Long-term mortgages – a boon or a burden?
Traditionally mortgages were for 25 years, but nowadays many loans on offer have a standard maximum term of 40 years. Longer-term mortgages have the advantage of lower monthly repayments, making them more affordable, especially if you are struggling to get onto the housing ladder. However, the downside is that by the end of the term, […]
In the news…
SELF-STORAGE INSURANCE CONCERNS Some home insurance policies provide cover for ‘items temporarily removed’ from your home, although there may be a time limit, typically 30 to 90 days, and you need to inform your insurer when you deposit items in a storage facility. MPs have raised concerns about the insurance policies that storage companies insist […]
Generation X top the pensions saving chart
Information from HMRC shows that those aged 43 to 54, often referred to as Generation X, account for the largest proportion of the UK’s personal pension contributions, equating to 43% of total contributions made in the 2015–16 tax year, the latest year for which data is available. However, there are fears that they are still […]
Saving £2,880 a year could provide a retirement windfall for your child
Planning ahead and starting early can really help when it comes to building up wealth for children. Current pension rules, which could change in the future, allow a parent to put up to £2,880 a year into a pension for a child. Tax relief means that this is then topped up to £3,600. If a […]
Housing shortage creates downsizing problems
For those who didn’t manage to save enough to fund their retirement, or find their existing home is too big and expensive to run, downsizing can be the answer. You sell your home, move to a cheaper one and live off the money you’ve made. However, recent research1 has shown that there is a shortage of […]
Millennials could save £10.5bn by making a few lifestyle swaps
With two-thirds of millennials admitting they don’t save enough, and saying they’re finding it difficult to get the cash together for a deposit on a property, Barclays has suggested a few ways in which they could boost their savings without giving up on socialising or treats. According to the findings of a survey carried out […]
Huge rise in protection policy take-up
If you were unable to work due to accident, injury, sickness or redundancy, you would still need to support yourself and your family financially. Whilst you might have enough savings to tide you over for a short period off work, if it went on for longer, it could be a struggle to meet mortgage costs […]
Savings – do you need a nudge?
Savings – do you need a nudge? According to data from the Office for National Statistics3, the UK is losing the savings habit. In the last couple of years, the savings ratio has been at about 4%, whereas in the 1990s it was closer to 15%. Statistics show that half of 20-somethings have no savings […]
What homebuyers regret
Although most people are happy that they made their move, some buyers admit to having made the wrong choice. Regrets include being too far from friends and family, compromising on location, finding the neighbours a problem, choosing the wrong-sized property and discovering that their new home had hidden and expensive-to-fix problems when they moved in. […]
Investment jargon made simple
Commonly used words and phrases in connection with investing can often seem confusing, but the good news is that we are well-versed in providing plain-English explanations of technical terms. Volatility You will probably have heard this term quite a lot recently. Volatility refers to the rate at which the price of an investment moves up […]