The Jump

I have debt (thank you to my credit rating for continually reminding me of this). Most of my debt is currently costing me 0% interest, thanks to "balance transfer" on credit. Anyway, I did a bit of a review of my finances today, because I have two days off work and am currently enduring a Skint Month™, or more accurately, two of them. Here's what I learned.

1. In four months' time, and eleven months' time respectively, each of my 0% interest amounts will fall due. It's not a huge amount of money. I am on track to pay them both out, but if if for any reason I can't pay out the balances, I have a backup plan of just taking out a new 0% transfer card (which I already know I qualify for). I am quite disciplined and haven't accrued any more credit since these transfers.

2. It's currently quite a cheap time for borrowing, which means it's a cheap time to invest. My caravan is in the process of being listed for sale, so even though I am currently skint, I probably should prepare to get into an investment mindset somehow.

So I started investigating new savings accounts, and I wasted two hours and learned that they're all rubbish. They pay a pittance in interest or charge you an account fee, or both. The cashback offers are poor, and the benefits of switching banks are trivial. If you're like me, you have your bank details saved on a dozen websites - lovely when someone like PayPal fails, or a rewards website deposits your hard-earned cash into an account that's closed. No thank you.

They led me up the path of the only places paying decent enticements: building societies I have never heard of. But they simply want too much money for me to afford.

So I ended up back at the one I've known about for years and which almost EVERY early retiree out there in Internet Land recommends: Vanguard. I mean, why reinvent the wheel? People who have no vested interest in telling me it's the best, are telling me it's the best. If they put their life savings into it, well I can put my piggy bank in. In the UK, that is called an ISA - an "individual savings account".

I am now the proud owner of a Vanguard account (currently empty, but scheduled to start debiting me every month, starting in just over a month). I have chosen a fairly high-risk option for the investment, which is the FTSE Global Index Fund. I don't aim to touch this "trickle in" account for years, so I am comfortable with the fact that it will go up and down.

Broadly speaking you can chuck up to £20,000 per year into ISAs and not pay tax on the earnings. To understand more, it's simplest to search for the offer that looks best and then read the bank's guidance on it, then read a handful of competitors, and pick the one that suits you best.

NOTE: If you have never owned a home and plan to buy one day, you can, and should, go for a Help To Buy ISA. It is crazy not to, it is FREE MONEY where the government GIVES you up to £3000. You should go with this type first, and then if you've maxed your Help To Buy contribution, consider adding firstly the Lifetime ISA (for under 40s, which also gives you free money) and then finally, any other ISA for further savings.