Staying in the UK for your gap year doesn’t have to be all about living in your old bedroom at your parents’ house, staying in and working long hours to fund your studies. Though there probably still needs to be lots of working if you ever want to build up that cash. The point is it doesn’t need to be all gloomy, just some ingenuity and organisation can mean that new doors are open and cash is saved.
Firstly take a look at your living arrangements, the prices of renting your own flat might be a little too much and even the idea of a house share may well be fine during term time but still can require an amount of money each month that could be better spent somewhere else or better yet, saved.
There is the possibility to be a guardian of buildings, properties that are left empty can be a hindrance for the owners due to the cost of security and the very real prospect of theft of pipe work and cabling or even squatters. Sites such as adhoc.eu, emptyhomes.com can team you up with a building that needs a property guardian at as little as £50 a week you could become responsible for looking after an empty school, a church, office spaces in the centre of London, factory units, you name it and there is probably a building out there that needs company. Sometimes, these can be rented on your own but potentially you could be sharing but what better way to share. No more small residential house crammed with five people plus partners.
If you are staying in the UK for your gap year then work is work and it’s probably going to take some hunting on the job market to find a vacancy. But once you’ve found it you’ll want to keep hold of that hard earned cash. For this reason you’ll have to start thinking smart.
Make sure you have a bank account that works for you, if you are always in credit then apply for one that gives you interest on the money that you hold in your bank account. However, if you are usually dipping in to the red then check out those accounts that offer 0% interest overdrafts to keep you from slipping further into debt.
Lessons learnt about banking are important, if things aren’t going so well financially then walk into your local branch and ask to speak to someone, usually facing up to your problems will stop them getting worse. So if you were going to go beyond the limit of your overdraft then ask if it is possible to have an extension. There is nothing worse than being at the end of your money and then being charged for each time you’ve accidentally gone over your limit.
Assuming that the gap year spent working is going well and you’ve got cash flowing freely, then the time has come to start looking into making your money work. First stop is anything that increases your money without charging you tax. So ISA’s are a great place to start and also NS&I Premium Bonds.
ISA’s have always been a great way to save, prior to 2012 it was possible to get pretty good rates of interest on your money, there were days of 5% and more, this is no longer the case. This year we are looking at 2.3% on average for your money. More if you can put it away for a couple of years and more still if you’ve in excess of £10,000. This I take it is not usually the case and I see 2.3% as quite a small gain so this is the first year I have changed tack and will be putting money primarily into Premium Bonds. Back to my previous comment about calendar alarms, ISA’s are good for the first year but as soon as that 12 months has ended the banks will reduce your rates to as little as 0.01%. So if you have any that have not been touched for a while then get researching and moving them because your money is not working for you anymore.
So, you have to forget about actually getting any increase in your money, rather its best looking at it as a secure way to save (government protected), it’s a tax free and it’s a holding pen for your money safe from an accidental blow out on the weekend. With NS&I the minimum spend for a group of premium bonds is £100 or if you have a monthly standing order then £50 is the minimum. These are held for a month and then will be entered into a prize draw for prizes between £25 and £1 million.
This is where I have decided to forgo the couple of hundred I may make in the interest off an ISA and instead take the risk on receiving nothing but my initial investment back but with the potential to actually win big…though most probably just £25.
Once you have filled either of these, it’s then time to start looking at savings accounts, but not before. There is no point in being taxed on your savings now is there?