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Over the past few years, Liverpool has been hailed as a buy-to-let property gold mine. It has low initial costs compared to other UK cities and a growing demand for rental accommodation. Considerable investments from both the private and public sector have been boosting the city’s economy.

Liverpool’s affordable property prices are a huge draw for potential investors. With house prices in Liverpool considerably less than the UK average, developers and investors have been making the most of opportunities in the city. The average UK house price is £215,000 with the cost in Liverpool only £117,000. These low house prices allow investors to get far more for their money compared to other areas like London and Cambridge. Investors have been discovering that for the price of an apartment in London, they could by a couple of comparable quality properties in Liverpool. Prices of property in Liverpool are also on the rise. These increasing house prices are an excellent indicator for investors whose property is worth far more than they paid.

Liverpool has been attracting investors from around the world. With its strong trading history, famous football clubs, and of course, the Beatles, it’s definitely on people’s radar. Investors from the USA, to China to Saudi Arabia are all looking to this northern city as a possible location to expand their portfolio. Developers from overseas are also purchasing land in Liverpool, and working with the city to create new properties. A citywide targeted development strategy has improved areas of Liverpool that were once derelict or underdeveloped. This increased investment has been creating lucrative new opportunities for investors.

Buying off plan is another popular option with investors. Guaranteed rental yields mean that investors see income as soon as the development completes, without having to deal with tenants themselves. Access to new off plan developments is highly sought after, with plans for modern skyscrapers, apartment buildings and purpose-built student accommodation pending. The city’s borders are expanding. Unused land is being snapped up by developers for new projects around the city.

Liverpool has a high average rental yield, with some properties offering returns of up to 8%. This assured income from property is highly beneficial for investors who are generating income while their investment increases in value. It also allows investors to hold on to property, with rental income paying for the investment in years. Properties by RW Invest have rental yields of 7-8% on stunning luxury apartments in the city. High quality, modern apartments with options for furniture and high-end fittings are perfect for buy-to-let investors. Developments like Azure residence, with apartments from £94,950 and Tobacco Wharf with flats from £84,995 both, offer a generous 7% yield.

A recent study showed that 13.8 tenants were trying to get each new rental that becomes available. With such a competitive environment and so much demand, tenants are sometimes willing to spend a little bit more for a city location or a beautiful apartment. With buying their first home still unattainable for many young people. It was recently reported that 44% of private tenants were not expecting to buy in the long term. Improving job prospects are attracting more and more people to live in Liverpool city centre. These are often looking for rental accommodation that is close to the city centre or excellent transport links.

The increasing demand for rental properties and the option of long-term tenants are all factors in Liverpool’s reputation as a buy to let hotspot. With low prices, a growing economy and new developments continually popping up, Liverpool is continuing to attract savvy buy-to-let investors.

A recent article in a UK newspaper claimed 1.6 million Brits currently lease their car – but how many actually understand what they’re doing?

When I first leased a car, I had no idea how it worked. I assumed a lease was something you got on a retail building and not a car!

Don’t let the complexity scare you though. Leasing can be a practical and affordable form of car finance if you take the time to get to know how it works. In this blog, I’ll run you through what leasing is, how it works and a couple different forms of leasing finance.

What is a lease?

To understand the difference between leasing and buying, you need to have a look at what you’re actually paying for in a lease.

When you buy a car outright, your payment covers the full value that the vehicle is worth. Once you’ve paid the full price (either immediately or over time), you become the legal owner of the car.

With leasing, you essentially ‘rent’ a car for a given period of time and return it at the end of your contract. Unlike buying a car, you’re never the legal owner of the car, although you are usually its registered keeper.

Why lease? Because depreciation hurts

Leasing is an attractive option for a lot of people because it eliminates one of the major problems that comes with owning a car – the cost of depreciation (depreciation is how quickly a car loses value).

According to the AA, new cars can lose up to 10% of their value the moment you drive them off the forecourt. Worse, the worst of the bunch can lose up to 60% of their value in the first year of ownership!

With these motors, if you’re planning on selling your car after a few years, you’re in for a shock when you check what it’s worth.

Contract Hire

Contract hire (more commonly known as leasing) is an arrangement where someone ‘rents’ a new car for a set period of time from a dealer. During the contract, the individual pays just enough to pay off the car’s depreciation. (Plus a little profit for the dealer, of course.) At the end of the contract, the individual returns the car to the dealer and they both go their separate ways.

With leasing deals, you aren’t the legal owner of the car but you are the registered keeper. That means you have get the car regularly serviced and keep it in a good condition.

The best thing about leasing compared to other finance options is the monthly payments, which tend to be significantly lower. That’s because, as I already mentioned, you’re only paying off the depreciation. You can also trade your car in every few years for a brand new model!

Tom Butcher worked behind the scenes in print journalism for years until he discovered the wonders of the web. He writes for several publications, covering the finance, automotive and tech sectors. At the moment, he is helping LeaseFetcher teach the world about car leasing.

Are you a hands-on investor who enjoys evaluating investment opportunities and finding a diamond in the rough? If so you may want to consider investing in peer to peer lending. As a peer to peer lender you have the opportunity to review individual borrower applications and select the ones that you think are going to repay their loans.

What is Peer to Peer Lending?

For those of you not familiar with peer to peer lending (also know as P2P lending), let’s take a moment for a quick introduction. In the past ten years several websites (known as platforms) like LendingClub and Prosper have sprung up offering personal loans to individuals. This is certainly not unique but what makes them different is that they are not banks or financial institutions in the traditional sense. These websites get funding for the loans they provide from individual investors in amounts as small as $2,500. In a sense, anyone can be a banker with just a small amount of money. The signup process is quick and easy, and as soon as you transfer the funds you can start investing.

How Do You Invest in Peer to Peer Loans?

The process for P2P lending investing is pretty simple. Once you have opened and funded your account you will be able to see all of the loan applications that the platform has approved. These loan applications have been evaluated based on industry standard underwriting techniques and many are rejected. The ones that are approved are rated and the highest rated borrowers get the lowest interest rates.

Lenders review the approved loan applications and decide which loans they would like to invest in based on their comfort level with risk and their desired return. Investment in a loan can be as little as $25 and most experts recommend investing the minimum amount and spreading your portfolio over as many loans as possible in order to minimize risk through diversification. This is where you get to Do-It-Yourself. The platform provides dozens of pieces of information from the loan application and the borrower’s credit history. You get to determine which factors matter, how much to weigh them and what a good borrower profile looks like. To some people this may sound boring and tedious but for many investing junkies this is the fun part. You can look at data like length of employment, debt-to-income ratio, home ownership vs. renting, late payments, outstanding debt, bankruptcies and so much more.

There are a limited number of filters available on the platforms that allow you to quickly find loans that meet certain criteria, then you can review them in the more detail individually. Or, for the really hardcore investment analysis junkies, the information for all available loans can be downloaded to a spreadsheet for study and review. There are approximately 50 to 250 loans available at any given time and there are approximately 80 pieces of information available so, as you can imagine, this can be an enormous amount of data to review. However, with some simple sorting and filtering in your spreadsheet you can pretty easily identify the loans that meet your criteria.

There is also room for intuition and past experience in the analysis process. There may be more loans that meet your criteria than you have funds to invest. Ultimately, you may have to ‘go with your gut’ in order to select the loan or loans that you think are most likely to be paid back.

For those who want passive income or do not feel they are savvy enough to select quality loans there is also an auto invest feature that will choose the loans for you based on your desired risk/return level. But for the investment analysis enthusiast the DIY approach is the way to do. All in all, this can be a fun way to achieve a great return on your investment.

It’s not advisable that you keep your surplus funds in a regular savings account for long. In that case, you can’t just expect a high ROI against this fund. You may choose to go with multiple options like mutual funds and shares, but they have an element of risk. The risks are much lower with FD investments as they’re regulated.

What’s so special about Fixed Deposits?

You may open FD account while you’re looking for some safe and sound investment option. Besides being safe, FDs yield a lucrative rate of interest for the investors. You may earn quality interests on the amount that goes out in your FD account for a certain period.

1. Fixed Deposits create earning opportunities by compounding interests

FDs yield interest for over a uniform period when issued by banks. If you don’t need the amount of interest to come as regular quarterly or monthly income, you may consider reinvesting in your FD account. You’re likely to witness a growth of the principal amount and the interest of the upcoming period will be ascertained on the new value. In this way, you’ll end up earning more on the invested amount. All you need to do is to pick your payment option besides opting for the compounded FD option. You may use any FD calculator online to check the returns.

2. Sound investment option for senior citizens

You may consider an FD among the most lucrative investment options when you don’t have a source of steady income, especially when you’re old and retired. Many of the Indian banks provide you with an FD account and abide by the safety norms laid out for protecting your invested principal. The rates of interest might not be very high, but you may still gain something on these deposits. Under circumstances when you’re heading towards a financial crisis, you may close all FDs even if they haven’t matured.

3. Fixed Deposits yield tax-saving opportunities

FDs come with great tax saving options when you’re specifically interested in investing a portion of your funds for a long term. You may avail them in the form of a 5-year term deposit and set your money to be locked in for those 5 years. Until the maturity of your FD, you won’t be able to achieve credits or loans on your fixed deposits and can’t break them. With tax saver FDs, you may enjoy tax exemption on the principal amount invested by you. Depending on the tax slab, taxes are levied on the interest.

4. Fixed Deposits are much safer

The RBI governs all FD schemes that are issued by the NBFC and Indian banks. Issuers of these schemes are required to follow certain stringent regulations and rules from time to time. In India, the banking industry is safer for the investors as most saving schemes yield adequate protection towards the principal.

If you’re not among those who looks for a high ROI then you may be in need of a more secure investment. FDs are certainly one of those safer schemes that you’ve been looking for. All of your capital is in safe hands as the FDs are regulated by stringent norms laid down by the government authorities. That is also the reason why FDs are considered so safe for the members of low-income groups that don’t possess any alternative source of income.

If you’re taking out your first online personal loan, it probably means you don’t have a credit history or a credit score. This doesn’t however hold true if you’ve had or currently have a credit card (if you’ve had a credit card in the past, you’ll have a credit score). Lenders use your credit score obtained from your credit report to understand how good you’ve been at managing credit in the past. Personal loans are unsecured loans that don’t involve collateral, and usually come with a higher interest rate in comparison to secured loans. This is precisely the reason why having a good credit score is important for your application to get approved.

Let’s forget the credit score part for now. If you’re a first timer, here are some things you should note before taking your first unsecured personal loan:

Know the various charges involved

Personal loans come with a list of charges that include late payment charges, EMI bounce charges, processing charges, pre-closure charges, and part-payment charges. When you’re taking out your personal loan for the first time, make sure you are aware of the various charges. It is of course, always good to be aware about how much lenders are charging you.

Choose a short repayment period

Choosing a short repayment period helps reduce the interest payment over the course of your loan tenure. Longer tenures attract higher interest payments, but lower monthly repayment amounts. As your first loan, you wouldn’t want to pay too much interest, do you? However, if lower monthly repayments suit you, you should go ahead and choose a longer tenure, for you can always pre-close your loan after a certain period. Note that most lenders require you to complete a minimum of 6 months or 12 months of your tenure before you can pre-close.

Don’t borrow more than you need

Your approved amount might be higher than what you asked for – lenders use this tactic to make you borrow more. Don’t fall for it thought. Borrow only how much you need. Borrowing more than you need is just setting the platform for unnecessary debt accumulation.

Negotiate the interest rate

Negotiating the rate with the bank will help you get a lower interest rate on your loan. Moreover, if you don’t have a credit history, there’d be multiple lenders in the market willing to offer you a loan. Going by this logic, it is advised that you negotiate the interest rate on your loan to get a reduced rate.

Don’t apply with multiple lenders

Applying with multiple lenders negatively affects your credit score. Too many credit inquiries reflect credit-hungry behavior, and lenders can reject you on the basis of this – rejections bring down your credit score as well. So for starters, make sure you apply with only one lender.