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The standard answer is that if you need the money soon (less than three or so years), you should not be putting it in risky investments and just park the money in your savings account or similar "safe" holdings. Since you plan to buy in a year, you probably should leave it in your bank account. Sure, you won't gain much interest, but you also sound like you ...
23
As much as you can reasonably afford
As long as you still have an emergency fund(which you noted you will have) then its always a good idea to put down as much as you can afford for the deposit.
The more you put down now the less time repayments will take or the less the monthly outgoing will be. The higher monthly payments you can afford the shorter the ...
14
Well besides that usually the money percentage you put down influences the interest rate (the more you put down the cheaper interest you get) you should consider the opportunity cost.
This means if you recieve a higher interest on an investment than the rate of the mortgage it makes more sense to invest and have a higher mortgage.
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There are no safe one-year investments that pay a high rate of return. If they existed, then everybody would be putting all their money into them.
If you want to be confident that the money will still be there in a year's time, just put it into the best bank or building society account you can find. The interest over one year will be negligible anyway.
...
9
Health Insurance/Private Medical Insurance in the UK is a luxury not a requirement
The NHS in the UK is funded through National Insurance and general taxation that is taken from pay at source (generally), the amount of which varies by earnings of the individual. Access to NHS services is based on residency (if you live outside the UK but use NHS services ...
8
The question you really need to answer is: What else could I do with the money?
Consider that you may need to furnish the house, or you may want to improve or remodel it, and you should reserve some funds to do that.
You also need to consider how the down payment affects the transaction. For example, you will most likely get a better interest rate with 20%...
5
If you have income, you will pay income tax.
Your employer has front-loaded your first two months pay, paying more in December, and less in January. This is to your benefit, as you have the use of the money earlier than you would have had the accountant not been on holiday.
Your problem with the salary in the contract not matching the offer letter (you ...
5
In as short a time as a year, the best way to invest money is to simply save it. "A penny saved is a penny earned".
Simply not eating out all the time will save you thousands of dollars a year, which is more than most investments will earn, unless you have a large amount in an investment and have some really good stock brokers working for you. For instance, ...
4
You should be putting it in a cashlike, very low volatility investment, preferably an insured one like a CD or municipal bonds.
It might seem clever to put it in the stock market and get a 10% bump, but you could just as easily take a -20% beating. That is called volatility and it's the thing to avoid.
answered Jan 11 at 7:20
Harper - Reinstate Monica
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4
Given that your employment contract explicitly says it's "fixed-term", I don't think you can say it's permanent.
The government site about fixed-term contracts is talking about specific rights that employees on fixed-term contracts get. In that context, I think excluding apprenticeships is just to make it clear that those specific rights don't apply to ...
4
The easiest way I have found is to simply Google the transaction description, or at least the most unique part of it. Googling "PO LTD Telecoms" gives the UK Post Office phone/internet "contact us" page as the first result. Google is sometimes really smart at figuring out what appears to us as a random collection of characters.
Beyond that, there are a ...
4
I would like to extend @Mohair's answer.
A mortgage is a very cheap credit. Current interest rates in the UK seem to be around 1.5% (plus setup fees). Could you make more than 1.5% if you invest that money elsewhere (stocks, funds...)?
If you use a tax-sheltered vehicle like an ISA, you could potentially be better off by paying a small deposit and placing ...
4
Fundamentally, your motives are at cross purposes.
You want to be loyal to your family, and get along with them, but also do money transactions with them. Those three don't play well together.
Don't take my word on it. Search this forum for discussions of family, money, and loans. ("Cosign" is another winner). Follow financial experts (like the US's ...
answered Jan 20 at 21:53
Harper - Reinstate Monica
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3
When you take a money transfer on the credit card they will pay it into your bank account. After that point you have control of the cash and will be able to transfer it to somebody else's bank account if you wish.
Taking on a debt isn't necessarily going to have a negative impact on your credit score and in some cases can be an advantage as you're ...
3
You say that you're planning on buying a house. You don't seem to have any specific need to buy a house, so you can afford to take some risk. You should focus on bonds, but you can have some of your money in stocks. Even if there is a dip in the stock market, it's likely to be accompanied by a dip in the real estate market, so you'll need less to buy the ...
3
You have more than 40% equity in your mortgage, so I would expect that the cheapest way for you to borrow would be to borrow more on that.
Either remortgage for a larger amount or your current provider may be willing to loan you more (e.g. https://www.nationwide.co.uk/products/mortgages/borrowing-more/is-borrowing-more-right-for-you).
The important ...
2
What is to prevent someone from buying a share on one exchange and simply selling it in due course on another?
Costs. This include transaction costs, forex costs if in different countries, costs of maintaining a brokerage relationship with multiple entities, legal restrictions, timing if the stock exchanges are in different time zones etc.
People assume ...
2
I searched for “Cavendish Online FSCS” and found a page of Ts and Cs https://www.cavendishonline.co.uk/faqs/what-happens-if-cavendish-online-or-fundsnetwork-go-out-of-business
This pointed me at a different page hosted on Fidelity: https://www.fidelity.co.uk/how-is-my-money-protected/#239206
which says pretty clearly that you would be protected to £85,000 ...
2
In the US and likely most other parts of the world real estate is expensive to transact. So in this case, it is best to find a home that meets your needs now and your anticipated needs in the future. You do not want to purchase a home today, that is a lower price, only to upgrade a short time later. Since you can afford it, buy the upgrade now.
So to me, ...
1
Don't try to fix anything, which isn't yours, in the property.
Who should do the repairs?
First off, if anything goes wrong with the boiler, you should never try and sort it yourself. This can be dangerous and if you make anything worse, this might void the boiler’s warranty. Unless it’s an obvious problem – like your electricity’s gone off and you need ...
1
Cash ISAs are usually poor investments, their rates are often low and their only benefit is the interest is untaxed. And, for most people, the personal savings allowance 1 makes it moot anyway.
For just a year, an old fashioned savings account would suit. Generally, internet only banks offer better rates than the well known high street names. So, go with ...
1
Open an account at a discount brokerage and invest in an ultra-short term bond fund -- either a mutual fund or an ETF. The better ones have been yielding as much as 3.8% for the past year, and any downside going forward should be very brief.
For example, the bobble in equity markets at the end of 2018, from which some equity funds took a year or more to ...
1
Assuming the two shifts you worked were done since the beginning of April then you need to select B. You wouldn't have paid tax on that previous job if it would have fallen within your tax free allowance, however the income is still classed as taxable income and would be added to all other income for the tax year to work out your total tax liability (which ...
1
A donation/contribution to a trust is not considered a gift as long as the beneficiary has a future interest in the gift.
If you are referring to a payable on death account than it is the same as your parents leaving you the monies when they die--except it avoids probate. Note that your parents have a large estate exemption so this would only be relevant ...
1
To start, I'd offer some color coding changes:
Column F "Purchase cost" should be red since it's a debit
Column G "Sale Proceeds" should be blue since it's a credit
Column J "Taxable Gain" should be blue for gains and red for losses
In the USA, there are 3 ways to determine cost basis (I don't know if these apply to you in the UK):
Average Cost
FIFO
Lot ...
1
Doubtful, as the bank can't give you what they don't have.
Many businesses have their credit card agreements running under slightly different, misspelled, abbreviated, or outdated names, and don't bother to ever change them. I know many mom-n-pop shops where the credit card charges appear under the name of the business that closed fifteen years before in ...
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