Time to get fixed up? This has nothing to do with Valentine’s day!

With central bank rates rising around the world to control inflation, mortgage rates will be going up for millions of borrowers. If you have a long-term fixed rate mortgage you have nothing to worry about at the moment. However, roughly one quarter of borrowers in the UK are on variable or tracker rates, which means they could be facing substantial payment increases as base rates look set to continue upwards. The UK has just increased rates again - by .25% to .5%, and the US Federal reserve in look set to raise interest rates earlier than expected to combat a 7.5% inflation rate not seen since the 1980’s. City property rental increases as workers return to office Zoopla reports that the cost of renting a property in a city centre is going up as office workers, students and international residents come back. The UK is effectively dropping Covid restrictions this month and cities appear to be getting back to some form of normality. Renters are paying an average of £62 more a month than pre-pandemic rents Zoopla found. Unlike the US, most UK borrowers are on relatively short-term fixed rate mortgage deals, which means they could be in for a nasty shock when their rate expires. Now could be the time to talk to your financial adviser or mortgage broker about switching before rates go up again? Check the lender penalties to calculate the benefits of switching now. Mortgage lenders also whack on hefty fees for giving you a mortgage rate, plus early redemption and final redemption fees, which they used to call a ‘deed handing fee’! End of tax year tax saving hints. With the end of the fiscal year looming on 5 April, now is the time to start tax planning your ISA and pension contributions. You can put up to £20,000 into a tax-free ISA each fiscal year, as well as maximising your pension contributions. If you are in the UK and earn less than £18,570 a year from income and savings interest, your savings interest is tax-free due to tax-free savings and the starting savings rate. There are other more specialist tax saving investment schemes, such as Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) and Venture Capital Trusts (VCTs). Talk to an independent final adviser. Get control of your finances in 2022. We know exactly what the millionaire and billionaire habits and traits are, as success leaves tracks. All you need to do is follow their tracks to become wealthy and financially free! If you would like to learn more about investing and managing your money, become a professional property investor, or would like to be financially free without working any harder, watch this free on demand training. I will give a special free gift which can help you to immediately transform your finances when you attend the online training. Click on this link to watch the free training now https://bit.ly/3wLWqx2.