The Salary Calculator

Savings and investment help from Hargreaves Lansdown

by Admin

If you are trying to save for your retirement, or just for a rainy day, it can be difficult to understand what your options are and what is best for you. Should you get an ISA (Individual Savings Account), or a SIPP (Self Invested Personal Pension)? What are the pros and cons of each, and why might you open a savings account instead?

Fortunately, Hargreaves Lansdown have created a series of guides intended to help you make the most of your savings – the guides are free to download, all they ask is that you provide some registration details. If you would like to know more about investing for the future and the tax benefits of doing so, try their introduction to SIPPs, or the beginner’s guide to ISAs.

Also of interest to readers of The Salary Calculator might be the calculators on Hargreaves Lansdown’s site which can help you plan for your retirement.

Tags: calculators, Hargreaves Lansdown, investments, ISAs, pension, personal pension, savings, SIPPs

Money calendar

by Admin

Today I came across something I hadn’t considered before, but I think it’s a good idea. The BBC business website has an article they describe as a “Money Calendar”, which offers month-by-month tips to help you sort out your finances during the year. Some of the tips are simple forward planning (like saving up for Christmas earlier in the year), others are suggestions which have specific relevance to the month in question (like summer activities in July).

I think there are some great tips and points to consider in this article, in some cases with links to more detailed information if you want to explore further. At a time of year when we’re all trying to get our finances sorted out, why not take a look and see if it gives you any useful pointers?

Tags: budgetting, debt, planning, savings, tips

How singles can save money

by Admin

Over at Money.co.uk they’ve recently published an article about how singles can cut their costs, or even earn a little extra income. It’s full of useful tips – some of which you may already be doing but others you might not have thought about.

While looking for a new job or getting a pay rise can be a great way of increasing your disposable income each month, saving on bills is just as effective and is often easier! If you’d like to read more, check out 10 Easy Steps to Cut The Cost Of Single Living

Tags: bills, costs, income, savings, single, tips

Save money with offset mortgage

by Admin

Over on our sister site LoanTutor, there is a new tool and a new article trying to explain what an offset mortgage is and how it could help you save money. With an offset mortgage, you use your savings to effectively cancel out some of your mortgage balance, which reduces the interest your lender charges you. You can use this to either reduce your monthly payments, or keep your payments the same and pay off your mortgage quicker.

If you would like to learn more, have a read of the offset mortgage article, or to see how much you might be able to save try out the offset mortgage calculator.

Tags: interest rates, Loans, Mortgages, offset, offset mortgage, savings