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8 Smart Money Moves I Made Last Tax Year as a UGC Creator & Mother

Content creation has been an occasionally paid hobby of mine for almost a decade now. Last year, that all changed when I went on maternity leave from my big girl job. I set out to transition this little side hustle of mine into a fully fledged business. I expanded into UGC, took TikTok far more seriously and outreached in ways that I simply hadn’t before. My goal was to challenge myself and follow a passion but I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t financially motivated. As someone who wanted to spread our money as far as possible last tax year, here are a few of the smart money moves I made.

SCALED UP MY SELF EMPLOYED INCOME

I’d heard countless stories from new mothers on statutory maternity pay that their leave was a financial hardship. Although we had planned and saved for our baby, I was reluctant to use our savings to simply live. I’ve always been a girl with big plans and most of them require serious funding. I also wanted to explore the possibilities of self employed life, to diversify my income streams and to experiment with the freedom of running my own work schedule (around my tiny new boss, of course).

OPENED A LISA

A Lifetime ISA is a tax free savings account with limited use and limited withdrawals. You’re only able to use the money in a LISA to purchase a first time home or as retirement funds. Both options come with pretty strict stipulations, so please do your own research.

As a homeowner, I opened a LISA with the goal of saving for retirement. This year I’ve gone back to work part time (temporarily) and so won’t be putting as much into my pension. The Moneybox LISA that I opened offers a pretty high interest rate as well as a government bonus of 25% per annum (max bonus of £1000 per year). Essentially, if you put £4k into the account, the government will top it up by an extra £1k.

I’ll be honest, it’s unlikely I’ll put anywhere near this much money into it at the moment. We just have other financial priorities right now. However, you have to open the account before you’re 40. Advisors like Martin Lewis have predicted that the scheme may be withdrawn but will remain usable for existing accountholders even if the accounts are pulled from the market. Essentially, it’s better to open one as soon as possible so that it’s always an option for you, even if you only open it with £1!

EMPLOYED MY 3 MONTH OLD BABY

One of the my smart money moves was also for the benefit of my son. As a creator who was also a new, first-time mum, I won quite a few jobs within the parenting and family niche. The briefs for these jobs literally required the content to feature my son, Atti. I paid him the going rate as a child model for each feature, depending on how long the shoot took.

Even babies have a personal tax-free allowance. His wages went into his savings account, and neither of us had to pay tax on them.

USED A CASHBACK APP

I’ve tried a few cash back sites in my time and found most of them way too much faff. Everup is an exception.

I’ve used Everup for a while now. It’s a cash back app that you can use to purchase gift cards to loads of big name retailers like John Lewis, ASOS and Tesco. The process is super quick so I use it for my grocery shops. I wait until I’m already at the checkout (self-checkout always, or I’d find it too awkward!), use the app to purchase a gift card for the amount I need (via Apple Pay) and the gift card takes seconds to come through. Cashback racks up quite quickly (especially with big purchases) and you can use it towards other giftcards. You can withdraw the funds as cash, but they take a %, so I don’t.

BOUGHT & SOLD ON VINTED

Since having Atti, I’ve bought and sold much more on Vinted. You can find great quality children’s clothes for an absolute steal. Honestly, no matter how cute they are, it’s much less upsetting when those clothes get stained! We are keeping some clothes in case we have another boy, but I still resell a lot of the clothes that Atti has grown out of and use the balance to buy next sizes. I’m also working on decluttering and streamlining our possessions, so have had lots to upload!

NON-NEGOTIABLE SAVINGS

I have various regular savings accounts which monthly deposits into are non-negotiable. I send a set amount to these accounts as soon as we’re paid, so that it isn’t left in our daily use account and available to spend. We also have ‘sinking funds’ pots for things like vacations. If we have any leftover money at the end of the month, I distribute it to these.

SWITCHED BANK ACCOUNTS

I’ve taken advantage of plenty of current account switch offers in my time. Last year we switched our joint account to Lloyds for a cash reward of £250. Plus the account comes with a ‘lifestyle benefit’ in the form of a free Disney+ subscription. Definitely fully read the T&C’s of any switch offer. For example, we need to pay in a certain amount each month to avoid a charge for the account we have. As long as you’re clued up on the requirements and conditions of the account you’re switching too, switches are usually really easy money. Please also do your own research on the impact that regular switching may have on your credit score and take this into account alongside your own financial situation.

I’ve also held an account with Nationwide for a very long time now. I’m a very happy customer as I often randomly receive ‘Fairer Share’ payments of around £100.

PAID ATTENTION TO OUR MORTGAGE

We made several overpayments to our mortgage last year. It’s one of my most smart money moves regarding buying a home and I’ll continue to overpay as long as it’s financially viable. I have our mortgage information linked to my Monzo account and they have a really handy calculator which shows you the impact of overpayments. Even overpaying by relatively small amounts can make a huge difference to the amount of interest you end up paying. One of our biggest financial goals is to reduce our mortgage by as much as possible.

Please note that some mortgages charge for overpayments so definitely do your research first! Our mortgage allows us to overpay by up to 10% without incurring any penalties.

*’smart money moves’ are entirely subjective. None of the information above is intended as financial advice.