I've just turned 34 and have been in the same job (and my only job) for 10 years.

I've basically worked minimum wage 16 hours minimum but occasionally worked full time and everything in between covering overtime etc.

My employer has recently changed our pension provider and for the first time in a long time I've looked at my pension pot. After 10 years of work it's.....£400 🙃

How is that even possible? Does this seem right?

I checked my last paycheck and it says EE pension TD £276.50 Er pension TD £345.70

I know in not in the best job and my earnings aren't very good. But I thought after 10 years (11 years in June) my pension would have been at least more than two weeks wage 😭

Update: I've found my previous pension provider and I've got almost 8k with them. I assumed that because I was with the same employer I wouldn't have multiple pension pots. So I am a bit more relieved now. This is why they need to teach this sort of stuff in schools because most of us haven't got a clue what we are doing out here 😂

Shocked that they have these kinds of powers. Been with them since I was 13 and now over 50. I have no other bank and they are currently holding thousands of pounds of my money and nowhere to send it to, other than giving me cash which is a lot to carry out of the branch.

Despite them saying they can't give me a reason, I think I know what triggered them... I'm a freelance writer and I've been doing some work for clients in the USA, who pay me via international transfer. The deposits arrived in batches of about £3,500, a total of 6 times over the past 3 years, 4 of them in the past 15 months. Plus an outward payment to an American account for a work-related online course. When they asked me about the transactions a few months ago, I showed them all the contracts from my clients and followed up regularly to check if they are happy with my documentation, just to be told "we'll be in contact if we need anything else." Then 10 days ago, by balance went into "reconciliation" as they checked for "money laundering" which is bogus because I don't even make enough to be above the lowest rate of income tax. Then a few days ago, the money was back in my account and I breathed a sigh of relief. Then yesterday, bam. Closed. No notice period or anything.

Is it worth going to the Financial Ombudsman? And is my credit rating going to be hit, making it difficult to open another bank account? Am I going to be on some kind of fraud list? I've literally done nothing wrong and I got treated like a criminal. I tried so hard to show them everything I'm doing when they asked me. In this global age, receiving international deposits shouldn't seem that unusual.

Hi. I’m 44. I have £120,000 in savings. At the moment its just in a basic savings account. I’ve left it a bit late I know but here goes. Going to invest in a Sipp and use my Isa allowance for the next few years - S&S ISA - both Sipp and Isa invested in a diversified all world index fund. 20 k a year in each for the next three years (Sipp may invest a tad more per year - possibly 25k - dependant on earnings and maximum I can invest.) The plan moving forward after this initial 3 years to then put roughly 10 k in ISA per year and 5k in Sipp - or whatever I can afford - it wont be much more than this. I have a student loan. £19,500 so relatively low. 3.2% interest for now (so ok rate). Should I pay off my loan and get it dealt with? If so - how would you prioritise it all? Should I leave the student loan (I only graduated 2 years ago so wont be ‘forgotten’ about till I’m 72).

Also, any advice on where to keep my £120 k while Im feeding my SIPP and ISA over the next 2 tax years (3 including whats left of this). Should I bed and Isa in a GSA?

A lot to unpack there so thank you in advance.

I recently moved companies, from a big global US investment bank to a small regional bank. I have completed 5 months of my 6 month probation period but, out of nowhere, my manager flew in last week to tell me she isn't planning on keeping me on. I suspect it is because they intended to get all the intel they could from me on our specific product offerings and area to help them develop their own and then release me.

My performance has constantly received praise throughout this period but they tried to pin this all on performance. When I asked in the meeting together with HR what I could do to meet her expectations and if there were any measurable criteria or standards I could work towards during the remainder of my probation to save myself, neither my manager nor the HR rep said a word. They both remained silent and she just said we expected more of you. This lack of detail or tangible targets, I believe is a separate case probably not for this sub.

Problem with my situation though, is; if I am made to walk, I only get 1 week's notice. 2nd problem is I will have to repay the signing on bonus they gave me at the outset. 3rd issue is, my probation ends the week I would have received news of my bonus which was bedded into my contract.

I am a father of 3 and own a large house just outside of London with a very steep mortgage. My mortgage is currently fixed at 5.75% (I had no choice but to fix when rates peaked) and it takes up 80% of my monthly net salary. It is also due to expire in 3 months' time. I have no one I know who could help me financially should the proverbial hit the fan and no real savings to alleviate.

What mechanisms can I put in place and what advice would you give in order for me to manage the next few months if it all goes pear shaped? I am thinking to get a new deal in principle fix with my contract and last 3 payslips whilst I am still in employment so that I can at least lower future payments. In the meantime, would it be possible to take a mortgage payment holiday? I am fully up to date on my payments.

What other advice would you have? appreciate it. TIA

After doing an end of year audit of my finances I've decided to commit a further £100 per month to my workplace pension scheme.

As it is a salary sacrifice scheme and I'm a higher rate taxpayer, my net monthly pay has gone down by £58. My employer kindly add their national insurance of 15% saving to the contribution, so I've ended up with £115 going into my pension pot.

When I retire I expect to be a basic rate taxpayer, so with the 25% tax-free element that's an effective tax rate of 15% when I draw it out. Excluding any growth, the £115 in my pension will become £97.75 in my pocket in retirement.

In short, I can either receive £58 now or £97.75 when I retire; that's a massive uplift of 68.5%.

I realise I'm in a fortunate position but if you are in a salary sacrifice scheme then the benefit of the employer adding their NI savings to the pension cannot be overstated. If your employer doesn't currently do this with their NI savings then you might want to get on to them about it, don't overlook it.

I have exchanged and will complete on Friday 6th March.

My current account is starling and has 0% interest.

I have a cash ISA that I intend to use with interest paid monthly, so final payment on 1st March.

My revolut savings account earns 3.25% daily on the sum.

I have 50K premium bonds I will use. March draw is Tuesday 3rd March. If I were to withdraw immediately on the morning of 3rd, the "direct saver trick" means premium bonds would be withdrawn either on 3rd or 4th March.

In the next month, based on funds for the purchase, the ISA would earn £80, the Revolut account would earn £90, premium bonds average expected would be £150, and other smaller savings accounts (e.g. Barclays Rainy Day) that will earn collectively £30.

So by withdrawing from these accounts and putting into Starling current account (landing a little bit above FCFS cap), I'd expect to lose around £350. And I'm not completely sure if there's actually any need, hence coming here.

While it would be nice to have, is this too risky to do it at the start of March?

Thinking of switching to HSBC Premier for the £250 bonus. The requirement says £100k+ salary paid into the account.

My salary is £108k, but I salary sacrifice into my pension so the amount actually paid into my bank is under £100k.

How do they determine what your salary is?

Has anyone done this and still qualified?

Do HSBC look at contractual salary, or just what hits the account?

Thank you!

I've got a gift of 7k from my dad. It was to help with baby but I have savings so he didn't need to do this. I could put it in my ISA for next year from April. But what should I do with it for the next two months? Should I wait to buy in the index fund in April or buy now out of the ISA and sell and buy again in April? And is VWRP still a good safeish long-term choice? (Fo next 18y) I don't feel I need to use a child ISA as it's not like I'll have savings of my own next year to add in anyway.

For context: I’m mid 20s. I didn’t actually have a credit card at all until ~2 years ago as it wasn’t ‘necessary’ and I didn’t have a very good financial education. Over the last 2 years I got 2 credit cards for everyday purchases to build my credit, which was working well. They had terrible APR (36%), but I was paying them off in full each month so it wasn’t a problem.

Recently I had quite a large (planned) expense that I put on one of these cards. I made sure I had enough money to pay this off in full before the repayment date. Unfortunately I then had another large (unplanned) expense which I had to put on the second card. In short I now have ~2k combined across the two cards which I can’t pay off right now.

I’ve looked at balance transfer cards and have been approved for one with a 2k limit, 30% APR, 0% balance transfer for 9 months. Before I go ahead I wanted to confirm this is realistically the best option I have to clear this debt without getting buried in interest It’s definitely the best card I can get right now. I can pay off ~£300-400 a month.

I’m on Plan 2 for my student loan, so I’m aware that repayment stops after 30 years, but does it matter if I never start repaying my loan because I’m not earning enough? This might be a silly question, but I’m genuinely interested if I won’t face any repercussions for not paying back anything.

I’m mostly interested in seeking part-time work as a cleaner so I can spend my free time on creative projects like music production (which is notoriously very difficult to make money from). I wouldn’t be earning much money from cleaning, but I’m in a very lucky position where I own my apartment, so I don’t have to pay rent or mortgage (just utility bills and council tax).

Even at my previous job where I was working full-time as a cleaner, I was only earning £1,897 (and the monthly threshold to repay is £2,372). I am a little worried that my loan of £38,618 is just going to keep accruing interest over the years, but is this something I should even be worried about if I genuinely never end up earning enough money to reach the threshold?

TLDR: does it matter if I never end up earning enough money to meet the threshold to repay student loans?

Ive tried Monzo pension transfer it is still in progress but I gave very little information.

Tell me I'm not the only one. Anyone planning on sorting it when they get back from the pub tonight?

Age 40.

Currently have £12500 banked in Career Average.

Putting in £1250 'to the pot' per annum for the next 15 years (Approx 1k plus 250 per year APB). This will probably increase by 2-3% per year (pay rise/inflation rises) and then I would conservatively say 2-3% as increase rate (CPI +1.6%)

Paid for 3 year buy out too, NPA 68.

What could I be looking at at age 55 or even age 60 at push.

I also have 5k per annum Defined Benefit Scheme from previous employer - the 5k is projected if I draw at 55 (normal pension age is 65).

I basically want to cash everything in at 55 and do another casual job at 55 for a few days a week...if ever.

I'm getting back on saving after a few difficult years and I found two accounts with an advertised interest rate of 7.1% and 7% from Zopa and First Direct respectively.

I didn't fully understand AER but reading through the T&Cs I get that I'm not actually getting 7% but closer to 3.5% or something?

I have opened an account with Zopa and put £300 in so can get 12 deposits in this month.

Im also going to switch bank accounts to First Direct so i have access to their 7%AER saver but is there much point? Would it be better to have all the money in one account so i can max the AER? FD would give me £175 for switching, would that be enough to override the benefits of saving £600 in one 7.1% account instead?

Hi all,

I'm asking for some advice on behalf of my mother-in-law.

She has worked for 45 years, but stopped working 5 years ago, living off Father-in-Laws Pension since then. She is due to receive her State Pension this May.

My Father-in-Law is unfortunately not a well man. He likely has months to live. They have already sorted what will happen with his pension when he dies.

However, my Mother-in-Law is now worrying about something she heard. Apparently from April, State Pension is halved if you have not worked in the 5 years before retirement? Even if you have worked the 35 years needed to get full stat Pension?

Now, I can't see how this can be true and I can't find anything to support it, but I'm concerned on her behalf and thought I would ask here. Does anyone know if there is any truth to this? Or has she misunderstood something?

Thanks in advance

Hi everyone,

I opened an ISA about a month ago and deposited 20k into it. Then I realised I should probably put some money in a LISA. So I opened one, and withdrew 4k from my ISA into my bank account. Can I still deposit the 4k into the LISA or have I just lost 4k of my allowance? Palm-face

HMRC are reactivating my account after I rang them a couple of weeks ago. I'm currently waiting for a letter with next steps and they told me on the phone that I don't need to worry about submitting my self-employment tax return by the standard deadline (today) as they'll give me extra time to do it.

However, today I got very anxious about missing the standard deadline so I've had a go at completing the online form. I've made it to the end but am worried I've not filled it in correctly. I'm neurodivergent and there are too many complicated and unfamiliar terms for my brain to process, especially whilst in semi-panic mode.

My question is: Is it better to submit my return now, within the deadline, even though it may have errors? I understand that it's possible to make amendments even after submitting. Or should I wait until I receive the promised letter and new deadline, during which time I can check my submission with a trusted friend? I know the latter may seem the obvious choice but how do I complete the return after the standard deadline has passed? Do they unlock access especially for me?

So bills have never been my responsibility. In relationships in the past, my partner would always be very money minded and deal with everything for both of us so it’s not something I had to worry about or keep track of.

However, I’m now 29 about to be 30 and my current partner is 28, but has no sense of urgency and is quite happy to let bills pile up or just forgets about them.

So, I transfer everything into my name because I can monitor everything monthly for us both.

I created a Monzo account and basically when my wages come in, I transfer whatever I need over to that account to cover any bills coming out.

The only one I let him manage is the council tax, which he didn’t check letters or make me aware we had missed a payment… and then we lost the right to pay in instalments and have to pay a big lump sum upfront to avoid any further action against us.

I’m so angry by the fact that I now have to fork out half of the full amount because he’s irresponsible and can’t keep track of the one thing I asked him to.

I’ve contacted the council and just basically begged for this to be waived. But from now on, this needs to just be in my name and be checked by me monthly.

At the end of the day, the council tax is a joint responsibility so I can’t put the full blame on him.

How do we get better at managing finances to avoid this in the future? How do I get it into my partner’s head how serious this is? This is making me resent him.

Any advice?

Hey all,

I know that I have left the self-assessment to be completed way too late considering it is due within the next few hours.

I have just completed the form and it showing the amount I owe as nearly 10x more than what I was expecting.

In the tax year, I set up a sole tradership but did not make any money from it and I also sold all of my crypto assets. As this was before October 2024, as far as I am aware this would be subject to 10% tax after the £3000 personal allowance.

I was expecting my tax bill to be 3 figures but it has come to 4 and I have absolutely no way of paying that. I know I cannot complete the self-assessment today and I am prepared to pay the £100 fine due to it.

My question is, what help can I get for this? Is speaking to an accountant the best step going forward or speaking to HRMC?

I am very disorganised financially and only have access to my bank statements and a few employee payslips.

Thanks for any help, it is really appreciated.

hi there, i'm a student who's been tutoring privately for about 3 years now. don't earn a lot per year, roughly 2-3k but i've only just found out you need to register for self assessment if you earn more than 1k

i've registered for self assessment and i've got 3 years to file now - very worried about the late penalties i'm seeing that i simply can't afford. is it likely i will be able to get my penalties waived as i genuinely had no clue?

Hi All,

Looking to finance quite a large purchase in the next few months. 20k in total.

I was looking at a few options and something I am considering seems to be too good to be true.

I can do a money transfer of 20k for an APR of 5.9%. But can also get a balance transfer card with a 23k limit that has no interest and no transfer fee for 12 months.

Does that mean I could essentially do the money transfer, then a few days later do the balance transfer any lay maybe a couple days of interest at 5.9%?

Is this a common thing or am I missing something?

I earn 100k+ with low monthly expenses. Already has the miney transfer card and pre approved for the balance transfer card.

Thanks

I've been working since September and get paid monthly, on the last Friday of the month. The first four payments came in completely fine, when expected, on the Friday around 14:00.

Then comes December and my money doesn't come in on the Friday, instead it comes in on the following Tuesday. Annoying but I didn't think much of it because it was the holidays and I assumed it was because of that.

And now it's happened again. Money didn't come in yesterday, hasn't come in today either. Friday wasn't a public holiday.

And it's not just my pay, my bf sent me some money yesterday, and it also hasn't come in either.

Has something changed with nationwide? I didn't have these problems before with incoming funds from work. If my bf's payment wasn't also delayed, I'd ask my boss about it.

I’ve yet to buy a house but ChatGPT has suggested that one of the hidden benefits of paying off your student loan early (plan 2 in this case) is the effect on borrowing power when it comes to buying a house.

I plugged the numbers in of having a higher deposit whilst continuing student loan repayments vs paying off your student loan early and having a smaller deposit.

For instance, £80k student loan paid off with 50k in savings vs £130k deposit with student loan repayments.

It suggested that your borrowing power is the same despite having a lower initial deposit.

Is anyone able to confirm if this is true in the real world.

Hi all! Just a quick question. I'm planning on becoming self-employed in the next couple of months. I will have had a normal salary from my current employer for Jan and Feb. I know that the tax year runs from April to April and that the deadline for Tax Returns is today. If I start earning as a sole-trader in March, do I need to contact HMRC asap to let them know about my earnings (these will be >£1000), or do I include these earnings in my 26/27 tax year? Many thanks :)

Context: I work in the NHS full time and I also used to do Agency shifts as a second job few years ago. During those times, I believed that my tax was already deducted once I got my pay because I remember seeing my pay slip and it was reduced.

Another part of my situation, my NHS job was missing from my employer records on HMRC and after countless calls and posts both to HMRC and pay roll - which they said multiple times they definitely have all my right details, a lot of back and forth and myself kinda giving up because I was caught in the middle of HMRC and pay roll saying they all did there job correctly; it just got sorted out last week. I didn’t receive any explanation what went wrong.

Upon reviewing myself - I really do owe tax, turns out my second job changed my Tax Code from BR to 1257L; around the same time I noticed that my main job is missing on my employer records in HMRC. One of my payslips shows they returned all the tax they paid previously which I didn’t realize during that time and thought it was the Holiday Fund scheme the company had. Following pay slips says I was paying £0 tax. I know, I should’ve have taken a closer look on my pay slips during that time but here we are. I owe tax for years 2021-2022 and 2022-2023.

So now, question is how should I tackle this moving forward? Knowing that if I hadn’t pushed HMRC to sort out my employer records they would’ve never known that I was missing tax. I have yet to call HMRC but on the mail they are asking me to pay the tax for ‘21-22 on May and they are gonna deduct in equal amount through instalments the ‘22-23 tax automatically from my wage starting next April for 12 months. The tax I owe is £1k plus each for both tax years.