Advice re: money please? (I know that's quite general..)

Lizbetty

Hi everyone

I'm trying to sort out our finances as my husband is frightened by the 27yrs remaining on our mortgage (so am I!). It's an offset one and so I'm trying to make sure I'm doing the best thing with our money and maknig the most of it.

It's proving to be a little difficult for me to get my head around and so I'd best seek some advice

My husband has been self employed for the past year and so our income has been low (prob not enough to pay tax after mileage!).

This is our situation though at the mo:

Offset mortgage - £52,000
(House value - £165,000ish)
Savings offset against mortgage - £11,000
HBOS Shares (185) - around £930
PEP/ISA - around £2,000 (not connected to mortgage)
Other savings - £20pm each into 2 Govt child trust funds

We have a current account each and a joint account for outgoings, we transfer income from my husband's business account straight to the joint account to cover bills usually. None of these accounts are connected to the mortgage/offset against mortgage as it's a separate bank.

I'm thinking now that the CTF is not the best thing in case my kids, god forbid, discover online betting or something crackers when they reach 18. Maybe a little more parental control would be wise, and so I'm thinking of opening something else for them. What though is a bit question as I just don't know where to start!

I earn £5,000 pa doing my husband's admin/sales (cheap labour!!), and so I have some tax allowance remaining, but I'm not sure of the best way to use this, if at all.

The ideal situation would be to be able to chip away at the mortgage a bit quicker - things ARE tight at the mo but I'm just if we had a rejig we could pay a little bit more.

With regards to downsizing, we haven't had any problems paying the mortgage, but I'm aware that the low income my husband has earned and the fact he's just done his first year self employed wouldn't make us ideal candidates for a new mortgage, even with the equity and good track record. I used to know all this stuff when I worked in building societies years ago, but they've shifted the goal posts numerous times since then!

All advice would be welcomed. I'm really struggling to get my head around it and I'm nervous going for about professional advice in case we get roped into anything! the advice on MSE is always better than the advice we've had from the banks, etc anyway :T

Thanks again folks
Best wishes
Lucy

dunstonh

I'm thinking now that the CTF is not the best thing in case my kids, god forbid, discover online betting or something crackers when they reach 18. Maybe a little more parental control would be wise, and so I'm thinking of opening something else for them. What though is a bit question as I just don't know where to start!

Typically unit trusts or investment trusts with a designation to the child.

the advice on MSE is always better than the advice we've had from the banks, etc anyway :T

The banks dont employ financial advisers. They employ insurance salesmen. Their job is to sell you products from their product range. That said, the advice they give is not normally bad. Just expensive and very limited. You should never seek advice from a bank.

Lizbetty

Thanks for the reply. It's a while ago since we last sought advice from the Bradford & Bingley. They had (not sure if they still do) financial advisers who were salaried I think and the advice was independent, I just felt a bit pressured. Though that was life insurance, which we got sorted!

Are unit/investment trusts risky at all? I really want to minimise the risk for the kids savings, any advice on that would be very gratefully received.

I'm guessing that our savings are in the right place, offsetting against our mortgage - apart from the PEP/ISA which I've had for probably 10 years now. I initially invested £1500 which has been up and down like Lord knows what, but is now around £2k. I'm getting a bit twitchy and wondering whether to cash it in and stick that in the savings account to offset, too. Again, any advice on that would be welcomed

I know we're in a sound financial position in many ways, but I'm a stay at home mum and my husband is self employed to enable him to be flexible and spend more time with the kids while they're little. He doesn't charge a lot for what he does and friends are sometimes amazed how we manage, lol! So if I don't keep an eye on things, the savings could quite easily disappear as our income juuust covers bills, etc. No holidays for a while! (Apart from a friends chalet in Brid, which is fab anyway!) I just feel managing money at present is a constant worry as I'm the one who deals with it all, and finding time/energy to sort it out is difficult.

Your advice really is welcomed and appreciated :A

Best wishes
Lucy