suggestion? Is there any other place that might consider a more holistic approach.

I have so many bills in my name in 2014. None ever missed. We have 2 credit cards and do use them and always pay off at least the min. Our max debt is £1,100. I'm on the electoral register. We are both employed. House owners, never miss a bill. Why can I not get my own mobile phone and what can I do about it?

Hey all, I’m exploring the idea of purchasing a new property soon (I’ve found one I like, but it’s not guaranteed to go ahead). Whether it’s now or in the near future, I’d appreciate some advice on a few points:

1. Tenant Notice Period: I currently rent out my first property, with an informal lease extension in place. If I decide to sell, at what point would it be fair (and legally sound) to give notice to my tenant?

2. Mortgage Strategy: For this new purchase, I’ll likely need to take out a mortgage, but re-mortgaging the first property could lead to early exit fees. Would it make more sense to take a larger mortgage on the new property to avoid touching the rental, or are there better strategies to consider?

3. Investment Option: If I do end up selling the first property, I’m debating between using the sale proceeds to pay down the mortgage on the new home or investing the amount in an index fund like the S&P 500, given my 10+ year horizon. Are there key considerations or risks I should weigh when thinking about putting the entire amount into an index fund?

I’d love to hear any perspectives or advice on this type of situation! Thanks in advance for your insights.

Hi everyone,

This is a throwaway as my normal account has industry and location details. I would appreciate any help please.

I recently moved jobs and I’ve been informed I immediately owe HMRC just under £3k. They plan to take £500 off me for the next 6 months which I’m not sure is correct.

I would appreciate a sanity check from anyone who is savvy with this sort of thing as I cannot get my head around the gov.uk website guidance.

Employer A total comp £103k with last day 30th September. Tax code was 1257L

I joined Employer B on 7th October total comp £124. Tax code is now K1600X

I’m now a lot financially worse off and the payroll vendor isn’t U.K. based and isn’t providing any transparency or help.

Thank you in advance.

There's an article on the BBC currently stating that nearly £200m was overpaid into student loan repayments last year. It goes on about how it's easy to request and its made me curious.

I'm not 100% certain I have overpaid but if there's no risk in simply requesting is it worth trying? Has anyone had experience of requesting and receiving anything/nothing?

Thanks in advance!

I have a Nationwide FlexPlus Savings account where you can pay in a maximum of £200 a month, and when it matures, you earn 8% interest. I've long since paid in the maximum amount and have never made any withdrawals, but I've yet to receive the interest.

Do I need to wait for the interest to be paid into the account, or can I withdraw the funds beforehand? Logic tells me it's probably the former, but the information on Nationwide's site is a bit confusing, and I'm not the brightest at figuring it out. I am not sure if the interest can be calculated historically given withdrawals are allowed etc.

I'm planning to move the funds and interest to a standard savings account (Raisin) and start a new Nationwide (or similar) account.

Thanks!

I had an interest payment into my S&S LISA days after the house deposit was withdrawn which is just a bit annoying.

What do I do with it? It's only £88. Best just to forget about it and leave it invested and withdraw at 60? Ideally, I'd like to move it to my S&S ISA but I'd assume that would incur the 25% penalty?

After coming out of education I started my first ever job in Nov 2023, full-time & minimum wage.

From Nov 2023 - March 2024 I paid no tax. My gross pay total for this time period was £8254.45

As i understand it I am allowed to earn up to £12570 before I am required to pay tax.

Then, for reasons I can't understand, from April 2024 I have been paying between £163 and £195 per month in tax.

As i have not earned £12570 from my employment so far should i actually be paying this?

My best guess is a new financial year is meaning I'm paying tax for some reason but I can't figure it out. Does a new financial year also reset the £12570 allowance so I shouldn't start paying tax unil I hit that amount in this current financial year?

My tax code is showing as 1257L which appears to be correct from what I can understand.

Would anyone be good enough to advise me if this looks correct or if I have misinterpreted anything. Like the title says I'm financially illiterate and Iooking into all this stuff for the first time ever.

Appreciate any help! Cheers

Edit: thank you everyone for your comments I have a much better grasp of it all now! thanks again

Hi All,

We’re planning to apply for additional borrowing later this year! At the same time we’re hoping to apply for a credit card to get some points on our flight booking.

Do you guys think we should wait for the additional borrowing to complete before applying for the credit card?

We would need about £40k for home improvements and can easily afford it. Our LTV is about 78% on a house valued £615k.

Thanks in advance !

Im looking at remortgaging to pay off some loans i took out to renovate my house. The house is almost done however is still a bit of a building site, new kitchen not fully fitted yet, no carpets one room left to plaster and finishing touches to do here and there etc ect.... probably another 2 or 3 months work for me...

so Im wondering if anyone has remortgaged recently and does someone come out to value it? worried it may knock my value way down with it still being a bit of a work in progress.

(My current mortgage is £83k im looking for the new mortageg to be 100k and the house value according to HPIndex is worth £140k as it stands. After renovated going by my neighbours prices and an estate agent itll be worth around £190-200k. )

Hi,

The past 12 months I have made some really idiotic decisions and now I’ve come to a situation where I can’t see how I can get through it.

I started to use short term loans to cover the monthly travelling to work and generally monthly basics like food.

I owe £4000 on credit cards, £200 monthly min payments

£3000 on short term loans which are hurting the most, the monthly repayments are £920 for the next 4 to 6 month.

Car - 250 Insurance - 40 Council tax - 170 Phone - 50 Water 66 House - 690

Really stressed out and in a bad place mentally but haven’t shown this to anyone. I have no disposable income and don’t have any money to travel to work. I have 3 young children which adds to the financial strain. The short term loans is what is killing me but at the time of taking each one out I was desperate.

I can’t explore the idea of IVA due to my job, I would lose my job.

I haven’t told anyone, my family think I’m doing financially fine and I’m too ashamed to ask for help. Unfortunately my family are very judgmental and would make it horrible to go through.

I’m looking for any ideas why I can do next, anyone with previous situations like this, please share how you got through it.

I looked at a debt consolidation loan but I haven’t had any luck with approval due to affordability which I understand as I’m maxed out now.