A ‘smart financial moves’ thread

[crabsaremisunderstood]

A space to share anything and everything, big or small, that has helped your finances in some way recently. You never know - it might help another person on this thread!

My smart move was opening a Lifetime ISA 3 years ago. The government gives you 25% on top of everything you put in, on funds up to £4k a year. If you put in £1k, you get £250 extra! I bought my first house this year and wouldn’t have become a homeowner if it hadn’t been for this. For those that have already bought a first home, you can also use it to give yourself a retirement fund.

@AlmondCoffee depends how long you're investing for, whether you need to withdraw it, and whether you're a higher rate taxpayer.
Under 10 years, find a regular saver account in a bank that has a high interest rate. Easy access if you'll need to dip into it or limited access/bond if you won't. If you're a higher rate taxpayer the rates are heading to the point where it's worth getting an ISA to save paying tax on interest after a while (once the annual interest hits £500/£1000 depending on your tax rate).
Over 10 years it's worth getting a LISA for the first £4000 a year if you're under 40 and want to invest for a first house deposit or leave the pot until you're over 50.
Otherwise you can get a low fee Allshare Tracker fund from an online share broker. Those funds basically track the stock market by having a little bit of a load of companies.
The stock market has higher risk but higher reward than bank savings, it's useful if you want to grow a pot of money but have flexibility in when you'll need to take it out.

Best Things I Did
-started paying 9% of my salary into a retirement fund from age 22
-buying a house (but also see below)
-overpaying my mortgage
-fixing my home-loan rate at 1.75%
-getting a good education and putting myself in a position to achieve a high earning job
-having 3-6 month expenses Emergency Fund
-making sure before I retire my house is paid off
-making sure before I retire I have assets/pensions/income streams that will bring in 75% of my pre-retirement income
-Don’t borrow money from anyone except a bank (see below)
-don’t have expensive ‘hobbies’ until you can afford them - eg smoking, skiing, cycling etc etc

Things I learnt the hard way and wish I knew at 20-25
-don’t have a credit card with a limit higher than £500 pounds
-don’t have an overdraft
-save for something before you buy it - ie: nothing on credit card, no holidays where you pay £XX deposit now and the rest later. Always have the money. Operating this way genuinely makes you think twice about spending the money you worked hard to accumulate. And if you do go ahead, you didn’t borrow to buy it.
-get on the housing ladder ASAP, even if it is a shit house, and/or you need to rent to 3 friends to do so. The earlier the better.
-Don’t loan money to friends or family. It ruins the relationship. Either GIVE it (as that’s what it will end up being anyway) or say no.

I would open a stocks and shares isa and invest it in index tracker funds like Vanguard FTSE Global All Cap Index. Less risky than individual stock picking and a good long term investment- don't be trying to predict the market and continue investing consistently even if it's down one month, hold your nerve basically as you only loose when you sell at a loss. My isa is with Hargreaves Lansdown and I really like their app.

Good financial moves I made.

I was a teacher for 32 years and contributed to TP scheme which was final salary. I also alongside opened up a Stakeholder Pension and paid a further £400 pcm. This has now amounted to £58,950. I am now taking this out as annuity at 8.7 percent rate which is excellent. Should be completed by Nov 23rd. Even though I now take my TP each month I still contribute top amount I can to Stakeholder pension £266 as keeps me under 40p tax bracket.

I use Topcashback to buy car insurance, house insurance, Virgin media package and large appliances from Currys as well as anything on eBay. This generates about £200 per annum free cash.

I pay credit cards off every other month. This keeps credit rating higher than if every month.

I have 8 btl properties which I upgrade each year to keep in tip top condition and can write off maintenance and repairs against tax. Keeps tax at 20 percent.

I gift £1k each year to each of my 3 children and £250 to 2 dgc to help avoid future inheritance tax.

I am going to start letting out 7 bedroom holiday home in France for a month each year to pay French taxes. I have to wait until new kitchen is installed first and new electrical upgrade but should be completed this year and will rent next year. It should be popular as 20 mins from beach and 300 metres from beginning of National Forest with cycling tracks and picnic areas. I have 3 cycles and 2 kayaks there too.

For a lot of people it's just the financial moves of being born at the right time.

And finding your long-term partner at the right time - I've saved loads by living with DH for much of my life. I know you can move in/buy with friends but that seems a bit less secure, if they want to move out to move in with a partner etc, change jobs etc.

Wow @caringcarer how did you finance 8 buy to let properties? Did you release equity from one to another to fund the deposit then get buy to let mortgages on them all? Do you have a financial advisor or do it all yourself?

I agree with pp that financial management should be part of the school curriculum. There are some wild number quoted on here which take no account of raging inflation/ future value of money etc.

My one tip would be to spread your risk. So some savings some investment and some pensions etc. as not putting all your eggs in one basket. Remember the Equitable life pensions fiasco.