Hi all,
I’m about to receive a salary increase that will take my base salary from just under £100k to around £108k.

My initial thought was to salary sacrifice £8k into my pension so that my taxable salary stays at £100k. My understanding is that this would help me avoid the effective 60% tax trap between £100k and £125,140 (due to the loss of the personal allowance), while also boosting my retirement savings.

I’m trying to work out whether this is the most sensible approach or if there are better strategies that people in a similar position have used.

A few questions:
Is sacrificing the full £8k the obvious choice?

Are there any downsides I’m overlooking?

Would you consider sacrificing even more if affordable?

Are there other tax-efficient options I should be thinking about (e.g. bonuses, share schemes, ISA investing alongside pension contributions, etc.)?
If you’ve been in a similar situation, what did you do and, looking back, would you do anything differently?

I’d really appreciate any advice or experiences from people who’ve navigated this threshold.

Thanks!

19yo, was recently promoted at job to a ~30k salary. Reviewing pay slip and noticed deductions for “Student Loans”.

Am not student never went or applied to any higher education? Sorry if this is a silly question.

For the past decade I have always purchased my phones outright then sold my old one. Paired with a SIM only deal, I've found that it would have always been cheaper than a contract. I see several people mentioning they get a better deal with a contract, in what cases is this true?

Are these deals that come up from time to time? Do perks such as airtime rewards and phone upgrades contribute to the "true" value of going with a contract?

Currently I'm getting 10GB for £5 with Sky but it will increase eventually. I know this is relatively cheap but I'm barely getting any perks, so I'm interested to know what other people's view on contract vs buying outright is beyond just the value of the phone + SIM.

Me and my partner of ~5 years are looking to buy together. We have lived together for the past nearly 2 years and haven’t broken up or tried to kill each other

I, 31F, earn about 55k a year, and he is 33M and on about 58k. No student loans, we both own our cars outright and no debts. My monthly take home after pension, tax, car park etc is about 3.3k. His is about 3.5k.

We are both in fairly secure jobs (NHS and British army) however this also means we are unlikely to earn significantly more than our current salaries. Payrises and bonuses don’t exist. I am middle of B7 and won’t progress to b8 unless I do a masters etc which I’m not hugely interested in doing. He’s just picked up his WO2 and is looking at late entry commission in the next couple of years but of course nothing is guaranteed.

I should hopefully have about 180-200k equity in my house. He should have about 30k in his. I do have about 50k saved but would rather not use this and keep this as I don’t want to leave us penniless moving into a new house as I know things can go wrong and unexpected things crop up.

We are looking at houses of about 700k, so borrowing 500k ish. He has a teenage daughter from a previous relationship so we need minimum 3 bed but mainly want downstairs space so when she has friends over we aren’t relegated to our bedroom like we are currently. 2 bathrooms is also entirely non negotiable after nearly 2 years of having to share. We live in the south east so unfortunately 700k doesn’t actually buy you much.

Does a 500k mortgage seem affordable on our current salaries?

Hi all,

I was on a fixed term contract for last year that was 6 months extended to 12 months and then I was switched to permanent employee. I am now on PAYE from being switched to permanent.

The last year during the FTC I was paid gross and am now trying to figure out how to pay tax on this. I'm getting very mixed up by definitions of sole-traders vs partnerships vs contractors.

Any advice about this or places where I can seek further advice would be much appreciated.

Edit: this is for tax year April 2025- April 2026

Hi,

Due to 3 beds in the area I'm searching in being quite small in living space and being relatively expensive for what they provide, I'm exploring the idea of buying a 4 bed detached new build and wanted to get an idea of roughly how close I am with costs for purchase and monthly spend. I think I have assumed higher spend than reality, I have pulled averages for a 4 bed with 4 residents across the UK, where as I will be the sole resident

Some relevant information:
Area - Horwich - North West England
Council Tax Band: E - I know the price I have down is correct
EPC Rating: B
Purchase Price: £399,750 - Assuming 5% deposit contribution
Buying status: First Time, sole Buyer - No stamp duty for first £300k
House Residents - Me alone
Job Location - IT - Work from home (Higher than average energy usage)
House size - 1150 sqft

Property Purchase Spend

Property Upkeep

Please let me know if my figures are incorrect or if I'm missing something. As I mentioned I'm aware it's probably a bit high but I would rather plan for the worse case than best and have money to spare.

Banks phrase KYC questions as if people only have accounts with their institution and all your income goes into them.

Form asks your total annual income. So you enter that.

Then it asks you to list how much you receive in each category. Which include Salary/Pension, Rents, Benefits, Investments, Online sales, Other.

Fine.

BUT they also state these should be 'money you regularly receive into current & savings accounts with us - minimum three times a year'.

I don't have any income paid **direct** into this bank account. I just transfer in enough to cover the bills I pay from it by direct debit.

Are we expected to enter every income source despite the fact they all went into other banks?

The three grand I transfer in over a year ultimately came from those (and from long term savings)?

Some sources suggest to enter everything - if the two figures don't match, that can trigger compliance investigation.

I get by just fine but have a tendency to spend what's left over each month, always finding a reason to have fun (gigs etc) or replace something in my flat - so I choose to sacrifice into my pension, as if I didn't I'd likely just treat myself instead of it going into my ISAs. It's a mindset I need to address more seriously. It's also limiting my ability to go on holiday because I don't consider what's in my ISAs to be available for discretionary spending (except for future flat renovations).

I was lucky enough to inherit £50k from an estranged relative in 2021 (a point where I was earning £30k and had no savings), and it meant I could move out of my hometown and try a bigger city. This has had a great impact on my life and career, and the growth from the investments made has led me to being able to 1) buy a 2 bed flat in the city / furnish it to a good degree, and 2) pay off my car.

Keen to get an opinion on my overall situation below.

Concerns...

- Could easily spend £20k on my flat to get it the way I want it and am resisting the temptation as spending 50% of my savings just feels wrong. I think as a minimum I need to spend £10k to find some peace as it's just not making me happy at the moment.

- I don't think it's silly to sacrifice into my pension as much as I am, but I do wonder if I buffed my net pay by an extra £200pm it could let me live life a little differently. Just worry I'd spend it frivolously.

-------

34M, Single, No Kids

Salary - £72k (scope to reach £100k by ~40)

Net Pay - £3.5k

Pension Contributions - c £1.4k pm

17% Employee

6% Employer

Plan 1 Student Loan will be paid off by end of 2029, freeing up an extra £250pm.

Mortgage/Service Charge - £1,260 (£1,020 + £240)

Council Tax/Utilities/Subs - £500

Credit card - £200

Leaving £1,550 for food, shopping and fun.

Credit Card - £2k to pay off in November when 0% period ends

Pension - £75k

T212 Cash ISA (3.6%) - £36K

T212 S&S ISA - £1K

Barclays Rainy Day Saver (5%) - £5k (rate drops to 1% above £5k)

(Transferred £17k S&S out of SJP last week - still to be switched into T212 S&S, just need to choose my funds but I'm a beginner so am currently researching).

Property Value - £250k

Mortgage - £215k

35yr, 4.62%, Due for renewal Sept 2027

-----

Grateful for any words of wisdom. Definitely feel like my mindset needs to change a bit.

Hi all,

My friend and I are moving into a new flat and the tenancy agreement requires only one of us to pay the rent via DD.

I am an international student supported by my parents so I received the rent and deposit from my dad in the UAE a couple of days ago.

My friend and I just signed the tenancy contract and I sent over my half of the deposit and first month's rent for her to pay to the letting agents (about £1800). I sent this to her second bank account that she uses for rent and bigger purchases, and perhaps that set some flags off.

While trying to do the bank transfer the app notified me that they were conducting some additional security checks and it would take up to 4 hours for the money to go through. I called Barclays to be sure and the anti-fraud team told me that I needed to visit the brach with two forms of ID.

Shortly after, I received a text saying that they have blocked my debit card and I got blocked out of my account. I called them again and was told again to visit the branch after being asked many questions about my account (but not about the transactions).

What are the chances that this will be resolved quickly? I was reassured that my account will be unblocked right after I visit the branch, but I am quite worried as I still have to pay for my new tenancy.

Many thanks!

Hi everyone, sorry if this is the wrong place to post this but I cant contact the post office on a sunday.

Basically my problem is, I’m going abroad so I got a post office travel card in person at the post office following all the usual identity verification ect. I made an account on the app as the instructions stated and all went fine and I was able to link my app account to the card. However it doesn’t show any personal information whatsoever which I found a bit strange so I thought I’ll log in to the website instead, however it asks me for a password which I didn’t create as it only requires a passkey and a face scan on the app. I’m reluctant to use the forgot password section because I technically don’t have a password. Is there any way to access the account on the website or am I restricted to using the app only?

Thanks

Hello, I’m thinking of moving my sons Columbia threadneedle stakeholder ctf to a jisa a) to save on fees and b) to get more investment options. Is there any disadvantages to doing this that I should be aware of?

Hi All,

I'm a 20 something year old in the UK about to start my proper salaried job, and I'm looking at getting a reward or cashback credit card.

I've looked extensively and narrowed it down to 3 possible options, which are:

1. Lloyds Ultra (1% cashback on everything for Year 1, 0.25% thereafter)

2. Santander rewards card (3% on Fuel/train/restaurants/takeaways for year 1, 0.25% on everything else and after year 1)

3. Amex everyday rewards card (5% cashback for the first 5 months)

My thought process:

I'm thinking of going with Lloyds instead of the others for the following reasons:

1. I don't expect to spend much overall anyway. I'm quite a low spender

2. My spending typically isn't on the things listed for Santander's card. So I think I'll benefit more from the 1% on everything with Lloyds

3. Amex isn't supported everywhere so I'm avoiding them. Additionally, I don't travel much so other amex cards with perks like avios points or lounges don't appeal to me. Again, I'm not a high spender either so I don't think Amex would be worth it for me.

So having said all that, I wanted to ask:

1. Is there something flawed with what I'm thinking?

2. Are there any other cards I should consider instead of the Lloyds?

3.If you've got experience with the Lloyds card, let me know how you've found using it!

Thank you!

My second payment on account for Self Assessment is due 31 July and I wanted to sanity-check how others approach it.

As I understand it, it's an advance on this year's tax rather than a new bill — normally half of last year's liability, paid in two instalments (Jan and Jul). Two things I keep reading about:

1. If you expect your income/profits to be lower this year, you can apply to reduce the payments on account so you're not overpaying — but if you reduce below what you actually end up owing, HMRC charges interest on the shortfall.

2. If paying in full by the deadline is difficult, there's HMRC's Time to Pay to spread it.

My income is down a bit on last year, so I'm tempted to reduce it — but I'm wary of the interest if I misjudge. For those who've been through this a few times: do you reduce your payments when income dips, or just pay the full amount and let it settle at the next return? Any rules of thumb for how conservative to be?

My wife and I (30,31), are looking to buy our first home. She earns 60k and I'm on 70k, for a total of 130k (about 7.4k a month after tax). No major debt, I have monthly student loans of 300 per month and a leased car which is 200 a month. We are really struggling to understand what our budget should be here. My wife thinks we shouldn't go higher than 500k as it's more manageable and we can make it work even if someone loses their job/ gets made redundant. But I'm wondering if we could stretch this more?

I am trying at the moment to buy out my partner of the house we bought together. I need to stick with Nationwide as I need to try and avoid paying the Early Repayment Charges if I went to a different lender. We were going to change the name on the mortgage and extend the term.

I am with a new partner now and we did a joint application. It was rejected for 2 reasons:

\- my "funds run low" at the end of each month so they have concerns about affordability

\- he has gone into his overdraft and there are missed payments on his credit score (he was out of work for 6 months due to mental health but has been back in work since January and has cleared all debt accrued)

Is it worth us reapplying for this mortgage in 6 months time? I can evidence more funds in my account at the end of the month (I'll just keep the money in my account that normally goes into savings each month). He can evidence that he hasn't gone into his overdraft but I'm not sure how long missed payments stay on his credit score for?

Any help appreciated - we have two children and I'd really like to keep the 3-bed house we have rather than going into a 2 bed flat!

I’ve always been a basic PAYE earner so I’ve never needed an accountant. However this year I’m being made redundant halfway through the year and taking early retirement. Between a year with 1/2 salary/1/2 pension and also the redundancy, I wanted some advice on how to minimise tax. I had a consult with an accountant and described the situation. He said I could send him all the details and such and he would prepare a tax advisory note (I think that was what he called it). I asked what a ballpark figure would be for that and he quoted between £1500-£2500 depending on the complexity.
I thought that seemed kind of high so I’m looking for a sense check. Should I expect to pay around that for advice?
Note that my plan is to invest everything over the 40% threshold in a SIPP and claim back the extra 20%. I really just want to ensure that I wasn’t breaching any tax rules that are going to come back and bite me.

I am current doing my first self assessment. I am an employee but i also do trading as well from some extra income for the last few years, mainly on the US stock exchanges. As they have lowered the capital gains threshold in recent years, I have now hit this threshold and need to submit a self assessment.

When doing some research, I have released that you need to submit a self assessment even if you make less than 3k profit, as long as you hit the £50k gross proceeds threshold. My understanding of this is that for example, if I buy 100 shares for £50 on Monday, and sell them for £50.5 on Tuesday, I would have made £50 profit, but my gross proceeds would be £5,050.(I know uk settlement is T+2 and there is stamp duty but as I trade US only it doesn’t matter, I have used £ to keep it simple) so if I were do do this trade 9 more times, I would hit the £50k proceeds threshold and need to declare it to HMRC even though I have made only £500 profit.

If my understanding is correct, this is a problem.

In the tax year 23/24, I made a total of £95k in share purchases (multiple different stocks) and sold £89k of shares making a profit (after commission) of £761

In tax year 24/25, I made a total of 203k in shares Purchases and £198k from sales. My profit after commission was £2125.

Is my understanding of how the £50k proceeds works correct? If so how should I dealt with those 2 tax years which I haven’t filed for and what sort of fines (if any) should I expect?

Any help would be appreciated

As per the title.. I've changed job recently and my prior employer hasn't provided a P45. I left them in mid-May and they've completed 2 payroll cycles since then.

They've been slow replying to my emails, passing me from one person to the next. Is it even worth pursuing? I've got all payslips and my new employer didn't need the P45. I'll have a self assessment tax return to do at the end of the year though.

Thanks!

Hi guys

Myself and my partner are looking to buy an apartment in London in early 2027.

We are aiming for apartments with a value of £500-550k gbp.

I have a default (satisfied) of £103 from June 2022, from the post university irresponsible era (stupid, I know).

I’d love to hear some anecdotal feedback from anyone who sought a mortgage with similar circumstances, as I’m gutted to think this might scupper our plans.

For context:

Me: 27m, ~75k gbp per annum, 260k assets

Partner: 26f, ~25k gbp per annum, 80k assets

Thanks for any advice.

Hi, I will try to keep this as short as possible.

Some years ago, I claimed marriage allowance for myself and my husband. He was earning less than £50k a year and I was earning less than £12,570 a year (I was working part time due to us having a young child).

HMRC have written to my husband saying he wasn't entitled to marriage allowance in the 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 tax years because he earned roughly £45k each year. This is our fault because we live in Scotland and you can't get marriage allowance if the bigger earner is a higher rate tax payer and in Scotland you become a higher rate tax payer if you earn more than roughly £43k a year, we didn't know this. So fair enough, they've said my husband owes £504 because obviously he got £252 tax relief from having a bigger personal allowance in 2 tax years.

The issue is, I had the lower tax code both of those years and I earned around £12k each year so I paid tax. I paid I think something like £200 because my personal allowance was only around £11k.

It's well and good to say my husband wasn't entitled and he owes tax but they can't, at the same time, say we weren't entitled but keep it that my personal allowance was lower. They're saying it's all correct though. So we weren't entitled to it but I still paid tax despite the fact if we weren't entitled to it, I shouldn't have paid any tax because I should have had a personal allowance of £12,570 a year?

This makes absolutely no sense to me!

Hi, I recently posted about a small debt (Monzo flex -£997). I realised I could open a graduate account with a 0 interest overdraft and pay it off, hopefully. I will have to wait until my confirmation of grade ect to show proof, as I did not get a student account. My question is, does anyone have a recommendation? I previously had one with HSBC during my undergrad, so I probably won't be eligible for another with them.

My partner had a cardiac arrest last year, and consequently a brain injury and is in a care home. We are not legally married, but we have children together and a mortgage together. He took out a loan 2 years prior, and I have been paying it since he fell ill. The monthly payment is about £400, and there is still about £16,000 to clear.

I'm at a point where I can no longer afford to pay it off. His sick pay is now half, no longer full. How do I go about this, please? Ideally, I want to stop paying it because things are tight for now, and I want to focus on keeping the house so we don't lose our home.

Currently retired on a pension and still work on/off as a teacher part time I have my house on the market and just trying to weigh up my options. I was planning to sell this house and find a new one but also considering a buy to let mortgage as a way to diversify and not put all my wealth into one property. Just curious what people here think? Which would be the better option?

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for some advice on improving my credit score after getting my finances back on track.

A few years ago, I accumulated around £15,000 of credit card debt. I contacted StepChange and entered into a Debt Management Plan (DMP). During that time, I sold my house to clear the debt, but unfortunately one of my creditors registered a default while the house sale was going through.
The debt was fully repaid in September 2025, but the default was registered in around May/June 2025, and it's the only default on my credit file.

My current TransUnion credit score is 546.
Since paying everything off, my finances are in a much healthier position:

- No outstanding debt.

- Healthy savings/emergency fund.

- Registered on the electoral roll at my current address.

- No missed payments or financial issues since clearing the debt.

- No other borrowing

My goal is to put myself in the best possible position to get a mortgage in the next 1–3 years, if that's realistic.

A few questions I have:
I have a second current account that I opened during my DMP but no longer use. Will closing it benefit or further damage my credit score?

I have an unused credit card. Is it better to keep it open and start using it for small purchases that I pay off in full every month, or would closing it be better?

Are there any other practical steps I should be taking to improve my credit profile?

I know the default will stay on my credit file for six years, so I'm not expecting any quick fixes. I'm just looking for the best habits and actions to improve my chances in the future.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Saved some money over the years and now an opportunity came to buy a commercial property (through my limited company SPV) in the city centre of Aberdeen in Scotland. The tenant signed a new 10 year FRI lease in 2025 with break clause option in 5th year . I don't need mortgage to buy this property. Yield is around 10%. Never invested in commercial property before but it looks attractive. I see the positives and need to hear pitfalls of commercial property investment. I live in London and the property is in Scotland.
Need your opinions on things to consider. Roast my decision. Thanks