The Vault with Financielle - “I struggle to cover my basic costs” | The Vault Episode 130

Episode Date: September 17, 2026

"What's the sinking fund you wish you'd set up sooner?” We’re asking Laura some quickfire round questions so buckle up!This week, we're diving into these money dilemmas:💸 "Can I Use My Emergency Fund to Move to New Zealand?"💸 "I Struggle to Cover My Basic Costs — Should I Sell My Rental Flat?"Got a money win worth celebrating? Or a dilemma that's been living rent-free in your head? Share it in the Financielle app community or email [[e-mail]] 💌You don't have to figure this out alone. Head to financielle.com for guides on debt, budgeting and money stories 💖💸Connect with our Partner🫶 Protect yourself and loved ones with our friends at Lifesearch**The above is a tracked link, which tells our partner we sent you and may in future result in a payment or benefit to our site.

Welcome to the vault with Pan and Shell. This is a safe space where we talk all things, life and money and no topics are off limits. I'm going to start with something different hall. You've got some questions that you're going to ask me. They're meant to be quick fire and the problem that I have with this is I'm then meant to answer. Quick fire. Well, and succinctly. We'll have to try.

We'll see. I feel like it needs to be an answer, but then an explanation. I wish it was a food one. And if you watch Dish, podcast is my favourite bit of it when they ask, like, celebrity's like, favorite sandwich filling and they're like someone's like tuna and they were like boo like and then Nick Brumshaw like gives his like

Oh imagine having like not a niche one like a British standard like ham and cheese? Yeah so many people What is your favourite sandwich filling? Tuna, no I like a chicken like roast chicken off the bone with loads of salt and butter that's because I'm on used to do that

I think it's nostalgic but also flavour like there's nothing better than really good at chicken and butter and salt meal? Yeah Yeah. Yours? I'll go with that.

Yeah, no. It's when they do the crisp one. It's like, what's your favourite crisp and like? Ready salted again? Boom. Wrong. And then Nick Grimshugas. Wrong.

It's salt and vinegar. Wrong. Yeah. No, I'm with him. So I'll make a chip sticks. Right. We'll do some personal finance quick money. Byer questions.

Right. As a personal finance expert, what's a money rule you completely ignore? Meal planning batch cooking. What's the, Money mistake you see most in women our age and when I say our age, Laura is coming up to 40 and I am 37. So that's pure millennial. Spending so much running the kids.

Ooh. What's the sinking fund nobody thinks to set up? Beauty and fashion, because like you're allowed to spend on it, but they just don't think ahead and suddenly there's a need to buy something new and it could have been sat there waiting for you. I think dentist is a big one. People forget to do because people always go, oh my God, I've had an emergency procedure or I've got the dentist next week. I don't have one. I would use my emergency fund for a... Yeah. But like they know it's coming.

It's like six-month check-up, and they know that they're going to have to have something done or it's going to cost a certain amount of money. I see dentists come in. A dental check-up on Thursday. And I don't have a... No, I don't have a single. Hello, emergency fun.

Yeah, but it's not an emergency. It's a planned. It's planned. How much is going to cost me? Check up. Well, I'm... This is quick fire. Can you see what I did here?

It's not what I was thinking. It's not what I was envision. Sure you could edit this. To be quick fire. How much... Like my, so I've got an NHS, we were talking about dentists the other day because I have an NHS account. I don't know what the space in my dentist, a lot of people are private. They don't take any NHS patients on.

Yeah, or an NHS. 27 quid. And he gave me a clean and polish. He was like, your teeth are great. And I said, and I was about to say, or I did say, do I need to work in for a scale and polish? And he was like, no, just do a bit now. So I got my appointment with the dentist. He always does an x-ray as well because he must just like going out the wheel.

He likes doing the machine. I think he's in love with you. I think you might be right. He's actually robbing you physically, your pocket while you're distracted by the X-rays. He must love me because to scale and polish someone's teeth. Oh, God. But yeah, 27 quid. Nice.

Okay. Buzim. What do you wish someone had told you at 25? Oh, just like, tomorrow and the future is going to come. So think about that. Think further out than you think. You know, live for today. But think about tomorrow next week, next month, because it comes and we all wish we'd

have invested and saved more. I feel like I have lived. Definitely, I don't regret it, but I probably could have done, I could have had way more if I'd have just tweaked a little bit. Yeah. I think mine would be to know, to have known about investing in the impact it can have. Small and little and often can make huge inroads. And I think if I'd have known that at 25, my investments and my pension and all that kind of stuff would look very different. And I'm making inroads now to try reverse it but I'd rather than reverse something would have been nice to just known it then yeah because it doesn't take a lot so yeah

are we happy I was a bit stressed I was a bit stressed it's not a foody one but it is a money one it's because I didn't know what you were going to ask me I just knew that they were money ones batch cooking's an interesting one I know is that the right answer I got I panicked but I think it's a good one because it's one that if someone was to say how can I everyone's like how can I squeeze my budget how can I with a budget and you see it online and on YouTube and TikTok and everyone's all about the batch

cooking and the meal prep and I think why it came to mind for me is fixed costs are hard to change so other than stopping things like stopping gym or stopping clubs or stopping subscriptions which everything's fair game if you do a money MOT and you start at the top of your budget everything's fair game can I optimize that rate can I switch it can I you know delete it really so far you can cut those things. So then where people do have options outside of earning more, food tends to be, especially for me and my family, it'd be the first place I could look.

So if I suddenly needed to pull together, let's say a grand, what would I do? I would look at like a couple of vintage, a couple of the Facebook marketplace stuff, yes. I would see if I could optimize it, like cut a couple of subscriptions. That's investing maybe. that those types of things. Yeah, but if I save us one in debt though and I didn't, I wasn't invest in it. Yeah.

The biggest portion of my budget for family five is food and it's a busier budget because we have worked to get to that point. It's like a convenience, a budget of convenience. Oh, you know, I couldn't, I'd always do this. I should probably go back and look, but maybe we can spend between six and seven hundred pounds

on food shops and food top-ups. I'm not sure of takeaways and stuff. We don't have, we have takeaways. I think for a family of five, considering one of your children he's an adult and eats like an adult. That's probably a fair game. And we are very active.

So we have lots of protein. In fact, I've not even included the cost of our extra protein and stuff. Good quality food, yeah. So, but if I had to, that could be halved. Yeah. So I could get 350 quid, I reckon, in a month. And that sounds a lot about, like I said, I've got a big family. And we do spend quite a lot on batch cooking, optimizing it.

Maybe some meat free days. Frozen vegetables and frozen fruits and, yeah. Yeah, yeah, I think I could. It is so expensive. Boreen, boring meals. Repeatable. Like, you know, tuna wrap every day or not... Tuna pasta, like stuff that gets you...

Like bulk food that will get you further. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I really think you could and so that's why I said it. No, I think it's a good answer. Okay. So that's it with the quick fire ones. We're going to jump straight into dilemmas, but right before that, make sure you send us them.

So if you have a dilemma, a money question, a point of view, if you want our opinion on something, obviously we're not financial advisors. We talk life and money and we talk... like what we would do. And we love to have some dial them from you. So DM us, messages on Instagram, email the vault at fanshell.com. Put it in the community.

Sometimes we lift them from there. We think something is really good and something a little bit different. We share it. The community is in the app. Obviously, the financial app is in the app is in the app store. So get in there and meet your fellow community members. But also share your perspective in there and we'll pick it up. We love a voice note as well.

I started to get some in voice note down a bit. And I pick them. Lydia will tend to pick them up on Instagram and then I'll get them if you email them into the vault. So real people pick these up as well. People are responding, they go, oh my God, you actually read them. And I'm like, yeah, and it's going to be on the show. Like, oh, actually, I don't know. I didn't think it was going to happen. I think we forget this is an actual show as well because it's a bit like your friend's voice noting you. And sometimes like we go back straight away on a dilemma. I know. And it's like, oh, no, actually, this is for the vault. This is not

just a... I will formally answer it in a couple of weeks time, but this is what I would do straight away. FI. Here you go. Fab, let's move on to the first dilemma. Struggling to make it to payday, the financial app helped me track my money, pay off debt and finally feel in control. I've built savings, I've started investing and I actually feel financially well. Download the Fanichel app and start your money comeback today. Can I use my emergency fund to move to New Zealand? Hi, I started listening to the pod recently and really enjoy it. It's come at a great time.

I recently finished a PhD at 30, so I'm on a business. mission to build up some proper savings and investments, etc. I'm working my way through the playbook. I have a mini emergency fund. I own my house. I'm working on sinking funds and I have started contributing to a stocks and shares, ISA. I wondered if you could help, however. I am planning to move to New Zealand with my partner in early 2028. I plan to rent my house out while we're away, but I don't know how moving works with my emergency fund. Do I keep building this up with a view to use a cushion when we move, use as a cushion when we move, if I don't get a job straight away. Or should this be totally separate and I save up separately for New Zealand?

I only earn 27,000 pounds at the moment, I don't have a huge amount to flex. We actually ask for a little bit more details on the numbers, because that would change how we answer this. So, she says, my savings are as follows, $1,000 emergency fund. I'm working on building this up to one month's expenses, then three months. Stocks and shares, I cert 1,000 pounds. I contribute 180 pounds per month with a view to this paying off a 25,000 family loan in 10 years time. General savings, 480 pounds. I saved 270 pounds a month for house stuff. I'm renovating with a view to have a kitchen and bathroom done before I rent out the house when we move. Holiday sinking fund, 960 pounds, which is me saving 320 pounds a month for upcoming New Zealand holiday at Christmas.

Overall, I know I'm trying to do it all. A lot of life stuff going on with the house Renault solo, prospect of trips and moving countries. But bearing in mind in January, I had absolutely zero and I'm proud to even have this. Thank you so much in advance for your advice and help. Oh, no. Thank you for your advice and help.

She doesn't say help. Wow. So moving to New Zealand. What do you think about New Zealand? Amazing. I haven't over been, but someone has. Yeah, I mean, I had a traumatic. I haven't need to be back back before. Was all of New Zealand traumatic? Oh, just the first.

The first few days there was a lot of crying. Yeah, I can imagine. But, uh, no, it was amazing. I thought it's absolutely incredible. It's expensive though. Yeah. Very expensive. And obviously there's North and South Island, aren't there? And they planned to move there for work, obviously, but it's 2028. So it's one of those where like, that's a little bit down the line. She's done a PhD. I know. Congrats, doctor. Is that her an doctor who does a PhD? I'm not sure. Is it a doctorate? Yeah. Yeah.

Cudos to them because it's a long time usually, isn't it? A big, big commitment. Yeah, and you sacrificed financially quite a bit during that time. You know, like times are tough. So it sounds like we've got a lot going on, but all makes sense. Yes. She does know that. She's like, I know this is a lot.

There's nothing like I didn't come across as anything being rogue. Do you like, sometimes I'll go. She's not going to go. No. Like sometimes you're like, oh, I get that, but why would you? So obviously a big tick from me that, emergency fund is being front of mind. She's moving on everything.

And so the holiday one makes sense because you're actually going to the place where you're thinking of moving to. You've got to do that. We'll be hilarious if you go and then go, oh, don't want to move there. Lovely, but, you know. It's not for me. And I don't think you'll do that. It's quite far away.

But I like the idea that you're trying before you buy. Yeah. And so that makes sense because some people may say, you know, it's going to holiday, be saving up for this big move, but it's to the place that you're going to be going to. Yeah. So the things that come to mind here are she plan, she's got this debt to her family. She actually gave a little bit of extra thing that I didn't read out,

which was the family loan of $25,000 that she's saving to pay off. It helped her buy an ex-partner out of the house that she owns, and that house is a 270 grand house, and she's got 115 mortgage on it. So she's got a really healthy equity in it now. But she owes family $25,000. And so what she's doing is she's investing in a stocks and shares ISA, 180 a month, and she plans to use that to pay off the 25.

So the side note for me and all this is, I would just start paying that loan off bit by bit. Yeah, like why it's to get a little, in 10 years you will get close. See that balance coming down mentally. Yeah, and show progress to your family. For me, that's the circular one, which is mathematically, I understand it. You are predicting that you'll make a higher return than you would. if you get there more quickly

if you're going to use the full pot to pay off the loan but maybe you'd prefer to pay it off bit by bit. I don't want a 10 year debt sitting on me because that's what it is whether it's a

you know we can call it a family loan and stuff It's not going to speed that out of the hall it's still going to be or she should overpay it me to see that chipping away the balance and the family receiving the money

like they might say they might need it but what if they do need like shit happens you know wouldn't it be nice to like chip away and go I only owe them 7000 pounds now I only owe them 10,000 whatever it might be, whereas 25 feels like a big meaty number.

And by the way, I would also, I'd never ever say this and obviously none this as a vice anyway, but I've seen people remortgaging, take 25 and pay that off like because it was connected to house equity. It wasn't like I borrowed 25 to go and get a car, it was literally to buy the house. Ah, that it's her debt and her debt alone and she can... And it's on the mortgage because it was connected to buy in the house. So I almost never say that. And obviously this isn't advice, so you do you.

But there's a little part of me that's like, because you've got such amount of equity in the house, you'll know me. I never say a re-morgant. I know because arguably she's getting interest on the growth of the money. And then she might be paying really high interest rates on the taking out the mortgage. So she could be losing out. But I totally understand. I just think I'd rather roll the bank money than family.

So just that's an aside, that's a, I think you're going around the houses a little bit with the stocks and shares eye so that can go up and down, either chip away at that debt or consider on the next point that you remortgage. It's done. Maybe get rid of that then. It's completely up to you. Because it sounds, and I think I say that because it sounds like that 180 isn't part of this consideration for the New Zealand move. It's non-negotiable. It's being used to either grow for the debt or to pay off the debt.

So we'll leave that to one side, but have a consideration about maybe getting rid of that. because then you get 180 a month in your back pocket. I know you'll pay a higher mortgage, so it's beside the point. But it's gone. Is that how you feel, remember? Like sometimes we're not just about the numbers. It's what would make you feel good? I mean, you might have a really good family.

But imagine it's like, look at her in New Zealand. We've talked about. Living a new life owes us 25 grand. We've had dial. I was about that before, haven't we were? We've been like, I saw her video on TikTok that was like, this is my sister-in-law that we lent 10,000 pounds to. she's on an all-inclusive for two weeks

and there's like a video of a holding a baby like dancing and someone's like literally recorded going this is my sister that owes us 10 grand or something and I was like I can't tell if it's a joke or if it's serious but whether you like it or not there might be someone sat there going

moving to New Zealand owes us 25 grand how the hell you know that might not be the case that's why I say it just just have a little think about being able to make free free adult choices without feeling like there's something hanging up

of you. And the other side point I thought about this hall was, I do think if it's not a forever decision, it makes sense to not sell the home. You don't sound like you're emigrating, like where you literally move residency. And it sounds like you're going to move there for a bit, a year, two years, four years. I don't know what it is, but just bear that in mind because it is really hard to manage your property remotely. You're going to have to get family help. You can be hassle with it. You pay quite a lot of tax generally. If you were basically a tax pay, not as much, but you can be quite a bit of tax. It's not a great lucrative thing.

And so be sure that two things. One, when you leave, you're going to be coming back within five years or something. And two, if you came back, that's the house you'd go to. Sell it. You could sell it. And again, protect the money, put it in, say, fixed savings. And then when you come back, you could immediately go into a rental and you'd have options. So just have a think about that because it depends on the house.

I don't know. Some people go, no, no, that's my first. forever home. I couldn't get back on the market. I don't want to. There's lots of things, but you may not need, because you've got tax on it, be aware the tax implications, you may have better off just doing a clean break, selling it. Yeah. And then you've got options. You've got a little financial nest egg there, you know, like you have to help you don't spend it. Well, like we say every bit of money that comes into your life, it has a job,

so it's sat there waiting for a return or it helps boost some of my emergency fund. That's my house deposit when I come back less than a. emergency fund. The other thing that when she talks about doing the Renault, though, I also thought, does it need it? So she's going to do a kitchen and a bath Renault before... She rents it out. She rents it out.

Does it need it? The amount of friends, I kid you not, that have repainted their whole house before they put it on the market, I do not understand. Because I said, do you know the amount of people? You've spent all this time picking a colour, getting the decorating. Every single, every house I've ever been to, every living room I've walked in. And I go, well, I'll take that down. I'd move that wall, I've stripped that wallpaper.

I've seen people wallpaper the houses before putting it on the market because they wanted to look nice for pictures. Do you think people give a shit? They're literally going to go, I'm knocking that wall through. And you've just spent all. I've known people to spend like £10,000 redecorating the whole house to put it on the market. So then you're not going to make it back on the sale price.

And estate agents can help with that. Sometimes we've decided, just because you wouldn't rent it, well, you're living in it already. And, you know, a rental, it needs to be safe. It needs to be secure. It needs to be fit for purpose. It needs to be not breaking. So if you've got a shower that's really problematic, maybe replace a shower.

There was a leak on the ceiling. Like paint over that, of course. But you're going to get knocks and bumps. So because she's saving $2.70 a month there. Imagine what that could go to. Exactly. And more to that point, like when you move, you will need an emergency fund for that house that you ring fence

because you will be in New Zealand. And if you need an emergency plumber or a, an emergency, gas engineer, there'll be costs associated with running that property safely and securely. It's hard being a landlord. Oh, well, listen, I know we could, like, we'd take the Mick really because like both poor landlord, but the legal obligations, and quite rightly, are high. So so many people see it as a, like, oh, I'd love to be a landlorn, I'm going to get some

properties. Well, actually, you need to be very sophisticated and professional landlord. You need systems. You need processes. You need cash because you need to be able to step in. And, you know, with no thought ofictions, which, again, are absolutely right. terms of the tenant, but if you suddenly need to move back into that house and you've got a tenant in, you can't easily. Yeah. So it should be in very, very... And tenants that won't leave.

We've had friends that have... Oh, God, yeah. ...trapardies. And then they need to be evicted, don't they? And do you know how long it takes? You have to pay for the court costs. Like, you don't just... They don't support you with that. You have to pay to get these people out. And when they've not paid for the previous six to 12 months as well. Yeah, they're just stopping you. So where do you get that money from? No, there's horror stories. Like I said, and doing that from the other side of the world, it's just probably something to bear in mind. You know, what money did you really think about that process

because it may be worth selling it. It may be worth building up an emergency fund for it and you may not need to do the renails that you're thinking. You know, maybe that money per month, that 4-8, that 270 is actually going to be the start of an emergency fund for the house and then like lock that in place for when you become a landlord. So I've been chaotic there, but there were these things that came to mind that were like,

just have a thing through that. So then the ultimate question for me was, what do I need to say for New Zealand? I mean, it's anything you can. Anything and everything you can. Like you... Cash is king in this instance. Like you're moving to the side of the world. It's giving vulnerable. You want to make sure that you've got as much as you possibly can should something go wrong. Everything costs more than you think it's going to. I saw a really interesting post on LinkedIn today. I think I've mentioned referenced LinkedIn a couple of times today, but there was actually a good post, believe it or not. And it wasn't AI generated. And it was of a guy that was like, I want to give you the real cost implications of

moving abroad. Like he owned his own business and he'd moved his family to Malta. And his first thing was whatever you budgeted for, you needed double. And he was like, we did our due diligence. Like, we looked at how much renting was going to be. And I don't know, the insurances and the taxes that you need to pay or whatever it might be. And it was like, it literally is double what you think it's going to be. So whatever figure you've got in mind, please double it because we are struggling right now because it's cost us so much more. And they did a lot. He was like,

and we research loads. And actually on that, you know, she talks about like, you know, something it's 2028, so they're not immediate way to go. But do the work ahead of time for a job,

you know, even if it's, so if it's an 18 months time, like what roles are you thinking and who would it be with? And can you start building up a network, whether it's LinkedIn, whether it's,

you know, via Instagram, yeah, what companies, what businesses, you know, because going to something, you want to go with a job at it. I would say,

You see what you need an emergency fund. You still need a big emergency fund, but that's good anytime. But I think if you know that you're going to something and what that salary will be, it will help you also line up the housing that you need and everything flows from that, doesn't it? Whereas if you're going, how, if you go and you don't know where you're going to be, what you're going to be earning, how do you know what you're going to stay in? So I've seen a couple of people move to Australia, say, for example, and they've had to rent in the meantime in like Sydney or somewhere and they're like, oh my God, it's decimated everything. Instead of knowing what job they were going to have and therefore having a rental accommodation. to move into that was in budget. They've had to get like emergency accommodation that they were planning to be in for six weeks. But they've ended up being in it for six months because of the housing market, they couldn't get a house and decimated all the savings.

Sometimes some employers will actually pay relocation costs and or they have housing connections as well. So it's definitely worth planning that ahead. So I feel like this is a really exciting time for someone who's got a PhD. Yeah, it's very exciting. You've been working, working, working. They're preparing for this big move.

you want optionality, you want cash in your bank, you also want to keep things simple. And so some of what you've got back home, the debt and the house, if you are not particularly attached to that house, maybe what would I do? Maybe I'd sell the house, pay off the debt. Yeah, because with what's left over, what's left over, I'd ring fence it and I'd put it somewhere. And then I would have built up in a measures fund in the meantime. So then that's your house deposit for when you come back.

and you've built up cash in the meantime for New Zealand, New Zealand, New Zealand, New Zealand. And like I said, if you get there and you don't, and you can reduce this emergency fund because you get a job straight away, you're fine, you can afford where you live, happy days. You're not worse off. You're still better off because you've got cash. Yeah. We definitely need an update on that one. I know it's a bit of a while away. Yeah, let's know what you think about that with the house and like, you know, are too attached to houses or am I being a bit cold? I remember being a bit cold, but cash is queen.

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But also listen to this, this and this. Right. Next time. guys. Personal finance, let's face it, can be boring, but at Fanchelle, we do it differently. From guilt-free spending to the perfect payday routine, our blogs help you feel confident and in control of your money. Head to Fanonchelle.com to get informed, entertained and empowered today. I struggle to cover my basic costs. Howdy ladies. Oh, not had howdy now. Howdy? Howdy ladies. I am currently in Survive and focusing on paying off my consumer debts. I have a lean budget and

don't spend money on any extras such as beauty or clothes. I'm self-employed and I've had to take a second employed job as my self-employed role is very quiet currently. This means that I struggle each month to cover my basic costs, which include work costs. My partner and I live together in his house. We keep our finances separate so I don't contribute to any house costs, but I cover the bills for the month, which comes to approximately £350 a month. We don't combine our finance, finances as he has children and I don't, so his money, in both our opinions, is for his kids. My dilemma. I have a one-bedroom flat that I rent out. I don't earn enough from the rent to cover all the costs I need to pay for my flat, so I'm paying around £250 a month towards my flat.

There are often costs for repairs, etc. that have come up a lot over the last two years that I've been renting it out, which further increases what I'm paying for the flat. I'm starting to feel that keeping the flat long term is not how I'm going to increase my net worth. I feel like I'm paying so much towards it with very little if no benefit. Should I sell my property at no real price increase and put the equity towards getting rid of my debts and the rest into investments, then continue to put the costs I was paying towards my flat, mortgage payment, etc., into the investments each month. I feel like I'd get more from an investment than the property. The only other point is that if my partner dies before me, I'd need to find somewhere else to live, as the

house we live in would transfer to his kids. We have both 51 and have no plans to die anytime soon. So my thoughts are, I could buy a new property with the money invested if I wanted to buy again. Looking forward to your opinions and views. Thanks. Hazel. Hazel. Gorgeous name. Gorgeous name. Oh, my gut instincts is to sell that flat. Like, what is, nothing is keeping her attached to that flat. Arguably, she's losing money on it with the amount that she's paying to it every month. Like we talked about before, you know, the amount of money that she can put into investments and the growth that she can get on that versus she's even admitted that the property

hasn't increased that much in value. Like, what do you think is going to, what's going to change in the next few months that that's going to be the case or the few years? I can't see a big with the world. Is it at the moment? I'm not seeing, for seeing a property boom. Don't take that as financial advice. Mystic mega over here.

I know. But there's nothing in my, there's nothing going. on that would make me go, oh, sit tight on that because it's, you know, you're sitting on a gold mine. Arguable she's losing valuable money each month into hundreds of pounds as a minimum because she's covering, she's already at a loss covering 250. Really interesting that we had the dilemma before that about as your landlord, you're going to have to pay, like, this is case in point.

Like, do you want to keep holding everyone off becoming landlords, don't they? Well, there's not really many four cases. It's like, I saw another content creator talk about the other day. She was like back in the day, like property was. the thing and I made my money in property and so did my mom. It's not the case anymore. It's completely changed. The landscape. So just way more to think about so like more sophisticated property investors can kind of build up systems and processes to make it work. And, you know, there is a big thing about you can really, the art of leverage can improve your returns. And so

if you buy a house for 100 grand, you only have to put 10 grand down. Whereas to get 100 grand of investments you need 100 grand, but that just doesn't cater for risk. And so that your landscape has changed. What I would say, Hazel, before diving into the dilemma, is putting the finances aside, what a lovely setup she's got. So this is the kind of setup that we try to encourage people to explore where if you have a property and your partner as a property and you want to move in together, you know, when she started the dilemma, because I hadn't read ahead I was like, oh, he's paying for the house and she's paying for the bills. And I'm like, here we go again. And it's like, oh, no, but then she's got an asset. And I think that's what's

important. Aside from the fact that the asset isn't technically performing, what she has is technically options. Like, I don't know how formal or informal the rental arrangement is, like if it's a friend or whatever. But she is trying to nurture an asset in the background. Therefore, it is completely acceptable to pay something towards the bill. And that's a lot. And that's, the bills, living together. But to accept that the house that I live in at the moment, it might be by home, but it's not my asset. And it's not something that's going to be for me in the future.

So I'm thinking about that. I love that they've had that transparent conversation. Do you know how many people don't know, like, what's in someone's will, whether they even got a will, if they do die, who's it going to go to? The fact that she's like, it's very financial love you. To know what's in your partner's will. And to be fully on board with the fact that should he pass away

and you're in your 50s. So like you said, don't plan to pass away for a very long time. It's going to go to his kid. So what's my plan? Like, I love that. It's got a plan. Rather than let's not talk about it and we'll just pretend. And half of her friends may well be sat there not knowing what's in their partner's will and they've had that conversation. So that's normalising. And if you're listening to

this going, I actually don't know what would happen in that situation. I live a life like Hazel and I don't have the transparency on that. Like go and find out. Because so many people give up their asset, you might sell it and like kind of join the other person's home and don't really consider the financial and legal implications of doing that that you relinquish something because it's theirs and you don't formally put in place, okay, we both own this asset. Because the thing is, you know,

there's also nothing wrong with, you know, you having kids from a previous marriage and you're co-owning a property with someone else. I'm just about to say, yeah. It's proportionate, you know, can we be documented it? Can we look after? She could put in her assets. She could say, can we remortgage and can we both own it?

And then we'll legally work out the proportions. doing it. But yeah, I just read it and I was like, she is being able to live with her partner, but allowing him, look, some people have been burned as well before. They kind of go, you know, and I said this to a lot of women actually. Like when you've been through something and you finally get your house, be very wary about combining finances when you've had to rebuild that up, like put your own protections in place.

Later, you're going to get married. Again, as long as you work with a solicitor, pay the right amounts of money for the right, advice you can protect yourself but I understand why men and women go second time around you know what yeah I just want safety and security because I've been in that position and I never want to be in that position again you can have that financially but emotionally like how they've had these conversations you can still be vulnerable like emotionally but you can protect yourselves but it not be like yours is mine and what's mine is you know like that type of like um what's the word like passive not passive aggressive but like you've got your guard up

You could get all the things in place but sometimes people take that resentment into their next relationship and they're like you spend your money and I'm spending mine and they never like come together at all and I wish that for people that have been burnt in the past where they can have that like this is what you're supposed to be like

where you can come together. The other thing is it sounds like and I believe the more financially independent you are the less needy you are of someone else's stuff so they're both in agreement that his money is for his kids Now, that phrase, it almost triggered me than it didn't because there's this like, sometimes you see, you know, new partners suffer a little bit because everything's about children.

It's like, what do you mean? All his money is for kids. Some of his money is for his partner at some point. Yeah, because if you've built alive together, should he pass away? Why shouldn't you get some of that wealth that you've built up together technically? Exactly. But I immediately lowered my guard when I was like, but it's fine if you have options. It's when you go all in.

and you're completely vulnerable and you're not making a plan. And so what she's asking is super value questions. I just want to say that, Hazel, I just love that. And I feel like people listening to this need to listen to that. Like, you can have your own stuff and join your lives together. What I would say is, again, there's then chapters of this. So, for example, if you are together, like for the next 10 years and then he gets poorly, does he need you to step up and pay the mortgage and do this?

And then at that level, I'm like, oh, okay, so then what changes? consequences like do you call and stuff. It's, we change through chapters. You know, the kids may be grown then. And there may be, again, we talk about this, life insurance is a great way to be able to provide for children. But it not be connected to house and assets sometimes. Obviously, you know, you're still young, so you would easily be able to get, get that chat in place and have a look at what you could afford in terms of life insurance is,

but again, something to bear in mind because he could take out a life insurance policy that covers him that gives you a payout. Yes. Not connected to the house. Knowing that the kids get the house. It can work multiple ways. Go and speak to LifeSeach on that. If you go to Financial.com

forward slash protection, we've got a great broker that we work with called Life Search and Chelsea has done lovely voice notes for us on the pod and you're all best to be to the... She's probably listening. She's probably listening to the episode but just send her this episode

and be like, I don't know what they're talking about but what's right for me. Have a little look. Because I just think that could be an extra way to ease some anxiety around. Okay, if something's happened to him, that's not my. It's to his kids.

Fine. Well, what could he do that helps protect you? So then, I'm going to talk to what you said. Howell, I agree. I think that this is the flat. When you're moving in at first and you love your flat, you're like, I'm not going to go out of my flat. I don't care if it's a lost leader.

It's like when carrying sex in the city, like, kept her own apartment. And then she sold it. And then she bought it back. At an increase. Yeah. Didn't she? Yeah, yeah. She was like a double or something.

And then? Didn't they move in together anyway? He died. On a peloton. In the new apartment though. Didn't she move back in with him? I think she still kept it for writing though, didn't she? So they'd go and escape to it.

What a dream. Did she move in together? He died. Oh God. I do remember that now. I died on a peloton. Do you remember my auntie always does this when someone says, how did he die? Like, oh, someone's died.

Oh, how did he die? And she goes, He died abhorred him because she was listening to two old ladies talk about something. And the woman said, oh, how did he die? And she was a caravan lady and she said, he died aboard him. And they both burst out laughing. So now whenever one... She says that's how everyone dies because they died abhoram.

No, he died on a peloton anyway. But she did that, Carrie, the OG. So I understand like if you, both of a property and if you're thinking about, you're developing your relationship with your partner, I'm moving in together, really sensible to keep. your safety net, especially if you love that safety net, if like your flat's your thing, but it makes sense for you to move into his house or her house, then give yourself timeframes and then pass a certain time frame. It's like, okay, where am I living and what am I doing?

And for lots of people, that can still be a great asset if the numbers work. The numbers don't work. I mean, the, she doesn't say how much she gets from, from the flat, but she has to contribute 250 as a minimum. As a minimum. And then, and then, and then, And she won't be able to write it all off, by the way. Like when you rent, you don't pay tax on the profit. It's very complicated. It's not super complicated, but it's complicated to work out in your head how much money you actually make for it.

You have some time she could be paying that more in tax as well that she's not considered. So if it's now an investment property, it's not performing as an investment. You rather need to increase the rent and make it work financially. Or I think it's a good consideration to think about getting rid. And she said. but then to invest. Yeah, exactly. And now this is a difficult thing

because obviously we can't give financial advice and we can't tell her what to do in terms of investments. But you have to think why are you keeping the flat. If you're keeping the flat so that you've got something to fall back on, what you do is as an investment, it's not making money.

So it's a financial citizen. So you need to think how else could my capital be used to grow and increase my net worth, not cost miss at the moment. You're either breaking even in terms of your net worth. Sounds like you're losing. Because it's not growing up in value, isn't it?

So it's not a good investment. So if this is an investment property to go to your net worth, it's not doing very well, have a real think about what are the options you have. And if this flat is also a fallback for should, Diana Pelton, or should the relationship break down in all seriousness, and I don't mean to be insensitive when I say that, I'm just joking.

But if it is a backup, cash is a backup too, investments are a backup too, because they could be liquidated and cashed out and used to them fund a rental or a new property. Well, absolutely, exactly. So I think have a real think, Hazel, about what the purpose of the flat is. Because if it's a fallback, you are paying a few grand a year for the privilege of that fallback. And maybe you're right with that.

It sounds like you're not. So if it is a fallback stroke and investment, have a look at where else that could be. You know, obviously you don't want to put it into pensions if you need to fall back on it because you need to get access to it at a particular time. So maybe this is a stocks and shares is a conversation. Maybe it's a cash or a savings ice or conversation. And maybe that's in stages. Sometimes it might be, sell the house, park the money.

That's right to say. Sit with it for a bit. Sit with it. And then have a little thing. You may end up going back into property, but buying one that actually cash flows and that makes sense. But I think this is the right question to be asking. A lot of people, I think, would panic as well and just set on the cash.

I love that she's like, so I'm going to invest. She wants to make, she wants to invest. She wants to grow her money and her net worth. And that's what a lot of people, I think, are too scared to do. And they'd rather sit on the cash. because it feels safe. And crucially, if she does either just make, because at the moment this is losing money

and or it's not making any money because it's not in cashing investments. Meanwhile, her partner's house may well be going up in value. So her partner and eventually kids are benefiting from the increase in property prices and the increase in net worth. That she is contributed to by paying the bills

because that enables them to keep a roof over the head. She positioned it like, I don't pay anything for the house. she just means the mortgage, but she is contributing to the running at that house. But she's not benefiting from it. So, yeah, I think it's a real thing about the purpose of that flat and what else that could be used to do. And it's the tick box. If it is a fallback, then you don't want to lock it away.

You want it to be not volatile, especially at your age. Like, you're not old, by the way, but in terms of you don't want to put it all in one stock and then see it half in value. And suddenly you can't kind of buy a house or rent a house with it as easily. But yeah, I think you're asking the right question. impressions. I'm really proud. Yeah. Great. It's a great dilemma in that you've already thought about it. Well done. Well done. Hazel. Also, when we've listened at home, let us know what you would do, just like DM us in or comment on Spotify, because that is a very subjective one. That's going to be

one which it based on you, your relationship. And if you've been through something like this, if you have been through this process and something went wrong or something went right, I'd love to hear from you because as Holly have said before on pods, you know, we do, we say what we would do. And based on like, you know, five years of hearing dilemmas and seeing things come out, we spot lots of patterns. We know how these kind of things work, but you have lived experience. So yeah, tell us, right? That's it. That's all this week. This episode, The Vault is now closed. And just a quick disclaimer, the Vault is just a chat around life and money topics. We're not giving financial advice.