Rhian Westbury

The earlier you start the less it will cost If you start saving at 18 you’ll only need to save half of what you’d need to in your 40s to get the same end return. If you’re employed and are auto-enrolled into your company pension scheme your employer takes your pension contribution from your pay after deducting tax and NI. But they’ll generally match your contribution up to a certain point so you’re doubling what you’re saving. you’ll still need to save double the amount if you save for 20 years compared to saving for 40 years.

Originally I thought the year would drag by, but it’s actually gone pretty quickly considering the fact that we’ve barely done anything. Had the whole pandemic and lockdown lasted a few weeks, even a few months, I think I’d have stayed as the same person and just gotten back into life quite easily. I’ve talked about how much I’ve loved the slower pace of life a lot. Like most other people I’ve only been surrounded by one person for the past year.

With everything going on at the moment you may be wondering if now is the right time to buy a house, but if it’s right for you here are my top tips for first time buyers. As a first time buyer, you should go and see a mortgage advisor, or a financial advisor before you start looking at properties to know what you can afford. Work out how much you’d be spending each month Once you’ve got a rough idea of how much you’d be spending on your mortgage So if an estate agent tells you that they won’t accept under a certain price, or that what you’ve offered is too low ask them to go to the seller.

The avalanche debt method focus’ on paying down the debt with the highest interest rate first. The avalanche method has the potential to save you the most money as you’ll be paying less interest. Much like the avalanche method you make minimum payments on all debts and put any extra you have towards the smallest debt in a bid to pay it off quickly. This method may be most suitable if you have lots of small debts, the interest rates of your debts are very similar, or you know you’ll struggle to continue paying if you don’t see quick progress.