WWYD? Money stuff

[Bleh]

I have TONS of student debt which I am currently working my way through. It's doing my head in, but I'm slowly getting there.

Through work, I have a whole bunch of shares which are now worth just over £800, and the value went up again over the weekend! (woo hoo!) I'm thinking of maybe selling some to clear some of the debt, but then would lose the one investment I currently have (apart from a pension scheme through work). I'm also very much aware that their value can go down as well as up.

Hmm, tough one. Depends on how much of an impact it will have on your debts. How will it affect your monthly payments? If it reduces them by, for example, £10 per month, Id be tempted to just try to find an extra £10 elsewhere, and keep a close eye on the share prices!

Also, did you pay for the shares initially? If they were bonuses, personally, Id be more likely to sell.

That wasnt much help, was it?! Might be worth reposting under "investments"

If I sold them now, it could make a big impact. It was a buy one get one free kind of arrangement (I contribute x amount each month, which gets saved until I have enough and then on a certain day each month, if I ahve enough, I get bought a share/some shares).

Find out how much it will cost to convert them to cash (Ive no idea) it might influence your decision!

Id still be inclined to hold on to some - maybe 50% you got "for free" in case it rises again very soon.

Yes, I think a chunk will go to tax and NI, and it will go at market rate (so will have to choose a good time to sell).

you wouldn't pay tax and NI on shares though.

What kind of company is it, tha tmight give an idea of where the market is headed iyswim.

Is the student debt all student loans, or have you got other loans/overdraft/credit cards? If it's just student loans I'd say just keep paying it off - commercial rate debt you should probably get rid off as soon as possible, IMHO.

Overdrafts (the Halifax thread made me panic a bit). They're shares for an investment bank (not one of the ones that took government money).

If they have been issued by your employer as a bonus you have to hold them for 3 years before you can sell and not have to pay tax on the money.

How long have you had them?

Are you paying any interest on the student debts?

These are separate from bonus shares (I have some of those, but as you said, they're not exercisable for three years). Yes, paying interest at the moment. I'm trying to clear the majority of it from my monthly salary, but it just eats a lot of it up (we're talking nearly half here, as I'm trying to get rid as quickly as possible), so to reduce it somewhat and take the pressure off a bit would be great. I start thinking about this partly because I'm going to clear a major debt around December, and it would be nice to get rid of much, much more of it.

I paid my student overdraft off by having my salary paid to another account and then paying off a chunk by standing order.

I then paid any extra cash I had off it as and when. That cleared it quite quickly.

If you've got other bonus shares and it's costing you interest each month on the student overdraft then I would probably cash in some shares.

Unless there were lots of charges for selling the shares (and or tax/NI) or you have reason to believe they are going to increase dramatically in value.

Agree with Mousey that you need to find out the costs and then make a decision.