r/HENRYUK

hi all, HENRY couple with c£300k TC across us both. my mortgage rate of 1.99% is ending next week 😭and will rocket.

i have £260k left on mortgage and have funds to pay it off. half of that was due to mortgage increase 5 years ago which I was going to use for extension and loft conversion and then didn’t go ahead with it so that cash is sat in a savings account.

we are looking to move in the next 2 years to a different area with better schools. I would aim to keep this property as a BTL.

is there any benefit to keeping this property mortgaged with that scenario in mind or should I just pay it all off and be happy to have a mortgage free property. is there anything I’m not considering here?

I will likely need the £260k as deposit for the next house but don’t see any sense in continuing to pay interest on this money for when I can’t really expect to generate a similar amount after tax by investing it in liquid (ie cash). could I get a BTL mortgage later on and use the cash I extract to use for deposit on the next house?

the house is worth about £650-£700k and based in greater London on a tube line 15 min walk to station.

any advice appreciated

Suggestions on how to best use 400k windfall (sum is tax free)

ISA filled for the year

No student loan

290k mortgage, comfortable with rate and not keen to pay down as money can be put to better use

130k income in household

Getting SIPP, however don't want to lock all money away until 58, even if tax friendly

No other debts

Partner and I in early 30s, no kids

Ideas include

- broad index fund in ISA

- Overflow in GIA then bed and ISA?

- options for dividend income?

No exciting purchases (Car, holiday home etc), want to utilise money to make more

I’ve received a job offer from a large Tech company and have been negotiating the base salary. The internal recruiter has now come back asking for my current salary package AND bonus details for the last 2 years before they’ll progress the offer.

I’d already sent a negotiation email outlining my ask and justifying it based on market rate and the scope of the role (being much larger than the JD described).

My questions are:

- Is this standard practice or a tactic to anchor the offer to my current compensation rather than the role’s worth? How to manage?
1 How do others handle this without damaging the relationship or jeopardising the offer?
- If I decline to share, how do I do so professionally without raising red flags?
- What would you do in this situation if you knew your salary is below what you’ve asked for?

Any advice from people who’ve been through similar situations - particularly in tech or financial services - would be really appreciated.

Hello,

Was having a conversation with colleagues today and topic of charities and donations through salary sacrifice. Many of colleagues like me do each month.

Curious to how many currently do or have considered sacrificing to charities as part of reducing their income to below thresholds (alongside pension / cycle to work / other)? Or just straight up charity to cause you care about?

I’m a few years into the HENRY life after a series of promotions / rise in RSU value due to company doing well. I’m also a parent of two kids (3 and 1). Although I don’t sacrifice down for the child benefit (we decided to get a nanny for a number of reasons) I donate to a few charities each month including the school my first is at half the week. Some of my colleagues with kids also do the same (excluding the ones whose kids are at private school - fees are enough!).

Often feel the view towards high earners in the UK is we hold onto our cash and are tight with it and therefore must be taxed to the teeth.

Is there an unreported element where HENRYs also contribute to charities and not just fill their ISA’s and pensions? Does the system encourage you to donate? Is is something you have considered but not done?

Like many here I didn’t grow up with much, I’m not a big spender but facing decisions on what to do with my new found and unexpected income!

Thanks.

I will be receiving around £400K in the next year or so.

I would like to invest it and would hope for at least a 7% return so I could take 4% as income.

I have been happy with my Vanguard LifeStrategy 80% for a few years, but I don't have much money in there and it's been a while since I looked into this stuff and wondered if there's something better out there. I'm also worried the 4%/7% rule might be out of date.

We have no immediate need for the money, but an extra £15/£20 k p/a would be very helpful.

Does anyone have any advice?

Hi Guys,

Looking for some advice on what you would do in my situation.

I've had a side hustle for about 6 months now, and its been generating 10-12k gross profit per month, and its all moved very fast. Im VAT registered, and self employed, and i'm already looking at paying awful amounts of tax, aswell as the margin scheme tax.

I have a regular 9-5 job where I earn 37.5k, and make 10% pension contributions to a salary sacrafice scheme, which is the only SS scheme available where I work.

Currently at 20k Gross profit this finacial year, I project that i'll be entering well over the 100k profit teritory early 2027, and I want to get ahead of this.

If you were in my situation, how would you minimise my tax bill, would you plow it all into my salary sacrifice scheme, is there anything else you'd consider? I'm not married, if that helps too! My end goal is to pay the tax man as little as possible!

Hi all,

Due to a bonus I wasn’t really expecting and getting rid of some crypto I bought a decade ago, I’m in the fortunate position of having maxed out my ISA for this year and probably the next few years too. I’m debt free, pension is at £60k PIA per year and I don’t have any planned need for the money in the next 3-5 years. On this basis I was planning to throw it in an index fund and forget about it for a while.

Can anybody recommend the best GIA provider for about £100k lump sum and probably up to £10k/year? Not looking for anything fancy beyond the ability to buy an all world index and pay minimal fees. Certainly no trading, although I might cream off profits up to the CGT threshold each year. I’ve never got beyond S&S ISAs before so this is a new world for me…

Thank you

We’re looking at borrowing a smidge over a million, total HHI c350K

I know there’s hundreds of these threads re mortgages, but can I get an idea from other Henry’s with 7 figure mortgages specifically what they’ve borrowed and their HHI?

Hello,

I am going into a new job but may have the option to go into a second job as well, but I want to wait until I get more experience to consider the second job.

I am negotiating the pay for the first job, which may range between £86-99k, whereas the second jobs pay is £130k.

I am worried about going above £100k, as I would loose free childcare. I am financially inept, so I am not sure what to do and how to approach reduce net take home. I understand above £100k, I would loose on my personal allowance and also the free childcare.

Any advise would be appreciated.

I feel stuck at £45k after 8 years in fintech and banking, and I’m trying to figure out what I am missing.
I’m currently working in a fully remote role earning around £45k with 8 years of experience across fintech and banking. I have a strong profile, but I’m struggling to find high-compensation roles on LinkedIn. While I appreciate the flexibility, I feel like I’ve hit a ceiling when it comes to salary progression. Internally there is limited room to grow, and externally, the roles I see either pay too little or are not a good fit.
I’m open to moving roles, upskilling, or slightly pivoting within fintech or banking. I’m also happy to move to hybrid or onsite roles if that opens better opportunities.
For those who have managed to push past this level in the UK:
• Where do you look for high-paying roles besides LinkedIn?
• What roles or skills made the biggest difference in increasing your salary?
• Which areas in fintech or banking tend to offer the best progression?
• How much did networking help compared to just applying online?
• Are there any certifications that genuinely helped you move up?
I’d really appreciate any advice or personal experiences. I want to approach this more strategically rather than just applying blindly.

What kind of pillows do you recommend? I’ve been using tempurpedic but the pillows have gone flat twice already. I’m not too keen on the plastic content as well. I want a proper pillow that actually lasts.

Hey everyone, grateful for your thoughts on this one. Apologies for length but thought it best to give more information for general consideration.

Quick breakdown of me:

• 36M, married,
• 1 child (2.5 years old, nursery 3x per week) and 1 on the way very soon.
• HHI is £230k without bonuses, and this reflects my wife being on reduced hours (hence why only 3 days nursery). If she was back full time, HHI would be ~£272k without bonuses.
• Bonuses would generally be modest, £10-20k. I also have equity in my employer. All going well that might equate to £150-200k after a successful sale in 12-18mo.
• We Salary Sac on pension and an EV car to both get below £100k
• Our joint net worth is just over £900k:
  • £110k ISA
  • £450k Pension
  • £330k Home equity / deposit
  • £10k Cash
• We tend to live relatively modestly overall, but certainly not FIRE. We spend on good quality food, looking after our home and our kids.

We currently live in the South East and have sold our home. We have about £330k as a deposit for next house.

We plan to move to Lincolnshire to be nearer parents for support with children. There's a house we've sort of fallen in love with. For context, we've sold our current house for just under £700k and we're attempting to buy the new house for just under £1.1m

Our current mortgage balance is about £357k, @ 3.95% until 2030, which we'd port.

After SDLT our deposit for new house will be c. £280k / 75% LTV. Rates at the moment appear to be around 4.80%, which we do find eye watering.

Mortgage would go from being £1.9k today, to £3.7k if I pulled out the stops and put it all on a 35 year term.

A potential offset to the mortgage situation is that the target house has a separate 3 bedroom converted barn on the plot that we think could generate airbnb income, as the village is very chocolate boxy, etc.

The main / only thing that scares us with this prospect is taking on a £800k+ mortgage, with interest rates being where they are now (and the risk of what the future could hold). I find a lot of posters here to be "hyper rational" and would be unlikely to ever put so much into a house, but we are homey people.

Tl;dr: Is taking on a c. £800k mortgage with a HHI (post salary sac) of £200k absolutely bonkers, even with the potential of offsetting some of that cost with airbnb revenue

​The Background:

I’m a SWE working in finance. I have a 9-month-old son and have been highly prioritizing family time and work-life balance. However, a new offer has completely complicated things. The commute for both roles is around 1h 20m each way.

​Option A: Stay at current job (PE Internal Systems)

• ​Comp: £100k base + ~20% bonus.
• ​The Setup: I am dropping to a 4-day week (80% pay), making my expected total comp around £96k (can't edit title, but the real figure is £96k​).
• ​The Culture: Low stress, fairly autonomous, and I only need to be in the office 1.5 days a week. It leaves me with plenty of energy and a guaranteed, protected day off with my son.

​Option B: The Offer (Hedge Fund)

• ​Comp: £120k base + £40k guaranteed year 1 bonus (which will be for 4 months of the year). The recruiter indicates future bonuses could push total comp well over £200k.
• ​The Setup: They formally rejected a 4-day contract, citing internal precedent issues. The team lead ​is now trying to save the deal by offering "unofficial flexibility" (e.g., working 10-5 in the office, suggesting I take informal unpaid leave on Mondays).
• ​The Culture: 3 days required in the London office. Fast-paced, working directly with PMs on a trading desk, with rotational on-call expectations until 9 PM (rare but possible). ​

​The Dilemma:

It’s the ultimate time vs. money choice. The hedge fund trajectory could be life-changing, allowing me to pay off the mortgage early and achieve financial independence much faster. But I am deeply hesitant to sacrifice a guaranteed day with my son for the high-pressure reality of a trading desk, especially since relying on "unofficial" flexibility seems risky and likely to cause friction.

​Has anyone been in a similar situation, having to choose between a massive financial/career leap and guaranteed time with young kids? What did you do, how did it play out, and do you have any regrets?

Hi 35, M, separated. Have a child free week start of June so looking for last minute getaway recommendations. Apprehensive about a solo holiday but don’t really fancy spending it in the UK. Would like good weather. Not really any budget. Recommendations welcome….

Hi everyone! 

(Throwaway acc for anonymity)

I know similar questions get asked frequently on here, but I’m looking for advice as I think my situation is fairly unique (?)

I (28F) am currently in a role with a salary of 110k. I’ve secured a new role with a salary of 135k plus a guaranteed 20% bonus for the first year, taking the total cash comp per year to 162k.

Historically, I have contributed enough to my pension i.e. >10k, such that I’m not exposed to the 60% tax trap, however, I’m wondering whether it makes sense to increase my contributions in this new role to continue avoiding it i.e. contributing at least 62k a year?

Context

• I’m based in London and currently live at home with my parents paying no rent (my job is fully remote and my family home has well connected tube lines so it’s always made sense to stay) 
• I am not at risk of *not* ‘living my life’ - I’ve really made the most of living at home since graduation in terms of travel and enjoying myself (and will continue to do so either way!)
• I am considering purchasing my first home/flat, by myself, in London next year. I’d be looking to purchase a 2 bed with a budget of 600k and 20% deposit (which I already have saved - see below)
• My current role is a 5% matched pension and the new role will be 10% match on base salary
• I also currently contribute an additional 9k a year to my SIPP

My current financial position

• 62k in my company pension (with NEST 😞 in their highest risk fund) 
• 8k in a SIPP (with Vanguard)
• 48k in cash (mix of ISA and savings accounts)
• 138k in investments (S&S ISA)
• No debts (I paid off my student loan a few years ago)

Based on the above, do you think it’s worth me increasing my pension contributions in the new role to ~62k a year to continue to avoid the tax trap, or should I just take the hit to optimise for a) living life b) potential future mortgage? Maybe there’s a balance in the middle? 

Interested to hear your thoughts - thanks!

Weird one but want people’s views. M30 and currently have around £200k in my SIPP. I’m getting to the point now where my opportunity cost is all over the place in terms of work and life balance.

Wife is pregnant with first child. We are comfortable and I have an aim of mine to try & aggressively grow my pension 10-20% yearly now until I’m 60 so a good 30 years. Cumulatively for 30 years this comes to a nice number if I can ofcourse achieve these returns. This year I’m already up 25% albeit an unusual year given the AI buildout where I’m heavily invested in.

But anyway coming back to my point here - I’m getting to the point now in my life where I want more life balance. Career has been banking/trading and I genuinely think what is the point of sacrificing a good life balance now when I feel confident I can grow a nice pension pot and live comfortably and probably a lower salary now and have more hours with my wife & new born. I despise the corporate machine particularly in banking.

Does anyone think like this? Feel the same

Got about £150k in my ISA too & I’d like to think I can grow this nicely too via investing

For lawyers earning well into the six figures in London (especially in transactional work), at what point does the UK tax burden genuinely make moving abroad attractive?

I’m curious because from the outside, it seems like many City lawyers earn extremely high salaries, but once you factor in:
45% tax
national insurance
student loans
housing/property prices
childcare/family costs
general London lifestyle inflation
You’re basically just on a big salary with lots of expenditure which means no wealth building.

So for lawyers who have moved abroad (or seriously considered it):
Which countries realistically offer the best combination of:
wealth building
career opportunities
long-term quality of life
and demand for UK-qualified lawyers?

I’d especially love insight into places like:
Dubai/UAE
New York/US
Singapore
Hong Kong
Switzerland
offshore firms/jurisdictions
or anywhere else people think is underrated for UK transactional lawyers.

A few things I’m curious about specifically:
Is Dubai genuinely good long-term, or mainly attractive because of tax?
Is the US worth it despite the workload/cost of living?
Which countries actually allow lawyers to accumulate wealth fastest?
Does staying in London ultimately provide better long-term opportunities despite the taxes?
If you could restart your career knowing what you know now, would you still stay in the UK?

I’m particularly interested in hearing from people in:
M&A
private equity
capital markets
finance law
or other highly commercial practice areas.

Would appreciate honest perspectives especially from people who’ve experienced both London and overseas markets.

A lot of people’s low fixed rates are ending this year, what are people doing to protect cash flow?

Moving to tracker? SVR?

Switching to interest only to protect cash flow?? Then paying the principle based on cash flow?

I've started gettoing paid made more in RSUs, and the companies stock has done very well, more than doubling in the last six months, so I'm now looking at six figures in RSUs annually.

It occurred to me I should look at mitigating against the stock price going down to provide some more certainity, and a quick google suggests I can do something like shorting a stock through CFDs - although I've not gone into any detail on this yet.

1. Does this make sense, or does the CFDs being bought out of taxed income make the mitigation too expensive?
2. Is there a guide anywhere on how to do this?
3. Failing that, is there any practical way to mitigate against share price fluctuations.

Thanks.

EDIT - to clarify, I'm absolutely going to sell the shares as soon as they vest, I want to mitigate the unvested shares.

I'm on the engineering side, so not privy to any sensitive information, but will take care to check I'm not doing anything dubious legally.