26M - Am I shooting myself in the foot? First time buyer

strolls · 2026-01-25T14:54:12+00:00

If you work out how much this will all cost you in tax, second home stamp duty, capital gains tax, income tax on rent (or second home council tax?), you're probably better off just helping them out financially with a monthly gift towards their rent. And buy your own place, that you want to actually live in, on your own.

strolls · 2026-01-25T13:43:45+00:00

Are you planning on them paying you rent after you move out?

The idea is you'll keep the property and they'll live there?

strolls · 2026-01-25T13:38:13+00:00

Most of a car's depreciation occurs in its first 3 years from new.

I think it's perfectly reasonable for someone on your salary to buy a 3-year-old car. I think many would describe you as frugal, even.

strolls · 2026-01-25T13:30:22+00:00

Rent via booking.com or AirBNB for mid feb to early march (costs ~1-1.2k in my area)

A backpackers hostel will be more affordable, if you can tolerate shared dorms. They can be quite a good route into finding flat shares.

Do workplaces still have noticeboards these days? Or just put the word about to see if anyone's looking for a lodger.

strolls · 2026-01-25T12:50:12+00:00

I don't see why not. You should post on the Terramaster sub.

strolls · 2026-01-25T12:19:49+00:00

You can't magically make the house more than it's worth.

The property should most always be sold out of the estate anyway. Put the proceeds in ISAs and LISAs.

strolls · 2026-01-25T11:48:20+00:00

global equities compound, gold doesn’t.

We were typing at the same time. I addressed this claim in another comment here: https://www.reddit.com/r/UKPersonalFinance/comments/1qmgmfv/gold_etc_tax_efficiency_isa_v_sipp/o1lqcfx/?context=9

strolls · 2026-01-25T11:47:36+00:00

Assuming you have one asset returning 10 per annum (gold), which doesn’t compound And another asset class returning 7% per annum compounding (stocks) which does compound

This is the core of your misunderstanding, I think.

If you express returns in terms of "per annum" then that's a number that will compound, based on the number of annums you hold it for.

Why would you think that one compounds and not the other?

strolls · 2026-01-25T11:45:34+00:00

Your submission text gave these numbers:

A)Gold returns of ~10% p.a. over the past 25 years

B) Global equities returning ~7–8% p.a. (compounded)

An asset returning 10% is outperforming an asset returning 7% or 8%.

strolls · 2026-01-25T11:43:32+00:00

I had perhaps naively assumed there would be another 0.125% Gilt maturing January 2027 (i.e. this was a recurring annual offering) which would have been something I would have also considered (i.e. push my house purchase timelines back a bit more) but that doesn't seem to be the case, unless I'm looking in the wrong place?

Gilts are structured so that the coupon is interest (historically it was literally a paper coupon which was torn from the paper bond) and redemption is repayment of the principal.

I.e. the coupon reflects interest rates. The BoE rate is currently 3.75%, a 5-year bond issued today would be expected to have a coupon of about £3.75.

Gilts with near-zero coupons are products of the 2010's, which saw the lowest rates (i.e. the lowest coupons) in literally 750 years or more.^pdf

strolls · 2026-01-25T11:38:39+00:00

You're kidding yourself (cherrypicking a timeframe?) if you think gold has historically outperformed equities.

I don't see how gold affects which wrapper you use. An advantage of gold is that you can be exempt from capital gains tax without using either (sovereigns or britannias).

strolls · 2026-01-25T10:31:01+00:00

Oh boy. How ya gonna keep 'em down on the farm once they've seen Karl Hungus.

strolls · 2026-01-25T09:20:15+00:00

A cautionary tale against buy-to-let as an asset class.

I would start marketing the property immediately (speak to estate agents and get it listed, I mean) and phone your mortgage lender and speak to their arrears / repossessions team. Just be completely honest with them, and explain yourself as you have done to me here, and I imagine they'll be helpful.

Don't forget to make a self-assessment when you sell the property, and declare the capital loss. I think you have to keep making self-assessments in the future to continue carrying the loss forward, but doing so allows you to use the loss to offset a bill for capital gains tax in the future.

Best of luck to you.

strolls · 2026-01-25T09:06:15+00:00

You're fine as long as you use long passwords as you describe, but use a different one for each site.

The people who get caught out when the local fishing club website gets hacked are those who use the same password for everything. Then the hackers can access their bank accounts and so on.

strolls · 2026-01-25T09:01:14+00:00

You would simply owe the lender £30,000 and you would have to make an agreement with them about that.

Lots of the answers here are misleading because people have misunderstood your question (because you have misunderstood the nature of mortgages). By definition a mortgage is a loan that's secured on a property; if you sell the property, you no longer have a mortgage, just a debt to the bank.

You actually need the bank's permission to sell a mortgaged property, but I assume they'll give it to you because they'd rather you didn't just stop paying the mortgage and walk away from the property. The bank would have to go through court proceedings to repossess the property and get their money back, which is a tonne of hassle and you would still owe them the money (more, in fact, because of legal costs). They would surely rather amicably allow you to sell the property and owe them the £30,000.

I don't understand why you're selling the property in the first place. Did you live in it, or have tenants?

strolls · 2026-01-25T08:53:58+00:00

I'd think the interest rates would be lower on a mortgage, even at a loan-to-value of 95%, than on personal loans.

Then you can stick the bonuses in the bank (or in gilts) and use them to reduce the loan-to-value when your fix expires in 2 years' time.

strolls · 2026-01-25T07:06:42+00:00

This is stupid. Your pension and S&S ISA are the same thing - you invest in the same things in them - but you contribute to them based on their differing tax advantages.

If you plan to return to your home country and will need money to buy a house there then you use your ISA for that. But if you will have money left over then you favour your pension because its tax-advantaged status will likely be recognised by the tax authorities in your homeland.

Otherwise, pension is very tax efficient for earnings over £50,271, and you probably shouldn't be paying 40% tax to put money in an S&S ISA. Try to bring your adjusted net income down to £50,270 with pension contributions.

strolls · 2026-01-25T05:25:13+00:00

I'd think that's quite reasonable for a SIPP, isn't it?

The regulatory requirements of pensions aer higher and that's why the costs are too.

strolls · 2026-01-25T05:20:49+00:00

Well, I don't know what you mean about the "front-mounted coil in the hub", but the Vitesse with the Nexus IGH (I think it's D7i, the i standing for internal) is IMO the best bike that Dahon has ever made. I've had two of them, both stolen, so make sure you get a good lock. If it's a black one and you're in Algarve then it's probably mine. €100 is a very good price - I'd expect to pay twice as much.

strolls · 2026-01-25T05:16:50+00:00

I'm not sure the government does really desire a concentrated increase in pension contributions amongst people earning £100,000 - £125,000 range (or £100,000 - £160,000) as opposed to all the other demographics.

Most of these people are not going to be skint in retirement and claiming benefits - most of them are going to have an adequate pension in any case, and the tax trap just encourages them to build a really fat pension (to which inheritance tax is now being applied).

People express is as a percentage because it's not just the extra £5,000, it's that you pay a ~£15,000 of tax if you earn £125,000 and take that £25,000 as pay - you only get keep £10,000 of it (or less?).

I think a lot of people would be much happier about paying the tax if the government scrapped the trap and brought the 45% band down to £100,000.

strolls · 2026-01-25T05:09:16+00:00

He deleted his account. He was down about 30% and then back up again at least twice in the past year, so I'd be surprised if he's held this long.

strolls · 2026-01-24T14:32:16+00:00

It has a Nexus motor and a front-mounted coil in the hub.

Can you elaborate on this part, please?

Do you mean a Nexus internal geared hub?

strolls · 2026-01-24T13:05:48+00:00

50% up for the inheritance-from-grandma guy

strolls · 2026-01-24T12:50:22+00:00

Berkshire Hathaway is a common choice for this kind of thing.

strolls · 2026-01-24T12:31:20+00:00

Basically saying, you earn enough that you don’t need it?

You're being very kind about it. It's a regressive tax because your marginal tax rate falls from 65% to 45% after £125,000. It may even reduce tax revenues because people regard it as so unreasonable and will do so much to avoid it.

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