help with my finances

studentmoneysav3r

Hi everyone.

I was looking for a little help on how to maximise my money and thought here would be as good a place as any.

I'll give a little background and some detail into where I'm currently at, at the moment. But I really don't know what else to do from here.

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I'm currently 23 years old, living at home in Greater London. I work a full-time job as a HR Assistant and hope to progress higher up in the future.

I have been working full time since May 2018. I graduated with a 2:1 in Social Sciences in July 2018.

My current finances:

£1,525 - NET monthly salary
£2,000 - Santander 123 Graduate Account
£1,015 - Skipton LISA
£500 - Nationwide 5% Saver
-£700 - Barclaycard Credit Card - 0% until August 2019.
-£600 - Student loan overpayment - repaying £10 a month @ 0%

Large annual outgoings:
£800 (give or take) - car insurance
£200 annual car service
£50 annual MOT
£150 annual Road Tax

Monthly spending:
Roughly £300 a month on bills
£800-1000 goes into savings (depending!)
Rest is on food, clothes, treats, going out etc.

I really want to save up for a house deposit, I can't afford to rent anywhere at the moment, so that's my main goal.

I don't really know if I'm doing well financially or if there's anything I can improve. Obviously my income is low, but I've only been working for a year so have limited experience. I am however, hoping to start my HR Management Masters in October to help boost my prospects and ultimately lead me to become Head of HR/HR Director in the future.

Is there anything I can do better?

colsten

There's not much I can suggest as you seem to be quite on top of things already, and there's only so much you can do with the sums you have available. Some questions for you: Where do you put your savings that don't go into Santander or into your LISA or into Nationwide? Do you have a FlexDirect already? Presumably you already have a works pension? Have you looked into current account switching (starting off with a donor account) as a source of a little extra income?

Terry_Towelling

Can you just explain the Student Loan overpayment. Does that mean you were given too much money and are having to pay back the excess?

You seem to have a huge amount to save each month - which is good.

A slight side issue - and on a personal note (feel free not to answer) - do you understand exactly what it is that motivates you to want to become a Head of HR or HR Director rather than someone who just works in HR?

studentmoneysav3r

colsten wrote: »

There's not much I can suggest as you seem to be quite on top of things already, and there's only so much you can do with the sums you have available. Some questions for you: Where do you put your savings that don't go into Santander or into your LISA or into Nationwide? Do you have a FlexDirect already? Presumably you already have a works pension? Have you looked into current account switching (starting off with a donor account) as a source of a little extra income?

Those are all the savings I have at the moment. I'm not too sure what to do once I max those out actually..

Yes, I pay into my pension - I think it's 6.5% and my employer pays 18%.

I've gotten switching bonuses from lots of different banks - currently waiting for the Natwest one to come in.

studentmoneysav3r

Terry_Towelling wrote: »

Can you just explain the Student Loan overpayment. Does that mean you were given too much money and are having to pay back the excess?

You seem to have a huge amount to save each month - which is good.

A slight side issue - and on a personal note (feel free not to answer) - do you understand exactly what it is that motivates you to want to become a Head of HR or HR Director rather than someone who just works in HR?

So I dropped out of my first year at uni, but was paid the full maintenance loan and grant for that term - so they needed me to pay it all back outside of usual loan repayments.

I wasn't sure about HR to begin with, but the more I work in the department, the more I can see myself going up. I'm happy to stop at HR Business Partner if I decide that HR Director is too much but it's definitely my kind of thing, it pays well and I honestly have no idea what else to do with my life so it seems to make sense.