I’m going to try to make this a regular feature once again, and to get it going, here are 3 makeovers from The Independent (they call them Wealth Checks):

1. Makeover 1: 38 and 35 year old parents with another child on the way, looking to cope with a large interest-only mortgage. The article looks at their property, savings, retirement and protection.
2. Makeover 2: 26 year old woman from west London, with her boyfriend, looking to pay off £4,00 credit card debts and save for a wedding.
3. Makeover 3: 28 year old from Manchester, hoping to get a foot on the property ladder whilst earning £15,000 a year.

I hope you find them useful.

Sort Your Finances With Money Makeovers was originally published at Money Watch a UK personal finance blog. Sign up to our RSS feed and follow us on Twitter.

But it’s probably just as important for him to get his finances in order, as he has debts totalling more than £14,000, mixed between loans and credit cards. He also only earns £8,300, working for Standard Life, of all people. He does have some savings, and alos jointly owns a flat with his brother.
Strangely, for a competitive skier, he has no insurance, which one of the experts suggests he tries to get reasonably quickly. Critical illness or income protection may be difficult for him to get through normal insurers, but he should be able to get this insurance through a professional ski association.

There’s also some advice given on his savings and sorting out his debts.

Money Makeover: Freestyle Skier was originally published at Money Watch a UK personal finance blog. Sign up to our RSS feed and follow us on Twitter.

She is currently managing to save £150 a month for her deposit, yet despite this, the prospects of her being able to afford a house in London is looking a bit unlikely.

The experts suggest that she should use her cash ISA allowances to build up her deposit. She should probably also consider buying a house with one or two other people in order to afford it. Her pension provision seems to be under control, so the deposit is really what she should be concentrating on for the moment.

Money Makeover: Teacher, 26 was originally published at Money Watch a UK personal finance blog. Sign up to our RSS feed and follow us on Twitter.

He earns around £40,000 per year, and he wants to invest his £15,000 savings in property, but as he has no credit history, he is finding it difficult to find a lender to give him more money to buy a house.

The experts suggest it will be difficult to find a lender as many insist that he must have lived in the country for at least 2 years. However, they suggest that Halifax or Intelligent Finance may be able to help. Other advice on the mortgage products available to him are also given.

Money Makeover: Chef Awaiting Work Permit was originally published at Money Watch a UK personal finance blog. Sign up to our RSS feed and follow us on Twitter.

She lives with her son in a £285,000 house, and has been considering downsizing, as well as buying a buy-to-let property to help put her son through sixth form and university.

The experts suggest that the buy-to-let property (on an interest-only mortgage) might be a bad idea – if the property was unoccupied for any period of time, the mortgage would still have to be paid, and what would happen to her if residential property prices were to fall?

The experts also make recommendations for her savings and pension provision, given that she is due to retire in 8 years time.

Money Makeover: Looking for More Income in Retirement was originally published at Money Watch a UK personal finance blog. Sign up to our RSS feed and follow us on Twitter.

He currently earns £22,000 per year, and has no savings and no pensions provision. The advice from the experts is to prioritise the order in which he pays off his debts, starting with the most expensive. The student loan only charges interest at the rate of inflation, and if he can find a 0% deal to move his credit card debt to, then his overdraft will be left as the priority.

It is suggested that once his overdraft is sorted, her should then consider investing in a cash ISA. There are also suggestions for cutting his monthly outgoings.

Money Makeover: Recent graduate with various debts was originally published at Money Watch a UK personal finance blog. Sign up to our RSS feed and follow us on Twitter.

The pair need to save another £5,000 to cover the cost of the £16k wedding, but I would have thought on a joint income of more than £80,000 per year, this shouldn’t be too difficult. She contributes a whopping £500 per month to her pension, which is great, but unfortunately he has not yet started contributing to his.

They currently have some savings held in the HSBC Premier account, which pays 2.96%, and it is suggested that they consider moving this into a cash ISA for the tax advantages and higher interest rates ISAs can pay.

They both have loans outstanding, although one, costing £700 per month, will be paid off by April, and it is suggested that the other loan is transferred to a cheaper rate if possible.

Money Makeover: Couple Saving For Wedding was originally published at Money Watch a UK personal finance blog. Sign up to our RSS feed and follow us on Twitter.

Between them, mum and dad bring in £80,000 a year, yet they claim they struggle to make ends meet. Their problems are that they have a fair on credit cards, and £16,000 left to pay off on a personal loan, which was used to fund a buy-to-let property, which on its own is costing them £305 per month.

The concensus is mixed amongst thje experts as to whether they should simply sell the buy-to-let property in order to clear their debts.

Money Makeover: High Earning Family with 4 Kids was originally published at Money Watch a UK personal finance blog. Sign up to our RSS feed and follow us on Twitter.

She’s just about to come out of her mortgage deal, so is wondering what she should do about that, and also asks for advice on her pension, savings and protection needs. She’s also expecting a pay rise in the near future.

Money Makeover: 32 Year Old Earning £24k was originally published at Money Watch a UK personal finance blog. Sign up to our RSS feed and follow us on Twitter.

The stats:

She is 27, has a basic salary of £24,500 (although with various benefits she really earns about £34,000). She has around £7,000 in savings in total (including money in a savings account and ISAs, but is yet to start investing in a pension.

The experts’ views:

She needs to get “back to basics” with her finances and work out how much she needs to save in order to go travelling. She might consider a buy-to-let property so that she has something to return to when she comes back. She should definitely join her company pension scheme as soon as possible, and be putting around 14% of her salary into it, at least.

Money Makeover: 27 year old Vet was originally published at Money Watch a UK personal finance blog. Sign up to our RSS feed and follow us on Twitter.