What are /r/UKPersonalFinance's favorite Products & Services?

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Is your HDD actually broken? If not, you can remove the HDD yourself and use an external hard drive enclosure, to access your files.

It's difficult buying a house in London on your own. If the WFH trend sticks post-pandemic then things may get easier, but that's not something you can bank on.

I plugged your details into Homefinder based on the assumption that you'll be earning £70k when you're ready to buy. That would mean you're likely to get a mortgage of £315k, if you could save a chunky deposit to get you to £450k which is the maximum house value you can use a LISA on, then you've got options.

Firstly, it would take you 5-6 years to save that up if you're stashing away a couple of grand a month. There are plenty of areas in London with little 2 bed houses at that price point: Wembley, Tottenham, Stratford, New Cross, even Streatham. Here's a video with all the details.

Not your area by the sounds of it. But seems like you don't need to live in South Kensington to feel at home?

Well done on getting yourselves out of debt. I bet that must've been difficult and it sounds like you did it as a genuine team. Not sure if anyone ever did say what order "you're supposed to do" some of the big life decisions in. If they did they're probably from a bygone era, and definitely not worth listening to. If you want to start a family then, er...get cracking! :)

As for a home of your own, I’ve plugged your numbers into Homefinder and you’re likely to get a mortgage around £168-192k on your combined salaries. You're going to need a chunky deposit for North London or nearby, a 20% deposit means you could afford to spend £210-240k.

If you reach the top end of that range, there are plenty of 2 bed flats in Edmonton and Cheshunt at that price, if you're at the bottom of the range there are some in Edmonton but you might be better off moving East towards Dagenham if that's an option. Here's a video with the details.

Your big issue is that you'll need to save £45k+ for your deposit. You've got £9k already, which is great especially by the sounds of the issues you've overcome. But at 400 per month it's going to take another 6 years to save enough, even if you both use LISAs. Is there anyway you could save some more? I realise this is a personal question dependent upon what you've got going on in life. If you could both max out your annual LISA allowance of £4k you'd cut that time almost in half.

Sounds like you're a determined person, so if you're happy to keep saving that long then go for it. There's always the option of moving away from London of course.

Why do you want to avoid renting at all costs? It's a perfectly viable option if the relationship with your brother & Dad has gone south and you need your own space ASAP. It's not "throwing money down the drain" before you say it! Or do you have a friend/other family member you can stay with?

If you do want to buy then you have options. Plugging your numbers into Homefinder you'll probably get a mortgage for around £157k. 10% mortgages are increasingly coming back into the market, one of those would give you £175k to spend and you'd need c.£20k to cover deposit and moving costs, etc. Sounds like you've got a couple of months left to get your emergency fund to its £5k target. If you start saving £1k per month after that, using your LISA allowance, you should have enough within 18 months. Not sure if that's ASAP enough for you? But if you do rent in the meantime will you be able to save £1k month?

As for whether that will buy you a 1 bed flat, that depends where in the South East you are? Obviously the closer to London or Brighton/Oxford/Cambridge it will give you fewer options. But there's plenty of 1 bed flat available in the rest of the South East, here's a video that shows you and goes through your numbers. Also, if you're WFH full time and quite frankly sound like you don't need to live near your family, then you've got plenty of scope to move somewhere affordable, yes?

Are you sure you've got a handle on your spending?

It bothers me, if you'll excuse me saying, that you have a history of debt and yet the first thing you want to do once you come into money is blow a chunk of it on tarting up the house.

If you put that money away it could act as buffer and safety-net lest you ever get into trouble again.

Having stuffed this money into your ISA and longterm investments (heed Lars Kroijer and read his book or Tim Hale's <em>Smarter Investing</em>) you could then save up the money to tart up the house.

One thing that people often find, when they're successful at reframing the way they view money and its value, is that when you save up a long time for something and wait for it, they know its worthwhile. If you really want something, making yourself wait some time before buying it (with consumer spending, just 2 or 4 weeks might be enough) you often find that you don't really need it after all.

You open this submission by saying "I earn good money but always run out each month" - well, presumably part of the reason you're running out is because you're paying off your debts, but do you have a budget?

IMO you should pay off your debts and stick the rest to one side for a while - if you can maintain a budget, with your income always exceeding your spending, for 6 to 12 months then you'll have a whole better perspective on money.

I feel like I'm lecturing and being holier-than-thou, but it's really hard to have a perspective on money when you're short of it - when you're in debt money seems like the answer to all your problems. Well, maybe it will solve your current problems, but what was the cause of those problems? Are you absolutely sure you've fixed it?

> I personally can't understand how a business can pay their overheads and give me back more money in 28years time than if I just start throwing money into the FTSE100 (for example).

Jesus, mate.

You can literally just invest your pension in the FTSE 100 - that's all your pension is, an investment wrapper. It's an investment account that's tax free, so you get a lot more money in your pension than you would get if you took the money hone and invested it yourself.

Sorry for my tone, but your family really have done a number on you.

Read the pensions pages of the wiki and Tim Hale's <em>Smarter Investing</em>.

Have you left it too late? NO! Is the answer, that comes with a caveat though:

Firstly, 'bootcamps' are money pits that you really don't need to go down, spending 3k or whatever to learn he same stuff that you can find for £10 on Udemy is atrocious. You also wouldn't need to take time off work, just study in your own time.

Secondly, you are very unlikely to be job-ready in 3 months, whether that is self-study or bootcamps', it can happen, however, there are tonnes of people who try and fail.

https://www.thinkful.com/blog/why-learning-to-code-is-so-damn-hard/

Read the above to see if you really want to go down the rabbit hole.

Also read -

https://www.theodinproject.com/courses/web-development-101/lessons/gearing-up

In fact, if web-dev is the path you want to take then the Odin project in general is an amazing resource.

Like I started off with, I'd consider trying to self-study and seeing if codeing is for you before you spend a lot of money or take an un-paid career break to pursue it. It is one of those things that yes it can be a very lucrative career, but if you aren't naturally good at it and/or enjoy it then you won't get very far.

Please do not do BTL. Far richer people and more savvy investors have done BTL and lost money.

You have a wonderful gift. £170K is an amazing windfall for you and your partner. Do not throw it away on a speculative investment, one that you do not know anything about -- can you tell me, in quantitative terms, how the housing market is doing, what are your rental yields (gross and net)? If you cannot, do not enter the BTL market as an investment.

My suggestion to you is to look to buying a flat for yourselves to stay in, and take the remaining funds and fill up your ISAs each year. Within your ISAs, you can invest in low cost tracker Index Funds. If this concept is alien to you, now is a good time to read up about this! A simple beginner book is The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham.

Alternatively, look at Nutmeg. This is a simple platform that you can put your money into ISAs.

To put into simple terms about what your £170K can bring you:

1) You buy a small flat for £70K. You don't have to pay rent again.

2) You put the remaining £100k into ISAs. Fill you and your partner's ISA up to the maximum of £20K per person each year. From your original Capital of £100K in investments index funds, you safely withdraw ~4% each year without touching the capital. This means, you can get £4000 each year RIGHT NOW without doing anything, for the rest of your life, like a permanent pension. OR, if you choose not to withdraw your money RIGHT NOW, you can GROW your capital for the future.

I am not your financial advisor! But please read and think carefully about your next steps. You have been handed an opportunity of a lifetime.

Congrats on the baby bear cub! It sounds like you and your partner are ready to put down some proper roots so, if you can afford it, now would be a sensible time to buy.

I've put your situation into Homefinder and if you're earning £58k combined then you'll likely to get a mortgage of c.£200k-260k depending on the multiple they offer. Based on a standard 90% LTV mortgage, that means you could could afford to spend between £225k-290k. You'll need £25k-32k for a deposit & moving costs, so at the bottom end you're only a few months away from having the money you need, whereas at the top end it'll take about a year to save the rest of what you need. Have you been using your LISA allowance?

As for where to move, there's a huge lifestyle difference between Bristol/Cardiff vs Herefordshire! So that's a decision you and your partner will need to make. The top end of your budget will get you a 3 bed house in Herefordshire & Cardiff but probably only a 2 bed flat in Bristol, maybe a small house in some parts. Here's a video with the details.

Furlough shouldn’t be a problem for your mortgage application, as long as you can show you’ve both been earning normal salaries for the past 3 months. Lenders may ask if you’ve been furloughed, make sure you tell the truth! It shouldn’t harm your chances.

As for maternity/paternity leave, some mortgage providers will lend to you based on full time salary, but may require a letter from the employer stating you’ll be able to return on full salary. If you’ve already returned part time then that’ll make it trickier as they’ll lend based on what you’re earning now. A decent broker will help here as they’ll know which lenders are better for new parents.

Pasta (and sauce), and any/all frozen/normal vegetables etc. Can make it quite varied.

Jack Monroe has written a book on how to cook from tins:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tin-Can-Cook-Store-cupboard-Recipes/dp/1529015286

I've got some spare cash, so PM me your address if you can't afford to buy it and I'll get a copy to you.

Current abilities...

Triggers

• Any card purchase - This trigger fires whenever you spend money with your Monzo card, and the transaction goes through.
• Any card purchase above an amount - This trigger fires whenever you spend more than the specified amount with your Monzo card, and the transaction goes through.
• Any card purchase below an amount - This trigger fires whenever you spend less than the specified amount with your Monzo card, and the transaction goes through.
• Any card purchase at a merchant - This trigger fires whenever you spend money at a particular merchant, and the transaction goes through.
• Any new attachment added - This trigger fires when you add an attachment (like a receipt, or photo) to a transaction.
• Any new blog post from Monzo - This trigger fires whenever Monzo publishes a new blog post.

Actions

• Move money out of a pot - This action will move money from a pot of your choice to your main account.
• Move money into a pot - This action will move money from your main account into a pot of your choice.

Definitely Interesting

Edit: formatting

Good on you for being proactive about your finances. Please cut it up so you don’t use it any more. I suggest reading this book https://www.amazon.co.uk/Total-Money-Makeover-Classic-Financial-ebook/dp/B00DNBE8P6

I do this a rather convoluted way, personally. I have one personal phone and one work phone, and therefore one personal SIM and one work SIM.

• I leave my personal phone at home, plugged in, powered on, with my personal SIM inside it. This phone therefore receives all messages as soon as it possibly can.
• I take my work phone with its work SIM during my travels (or my work phone with a travel SIM, depending).
• I have pushbullet installed on both devices. This lets me see SMSes on another device AND reply to SMSes through that device (so that the phone number comes out correctly in any response) across the internet. When a UK OTP SMS appears, I can see and use it in realtime as a result.

That does require having two separate Android phones, though, and being willing to leave your personal SIM at home, which might not be something you could do.

If you're both PAYE as well then you should be fine. I plugged your numbers into Homefinder and reckon you'll get c.£200k mortgage, which combined with the £40k savings you'll have by Jan 2022 (did I get that right, £30k LISA + £10k cash savings) means you'll have up to £240k with a 15% deposit. Depending upon whether that £30k includes the 25% LISA bonus then you might have even more.

Not sure where you're looking to buy but as long as you stay out of the obvious hotspots in the South East that's a big enough amount to get you a small house in much of the country, here's a video to show you. Even if you sensibly take a smaller mortgage and buy at £200k you'll have lots of options.

I take it all back if you suddenly tell me you need to live in West London!

The biggest question seems to be whether you would want to be tied down to owning a home? Being on the property ladder is great in some ways, but it is a huge commitment that will make it a little trickier if you'd like to move away. Doesn't mean you can't! And prices in the NE are so low compared to most of the rest of the country that it's not such a daunting financial commitment. But ultimately it is a question you need to answer.

If you don't get the pay rise and decide to own, then according to Homefinder you'll likely get a mortgage of £121k, which with a 10% deposit means you could afford up to £135. With £8k already saved and your ability to stash away £440/mo you should be ready to move by May next year if you utilise your LISA allowance. That would easily be enough for a 2 bed flat in most of the North East, in fact you could buy a little 2 bed house in most of the NE for that. Here's a video with all the details.

If you get the new job (fingers crossed!), financially you're sound and either option is ok. The big question is are you willing to stay in the area for at least a few years?

Consider using something like You Need A Budget https://www.reddit.com/r/ynab https://www.youneedabudget.com

Budgeting and accounting software to help with personal finances. Changed my life when I started using it a few years ago.

You can always use Freecycle for old bits people don't want. Every now and again something useful pops up [like this.](https://groups.freecycle.org/group/TowerHamletsUK/posts/66178120/Ikea%20Billy%20bookcases%20(x2)

Hello. Landlord here.

I highly recommend this book, it’s what got me started in property.

How To Be A Landlord: The Definitive Guide to Letting and Managing Your Rental Property https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0993497225

If you decide to rent your house and become a landlord then you will have lots of legal responsibilities. Your house needs to be a minimum EPC level of E. You need a gas safety check conducted every year and soon you will need an electrical check conducted every 5 years. You need to place a tenants deposit in a Government backed Deposit Protection Scheme and this can be no more than 5 weeks rent. You are on a strict time limit to do all this and failure to do so will result in you being unable to get your house back and you could be fined up to 3x the deposit amount. You also can’t charge any fees for vetting the tenants. You should join the NLA or RLA to learn how to be a landlord and to get access to their documentation, especially the AST’s.

You have a lot to learn; it’s not so simple. However my biggest worry for you is when the time comes to get your property back. If you haven’t been correct in issuing paperwork or sticking to your landlord responsibilities and you have stubborn tenants, they can make it hell for you to reclaim your property (on average at best it could take about 40 weeks using a s21 notice).

I’d think long and hard about doing this if I was you. Good luck.

I've tried Ontrees and Moneydashboard but they are both quite basic, and I decided I wasn't so keen giving them access to my bank accounts such as in the way they work.

I settled with https://www.youneedabudget.com/ which has the same kinds of views and breakdowns, but some extra features if you care about budgeting. I just use it as a visualisation tool though.

I think there is advice on receiving windfalls in the sidebar.

Leave it in a savings account for now until you establish a plan. You may want to use several accounts with different banks since 200k is more than the deposit guarantee schemes in most countries.

Whether you leave it in your home country or move it to the UK is not massively important. You can have a foreign currency account in the UK to hold it without converting to GBP.

You could put it toward a house, in which case you need to decide how much to use. Personally I would say be careful of going overboard and buying a more expensive house than you would have without the inheritance. The real power of a big windfall is achieving your old goals much faster and potentially retiring early, not just upgrading your lifestyle by spending more.

You also mention investing and you're just finishing uni. This is a great opportunity to get ahead of the game on saving for retirement. A funny thing that no one told me until the age of 24, is that retirement doesn't have to be at 65, you can decide when you want to retire, it just depends how much you save along the way. I'm not sure how much you expect to earn, but I think it's fair to say it would take a decade or more to save up that much yourself. So in terms of your pension pot, you could knock a decade off your retirement age. More if you continue saving and properly invest.

There are many other posts with guides to investing so i wont repeat everything here, but I would encourage you to read a book such as Smarter Investing (UK focus), or A Random Walk Down Wall Street (US focus but still great).

Got a book recommendation for you: https://www.amazon.com/Defining-Decade-Your-Twenties-Matter/dp/0446561754 from your post it sounds like this might help you clarify your thinking. I hope you find a path you’re happy with.

This is the subject of a lengthy conversation in Mark Twain's "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court".

Some freemen are bragging about their high wages compared to other areas. The Yankee tries to point out that goods cost more where they live, so they're actually worse off than folks living in a lower wage/substantially lower cost of living area.

They of course fail to see the point, revel in their high numbers, and eventually sell the Yankee and King Arthur into slavery. Great book.

Edit: Found the chapter in question. The book's worth a read, or there's a fantastic free audiobook available on Librivox https://www.gutenberg.org/files/86/86-h/86-h.htm#c33

>I’ve got £5000 left to pay and the bike is worth £3000 at an absolute maximum. I can’t get rid of it otherwise that would put me in much more debt with no form of transport.

You wouldn't be in any more debt. You're £5000 in debt now on the bike, you will be £2000 in debt after selling it.

I recommend getting all your finances, eg credit cards, current accounts, bike loan, etc into a software package like this :-

https://www.gnucash.org/

So that you have proper visibility of it.

As a keen motorcyclist myself I can well imagine what giving up the bike would feel like, but it's time to cut your cloth accordingly.

Once you've done that, it's a case of paying off the highest APR debt first. If you want to go down the route of defaulting on everything io the hope that you'll get interest frozen, Stepchange can help.

https://www.stepchange.org/Debtremedy.aspx

You should definitely start by focusing on the big wins. If you can still afford the lattes after that and the enjoyment you get from them is worth it then sure, keep drinking them. That was my strategy for a long time. I’ve now cut my coffee spending down by taking some milk to work and having tea as I realised my £1500 a year habit wasn’t worth it anymore.

As you said, these things add up. I was spending a similar amount again on parking for work each year too. Combine the two and that’s 10% of my net income a year. If you waste thousands elsewhere then start there but if you aren’t saving for retirement and you’re struggling to increase your earnings, why wouldn’t you cut out the 2 Starbucks trips a day?

Perhaps that money could pay for a cleaner every week which might be more important to your wellbeing (if you’re meeting your savings goals). I was firmly in the not cutting out the latte camp until this last 6 months, I thought it was a pointless sacrifice ever since reading I will teach you to be rich 7 years ago but I’m really glad I cut the habit. Now it’s a treat, not a necessity.

I was flabbergasted when I found out there are places that pay for water. Living in Scotland all my life I just thought this was normal, didn’t even think about it to be honest.

And now I’ve got Limmys Water video in my head.

If you are into IT at all, there are lots of course on udemy.com which will help get you certified in a certain field for very little money.

Theres a whole lot of stuff on there outside of IT, too.

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You basically have 2 options:

1. Do a degree in CS (full-time or part-time, so 3-6 years)

2. Self-learn, make projects & pass this exam

Both should get you a trainee/junior role providing you put the effort in. The latter will be quicker (providing you stay motivated)

You can obtain plenty of books online or there's video based learning on YouTube & Coursera for free or Udemy for £10. I got this for £10 but haven't watched it yet as I switched to C# soon after buying...NEVER spend more than £10 on a course on that site...they regularly have £10 sales & almost certainly will again for Black Friday

For books I'd recommend Head First Design Patterns to begin with; it pretty much saved my degree when I was struggling with Java. You then need an exam specific book for the exam; there's other books apparently good but those 2 should be enough to land an entry level job providing you pass the exam & learn the basics.

Revolut have it. And Monzo have no plans for anything like that. The links don't lie.

Depending on what you want from your bank, this could be a plus for Monzo.

I used YNAB - You Need A Budget

https://www.youneedabudget.com/

It's not free and best to read up on the documentation but once you get used to it, it really helps! Totally changed how I go about things and helped me break the paycheque cycle.

What worked for me was signing up at https://www.youneedabudget.com. Even if you don't really use the app/service you get, if I recall correctly, one email per day for a week with tips and videos on how to budget. That's how I started. Then I branched out from there.

> looks to me like you're spunking away a minimum wage salary worth of discretionary spending, while you owe £10k.

I wouldn't have used quite such strong language, but IMO this is the reality OP has to face.

I bet he's spending money on crap because he hates his job so much.

Your Money or Your Life might be worth a read.

IMO OP needs to have a bit of a "moment of enlightenment" about what he wants in life - just a few months, as you say, of sorting himself out would turn everything around.

It feels to like he's spending money because of the expectations of his family and girlfriend, who don't see the big picture. Keeping up with the Joneses?

Very sorry if this sounds judgmental OP - I've made a financial mess of things more than once myself, so it's easy for me to say with hindsight and, now, sitting in a position of comfort.

As an aside, I bought a doxy scanner a few years ago. Anything that I get through the door I scan and store on Evernote (which has PDF OCR for searching) and I then shred the original. The only bits of paper I have are things like passports, birth certificates and car V5's etc.

If you're interested in the best charities to give to, there is an amazing book called "Doing Good Better" (http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23398748-doing-good-better) by an Oxford Professor. It uses economic theory to evaluate the most efficient ways to donate. It is really enlightening to see that the best charities are hundreds of times more effective than those we may consider "good".

The writer has also set up the Giving What We Can Foundation (https://www.givingwhatwecan.org) which regularly evaluates charities using these criteria and gives their 4 best charities (and provide a direct debit service to donate to these in any proportion you like). There is a large community for discussions relating to the best way for an individual to give.

To answer your questions specifically: I donate 3% of my net income each month but aim to give more as my salary increases.

Nova Money team here.

The problem we have observed is that most budgeting apps are designed the wrong way but no-one realises it.

So we have documented the Nova Methodology for managing money and made it available for free. You could theoretically apply our method with any product, but none was designed for that - so we created the Nova app to. Most of the products available are budgeting apps that won't prevent you from making all the mistakes people make. To our knowledge, YNAB is the only company offering the product and financial education.

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Coming back to your question, the free version of Nova Money is totally usable to set goals and have the AI running your budget and tracking your spending. You can set up to 2 goals, access most of the features and charts with 3 months of history.

The main benefit that our users get is that hey learn how to think of their money, and learn our methodology for:

• Setting goals: Nova answers questions like: when can I afford my holiday/laptop...? Am I saving enough for it? What happens if I can't save this month?
• Budgeting: Nova automatically calculates your monthly budget using a reverse-budgeting methodology
• Tracking: we designed the "Budget Line" methodology to compare your actual spending VS your ideal spending pace. So you'll know if you need to slow down your expenses

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As a student, the free plan is probably all what you need.

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Let me know if you have any question.

YNAB isn't free but you can get a 3 month free trial at the link below.

https://www.youneedabudget.com/landing/camp-patton/

IMO, it is well worth the cost. YNAB has really brought about a peace of mind for my finances like never before.

Long game here. Enrol to one of many IT and cyber security training courses. Find a study pal. Study like there is no tomorrow. Optionally get a certificate on course completion. Regardless of the field you are in IT will add up to your value. Progress in your field. Get a pay raise.

There are hundreds of free and nominally priced trainings https://nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/find-a-course/the-skills-toolkit https://www.cybrary.it udemy etc.

A few years ago I flew quite frequently (enough so that I had oneworld lounge status, despite only buying bargain fares).

I always found I got the best price by using ITA Matrix and then booking directly with the airline for the flight I wanted.

https://matrix.itasoftware.com/

Running a ltd co is more expensive (accountant fees) and there are more legal requirements on you, but it can also be more tax efficient.

https://www.freeagent.com/guides/small-business/sole-trader-or-limited-company/

In your situation, I'd probably choose based on how confident you are about the extra clients and the longevity of the income.

1 or 2 clients, earning you circa £25k is probably simpler to stay as a sole trader, you'll stay below the higher rate tax threshold (assuming a modest pension contribution) and paying accountancy fees would probably be roughly equivalent to NI contributions as a sole trader.

More clients than that, consistently, I'd be thinking about a ltd co though.

Although I never got into my overdraft much, I always found myself £3-400 shorter than I'd hoped to be at the end of each month. For me, YNAB (You Need A Budget) worked really well. Not a free app but worth every penny to me. Usually a 1 month trial but you can get a 3 month one here.

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Also check out the subreddit at r/ynab.

Would this be covered by your £1,000 trading allowance I wonder:

https://www.freeagent.com/glossary/trading-allowance/

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/tax-free-allowances-on-property-and-trading-income

Asbestos can only be detected by microscopic analysis. If a sample was not collected and analysed by an accredited laboratory, then the presence of asbestos is based on assumption. I would not trust an assumption to a roofer, especially when it leads to cost overruns.

You are welcome to check the credentials of the company and also see if they are qualified and trained to do the work.

https://www.hse.gov.uk/asbestos/training.htm

If you are looking to learn more about asbestos please read my ebook it's free for Amazon Kindle Unlimited members or a low cost educational guide for non-members.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Asbestos-Exposed-definitive-identification-including-ebook/dp/B08H2KS528

> Do you think its wise for me to start doing US stock options?

Probably not. Do you understand options? Have you experimented in the IB paper trading account? Options provide a magnitude of ways to lose your shirt.

I recommend the classic: https://www.amazon.com/Options-Futures-Other-Derivatives-10th-dp-013447208X/dp/013447208X

You can't earn returns without taking risk - that's a rule of investing so universal that I would almost go so far as to call it a law of nature.

To talk about risk in terms of "low", "medium" or "high" tends to suggest you don't really appreciate it. I suggest you read Tim Hale's <em>Smarter Investing</em>.

You have to think about this in terms of "how would I feel if this £50,000 was only worth £30,000 or £40,000 in three years time?", which is the risk with /u/MG-Sahelanthropus's suggestion.

If you need money to be safe then you need to put it in the bank. Maybe your mum could put £40,000 in the bank and only gamble £10,000 on the stockmarket.

Yep, to add to this, use an expense monitoring app (I like MoneyLover).

Get into the habit of recording all transactions onto it; as soon as they happen or every night as long as you trust not to forget that £2 chocolate you bought from a vending machine.

Viewing your monthly reports give you a good breakdown of where your money is actually going and where you can save.

£5 here and there don't seem like much mentally, but at the end of the month, you might find yourself £200 shorter than you expected. Tracking all expenses is a good way to keep track of it.

It is easier if you use Starling or Monzo as your daily expense account as it automatically categorises all expenses for you; but this wont be the only way you are spending (other accounts, cash, etc) so still use an expense app.

Is it Coolsnow / Coolsurf? The domain tld being .dk would give it away for me. But it is a bit misleading elsewhere, with a UK phone number, .co.uk in the contact email etc. They know what they're doing, their reviews are terrible and full of people in the same situation: https://www.trustpilot.com/review/coolsnow.dk

Have a go on at this:

https://lifehacker.com/this-calculator-helps-roommates-choose-rooms-and-split-1570391217

It’s an algorithm that, theoretically, reaches a solution where everyone is happy to pay the amount they do for the room they have. Or maybe more accurately, reaches a solution where no-one would be willing to swap rooms with someone else and pay the amount the other does.

It might spit out a fairly counterintuitive solution where one person is paying a LOT more/less than someone else, which doesn’t really match the real world splits that people agree to. But the logic of what it’s doing is sound.

I built a website a while ago which is completely free which will show you buy it now items as they are listed on eBay

https://bineye.com/ (catcher app)

We found that you get a lot of spicy bargains that are bought within a minute because people aernt sure of what things are worth (parents selling boxes of games consoles etc).

Hopefully it'l be helpful to you :)

Unless I am misunderstanding something, if you just started in August 2018 you are not late yet.

Your tax return covers the period August 2018 to 5th April 2019. It is due for submission by 31 January 2020. Loads of time.

There is a great article on how to claim use of home expenses here: https://www.freeagent.com/guides/expenses/working-from-home-expenses-limited-companies/

I would keep all receipts for everything (you can scan them and keep them digitally if you prefer)

Claiming travel - you can claim business miles travelled at 45p per mile, EXCEPT for your journey to and from the office (as that is essentially your daily commute, so not claimable)

Food - you can't claim this if you are just working from home or from their office.

Phone bill - yes you can claim. Assuming it is your personal phone, I would claim 50% of the cost (or whatever percentage you think is fair, depending how much you use it for business compared to personally)

If use a 3rd party management app like https://www.moneydashboard.com/ , it has an option to export all transactions to Excel. You can probably add your existing bank accounts, but I don't know how much of historical transactions it pulls in or if it has all the details you're looking for.

I use https://www.buxfer.com/ previously used https://www.moneydashboard.com/ which is similar but I prefer Buxfer's UI.

Note that the downside to these services is that you need to hand over your bank login details, as they work by logging in as you and downloading your transactions. Not really a problem for me since I'm with Natwest and you pretty much have to use the calculator to verify the majority of actions on their online banking services.

We can't create a budget for you. Your best bet is to follow the YouNeedABudget method.

https://www.youneedabudget.com/method/

Rule 1: Give every £ a job. Whatever money comes in, gets allocated out.

Rule 2: Embrace your true expenses. You know Christmas comes each year, so why leave it until December? Spread out the costs you can see coming. I put that money into a separate bank account and then when Christmas or whatever other event comes round, I transfer the amount I saved for that category. This really lets you see what you actually have left at the end of each month rather than what you have left at the end of only this month.

Rule 3: Roll with the punches. You will get unexpected expenses. You will need to flex your budget. As long as you don't flex it to satisfy an urge every other day then you should be fine. You will build up a sufficient emergency fund to cover these with time. It's also nice when you spend less on food than expected one month and you can allocate that money to your savings or a night out.

Rule 4: Age you money. If you aren't using credit cards it sounds like you have this down. It is mainly so that when your salary enters your bank, it is used over the next 30 days rather than already been spent!

Think about what you spend your money on each month - every day costs, monthly costs, housing costs, annual costs. Tools like YNAB really help, even if they can sometimes be a bore to update. After a few months you can see the progress you're making. I add new categories as my first year ran as I had forgotten about things. E.g. I need new tyres every 18 months and they cost £200 a set. Now I budget £12 a month in a tyre category.

Give YNAB a try: https://www.youneedabudget.com

Their current version is cloud/browser based, which may work for you. I prefer their older desktop version (YNAB4). Both have apps...dunno about Blackberry though...

Older version: http://classic.youneedabudget.com/download/ynab4

Edit: Doh! Sorry, was on mobile and don't read properly. 'tis not free, but you get a 30 day trial...

https://medium.freecodecamp.org/my-journey-to-becoming-a-web-developer-from-scratch-without-a-cs-degree-2-years-later-and-what-i-4a7fd2ff5503

and also look at

https://www.freecodecamp.org

might save you £9000

A couple of months ago I decided to take control of my finances. Not just budgeting, but more general info and knowledge too, I also knew I had to get to grip with my pension options. I started reading this sub (which has been a godsend!) but I also needed a bit of an immersive Personal Finance 101, and bought this book from Amazon:

Money: A User’s Guide: The Sunday Times bestselling guide to taking control of your personal finances

Absolutely recommended - it’s pitched at people with limited or gaps in their knowledge. I read it in one day and started needing more detailed info and moved on quite quickly but it was a great starting point for me. So not quite the FA answer you were looking for, but a really good way of covering the basics. Hope it works out for you.

Libby app on android and probably iPhone too let's you use your library card for audiobooks and ebooks. The only problem I found is my local library doesn't have that great a range of audiobooks really and there's a long wait for most popular ones.

Nova Money Team here. Thanks for your feedback!

Nova runs a "reverse budgeting" based on the goals you set. For example, Maintain a safety net of £5000, Invest £100/month, Save £400 for Christmas. Then it translate all your goals into a Required Monthly Saving and check that it's within your Monthly Saving Capacity. If yes, it will build your monthly budget.

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At the end of the month, Nova computes how much Wealth you created (What you earned - what you spent), and how you allocated that Wealth creations between your savings and investment.

It automatically recognises and excludes your internal transfers made between the accounts connected to Nova. If you made transfers to an account not connected to Nova, you'll need to create an Offline account to keep an accurate picture.

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Custom categories are on our roadmap, but in the meantime we have (searchable) hashtags.

I'd suggest following wise's advice

That being said, you shouldn't too worried it shouldn't actually go to an account as it'll be unlikely to exist, more info here

• get this software, it's free for a month: https://www.youneedabudget.com/

• follow the video tutorials on how to use it

• export .csv files from your bank statements (or do them line by line manually)

• input the items, assign them to a category etc

https://www.braintreepayments.com/blog/merchants-are-prohibited-from-storing-cvv2-csc-per-pci-standards/

It looks like its possible to set up recurring payments without the CVV being stored.

To be blunt, PCI DSS violations are not for you to worry about. If you think a merchant is violating PCI DSS standards, then you report them to Visa/etc.

Russia is one of the few countries I wouldn't use Revolut - they charge a 1.5% markup on THB and RUB (1% on UAH).

On the weekends, there is a markup of 0.5% on major currencies and 1% on other currencies, rising to 1.5% for THB and RUB.

https://revolut.com/faq/#what-exchange-rate-will-i-get

Saw this mentioned in r/SelfHosted just now. I’ll make the same recommendation here: if you’re looking for a free alternative, I use and recommend HomeBank.

No affiliation with the dev, beyond being a happy user for years.

Read Tim Hale's <em>Smarter Investing</em> and, if you still think you can beat the market, post a new thread on /r/UKinvesting.

Before investing in a fund like Baillie Gifford you should have thoroughly read several of its annual reports. Fundsmith's are very accessible - their AGMs are all on YouTube.

I know £11,000 seems like a lot, but it's only £11,000 of £450,000 - i.e. less than 2.5%, which is fairly negligible in investing terms.

If that seems like a shocking statement then I recommend you don't make any decisions until you've read Tim Hale's <em>Smarter Investing</em>.

Most investments can go up or down 2.5% in value in a matter of weeks - this is very obvious (and sometimes a bit frightening) if you have £450,000 in the stockmarket; it's equally true of property, but it's hidden from you because properties are illiquid and harder to sell.

IMO you should look at this 2.5% as a sunk cost. Would you buy a Maserati just because it was 2.5% off? Why a property, then?

In my opinion £450,000 in a single property is a very poor investment compared to £450,000 invested amongst in the world's largest 1000 or so companies, which you can do very easily indeed. It leaves you exposed to a single tenant, a single street and political risk.

> Any better investment alternatives?

Probably stocks and bonds.

The British have a prejudice towards property because they know what it is (or think they do) and because most people don't understand the stockmarket - they're scared of a stockmarket crash or they know someone who lost a lot of money speculating.

A fundamental question in all investing is what returns can your money earn elsewhere? so you should learn about stocks and bonds at least well enough to be sure that property is better for you.

Heed Lars Kroijer and read his book or Tim Hale's <em>Smarter Investing</em>.

• The Behaviour Gap: Simple Ways to Stop Doing Dumb Things with Money - How to avoid mistakes like buying in when the markets are on a high and selling due to panic at the first sign of trouble
• The Millionaire Next Door - this is mostly on how to live within your means and accumulate wealth by not being wasteful.

First thing to do if you don't already do this is start a budget. 'YNAB' is amazing at this and will definitely help you out a lot.

I'm on a similar path to you at the moment and I'd suggest that the first thing you do is speak to an accountant and a financial advisor. Spend a bit of time researching a good one (not found a good FA yet but 'accounts and legal' looks like a good choice for accountant - still looking into it though so don't take my work as gospel).

Putting money into a savings account is a great idea until you've got about £10k (or enough money to live on for 6 months) this will be your emergency fund, however once it reaches a few k I'd take it out of your savings account and place it in a low yield, low risk fund.

I'd also read a few books on wealth creation, they won't tell you exactly what to do but they will help you get into the right mindset and give you ideas on the directions to walk down.

I personally found the first two 'Rich Dad, Poor Dad' books to be fantastic, they are a little preachy and times and I found the author to be a little annoying but the content is still great. I'd also recommend 'Think and Grow Rich', 'The E-Myth' and 'Purple Cow' to give you a good overview of what you'd need for business success.

Don't take anything I say as expert advice, I'm probably in a very similar situation to you so all I'm offering is the information I've found on my journey so far.

If you fancy meeting up at some point and supporting each other on our similar journey, drop me a message. I live in London too so it would be easy for us to go for a pint or something :)

Just sell the lot, put it all in the FTSE Global all-cap.

"To avoid crystallising the loses" is an investment fallacy - it's the sunk cost fallacy.

Probably worth reading Tim Hale's <em>Smarter Investing</em> before anything else.

Currently, no. The only automatic one is rounding up and saving the change from payments. However, user defined rules is something they want to release at some point, so you could for example set one up to say 'any money in the account on the last day of the month move to a pot'. However, they aren't a thing yet and idk what kind of rules they'd support when they do release the feature.

EDIT: You can see they have a Rules for Pots feature in the pipeline due in the Medium Term. https://trello.com/b/9tcaMB4w/monzo-transparent-product-roadmap

The following is the trello link (I think!, never used it before). https://trello.com/invite/b/yxAs3E9H/536f6dcb2f73e39016f660d3dcf3282e/u-samacunninghams-ukpf-spreadsheet

I will upload the file to dropbox and add it here once I get onto my laptop (next 30 mins).

The link to the file is here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/imwo6jmyr7e6w2c/UKPF%20Budgeting%20Spreadsheet.xlsx?dl=0

Please be aware I seem to have lost the retirement tab but will fix this at the weekend and re-upload asap.

Track your spending, all of it. I use YNAB ([https://www.youneedabudget.com/landing/stack-social/])here's a link for a 4 month trial), and once your trial is up, students get 1 year free if you send them proof of your student status). Even if you don't end up paying for it after that, applying the principles of it helped me a lot when I opted to go back to uni, especially because I opted to keep using a credit card for spending.

Dividing up your money into an "envelope" style system where each "envelope" is used for a different expense is really helpful. If you want to use a credit card, then you would need to make sure that as you spend on it, you set aside the same amount of cash in your bank account. YNAB does this automatically for me, but you could do it with your bank account and using a separate savings account, as long as you remember to move the money back in time for it being collected - you could use a future dated bill payment for this that you set up when you get your statement based on the statement amount and set it to move money a few working days before the date the direct debit will collect. This is why using an envelope style budget system using only the money you actually have combined with tracking all of your spending is really helpful. If you decide you want to spend £100 maximum on going out in the month, then if you keep track that you've spent £35 of that already, it doesn't really matter where you actually spend the money from because it'll only be counted once within your budget. This does require keeping on top of your spending though, you can't let it slip for too long.

Alternatively, if you want a credit card just for the credit history, then you could just put some stuff like Netflix, Spotify, and other such subscriptions onto it, set up a Direct Debit to pay off in full, and effectively ignore it.

You Need A Budget, it's an app, the first month is free, it comes with its own particular budget philosophies. The most important of which is 'give every dollar a job'. You essentially set up a budget with pots for all the different things you wish to allocate money to (including savings!) then you enter transactions as they happen and say what pot the money should come out of.

Advantages:

• It is designed to be flexible, you can move money between pots but at least this makes it obvious if you are taking money from the savings pot to pay for a takeaway etc.

• It lets you see explicitly where all the money is going so you can decide whether that really matches your priorities in life

• Multi-platform and syncs between them so you and your partner can both use one budget.

Disadvantgaes:

• It costs (a small amount of) money after the first month

• No automatic sync in the UK (though some feel manually entering the transactions makes you think about them) so takes a little time to keep up to date

In itself it won't change anything, you have to have the self-discipline to change your spending habits, and it sounds like you will need your partner to buy in too. But if it gives you a framework to facilitate changes, then I reckon it's worth the money. Worst off, it is free for the first month so it might be worth a crack!

I find having a budget is really useful for understanding where my money is going. As a student you'll be able to get a free year of YNAB which is a budgeting tool I really like https://www.youneedabudget.com/landing/students/

Another vote from me.

If you want to try it you can get a three month free trial. It probably takes that long to see if it’s a good fit.

If you set up scheduled transactions for all your regular bills you only really need to enter payments when you are out and about. The phone app has gps so for your regular places (supermarket, petrol station, pub etc) it auto fills in the payee and the normal category and account so you only have to fill in the amount. It’s 10 seconds while you’re standing at the checkout or as you get in the car.

The r/YNAB forum is really helpful.

So with a post-tax, post-rent income of ~£2000, the absolute minimum you’re able to spend is £1600? If you genuinely “never do anything” and it still costs you £1600 I think maybe you need a budget.

Use a different email address, and use the following link for a three month trial (to be clear this is not a referral link, it's just the result of googling ynab 3 month trial)

https://www.youneedabudget.com/landing/camp-patton/

Yeah, I've seen 3 bed semi detached houses in (well, around) Liverpool for 80k. They even had a drive! Some friends of my missus bought a 2 bed semi detached on a corner plot, so it's got a massive garden for how big the house is and they paid £67k for it... 67k isn't even a deposit in some parts of the country.

There's a terraced house down the road from me that's up for 58k and the advert claims a rent of £440 a month so that's probably about right. It's not a shit area or anything, it's just average. Not much crime, lots of old people, bit socially deprived. I've lived within half a mile of the house I grew up in for my whole life and it's never been a bad area. Few scally kids, but nothing major.

It's not even that bad of a house, although the road it's on is one of those unadopted ones which hasn't seen any works done since the dawn of time.

Beats the studio I saw on Gumtree last night in London somewhere - £1140 a month and your bedroom also doubles as a dining room and kitchen...!

FreeAgent is an online business accounting tool, and has functions for producing and submitting your company tax returns and statutory accounts; I've not used them, but I know they exist, and they looked fairly straightforward. I'm fairly sure that includes handling a director's loan account and also automatic syncing with a Starling business account.

You can pay FreeAgent for an account, which works out cheaper (but obviously more effort) than paying an accountant to do the work for you. Alternatively, if you open a business account with Mettle instead of / as well as your Starling account, that comes with a free FreeAgent subscription.

Try MoneyDashboard. You can sync you and your girlfriend's bank accounts to the site and break down what you're over spending on, set budgets etc. It's really good. Don't know how I managed before it.

bear in mind that BTC dropped nearly 20% yesterday (and recovered) it's dropped to a simiar level so far today too.

https://www.xe.com/currencycharts/?from=XBT&amp;to=USD&amp;view=1D

if you can afford to lose the 7k go for it.

Probably not, but completely depends what payment methods that your landlord will accept.

I used to live in an association block that took debit cards, using Curve I could have paid with a credit card, but they have said they will charge fees for Amex. Billhop is another potential option, again with fees.

I'll just chime in the with obligatory You Need a Budget comment.

May not be for you if you're really only after something dead simple. I love it though and find it's great for controlling my money.

edit: presto changeo fixo linko!

For anyone who does not have access to Excel, or perhaps does not have especially strong Excel skills, GnuCash is Free as in Freedom:

https://www.gnucash.org/index.phtml

Just to piggyback on this comment re the following:

>If you use your mother's name as a security phrase

Consider not using your mother's maiden name, best friend's name etc. At all. When you're asked for these details provide a random password such that is generated by a good* password manager.

I know this is not r/security but I assume there is some overlap of interest between people taking their finances seriously and people taking their security seriously.

*Bitwarden (Free - cloud storage)

*KeepassXC (Free - offline storage)

It's not worth paying an IFA for an investment of £50,000.

Fixed-fee IFAs know this, and they're looking for people with at least £250,000 investible assets - I'm not saying saying that none will accept you as a client, just that reading Tim Hale's <em>Smarter Investing</em> is better value, and a good IFA will tell you this.

I think percentage-based financial advisors have become better regulated since 2008, but it used to be that many were predatory - the best case is that they'll be charging you £250 or £500 a year for the same thing you could do yourself. Admittedly that is worth it for some people - even St James's Place's fees, which are widely regarded as a "rip off" on this forum, are worth it if you have no idea what you're doing and if they'll save you from making a mistake.

Most people here would just stick the whole lot in the Vanguard FTSE Global All Cap index fund - £20,000 in your ISA this year; of the other £30,000 you sell £20,000 next April and transfer it into your ISA, then the same again the following April. This ensures you're not taxed a penny on your returns, and your investment is spread amongst over 1000 of the world's largest companies; this is much better than risking thousands in losses just because you have a single bad tenant or a chancellor that has it in for you.

The British have a prejudice towards property because they think they understand it. Everybody knows someone who's "doing very well" from their residential property rental portfolio, but most of these people have been at it for years and have substantial portfolios - I hear of people with family money doing it, but most of the old boys I meet have been doing it since the 80's or 90's, and no longer see the yields they used to enjoy.

The value will change depending on what you can get for your money elsewhere, because they're tradable on the stockexchange.

If a bond is paying a coupon of £50 per year, you wouldn't pay £1000 for it if newly issued bonds are paying a 10% coupon; so the value of it must reflect that, plus the par value (redemption value).

The interest is usually paid annually.

Ilmanen's explanation is comprehensive and available in the free version of his book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00995OUQ2

I would recommend The Psychology of Money. It is an excellent book on how different people have different goals. Something that makes perfect sense to you makes no sense to somebody else. It is good to be smart with money but getting the highest possible pay or returns is not everybody's goals.

Read Tim Hale's <em>Smarter Investing</em>.

You're basically avoiding risk right now because you don't understand it, but the value of your money is being eroded by inflation (which is higher than you think, due to current asset appreciation) and by missed opportunities.

Can highly recommend these from Amazon, cheaper than Glasslock and real borosilicate (which I don’t think Glasslock are now). We’ve bought two sets for food prep: 24-Piece Superior Glass Food... https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07WT6K984?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

I've been pretty happy with IPVanish, I've been subscribed since 2016. There are services that are free that are slow, which should accomplish what you need.

For your purposes, any VPN is better than none, so a free and slow one should be fine. If you are concerned about page visit tracking, speed of connection, or are generally intending to do something more involved than a few bank transfers or email checks, get something paid and make sure they don't keep records (at least on paper, you can only hope they are not lying).

1.As someone who passed his test only a few years ago, I'd suggest the book/cd method is old hat.

I used an app (specifically this one: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=uk.co.focusmm.dts_theory ) and found it much easier.

5 minutes to kill waiting for the bus? Do a few questions. Waiting in a queue? Do a few questions.

Was brilliant, and for a fiver I can't think of a better way to learn.

1. Totally this. I started when I was 17 and after running low of money knocked it on the head. Picked it up a few times here and there over the next 9 years but didn't properly commit until I was 27. All the money prior was basically wasted.

Buy yourself Tim Hale's Smarter Investing. It explains everything you need to set up a portfolio.

You'll want to pick you time frame, pick your risk tolerance (it should be high as you are young) and then you can construct a portfolio plan around it.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Smarter-Investing-3rd-edn-Decisions-ebook/dp/B00GAYHH8I

You can't budget properly whilst your wife is spunking money and refusing to refusing confront it.

I'm sorry to be so harsh - I've mismanaged money terribly in the past, so I know how easy it is to have those kinds of habits.

But ultimately you have to make choices - it's really hard to get on the housing ladder and, if that's what's really important to you, making a budget and sticking to it will be absolutely essential if you hope to achieve that.

Your wife might benefit from books like Your Money or Your Life or Rich Dad, Poor Dad.

> It is extraordinary to me that the idea of buying dollar bills for forty cents takes immediately with people or it doesn't take at all. It's like an inoculation. If it doesn't grab a person straightaway, I find that you can talk to him for years and show him records, and it doesn't make any difference. They just don't seem able to grasp the concept, simple as it is. A fellow like Rick Guerin, who had no formal education in business, understands immediately the value approach to investing and he's applying it five minutes later. I've never seen anyone who became a gradual convert over a ten-year period to this approach. It doesn't seem to be a matter of IQ or academic training. It is Instant recognition, or it is nothing.

-- Warren Buffett, The Intelligent Investor, appendix to 2003 edition. Page 544.

She has to decide if she wants to be someone who's skint forever.

Rich Dad, Poor Dad might be worth a look.

I read a bit of Your Money or Your Life and thought it was ok, but to me it was preaching to the choir, at this stage in my life. From the reviews of it I've read I thought Rich Dad, Poor Dad might be better.

I'll leave a quote from Burton Malkiel's A Random Walk Down Wall Street:

>In conclusion, capitalization-weighted indexing is unlikely to be deposed as the overwhelming favorite in the battle for index supremacy. Even if markets were inefficient, departing from the weightings given by the market as a whole would have to be a zero-sum game. All the stocks in the market must be held by someone. If some investors hold portfolios that do better than the market, it must follow that some other investors hold portfolios that do worse. Because of their greater costs, however, active management or “smart” indexing must be a negative-sum game. On average, these higher-cost portfolios must underperform capitalization-weighted index funds that can be purchased at close to zero cost.

Reading list is not comprehensive at all there is probably 10 more books I was always suprised that Your Money or Your Life isn't there. Even though primarly FIRE related book talks a lot about principles we preech in here. Mostly focus on making money work for your goals, cutting waste and teaches you to recalculate your actual wage over what it says on payslip so it's wage -any costs work related and time spend.

There are very few stocks that cost £5000 per unit. Perhaps the price was in p, which is usual, so they would actually cost £50. That's normal.

If you're buying equities based on placing £20k in the morning and selling for a tiny gain in the afternoon, you're going to have a bad time. You'll lose £80 many days too, in addition to paying commissions, so this would erode your cash quickly. Equities trading requires patience and discipline.

You don't need £20k, but given commissions and the amount of time you need to put into having a certain idea knowing what you're doing, £1k is probably a good minimum. That's the minimum investment over at Nutmeg too. And you have to afford to lose it all. Otherwise stick it in your cash ISA.

If you really want to learn, read The Intelligent Investor dilligently, looking up everything you don't understand on Investopedia.

Before you get on to credit cards and whatever else, I strongly recommend having a look at your recent spendings and start tracking them. Take note of where you are spending your money (most often: work lunches, pints, random snacks) and try to curb these.

From here you will be able to create a stable budget. You can structure your pay cheques and split it out before it comes in knowing that x goes to rent, y goes to travel, z goes to bills and so on and so forth. Only then can you truly understand what you have remaining in which you can save.

I track my transactions daily on apps such as Money Lover and Wallet.

Once you have a handle on that, then you can start looking in to credit cards and so on.

> I can't save up anything truly meaningful due to UC savings limit.

Yeah, as you say, pension. It sucks, but as far as I'm aware that's the only way to exceed the UC savings limit. You also get to lock the money away for a long time with good returns, so it could make quite a difference to you when you're old (read Tim Hale's <em>Smarter Investing</em>).

You might also be eligible for Help to Save.

> Well, that’s a lie I buy stuff I don’t need all the time.

You might find the book Your Money or Your Life helpful.

Rich Dad Poor Dad also works for some people - lots of Kiyosaki's advice is based on his personal backstory which turns out to be fictional, but if it changes your attitude to money then it may well be worthwhile.

Short of being born with a trust fund, there are no shortcuts when it comes to money - believing there are (or might be) is what leads people into addictions to gambling, shopping and speculative investments.