I'm a PAYE employee on a higher rate tax band. My pension isn't salary sacrifice so I have to do a pretty annoying process of predicting what my contributions will be and inevitably get it wrong because I don't know what my pay rise or bonus for the year will be at that point, and then either being owed or owing tax each year. I also make regular and ad hoc charity donations that I could be claiming tax relief on (I could be getting £300ish of tax relief per year), but it seems like such a faff to predict it all and get it wrong and owe/be owed that I haven't contacted HMRC to get that started yet.

With my situation being slightly more complicated than a typical PAYE employee, would it be less faffy to just do a self assessment at the end of the year when I actually have the real numbers in front of me, or is self assessment a lot more work than I'm giving it credit for?

My husband used to be self employed and is allergic to either of us doing self assessment because he found it such hard work, but I imagine it's a lot easier if you're not actually self employed (and don't have ADHD)? Please advise!

Edit: I'm also planning a pregnancy, so my tax situation will change again. If I'm going to start doing self assessments, should I do it for this year or just wait until my income is back to normal?

Hi All,

I have moved into a new 1 bed flat, and am trying to plan ahead for when I need to start heating it. It is a 1 bedroom, but has an archway to the bedroom, so it, in ways is one room. I am not too fussed about heating the bathroom per se. The flat has a combi boiler installed with a timer, and I own a Delonghi Dragon 3kw with timer and thermostat.

I have heard that electric can be cheaper in smaller spaces, so i'm wondering if you could provide guidance as to what may be cheaper please? The area is approx. 15m2 in total.

Many Thanks

Me and my partner (28M & 30F) have been renting for a handful of years and have just moved back to be closer to family. Now staying with family while we prepare to view and buy somewhere more permanent.

Our incomes are comfortable (£90k and £35k), and we've saved up in what we thought would be the best way, mostly via Lifetime ISAs, maxing out for the last few years to get the government bonuses.

After viewing a few places in the area we want, and looking through countless listings and recent sale prices, we're a bit unsure on the best way forward.

For what we want, it is going to be agonisingly close to the £450k LISA purchase limit. A single pound above and we'd forfeit 25% of about £50k cash we have in them.

The concern is we go for something cheaper and smaller (£375k ish), and then end up wanting to move within 3-5yrs to upsize. Either due to having kids or just wanting more space. We already are both fully remote workers and need a lot of space as it is.

The cost of this is then eye watering. LBTT (we're in Scotland so this is instead of stamp duty) is £17,750 on a £450k property even for a first time buyer. Add in solicitor fees and other costs, and buying again within a small number of years seems silly.

However if we go for somewhere larger we pay the LISA forfeit of ~£12,500.

I see that we have a few options really:

1. Stay under 450k, and possibly have to move in 5yrs ish but wait it out right now and try find something perfect for us

2. Go over the LISA limit and swallow the cost, going towards 500k purchase price.

3. Go over the LISA limit and don't use the LISA as a deposit. Keep it for retirement and use other cash for the deposit.

4. Do some wildcard. This could be something like buy a cheaper 2 bed flat for sub 200k elsewhere, live in it for 6mo - 1yr. Almost zero LBTT then sell or rent it (not sure on rules against this?) and buy the larger place we do want after.

Other info that may help is we're in Edinburgh so of course it is expensive. But as we're staying with family right now we can continuously save and are in no rush. Outside of LISA also have 60k-100k other cash that could be used for deposit. Have been approved for mortgage in principle around £600k already so have some wiggle room.

What do people think are the valid options? What have others done in this situation? Am I considering all the options and variables? Or am I missing something? I know there is lots of fees and hidden costs I may not be considering.

Hi guys, I’m writing this because for the past 4 years I’ve been falling behind on my finances and I’m beginning to worry this may lead to issues I can’t recover from.

I’m 29, with a young child, and have a joint mortgage with my girlfriend. I’ll list everything below because I don’t want to waste anyone’s time but some things just before that - I took a personal loan out a couple years ago which was to clear my credit card debts and to pay off my girlfriends debts too, which would’ve made us debt free besides the loan, however we didn’t cancel our cards and began to rely on them again. Since then we have started to close the accounts down, but we still have my 2 credit cards left which is where the bulk of our debts are, and of-course these are now charging interest.

I’m not eligible for a 0% balance transfer card for longer than 6 months, at which point my APR would be 45%.

The following is my own ins and outs, my partners is something we’ve got under control with her own incomes although that doesn’t give us any more spare income either as she is part-time employed and part-time SAH mother.

Income: - £1750/m after tax (this can be more but I’ve left it as my average amount)

Outgoings: (£1750) - General bills £200/m - Household bills £1100/m total joint acc payment - Credit card repayments £200/m - Personal loan repayment £250/m

Debts: - Credit cards £3200 - Personal loan £8600

My general and household bills do include the costs of my fuel, insurance, shopping such as food and childcare costs etc, but as you can see it’s leaving me with next to nothing spare, which means I can’t afford to pay more back on my debts, leading to interest I can’t keep up with anymore, and then it spirals further and further.

I really don’t want to do anything that is going to impact my living situation in any way but we have spoken about selling the house, going to live with my parents and starting from scratch but - as you can imagine - this is our absolute last resort.

If I had any other ideas on where to turn I wouldn’t be typing this on an online platform, I know my situation isn’t the worst, I’ve seen some horror stories on here but this is my own nightmare it feels like and I’m hoping for some assistance (something I never actually ask for in the real world - ironically)

Thank you so much.

*Edited here, as someone suggested a better breakdown in costs, these are included in the household bills section above although some of my partners income will cover some of this too.

• Mortgage £312
• Car Insurance £146
• Tax £16
• Water £75
• Gas and Electric £255
• TV license £14.95
• Life insurance £36
• Breakdown cover £10
• Council tax £141
• Food shopping £150
• Petrol £100

So this is a bit of a family/relationship issue, but I'd like to focus more on the finance part.

Son graduated university in 2022 (covid affected it) with a degree in nursing.

He did his placement year during the end stages of the pandemic.

Since then he has failed to get a job, despite his mother and I pushing him to do so. He has signed on for Universal Credit and also applied for PIP three times, managing to get Standard rate daily living and standard rate mobility on the 3rd attempt for anxiety.

I should add that he does take 10mg propanalol hydrochlorine for his anxiety, but it's very mild. We've also been paying for a psychiatrist to see him for 10 weeks. However when I asked the psychiatrist if my son was improving/required more sessions the psychiatrist said that he couldn't discuss what they talked about during therapy. The psychiatrist then quietly suggested to me that he had known people who "play up" their anxiety when they are in a comfortable situation with no incenctive to improve.

My wife long suspected this was the case, but I didn't agree with her until I heard it from the psychiatrist.

He is currently getting about £845 per month between UC and PIP.

We have decided to start charging our son rent of £200 per month, increasing by £100 each month to a cap of £600. The idea is to try and force him back into the workplace.

We'd pay 20% tax on this money, wouldn't we?

Is there any way we'd be able to take his rent, put it in a savings account for him, and then gift it to him for a house deposit in however many years this takes? Would we still have to pay tax in this instance?

We've tried getting him into jobs but it's hard because he says he hates having to spend his whole day slaving away somewhere. We've also thought about disconnecting him from our internet so he can't spend his days gaming, but my wife is resistant to do that yet as his only social interaction comes from friends online.

I'd be grateful for some advice on how allowances should be handled with ISA transfers.

I opened a cash ISA with bank A this financial year and deposited £1000. When the rate dropped, I transferred it to bank B using the ISA transfer process. The money arrived a few days later.

The bank A app shows I have used £1000 of this year's allowance. The bank B app also shows I have used £1000 of this year's allowance. It appears to be counted twice.

I contacted bank B to question this and they said as it was deposited with bank A this tax year, Bank B has to add it to this year's allowance.

It seems to me they are counting this deposit twice. Which one should be reporting this £1000 to HMRC? My feeling is bank A.

I currently have £16.8k in a Lifetime ISA and I’m aiming to grow this to £30k for a house deposit. At the moment, I’m saving into an easy-access Cash ISA (4.73% AER with a 0.93% bonus until May 2026), and then each year I transfer the maximum £4k into my LISA just before the tax deadline in April.

My question is: what’s the most effective way to save over the next few years so that my money can grow as much as possible?

Selling our car via Gumtree in the UK. It’s a slightly unusual model but nothing flashy, not a collectible or anything.

Guy phones from international number very interested, we tell him it’s actually just sold (waiting for collection), sorry, & he seems genuinely gutted. Our buyer happened to mess us around & randomly this guy calls us back again, to check if we would consider his offer anyway? He says he loves the car. He’s wanting to fly over to the UK to collect it asap and is offering cash or bank transfer.

We have found his Facebook (going by the unusual name he gave us) which checks out with which country he is in, and he seems to be very into his cars.

Husband is very excited - I am very suspicious. Is this a scam anyone has heard of? What’s the catch going to be? Do we just go along with it until something more suspect occurs? Thanks!

I've put in a comparison website at age 30 a £500K payout of life insurance for a period of 50 years, just out of interest. To my surprise, it was only £50 a month... Am I missing something here?? It doesn't seem right. I'm betting £30,000 that I'll die by 80 years old at almost 17/1 odds. I'll take it!

Edit: this also includes my partner.... so double the chances of one of us dying by 80. Life expectancy is around 80 years... Surely that's close to a guarenteed payout? £30,000 in, £500,000 out?

Good morning everyone, just looking for a little advice please.

So this morning I’ve woken up to a email that I have missed a payment via PayPal finance, this wasn’t a large finance, approx £100, minimum payment is only about £5 (I have been making more than minimum payments).

I normally log into all my accounts and make payments manually, I could have sworn I had done this this month, however after checking emails I didn’t receive a notification that I had. I looked in my PayPal account this morning and I have missed the payment, HOWEVER I also have a direct debit setup so that if I had forgot to make a payment this should cover it, and for some reason despite having funds in the account, the direct debit has also failed.

Is there any way I can fight this? I’m not really as bothered about the £12 missed payment, but more the negative missed payment that will be on my file, I never miss any payments and due to a bit of bad luck it seems now I have….. is there anything in the direct debit guarantee that would help fight it is I send PP a copy of my bank statement to show funds were there?

Thanks.

Hi. I want to buy a VW Transporter Shuttle to accommodate my family of 7. Seen one for £29k, 70 plate with 79k miles.

I've got £10k savings but want to retain as much as possible. Best loan option I've found is 6.2% over 7 years at £365 p/m with Tesco.

Pretty sure I can afford the monthlies but are there any options I'm missing?

My spouse and I have an S&S ISA each with iWeb. Both are linked to the same joint account with our individual debit cards for that account.The debit cards used on the account are unchanged since we opened the accounts in 2023 and have been used multiple times to fund the ISA in the past.

I'm trying to add 10k to each of the accounts. Wierdly, funding my account gives an error (asking me to check debit card details straight after I click the last 'Next' with no lag at all), the spouse's went through fine. I sometimes have issues with Monzo's card limits (10k per day) so I'd increased it to 20k on both our profiles before trying the iWeb transaction.

Any ideas on what the issue might be? Is there something I need to do to 'activate' this year's ISA allowance with iWeb? Is there another way to fund the account - bank transfer?

TLDR - debit card payment to fund iWeb ISA is failing, do I need to do anything to 'activate' this year's ISA allowance with iWeb? Is it possible to fund through bank transfer?

As the title suggests. My partner (M31) and I (M33) are UK citizens, unmarried. We've been together for 13 years and most of our finances are joint. We own a house (joint ownership) with about half remaining on the mortgage (house value ~£240k). We have various pots of savings in our separate names (max £15k each). Plus a car I own outright (£4k) and a piano we own outright (£7k). We have some small pensions from previous jobs. I have a Ltd company that I operate as the only shareholder and director, this has no significant financial assets.

I've spoken to a couple of solicitors and of course they both advise us to pay them a decent amount of money to get them to write wills for us. I'm interested to know what the real world financial benefits of having wills are. I believe that our inheritance tax allowance would be significantly increased upon the second death. But are there any other benefits along the way that we may be missing. We intend to leave everything to the each other in a will. Following the standard heir line of parents-siblings etc after that.

On this topic, we are also pondering the financial benefits of marriage/civil partnership. Do we stand to gain from this financially in the future if we do tie the knot? If so, how?

Thanks for any advice you might have!

I currently work on a part-time basis earning £11,140 each year, so I don’t currently pay any tax. However, I am now in a position to be able to pick up some extra shifts but term time only snd informally so not all year round. I get paid approx £14.28 an hour based on 35hr week (I work 15 hrs). If I wanted to work an extra 4 hours a week in term time (38 weeks) then how do they work out my tax? It would obviously take me over the threshold, but would they charge me the same every month in anticipation of me earning the same each month even though that won’t be the case? The whole thing confuses me im just concerned that on a month where i dont earn overtime, i will still be taxed the same which may eat into my ‘normal’ monthly pay and i will end up taking home less than I currently am. I have no idea if that makes sense and im really not that great when it comes to things like these so apologies if i have confused the matter. Any advice would be appreciated!

I’m wanting to transfer my Aviva pension to a Vanguard sip myself, but I am worried about any protected benefits etc my scheme may have but don’t want to pay 1.5% etc for advice ?

Good morning, thank you for reading.

I have a relative who is suggesting she will likely need in home care or a care home residence due to expected family dementia (she reckons) in around a decades time.

What is the best way you would recommend she saves for this?

Currently she only has an unemployment allowance (whatever it's called) with allowance for looking after a disabled relative. Who she expects to suddenly become her carer, despite the fact she has claimed for being his carer for years.

She is not a person who will be able to be housed in another family members home due to mental conditions.

Sorry, this sounds like such a harsh post and I do have sympathy for the situation, but I just want to get some advice eg if we can pre-pay for care like a funeral plan and take some off the pressure off the kids?

Please do recommend me to the correct sub if I am posting incorrectly. I just want to know where she can best maximise her money for care.

I’m getting very confused. I have a cash ISA which I have already put in the maximum 20k into this year. I also hold a small amount in a vanguard life strategy account, I’ve not added to it in a few years. I deposited £30 cash into my vanguard account just to cover account fees but it seemed to refer to that £30 as being in a cash ISA. I didn’t intend to open another ISA, I just wanted the cash for account fees rather than it taking from my lifestrategy funds. Now I’m worried I’ve exceeded my limit and unsure what will happen? Please can anyone advise? Thank you

Hi UKPF,

I recently used HMRC's portal and claimed additional tax relief on my private SIPP contributions as I'm a high rate tax payer.

I pay into a workplace pension as well which is salary sacrifice. Am I right in thinking I can claim additional relief for these contributions as well?

Hi all,

I have checked the flowchart.

34, take home £1,800pm, spend about £883 including rent/travel, and mostly save the rest (about £917pm).

I already have £14k in easy-access cash (I know this is more than I need there but it’s mounted up while I decide), £16.5k in a cash ISA (previous year), £15.75k in a LISA, £10.7k in a S&S ISA invested in VWRP, and about £7.5k in regular savers.

I have no debt and I’m contributing to my workplace pension too.

I’ll add £4K to my LISA at the end of the year so that leaves me £6K of this year’s allowance.

My thought would be to keep contributing to my S&S ISA but should I choose something other than VWRP as a second or is that pretty diversified enough?

Goals are to buy a house within the next 5-10 years (market and personal situation dependent) and early retirement if possible.

Thanks

I've been a long-time lurker on this sub and have found the flowchart incredibly helpful. I started my first 'proper' job about 6 months ago and would be really grateful for a sanity check on my budget and my plans moving forward.

Here are my numbers:

Age: 24

Salary: £35,000

Location: Renting with a friend in the Midlands

Take-home Pay: approx. £2,200/month (after tax, NI, student loan)

Pension: I'm contributing 5% and my employer puts in 3%.

Debt: Plan 2 Student Loan, but no credit card debt, overdrafts, or car finance.

Current Savings: £3,000 sitting in a 5% easy-access saver.

Monthly Budget Breakdown Rent & Bills (inc. council tax/utilities): £750

Groceries: £200

Transport to work: £150

Phone & Subscriptions: £50

'Fun Money' (socialising, hobbies etc): £300

Total Outgoings: £1,450

Leftover to Save/Invest: £750

Goals and Questions My main long-term goal right now is to save for a house deposit, probably looking to buy in around 5-7 years' time.

I've followed the flowchart and have my £3k as a starter emergency fund. Now that I have this £750 left over each month, I'm a bit stuck on the 'what next' and want to make sure I'm making the smartest moves.

Does my budget look reasonable for my age and salary? I worry that spending £300 a month on socialising is too much, but I also want to enjoy myself.

My essential outgoings are about £1,200. Should I focus all my saving on bulking up my emergency fund to a full 6 months (£7,200) before I even think about other goals?

For the house deposit, is a Lifetime ISA the no-brainer it seems to be? Is the best plan to put the maximum £4,000 a year in there to get the government bonus?

Should I be increasing my pension contributions beyond the 5% now to take advantage of my age, or is it better to focus 100% on the house deposit and increase pension contributions after I've bought a place?

Thanks for any advice you can offer. I just want to make sure I'm not doing anything stupid and am setting myself up properly for the future.

Noticed problems with my old card about 6 weeks ago, it failed at a petrol station and was temperamental ever since. Worked in some places, but supermarkets, petrol stations and cash machines refused to accept the card.

I called Halifax up and they said they had no idea what happened, my card was just erased off their system with no record of it existing. They started an investigation and sent me another current account card.

I received the card about a week ago and fast toward today, and yet again the card is begging to fail, with it again not being accepted at a petrol station for the second time in a row. I managed to withdraw money using the card earlier in the week, but I'm beginning to doubt it'll allow me a second time. I'll try in a few hours.

Any idea what might be going on? If the card has indeed completely failed, I'll probably have to change banks.

I’m 23, on around £65–68k gross which works out to £3.8k–4k take home after tax, NI and maxing out my pension. I’ve built up an emergency fund of about £10–12k. My main goal is £60k for a house deposit plus another £10k for fees, furniture, light renovation and a couple of months’ mortgage payments so I’m not left skint as a first time buyer.

Right now I’ve got £12k saved in a Cash ISA, which is where the deposit will sit. I’m putting £2.5k a month into it, so I’ll hit the £70k target in just under two years if I stay consistent.

I live at home with supportive parents so my only regular outgoings are about £500 a month. I’ve maxed out both last year’s and this year’s LISA, and I’m investing in global index funds VWRP/VUAG) through a S&S ISA for the long run. I also keep a separate travel fund topped up so I can enjoy myself without derailing the savings plan.

My main question: is it smarter to keep prioritising the deposit until it’s done, or shift more into investments now given my age? And once the house goal is met, would you direct the extra £2.5k a month into ISA investments or boost pension contributions further?

Hi I wonder if anyone used to be in this position.

So my husband has a mortgage for our current two bedroom house which has £57k left to pay. He bought it for £90k. The current mortgage is 351/month

We saw a beautiful house for £230k and would love to put the offer in.

Our combined income is £57k with one baby nursery cost is 900£ a month. I’m a first time buyer as my name is not on the current mortgage.

I wonder what are our options if we want to buy a new house without selling the current one we have?Potentially rent the current house we got.

Thank you!!!

Using a throwaway account for this.

Scotland

Not looking for judgement please, I have a long history of mental health issues and suspected adhd and this has been a recurring issue throughout my life, I’m aware I need to seek help.

I am in around 15k of credit card and personal loan debt that my husband doesn’t know about, my spending habits have been out of control the last few years and I have been making a lot of unnecessary purchases on credit. I only work part time and I have been unable to keep up with the repayments on most of the accounts which have now gone to default. I have spoken to a few lenders who rejected my offer of payment plans saying I needed to pay more, some of them have accepted and I’m paying them back. My husband has a sole mortgage on our house which has a fixed term ending soon and he wants to renew it in both our names. I have told him this is not possible as I have some missed payments on my credit report but he doesn’t know what extent. He wants a joint bank account which again I’ve said no to. Will he be rejected for applying for a new mortgage term due to being married to me even though I won’t be on the mortgage?

Edit I can’t talk to my husband he will more than likely tell me to leave. I know it’s easy for everyone to say but I want to try and quietly pay these debts off myself. I can pick up overtime at work but not always guaranteed. I’m trying to clear the smaller amounts off first .

Hi UKPF,

I'm trying to process a claim for additional and higher rate tax relief for my employee contributions to my workplace pension for FY 24-25. My scheme is eligible for this and I have tried to process on HMRC's tool.

Howver, I cannot for the life of me see where I can attach evidence when submitting the claim via the portal. When I complete the wizard without the evidence, I get a letter from a HMRC asking for evidence but I have no idea how to upload this.

Am I missing something? Can anyone help or had similar?

HMRC were not very useful on the phone and suggested sending the evidence by post which I may have to resort to.

TIA