Help with managing my money

AaronR

Hi everyone. I have now worked my way up in my job to the point where I am lucky enough to get paid a reasonable amount with leaves me with money left over each month (I could easily save £200-300 a month) and it is now starting to accumulate in my HSBC current account. I am trying to save what I can to pay the rest of my wedding coming up this year, and I do have some debts I am still trying to clear. I am also lucky in that I have a company car and a company mobile phone so my outgoing share quite controlled. What I would like to know is what is the best way of making the most of the fact I have surplus money each month? Is it best to just keep it in my current account, open an ISA? Or even invest? I know very little about all of that.

Any help greatly received!

brendon

First, you should pay off your debt.

Second, once you've paid of your debt, you need a larger emergency fund. It's recommended you have 6 months worth of expenses as cash available for emergencies. This can be in short term savings accounts, although current accounts often pay better rates. Or, maybe the Help to Buy ISA if you are a first time buyer. This website has a good guide for savings accounts: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/savings-accounts-best-interest

Third, once you've paid off your debt and have 6 months of expenses, consider what your medium-long term goals are. What are you saving for? When do you need the money? Those questions influence whether you should be saving or investing.

money_maker_2

I take it you already contribute to a company pension? As long as that's covered each month then I would eco the above advice. Pay debt off first (unless mortgage debt) and build up an emergency fund of 3-6 months. Current accounts pay higher than savings accounts and most ISA's at the moment, so stick it in one of the top payers.

Flobberchops

If your wedding is this year that makes things rather too short-term to think about investments. Probably best to clear your debts and then put anything you can save in a high-interest current account so it's instantly accessible.

Archi_Bald

I hate to disappoint you - as long as you have debts, you are unlikely to have any surplus money. Pay off your debts first, then create an emergency fund in current accounts. Move your current account to a bank that pays interest and/or rewards and/or cashback. You can earn up to £150 for switching.

AaronR

Flobberchops wrote: »

If your wedding is this year that makes things rather too short-term to think about investments. Probably best to clear your debts and then put anything you can save in a high-interest current account so it's instantly accessible.

This is the problem, I could easily clear my debts if it wasn't for the wedding but I need to save what I can for that, so I am just carrying on paying my debts monthly, I can't see any other way, it's wait her save for the wedding or clear my debts quickly

kidmugsy

If you can't afford an expensive wedding don't have one.

Your chance of wedded bliss is (I'd guess) nothing to do with the cost of the wedding.

AaronR

To be honest we have got the cost down as much as we can while still keeping it how we want it. Many elements have been hand made by ourselves etc but we still want a wedding to our liking so there is still an amount of the budget set that we have to save for, I doubt many people can just pay for a wedding straight out of their savings!

Lingua

Just looked at the average price of a wedding ...
Could buy a small house where I live for that much money!

But on topic:
Pay off your debts first, then put your money into a high-interest current account. At the moment, TSB would likely be best as it has no DD requirement and no time limit (until they inevitably lower the rate, of course). May I also suggest a perusal of this link:
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/family/cheaper-weddings

Just in case there happens to be an idea there you can use!

However, I would say that having an emergency fund is a lot more important if you can set the money aside to create one.

All the best for your wedding (and saving)!


Lingua

maxie014

When i got my mortgage i set up a £50 a month into f and c investment trust,to pay it off early alongside my "endowment" which would pay it off even earlier,i expected it paid off in about 17-18years.
Sadly the endowment was a scam,but the f and c mounted up so i did end up getting the mortgage paid off in 22 years.
The amount of times my mrs tried to get me to stop that was unreal,but i insisted it was paid,was a real winner.

lippy1923

I would say pay off your debts and put the rest of the wedding on 0% credit card. Problem solved as long as you pay the CC off before the deal ends.

I got married last year and still have £3k on a 0% CC deal which ends in July. It's an easy way to save up.