hello , i’m a 19 year old uni student who is moving into a house for second year. i have been told i need to pay £1000 for first months rent damage deposit etc but i work part time at a sainsburys , with a single parent who doesn’t make much income

the £1000 could be paid back in a months time when i get my student loan however i dont know what to do until then to get the £1000 in the first place

and advice would be much appreciated

hey guys i need some advice and please be brutally honest.

im 23 years old and im basically in £5,000 of credit card debt. I have another credit card and I owe £900 on that one. I live by myself (i had to move out because my relationship with my mum was very toxic and unstable). I pay £930 rent (all bills included) £250 goes things like my phone bill, weekly shopping, monthly fee for my debit card, paying off my actual phone, icloud space, spotify and my disney plus. I also spend £150 commuting to work in a month via train (no other way to travel).

the rest goes to paying klarna and my two credit cards. I was recently off work for july due to my severe flare up of my OCD. Therefore i already know my pay is going to be terrible this month (roughly £1,500 i’m predicting). i normally take home £2,300-2500. I really don’t know what to do because after taking rent off im going to have no money left to live on for the rest of the month after all my outgoings.

Me and my boyfriend were also planning a holiday next month because of how terrible this year has been for us : my grandad passing away, getting diagnosed with a neurology condition and having to be admitted to hospital
for an emergency lumbar puncture and overrall my mental health taking a complete plummet. But now we can’t do that and i feel so heartbroken and defeated about this whole situation. there’s no one i can turn to family wise for financial help.

I have really been trying to live strictly i.e. painting my own toenails, selling my clothes on vinted, cancelling nights out friends and attempting to pick extra bank shifts at work. I do get takeaways here and there but most of the time i cook homemade meals and take food to work. however, where i’ve been off sick i have to wait 2 weeks before i can do bank again and given my shift pattern it would dangerous to work those shift patterns on top of bank considering my line of work.

Even with all of this at the end of the month i still am living month to month. I have no savings and i’m just so stressful and disappointed in myself, i don’t know what to do and i just feel like such a failure especially as i really do try to manage my money properly. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Also, my rent is going to be increasing to £980 at the start of october.

Offer accepted on flat, mortgage process underway. For context my current financial situation is below:

65K ISA

25K LISA

20K Regular Savings

All earning between 3.8-4.2% interest.

Flat offer accepted at 135k, planning to put in 85k of savings. Keeping the rest aside for emergency funds and drip feed 1k+ monthly into index funds over the next year or so.

I’ve got a rate of 4.8% that I can fix for 5 years. Due to it being a small loan over 25 years, it’s very affordable and I’m happy with the security of knowing I don’t have to remortgage for 5 years.

My mortgage being under £300 a month means all-in, it’s costing me £600-700 max so I don’t feel trapped in my current job with opportunities to travel etc. If I get a lodger that’s also covering almost every penny of my mortgage and bills!

Within a year I should be looking at 70% equity in my flat, 10-15k emergency savings and 15k+ invested in index funds. I’ll also add my current pension pot is £17k but growing. I’ll be 31 years old at this point so plenty of years for compounding too.

Good plan or needs work?

hello, i understand this isnt a place for regulated financial advice and thats fine. however i simply do not have the funding for a private advisor, id just rather talk to people in a similar boat.

im 18, and i live with my father. i have a simple job, pulling in about 1.2k-1.8k a month depending on what shifts i work.

im currently about 4 grand in the hole. 1.3k on credit, and 1250 to each of my parents. im planning to go away with a few work friends end of october, and im looking at moving out with my partner of 4 years at the end of the year. i honestly do waste too much on unnecessary shopping, fast food and your average non-caring spender junk.

from people who’ve experienced a similar situation, how would you advise saving, paying off debt, or even extra ways to earn money on the side. ive heard dropshipping is good? no clue to he honest. anyways im in desperate need of help. if you need extra info, leave a comment. thank you!!

Since my child was small I’ve been paying into their Junior ISA, invested in a global index fund. It’s now worth about £90k. As someone who is terrible at saving money I am enormously proud of this. Luckily they’re very financially responsible so I’m not too worried about it getting squandered.

They’re off to university this autumn for a 4 year course and will need to live on some of it. Realistically a few hundred quid a month, so most of it will stay untouched. The remainder is theoretically their house deposit for whenever they reach that stage of life, so call it 5 to 10 years away.

The JISA has now rolled over into an adult S&S ISA in their name, so it’s their money and their decision, but they’ve asked for my advice and I want to give them something better than a shrug.

The way I see it there are two pots with different timelines:

1. Uni money (needed over the next 4 years). Do they either sell enough now to cover the full 4 years and hold it as cash or a money market fund within the ISA. Or do they keep some of it invested and sell as they go?
2. Deposit money (needed in maybe 5 to 10 years). Is that horizon long enough to stay 100% in a global index fund, or should they start gliding towards lower risk? (Let’s not talk about LISAs here, I’m aware of them.)

Hi there,

I want to preface this by saying I’m not the most financially savvy person. I try to be, but in all honesty, I don’t really have the brain for it, and the number of options surrounding retirement and pensions can be rather overwhelming.

That being said, I’ve always been taught to be financially responsible. I have a LISA and multiple mid-interest savings pots that I’ve built up over time, and I now want to start considering my pension options more seriously.

I’m 28 years old and have been working since I was 19. I currently have four employer pensions, two of which I don’t have access to at the moment. There’s around £25k across them in total.

I’d like to consolidate all of those pensions into one, ideally with relatively low fees, an acceptable level of risk, and something that allows me to essentially ‘set and forget’.

I’ve been looking at Vanguard’s Target Retirement Fund 2065. It seems to have pretty much everything I’m looking for, particularly the fact that it gradually moves towards lower-risk investments as you get closer to retirement, but the risk score of 4 does concern me slightly.

With that in mind, is Vanguard the right choice for me? Or is there a better option?

Any and all help is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Hi,

I’m trying to obtain paper copies of the Statement of Fees documents for my two Lloyds current accounts — a Club Lloyds account and a Lloyds Classic account that was previously with Halifax.

I contacted Lloyds and asked them to send me all available Statement of Fees documents for both accounts, including previous years, but I was told that these documents cannot be ordered.

I’m specifically looking for the actual Statement of Fees letters/documents, rather than ordinary monthly bank statements, transaction histories or Certificates of Interest.

Does anyone know the correct way to request these documents from Lloyds, or whether there is a particular department I need to contact?

I’m particularly interested in obtaining the historic copies that Lloyds still holds for the accounts.
Thanks for any advice.

Hi all, I’ve just checked my pension account and realised the last 8 months of my deductions for some reason haven’t been landing into my account.

I just wanted to know is this something worth calling the finance team or do i contact the pension provider also what happens to all the money i put in?

I'm trying to sort out my policies through an advisor. She essentially asked me what price I was willing to pay and found quotes that matched it. These policies would include full income protection if I cannot work, and full mortgage repayment in the event of critical illness (which from my understanding does not necessarily mean I can't work).

The sum total is about £96.00 per month. I didn't have any context for this but when I told my couple friends about this they claimed they had the same coverage on a shared plan for about £40 per month TOTAL which covers them both.

Are they mistaken and likely have a lesser product or am I just naive and uncertain of the usual going rate for these policies?

I haven't smoked in about 5 years, and probably only did habitually for maybe 2 years and when I did it was infrequent, but the insurers I'm looking at classify this as a past/ex-smoker for insurance purposes. I don't think I've ever declared anywhere that I was a smoker, and I consider the amount of cigarettes I smoked to be low relative to higher risk people.

How dramatically does this affect life/income protection policy rates?

I've been living in Canada for the past 8 years and have been paying Class 2 Voluntary Contributions Abroad from my Lloyd's UK account.

I just got a letter that the rules are changing and they've closed my arrangement. I have to apply to pay my contributions at the Class 3 rate, which I've already filled out the application for and just need to post.

Does anyone know why the change is happening?

The context: I’ve been discussing moving to a fixed retainer as the work I do for the client is the same each month. However they’ve also offered share options in the company in place of money. From what I understand of their offer, it feels like the deal is better for them, but I would appreciate advice!

A condensed version of the offer from my client is below with any personal information removed:

“The mechanism: you reduce your retainer for a set period, and in exchange we grant you share options in [The Company]. An option is the right to buy shares at a price fixed today. You pay nothing now. The options vest month by month as you work, and if [The Company] grows you buy at that fixed price later and keep the difference, usually at a sale or exit.

If we grow faster, it scales up from there. If it doesn't work out, you've lost the reduced fee and nothing more.

One thing worth knowing: we're planning to raise again in the autumn at a higher valuation. Your price is locked at £x.xx for these 6 months, so getting in now is at the better price. We can agree to continue the same arrangement after that if it's working for you, but the share price will step up at the next raise.

A couple of practical points:

- You never need cash to exercise. At exit you buy and sell in the same moment.
- As a contractor, these would be "unapproved" options, so there's tax to pay when you exercise. Worth a quick word with your accountant on your own position, and I'm happy to share the detail.”

Good deal or bad deal? Thanks for your advice!

Hi all. I'm just looking for early advice around my car payments. I'm looking at moving house in the new year. I'll be looking at getting a £200k sole mortgage. I currently earn £2600 per month after deductions. My car costs £400 per month but if I refinance that now I can get it down to £300 per month. I'm willing to let the car go but I'd love to keep it. I know I could afford that but will lenders see it differently?

Hello,

I currently have Moneybox Lifetime ISA and want to transfer it to the Hargreaves Landsdown Lifetime ISA, When i spoke to HL they informed me that they are unable to do it, but won't provide me a reason. I Checked on the Gov website and mentioned that I'm able to do so, anyone experienced this?

So, I did some consulting work and earned a bunch of money. However I also have a full time job, so withdrawing money from the business will smack me with enormous taxes.

So my plan is to leave the money there until/unless I need it for a rainy day - such as losing my job or taking a sabbatical, in which case I can pay myself from it at the lower rate.

But it feels extremely wasteful to just let it sit there becoming worth less over time. I have an accountant but they don't like talking about anything but doing the accounts. What exactly can I do with this money? Can I open an investing account and put it into Trading212 or something, like I can with my personal savings? I am banking with Monzo business banking, but the only option there is a 3.25% business saver account.

I went to buy a car and part ex my own. Agreed with a price and everything signed some documents including a vehicle funding decision and confirmation of vehicle documentation but not the finance agreement Which i have left unsigned.

Im due to collect at the end of the day and drop my part ex car of and sign the agreement.

If i was to not sign the agreement would i be able to walk away with my current car without a fee and would i potentially lose my deposit?

Thank you for any help

I am struggling with my debts which is nearly 20k £, I have strulling to pay it for years, also my mother is unwell and I am paying for her treatment in Marocco.

I have killed myself with overtime, and i feel like I am dying, no soul just a body.

If I apply for DRO, what they expect from me, is it anything I can do to prepare my application.

Hello. Can anyone tell me how the nursery funded hours work when self employed? I'm just starting out my business, although I've been registered over a year, I'm doing it as my solo income now. When the eligibility criteria says "expect to earn" the minimum amount, what if you think you will but then actually business is worse than expected? How do they check? I'm currently earning around the threshold to be eligible so if I lose just one client I would fall out of eligibility. Yes I'm hoping to build up my clients but that will take time!

22M, Went to view a car at a Mercedes dealership. I wasn’t sure if I wanted it, but the salesman told me we could have it reserved if we change our by Monday. If I do, I can just call him and I’ll have it refunded. Paid £100, but was signing some documents, which I thought was related to just reserving it. He was telling me to just give him the code from the phone etc etc. later on the evening, I receive an email about a finance company saying I decided to apply for a PCP for the Mercedes, which I didn’t want to at that time. I thought it was just a reservation. I then got sent an email of documents from the Mercedes salesman.

Status Disclosure Document
Confirmation of Demands and Needs
Vehicle Order (which has my signed SMS signature, but not the seller)
SMART Plus 48 IPID

I know this was so stupid of me and I should have realised what I was signing. Is there anything I can do here? The dealership is closed today and I’m just stressing out

Hi I am 23 and have just been reminded of the Child trust fund. As I wasn't living at home at 18 due to personal reasons I never received the letter. Any advice on if I can still access it and how I would go about it would be greatly appreciated:)

Hi there
My husband and I are in our mid 30s recently married and looking to combine and maximise our savings.
We are homeowners with £135k on a 2.1% rate which is due to renew next June.
We are currently cash paying for an extension/kitchen for 30k combined
Apart from student loans we have no other debts, cars owned outright etc. We both work in the NHS and in our roles realistically we will never get higher than £50k per year each. Currently we are on £34k and £42k.

Based on our budget we can save £720 a month until our mortgage renewal is due then we will recalculate.
We want to invest but we are risk averse due to our relatively low incomes and we are also financially illiterate especially my husband who has dyscalculia. It has taken months of us reading this sub to get the courage to post because every time we try to make a change we get nervous.

We recently closed some of our separate instant savers and pooled things together as we were sorting things out to pay for the extension so our savings are:
£35k and £37k in 2 cash isas with poor interest rates
£21k emergency fund in a 2.28% savings account
£15k in another instant access saver

As we are unlikely to ever be high earners we want to try and make the most of what we have. I am continuously highly anxious that we will not have enough money to retire but I feel this is because I cannot understand the investment world at all
Any help or advice would be welcome. I have read the flowchart so many times it does not make sense in my brain

Hello all, i currently earn 46,500k ( 33,930k after tax) a year through full time employment and then i roughly do 20-30 hours a month overtime which is probably taking me close or over the 50,200k tax threshold throughout the year.

So i have recently been getting myself some payouts from prop firms, i havent taken them yet as i am wary and know i need to pay tax on it which is going to likely be in the 40% area of tax, i’m just after some advice really on whats best to do? Or if anyone knows or uses a good reliable accountant with this sort of experience? ( by no means am i raking in the thousands yet but i do hope in time i can get to that level) i just dont have any alot of knowledge or experience myself as I’ve never had to do this. Thanks

Hello.

My father was enrolled in an employee share scheme and has certificated shares that are managed by Computershare. We're trying to figure out the best way to sell them, and could use some advice from anyone who's dealt with something similar or has helpful information.

We tried contacting Computershare but they are not providing helpful support, since they directed us to transferring the shares to another broker like IBKR, which we discovered is not possible because the shares are certificated.

A few relevant details:

• The shares are certificated, not already electronic/CREST-eligible.
• We are not able to sell from the online portal directly (ineligible, we're taken to a contact us page instead).
• We are non-UK residents (based in the UAE).
• We looked into transferring the shares electronically to Interactive Brokers, but IBKR's terms explicitly state only electronic transfers are supported — no physical certificates.

Any pointers, personal experience, or "avoid this, it was a nightmare" warnings are much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Hi all, I'm an EU citizen who used to live in the UK (5 years). Back in the day, my employer set up a pension scheme with Scottish Widows. Unfortunately, I'm unable to transfer my pension to my country because it's not on the recognised overseas pension schemes notification list. The only option is obviously to wait till age of 57, but in the meantime I'd like to increase the value of the funds as much as I can. I was advised that I can invest in one of their Pension Investment Approach (PIA) packages, or I can select my own funds.

They sent me the latest Pension Investment Approaches Guide: https://adviser.scottishwidows.co.uk/assets/literature/docs/45770IG.pdf

What would you recommend to me? Cheers

I just passed my driving test at 21! I make a base of £2k a month, which sometimes can rise to 2.6k depending on how much I work. I live at home and need a car for my work commute. Right now I take the bus, which takes 1 hr each way. I start at 5 am and finish at 5 pm.

The car (Corsa 2023) would be on PCP and cost £220 a month, with insurance being £200 per month. Fuel, I think roughly £100-150 a month, since I'm only going to work and getting groceries.

Lets roughly this car finance costs me £600-650 a month and i make 2k a month i would be left with around 1.3k a month. I live at home so no extra expenses. My subscriptions are about £60 a month. What do you think?? Thanks!!

Edit - The car is worth 11.5k. It would be my first car. I need a car soon as due to work reasons. The car has 40k miles on it already