r/UKPersonalFinance

It wasn't the best financial descision (I could have earned more in a savings account than paying it off), but it was under £1000 left and I thought - you know what, let's just tick that box. Dropped out of uni in my first year so it was an expensive mistake, but one that's finally behind me!

Let's just hope I don't need that £1000 for home repairs at 25% now but hurray

Very fortunate to have done it (although no degree to show), so not rubbing it anyone's face, just a little easter celebration

My wife and I (mid-30s) run a Limited Company from a commercial unit in Manston, Kent. We are set to inherit £200k via a Deed of Variance and we are trying to decide between personal security and business freedom.

The Situation:

• Home: We have £135k left on our residential mortgage. Mortgage finishes March 2053. 4.57% Fixed term finishes in September this year.

• Business: We rent a unit in Manston Business park. We’ve spent a fair bit building inside the unit. It is essentially "immovable"—moving the business elsewhere would mean losing the entire build-out. It’s not an easy or practical structure to dismantle and move into a new unit. We would essentially need to build again should we continue the same business model in our own or rented commercial unit elsewhere.

• The Landlord: No issues or missed rent payments. We pay the insurance and site fees, and we are responsible for all building repairs/upkeep, rent reviews happen every 2 years (rent has risen every time)

• The Location: We are right next to Manston Airport, which is set to reopen for air freight in the coming years, likely bumping up local commercial property values and rent costs. No doubt once someone starts paying hugely inflated rent in other units on our business park a precedent will be set and our business will not be able to sustain that kind of pressure should it happens to us.

The Options:

• Option A: Attempt to Buy the Business Unit personally (not through our businesses Limited Company) from our landlords ASAP. We estimate the unit is worth £230k-£250k given our improvements internally (looking to have a commercial estate agent give us a fair market value soon). We would attempt to buy the freehold in our names and allow the business to occupy it for £0 rent (or very low). This would stop the monthly payments to the landlord, which we could then make greater use of. We already pay into standard Retail investor SIPPs from our limited company profits.

• Option B: Pay off the Home Mortgage. We clear the house (£135k) and invest the remainder. We’d be personally debt-free, but we’d still be under the landlord's thumb at the business which ultimately pays our wage, and losing the business through something like rent doubling or tripling would be a very bitter pill.

• Option C: Buy a New Investment Unit. There are new and existing builds on the same estate for £190k+. We could buy one as an investment to rent out and use the money from the unit to help our own personal finances in paying off our mortgage, but this doesn't solve the issue of our own studio being in a rented space.

Our Thinking:

We’ve looked into attempting a purchase of the commercial unit we are currently in through our SIPP, but we’ve decided against it for now. Aside from the fact we don’t have enough money in our SIPP’s, and our backdated annual thresholds not allowing the full £200000 to be massaged into them (I believe), We ideally want the cash flow to firstly secure the businesses future over the long term, but also improve our quality of life via dividends, rather than locking the money away until we’re 60+ (I’m expecting the pension age to rise again by the time we get close to it)

I’m sure it’s a long shot but we both think making a cash offer over the market value of the commercial unit to our landlord is the best chance we have of getting them to even consider our proposal. Previous attempts over the years to try and purchase the building from them, albeit with a commercial mortgage, have been batted away for a myriad of reasons.

Just wanted a sanity check and see if anyone who has attempted to do this before has had any success, or thoughts on an alternative solution that has worked for you.

I’m planning to pay off my £24k mortgage balance in December this year once I reach the age of 55 and take this amount out of my smallish personal pension fund of approx. £100k. I understand I can take 25% tax free so that’s the plan. I realise it may not be the best financial move but in my position of having 4 young kids at home and wife not currently working due to child care costs it will make a massive difference to our lives having the £450 monthly mortgage payment which we can use to build some savings and even afford an annual holiday. My question is what happens with the balance of my pension pot? Do i need to reinvest or will it remain in the same plan?

Hey guys, need advice on what to do with my student loan of i.go abroad forever... for the last ten years or so I've been working low paying jobs, my student loan debt increases more than is getting paid off. Current company is doing redundancies so...

I'm seriously considering moving to Bangkok permanently to live with my partner of three years and their family. I don't mind Thailand. The cost of living over there is much lower but so is the salary you can get. Plan is to get married and settle there and work there.

How does my student loan repayments work if I go abroad? Is it null because I'm no longer a UK taxpayer or is it more like a personal loan and I'll get arrested if I stop repayments when I return for Christmas?

I'm really worried I won't earn enough to both live a new life and pay for this one to haunt me. Can I declare bankruptcy and get rid of this debt before I go? I haven't got 70k to pay it off 😅 I can barely afford the 100's they take off me each month anyway. Sorry if that sounds silly, I just don't know what my options are and don't want to mess things up badly for the future.

Any advice would be really appreciated!!

Hi all, looking for some advice. Please be gentle as I’m going through a divorce and my life has had to unexpectedly pivot in recent months

Mid 40s, one child in nursery for another year

I am keeping the family home in the divorce but need to give my ex a lump sum once the mortgage fix ends next spring

Residential property worth £400k, mortgage remaining £210k 4.5% interest 18 years

I have a BTL flat that I have tried to sell but is proving difficult - value £160k mortgage £90k - service charge p/m £180 which is a killer.

Salary £80k, rental income £11k, company car, I also get a bonus which I salary sacrifice to keep my income under £100k

£20k in S&S ISA

£120k in pension (my good salary only happened relatively recently)

Questions:

1. Should I pay off my ex by remortgaging or by selling my BTL? The tax on the BTL means it makes a loss but the market for selling flats is terrible and I’m worried I will need to keep cutting the price to sell it.

2. I’m going from quite a comfortable double income lifestyle to what will be more stretched position. I’m oscillating between a ‘have fun and live for now’ approach with fun holidays and trips for me and my kid and ‘protect yourself, you have nobody else to rely on’ careful approach. Is there anything I should do immediately to shore up my financial position?

Once my kid is out of nursery that will help cover the extra mortgage contribution I need to make

M, 47 single, with a salary of £81k per year. Currently have around £115k saved in pensions.

I usually just accept the standard pensions contribution and don't bother putting any more in, but was thinking to start making more efficient pension contributions. I'm thinking of putting 30,730 per year towards my pension and wanted to get feedback as to whether this is too much or not?

I have about £120k left on my mortgage and my out going costs total around £1100 per month (includes mortgage payments, council tax, energy, travel and food). I don't have any kids so I should be ok sacrificing down to the £50,270 limit. Based on my calculations I should still have £2000 per month for spending/saving, which should be ok for me. I also have around £30k in savings (emergency, cash and S&S isas)

Is this too much to sacrifice or does it make sense?

Appreciate your feedback/thoughts.

I’m planning to move in with my partner later this year. She owns her home mortgage-free, and I’d be contributing to bills and household expenses (instead of her having flatmates).

I’m trying to decide whether to rent out or sell my flat.

Current situation:

- Flat value: ~£232k (estimate from my mortgage provider’s app; bought for £220k in Aug 2023)

- Remaining mortgage: ~£174k (≈75% LTV)

- Rate: 5.39% fixed until Aug 2028

- Monthly payment: ~£1,000 (I currently overpay but I don't plan to overpay if I rent it)

- Salary: ~£76k (so 42% Scottish higher rate)

Rental estimate according to letting agent:

Rent: £1,250–£1,300 (say £1,275)

Letting agent: 8% (they gave a good deal I think)

Factor: ~£200/month

Other costs (~£200–300/year): gas safety, PAT, legionella, smoke alarm checks, etc.

Rough numbers

Annual rent:

~£15,300

After agent:

~£14,076

After factor + other costs:

~£11,400

Mortgage:

~£12,000/year

Final before tax: –£50/month

Taxable profit after dedicating all expenses except mortgage:

~£11,400

Tax at 42%:

~£4,800

Mortgage interest (est.): ~£9,400 → 20% credit = ~£1,880

Tax due: ~£2,900 per year

Final position: ~–£250/month after tax

How I’m thinking about it is that I’d be paying ~£250/month to keep the flat, but I’d no longer be paying £1,000/month to live there. I keep the asset, tenant covers most of the mortgage, and there’s potential long-term appreciation.

Questions

* Do these numbers (especially tax) look right?

* Am I missing anything important?

* Would you keep and rent, or sell and release ~£50k equity? I realize I can gradually put that into S&S ISA and not have to worry about tax.

* Would switching to interest-only BTL materially improve this?

Thanks! appreciate any input!

Hi all, hoping for a bit of perspective because my situation feels slightly awkward from a finance standpoint.

I’m an American living and working in the UK. My take-home pay is about £3,300/month after tax. I currently have about £14k in savings in the UK, and around $13k in savings/investments in the US.

One annoying complication is that because I’m a US citizen, a lot of the normal UK investing routes are basically off limits (or at least very complicated) because of US tax rules around PFICs etc. So things like typical ISAs with funds don’t seem very viable unless I want to deal with a huge reporting headache. At the moment I’m mostly just sitting on cash and a small amount of US investments.

The main thing I’m trying to figure out is how to structure my finances so I can afford to live alone. I’ve been sharing for years and it’s honestly starting to take a toll on my quality of life, so having my own place is becoming a pretty big priority for me.

For context:

- Take-home: ~£3,300/month

- UK savings: ~£14k

- US savings/investments: ~$13k

- No debt

I know living alone in London is expensive and I’m trying to think realistically about what’s sustainable.

A few things I’m wondering:

- What proportion of income would be reasonable to spend on rent in London in my situation?

- Given the investing limitations as a US citizen, does it make sense to just keep building cash savings for now?

- Are there any investment approaches that actually work well for US citizens living in the UK?

I’m also curious if people have suggestions for ways to increase income on the side. I have two master’s degrees (both in social sciences) and work in a policy/research-related role. If anyone has ideas for side work that tends to pay reasonably well in that space (tutoring, research interviews, editing, consulting, etc.), I’d be interested to hear what people have found worthwhile.

Would really appreciate any advice, especially from anyone who has dealt with the US/UK tax weirdness or made living alone work on a similar income.

Thanks!

I’m a UK citizen who’s living here my whole life. My residence has always been in the Uk.

Around 20 years ago my father started to invest in land in Oman (where he has citizenship). Around 10 years ago I also started to purchase land, however all the assets were under his name due to the ease in the paperwork.

According to his will, if he was to die, I would be the sole recipient and under Omani law my name will go down as his sole heir. The tricky thing is as a son of a Omani national, I would be registered as an Omani citizen in the official paperwork (this is because citizenship is automatic). If I accept this, I have to denounce my British citizenship which ideally I don’t want to.

This means that he’ll have to register the property before the will gets executed to me over here.

Would that mean I would have to pay tax on the transfer of assets or would that be when I sell? And if I was to pay tax when these assets get sold, are there any ways I could help reduce my tax bill? I’m aware I could transfer some allowance to my wife.

I should have done this a while ago but it slipped my mind; is it too late to set up my first ISA and deposit 20k of my savings before the end of this tax year? Just want to assess my options.

Thanks!

My grandfather has recently told me he has over £250k in a single savings account that pays 3.9% on anything up to £50k and anything above that gets only 1.01%!

Besides moving £20k per year into an ISA, what is the most tax efficient way for him to get more from his money? He owns a company and currently pays himself £12,570 per year as a salary. He is looking to sell the business within the next 2-3 years, so is a SIPP a possibility?

Not looking to use the Metal account for anything else. Does the Metal fee payment come out the account and therefore best way to set up is make a regular payment into the account?

Hey all,

Got about £5k sitting around and trying to figure out the best place to put it to earn a bit of interest without taking on risk.

I’ll need about £1.2k of it by November, but the rest I can leave untouched for roughly 12–16 months.

Not really looking to invest it (so no stocks/crypto), just want to make the most of savings rates. I’m a bit unsure whether it’s best to:

keep it all in an easy access account

split it between easy access + fixed/notice

or do something else entirely

Curious how people would approach this — especially how you’d split it given the different timelines.

Any suggestions appreciated 👍

I got a mortgage with my ex partner 3 years ago so I'm familiar with the process. Since the relationship ended a year ago I've been renting but am now looking to buy. I've just been rejected from my bank for an agreement in principle. I'm confused as I feel like it's a very small amount of money to be borrowing for someone with my income.

Amount requested: £80k house price with a £16k deposit. I put salary as £40k although it's variable

Things that could have gone against me:

-I am a supply teacher these days so no permanent contract. The first time I put myself down as a contractor and the second time as a temporary worker (chatgpt recommended this change)

-I'm on my third address in the past 12 months (have bounced around since my breakup thus now trying to buy as I'm getting more settled)

-It said "have you had a mortgage with us before?" and I said "yes". Then it asked if I had paid off the mortgage in the last 12 months - again I said yes. We had to pay an early exit fee.

-On Thursday I received a text from my last council about the final month of council tax due. They said they would send the bill in the post when I told them I moved and they never did so I hadn't paid it as I just forgot, and I'm planning on paying this on Tuesday once I have phone signal. Would this be flagging on my credit check already?

I'm in the fortunate position that I have a large stock portfolio so can buy in cash if necessary, but I would rather have a mortgage if possible. Is there anything above that would have definitely triggered it? I feel like people buy way more money than me with far more precarious finances so I don't see why I would not get a mortgage.

hi, just for some advise if possible please. I moved into a property 22nd April last year. about 6 months later I noticed my credit score take a massive hit from 900s to 300s. After doing some frustrating digging turns out it was due to missing payments with OVO energy. Upon contacting them, they advised that I owe money between 13th April and 23rd April 2025. I responded with a copy of my tenancy agreement showing that I didnt move in until 22nd. they said they'd sort it but now there are more missed payments from OVO it does not appear to be fixed.

raised a dispute with Experian and my bank, but so far nothing. I have worked for years repairing credit rating from a bad marriage. ive asked for it to be removed and my rating restored. is that feasible?

Hello,

I’m currently looking at having Solar panels and a battery system installed in my home.

The cost is roughly £13k.

There are numerous 12/24 month 0% APR deals on offer at the moment. Roughly, £3k down and £10k of a loan.

There are also some 24m 0% Credit cards on offer. Including balance transfer cards of 36m. (Usually with around 2.5-3% charge to transfer.)

If I were to pay via one of these cards, instead of going the loan route. Would I be able to get another balance transfer card at a later date if needed, to pay off whatever the remainder is?

To complicate things, there’s a couple of issues.

I’ve currently got a loan with my bank of around £21k remaining @ 6% APR which was taken out to pay a balloon payment for a car around 18months ago. (Which has currently broke down and requires a few grand to fix before i sell)

As I’m changing the car soon to a salary sac EV (reduction in total monthly outgoings by doing so) the plan was to sell this car in a month or 2, market rates showing around £30k sale value. (Auto Trader shows £30k+) so let’s say I have £9k positive equity best case.

When I sell the car, I’m guessing it’s best to clear the loan as it’s effectively costing me interest by having it. Leaving me with absolute best case of £9k. (It will be less as I need to pay to fix the thing first…)

However,

Cash flow and savings are low at the moment which makes me uncomfortable.

My new job pays less that what I’ve been used to for a few years, and I’m the sole earner in our household so things are tight at the moment.

I would definitely rather build up a nice buffer again to help me sleep better at night, all I can say is that I feel pretty secure in my industry, we’re super busy, so busy in fact that we’ve had to pause taking on more business as we just can’t support it properly.

So the questions are:

1. Should I retain the funds from selling the car to give a temporary buffer whilst building up my “proper” savings again.

2. Do the solar upgrade, using the car sale funds to basically pay for the Solar, and then near the end, 0% balance transfer the remainder of the original loan.

3. Pay off the loan in its entirety with the car sale funds. Retain whatever is left over, and forget about solar until I build my savings up again.

What do you think?

Hi,

The title probably doesn’t make much sense to be honest. I’m fairly savvy when it comes to investing and saving. However, I’m just wondering what people think the best thing to do in my position is.

Bit of background: I’m 26, homeowner with a mortgage still to pay, about 32k per year, with a 5% pension, 3% matched by employer. >£6k invested in pension, 3 months emergency fund saved. >£5k invested in personal investment Isa.

Currently. I’m averaging £150-200 saved into my work pension before tax. And I am saving £200 per month into a personal isa which is after tax (haven’t been able to do this for around 6 months). The isa is just a pie of S&P, ftse all world, and gold which has done really well in the past 2-3 years but I have no intention of taking it out. I also like to do individual stocks but haven’t been able too recently as I’ve had no disposable income.

I’m struggling with bills at the moment and haven’t been able to save into my personal Isa in a while. It’s really starting to annoy me.

I know I am doing better than most with money, however, I don’t feel like I’m leaving the month with extra money and seem to be struggling.

My current work pension is set to 55 before I can take it out. I was thinking that if I was to bump up my contributions to 15-20%, it would stop me from worrying so much about investing my £200-250 per month into my personal pension. I would also get the benefit of investing more before tax.

I would love to know what you have to say. I hope this makes some sort of sense.

Any questions please ask. Thank you lots

Sort of confused here.

Interest free period on my old CC was ending, so opened a new account with another bank and did a balance transfer.

Balance transfer completed around 3 weeks ago. Old CC balance is zero (paid off and cancelled). New CC balance is also zero.

Anyone had this before? It will obviously show up, but feels like debts vanished!

Hi all. I’m due to go on a trip soon and I usually use Curve to get air miles through my credit card. I’m new to using Trading 212, but wondering if instead of using Curve. My making driver is that I usually use the free Curve tier and then when I travel I have to upgrade and pay £10 to get the right amount of £ limit at free FX. I’m thinking of using Trading 212 instead to get the cashback which I can then invest. Appreciate they are very different offerings - air miles vs cashback but wanted to get a view. I don’t necessarily need the air miles and I’m leaning towards saving a tenner!

I have adhd and struggle with my finances.

I need a bank account that will help me with budgeting and I understand both Zopa and Monzo have pots /pockets that you can put money in, so that its out of your main account and essentially put aside towards something.

I have heard good things about Monzo but am also drawn towards Zopa as they pay interest (albeit a small amount). I feel more drawn towards Zopa for some reason, but not sure if Monzo would be a better choice?

Does anyone have experience of these two, particularly with regards to use of the pockets for help with budgeting?