Saving diary

lalman

Hello everyone - i have been reading alot of posts around the forum and you all seem a very nice friendly bunch

I am going to join the saving target forum for 2014 when it is up but thought i would give you a little taste of my situation and any advice would be useful and appreciated.

I am 27 years of age... and earning £40k after moving towns for work rently. I pay rent of £625 inc bills which leaves me around 1875 to play with... for a guy with not very expensive tastes i live comfortably...

I have maxed my ISA (i wish i shopped around prior to doing it) and have around 6k in other savings - totalling £11200. I keep 1k in my current account as Natwest try to charge me £6 if i go into my over draft now and 6 months ago... i bought a flat with a btl mortgage for £108k - with a 27k deposit... which the mortgage is getting paid for by the tenant currently (touch wood it continues) and profit just pays for repairs normally or is nominal in amount.

I think i can save around 1000-1250 a month but i am unsure as i have just started this new job but based on previous expenses that should be feasible... i have debts of around 4k from a car... that i am paying off around 240 per month (16 months left) and thinking i should pay it off sooner to avoid interest payments... (thoughts welcome)...

My ultimate aim is to continue to keep progressing in my career, settle down with someone and hopefully move back to my old town in 4-6 years... with enough money to pay a big chunk of the property off + potentially buy another 1 or 2 btl's for retirement.

I am even thinking of buying a place where i am now and letting out a room or two... but dont know whether that would be best or to start buying those btl's in my old town (when i save up enough cash that is).

So my net assets are around 35k - i had it upto 39k but moving was expensive... if i can get to £55000 net assets (including more equity in my flat) by the end of 2014 i think thats a good first step... but i need to know what i should do with my cash... currently i have 2 regular savers with Barclays and N&P... but finding it tough to find other places for it...

If you have any suggestions they are always welcome..

block10

One obvious suggestion would be to switch current accounts that would work better for you. You would get a decent return on savings and less likely to dip into the overdraft.

e.g. Santander 123 (3% interest on savings + cashback) or Nationwide (5% AER on savings)

calypso_rhapsody

Definitely find out if you can pay off your loan early - probably the best savings rate you can get is a lot less than the interest on that personal loan.

lalman

Thanks for the advice - i just opened a current account with Santander - awaiting the information back from them... why are Santander offering far better money return than the other banks?