Author: Helen Barklam
Helen Barklam is a journalist and writer with more than 25 years experience. Helen has worked in a wide range of different sectors, including health and wellness, sport, digital marketing, home design and finance.
Saving for a first home can be a daunting task, especially for first-time buyers who may not have much experience with the property market or the various savings schemes that are available. In the UK, there are two popular schemes that are designed specifically to help first-time buyers save for their first property: the Lifetime ISA and the Help to Buy ISA. Both of these schemes offer a range of benefits and incentives, but they also have their own unique features and eligibility criteria. In this article, we will provide a detailed comparison of the Lifetime ISA and the Help…
If you live in the UK, it’s highly likely that you’ve stumbled across the bastion of daytime TV, Homes Under The Hammer. But whilst most of the Great British public are aware of property auctions, very few have experienced visiting or buying from one. In this article, we seek to demystify how buying a property at auction works in the UK and what factors you need to consider prior to attending a property auction. What you need to know before buying a property at auction A 10% cash deposit is typically required You will typically need to have a 10%…
The ‘Locked Box’ completion mechanism is an increasingly popular closing mechanism for M&A transactions, particularly in Europe. In the US, the traditional ‘completion accounts’ process continues to reign supreme. The same key deal economics apply to both completion mechanisms – the price is agreed on a cash-free, debt-free basis based on a ‘normal’ level of working capital in the business using the enterprise value to equity value bridge. The key distinction is that using a locked box completion mechanism, the purchase price is fixed at the locked box date with a value accrual methodology and leakage provisions agreed upfront. This…
The trade debtor days measure allows you to calculate how long it is taking a business to collect its debts. If you have trade debtor days of 45 but offer your customers terms of 30 days, then it is generally taking you longer to collect your debts from customers than it should. Comparing the average trade debtor days in the current period to the prior period average allows you to consider whether the business is becoming better or worse at collecting its debts. Of course, a change in days could also be driven by a myriad of other factors -…
What is compound interest? Compound interest is arguably the most important concept in finance. Think of it as the ‘snowball’ effect – the concept that capital re-invested will grow at an ever-increasing absolute rate. Compound interest can be defined as the interest generated from an investment plus all of the interest generated from the interest that has accumulated over time. The tables below illustrate how the effect of compound interest can have a significant impact after a short period of time. In the first table, annual interest payments received are not reinvested resulting in interest payments remaining static across the…
Welcome to our Stamp Duty Calculator, a simple and easy-to-use tool for calculating the stamp duty fees associated with buying a property in the UK. Stamp duty is a tax that is applied to most property purchases in the UK. The amount of stamp duty you are required to pay depends on the value of the property and your personal circumstances. Our calculator takes these factors into account to provide an accurate estimate of the stamp duty fees you can expect to pay. Simply enter the purchase price of the property, your residential status, and any applicable concessions, and our…
We commonly get asked if Premium Bonds are worth buying, probably because people are unclear as to what they actually are and how they compare to other possible homes for your money such as bank savings accounts or the stock market. So let’s start with what ‘Premium Bonds’ actually are. Premium Bonds are a popular savings product created by NS&I (National Savings and Investments), which is backed by the UK Treasury. We generally think of Premium Bonds as a savings account with a bit of fun added into the mix. You may win, you may not. But whereas your £25…
BRRRR is an acronym which stands for Buy, Renovate, Rent, Refinance and Repeat. It’s a legitimate property investment technique which aims to (i) maximise investment returns through buying a property requiring improvement, and (ii) minimise the amount of cash tied up in the deal in order to move onto the next property investment opportunity. How does BRRRR work? There are five stages to the BRRRR strategy, as follows: Buy – Acquiring the right property When using the BRRRR method, success will be dependent upon finding the right property in the right location. The most important considerations are (i) the potential…
With house prices in the UK continuing to spiral upwards, many more buyers, particularly first time buyers, are opting to take longer mortgage terms of 30/35 years. But does taking a 30 or 35 year mortgage term over a 25 year mortgage term make sense financially? There isn’t a simple yes or no answer to this question. Stating the obvious, if you get a longer term mortgage, your capital repayments are lower as you are repaying the capital over a longer time period. Interest payments are higher as (i) the outstanding capital is not paid down as fast, and (ii)…
