Money Bite transcript - Episode two
Angellica Bell: Manchester, recently voted the best city to live in the UK.
Gethin Jones: So, it's the perfect location to bring you a Money Bite home buying special. Thanks very much.
Angellica Bell: How much money do you really need to buy your first home? How can you save money on home improvements?
Gethin Jones: What happens when you give children nearly £200 to plan a day out? And, how can you apply for a job without a CV?
Angellica Bell: Coffee?
Gethin Jones: I'd love one, but I don't need six.
Angellica Bell: They're not all for you, some are for local emerging band, Brunel, who are here.
Gethin Jones: Yes, one of our hundreds of bands whose music will be playing in NatWest branches all over the UK. But right now, it's time for this.
Angellica Bell: Money Bite.
Gethin Jones: Money Bite. We've got a home buying theme going on today. Everyone chatting about the reality of buying their first property.
Angellica Bell: What ways to buy are available, and what's the best way to start saving?
Gethin Jones: Well I'm glad you asked that, because I went hunting for house hunters. It's one of the biggest financial decisions you'll ever make, and the challenges that people face to buy a new home are the same nationwide. I'm meeting three perspective home buyers, each hoping to get some independent advice to help them land their dream property. You want to buy, not rent, why?
Jamie: I just think I'm on the wrong side of 20 now, so I kind of need to be getting something to have under the belt.
Gethin Jones: Is there a dream apartment or a favourite street you have in Manchester that you would like to live in?
Jamie: There is actually, yeah.
Gethin Jones: To help Jamie reach his dream property I'm sending him to meet financial expert, Sarah.
Sarah Hogan: There are a few things that you can do. Have you heard of something called the Help to Buy ISA?
Jamie: I've heard about it, but I don't know anything about it.
Sarah Hogan: Okay. What is allows you to do is save for the deposit of your first house and get a government top-up on the money that you save. So the government give you 25% on top of your savings. So you can open it with up to a £1,000 and then you can save, uh, £200 a month right up to, um, a maximum of £12,000.
Gethin Jones: But what if you put together enough of a deposit like Michelle? Michelle, what's going on with you at the moment?
Michelle P: So, my positions is I've saved some money, but I don't know what I'm entitled to and I need to buy a house for me and my little boy.
Gethin Jones: Have you seen anything online that you like?
Michelle P: I have.
Gethin Jones: The house ticks all Michelle's boxes. Mortgage man, Steve, it's over to you.
Steve Robinson: Now there will be options available where you don't have to necessarily put in your whole deposit. So this will be based on a 95% loan to value mortgage, so essentially they'll give you 95%, you'll put it 5%, and then that'll total up the cost of the house as well then. The house has to be under £600,000 in value.
Gethin Jones: Finally, I'm meeting another Michelle. What have you found most stressful about the whole process of buying your first home?
Michelle B: We found houses that we like, but then putting the bids in and then getting outbid and we know we can't go any higher, it's just really disheartening.
Gethin Jones: She's off to meet mortgage advisor, Tracey.
Tracey Peden: One in particular is the help to buy equity loan. So what happens is you get the 5% deposit from your own funds, and up to 20% is a government loan in effect, interest free for the five years. There's some stipulation in London, up to 40%, uh, interest free for five years rather than 20. So you're helped by equity scheme, it does actually take you up to a £600,000 purchase price.
Michelle B: Fantastic.
Gethin Jones: So if you want more information on how to save for a deposit or if you're buying a home for the very first time, search "NatWest Home Buyers", or click on the I on the screen right now.
Angellica Bell: We have an entrepreneur from Manchester here with us, and it's Dan Kelsall. I've got to say that I'm absolutely fascinated by this app you've created. I think it's going to be a game changer, but tell us all about it.
Dan Kelsall: I created Vonkel, which is an app that uses Vonks, which are one 60 second videos to connect amazing young people like this with employers.
Angellica Bell: Why did you think it was important to do this?
Dan Kelsall: These guys, uh, don't have a lot of qualifications, uh, generally have a lack of experience and aren't that great at describing that experience on a CV or a written application. So this is a, a chance to standout, a chance to show a bit of, uh, personality, passion.
Angellica Bell: It's almost revolutionising the way that we find work, isn't it?
Dan Kelsall: Exactly, yeah.
Angellica Bell: Okay, shall we get our Vonk on?
Dan Kelsall: Yeah, get your Vonk on.
Angellica Bell: Let's do it.
Heena: Hi, my name's Heena, I really want to be a teacher. I'm fun, I love kids, I'm a perfectionist and I'm a really good team leader.
Speaker 11: Hey, I'm not afraid to make the tea or coffee and get stuck in.
Speaker 12: I think helping people understand one another is an amazing job. This is why I want to be a translator.
Karen Blackett: I love the idea of Vonks, basically because it is so hard for people to be able to get across their personality and their interests in a CV.
Dan Kelsall: We want to be the go-to to for young people so they've actually got more opportunities and more chance of getting in front of the people that matter and that can help them get to where they want to be.
Angellica Bell: Now if you'd like to see the full version of our Vonks film go to the NatWest YouTube channel. And if you're already running your own business or thinking of starting up one, why not search "NatWest Enterprise" to see how NatWest supports small businesses, or you can simply click on the little I that you can see on the screen, and make sure you look out for the Vonks that Gethin and I have already done.
Gethin Jones: My name's Gethin Jones, I'm a passionate Welshman, determined and enthusiastic, here at my favourite coffee shop working on my flat white consistency, it's looking pretty good. Sorry, I'm in the middle of a Vonk.
Children learning the value of money has never been more important, and so Katie and John Kenyon here, decided to accept our challenge to let their four children, Molly, Phoebe, Jacob and Sophia, take charge of the family's finances for a day out at Blackpool Pleasure Beach. Welcome, one and all. John, what interested you in taking on this challenge in the first place?
John: Um, I thought it was a great opportunity for the children to try and look at how we manage budget when we go out to a theme park on a family day out.
Angellica Bell: Well, I think we should just have a look and see how you got on.
John: So, kids, we're going to treat you to a family day out in Blackpool.
Katie: And the great news is you're going to take control of the family budget.
Molly: Yes.
John: We're going to give you a £176 and 25 pence.
Phoebe: Our favourite thing to do as a family is go to theme parks.
Katie: I think they think about money when they want something.
John: I think it will open their eyes to actually how much we actually spend.
Molly: I'm the best with money because I feel like I'm more responsible with it.
Phoebe: I just want to spend it all.
Molly: And you do.
Phoebe: That's 1.25.
Molly: Well that's enough to get us at, we can just share a sausage or something.
Phoebe: I don't think we should take our own food.
Jacob: If you get food there I'll bet you'll be annoyed that you made that decision.
Phoebe: You don't want to bring a sweaty cheese butty.
Katie: I don't think £16.50 is going to be enough for us all to eat and drink throughout the day.
Molly: It would be £29.50 we pay on the gate when we get there. But we're only paying £16.25-
Jacob: 25.
Molly: ... if we book online now.
Jacob: So we save a quite a lot.
John: I've kept £20 of your budget behind, so that we can get some fish and chips when we're on our way home. Are you excited?
Jacob: I'm going to bring my own sandwiches. I want to spend more money on souvenirs.
Molly: Wooh! Yay.
Katie: Here we go.
Jacob: Wooh, Blackpool!
Speaker 19: Morning.
John: Morning.
Speaker 19: It's £7 please, sir.
John: £7.
Katie: Have you got your money, children?
John: Money?
Molly: When we arrived this morning we didn't expect to have to pay £7 for parking. So we took the money out of entertainment, so we only have £4 left. The budget's going well, we have had to use some of the fish and chip fund. Can we get the Family Meal Deal?
Speaker 20: That's £20, please.
Molly: In the Meal Deal you get fries and chicken that we can share between all of us.
John: I see you put some cucumber in that.
Jacob: I forgot sweetcorn. Yeah, it would have been nice with sweetcorn.
Gethin Jones: Well done, guys, I thought it was a great effort. How was your tuna sandwich, was it all right, Jacob?
Jacob: Yeah.
Gethin Jones: Not too bad. And how much money did you save again on doing that?
Jacob: Uh, I saved £2.50.
Gethin Jones: Molly, what do you think was the hardest part of the challenge?
Molly: Um, deciding when we would go and then with, we didn't have enough money trying to figure out where are the places to take the money from was.
Gethin Jones: Did it make you think differently about how your parents have to cope with you four and how much money they have to spend on your guys as well?
Molly: Yeah, they're not always being mean when they say "no".
Angellica Bell: Now that we're on the subject of children and money, it's probably a good time to tell you about NatWest's MoneySense Programme, and here to tell us more is Caroline Edwards from NatWest. Hello. Hello.
Caroline Edwards: Hi.
Angellica Bell: How can families at home watching take on the challenge themselves?
CarolineEdwards: So if you go onto the MoneySense website you can download a simple budget take up a board like this.
Angellica Bell: Yeah.
Caroline Edwards: We also have a number of posters and games that children and families can play together so they can learn to understand different ways of managing money, learning about saving, spending, how to keep themselves safe online.
Angellica Bell: Yeah, so really important things that young people should know about.
Caroline Edwards: Yeah.
Angellica Bell: And it's not just for families, is it, it's also for teachers which I've seen.
Caroline Edwards: Yeah, so MoneySense is available free to schools up and down the country. We want teachers to go in, to access the materials online.
Angellica Bell: And you really do take these seriously, because you've recently appointed a junior consultant, haven't you?
Caroline Edwards: We have. So we've just appointed, Mog, from Channel 4's Child Genius programme, to come into the bank and look at how we run things and to start to ask, ask questions and to tell us about what young people today want to know about money.
Angellica Bell: Well that's a genius appointment, Caroline. And you can find out about Mog's latest instalment and his mission on the NatWest YouTube channel.
Gethin Jones: One thing Caroline mentioned earlier actually was about the guys here, uh, booking their rollercoaster tickets online, which saved them money, but unfortunately dad didn't get his fish and chips. But because you did such a great job, don't worry, we've got you some fish and chips.
Angellica Bell: Yay!
Gethin Jones: There you go. Continuing our home buying theme right now, and something very important to remember, a home is a feeling not just a place, right.
Angellica Bell: That was beautiful.
Gethin Jones: Thanks.
Angellica Bell: Yeah.
Gethin Jones: Wasn’t it?
Angellica Bell: And we all want our homes to feel great, right?
Gethin Jones: We do. Introduce the next bit, it's really good.
Angellica Bell: Okay.
Gethin Jones: I've downloaded three of them already. Come on.
Angellica Bell: Here are five great apps for home improvement.
Gethin Jones: I'm telling you it's great.
Toby: When I moved into my flat it needed a lot of renovation. Houzz was brilliant at giving me inspiration and also putting me in touch with local people to get the job done.
Lowell: I use Tap Painter to help me visualise what my walls would look like before actually painting them. There's loads of colours to pick from, so it would suit anyone.
Les: I used the tile calculator when I tiled my fireplace. It gave me the exact budget and how many tiles I needed to use, and it saved me buying me too many.
Tina: So I use the Go Fantastic app mainly for window cleaning, but it's also really great for those odd jobs around the house that my husband doesn't always have time for.
Luwam: When renovating my house I used the Magic Plan app. Just by taking pictures, it measured rooms and created floor plans which allowed me to maximise space and improve my home.
Angellica Bell: We love those apps, and it's all useful stuff. So if you want to make the most out of your home search "NatWest Home Improvements" or simply click on the I.
Gethin Jones: Now, the great thing about Money Bite is that we get to travel all over the country to find out what people are thinking. We decided to ask the people of Manchester ...
Angellica Bell: If you were to purchase a house or a flat with someone, would you prefer to do it with a friend or a family member?
Speaker 27: I'd rather buy a house with a family member.
Speaker 28: I'd say friends.
Speaker 29: Probably family.
Speaker 30: I know a lot of friends that are not very good with money.
Speaker 31: You can choose your friends, but you can't choose your family.
Speaker 32: Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 29: I trust family.
Speaker 33: I'd probably choose a friend.
Speaker 34: You are my friend, but-
Speaker 28: Yeah.
Speaker 34: Huh.
Gethin Jones: 54% of the people in Manchester said that they would rather buy a home with a family member, which means 46% said with a friend.
Angellica Bell: To be fair though, I'm not surprised by that because buying a house anyway is a big deal.
Gethin Jones: Yeah, I'd be torn in two.
Angellica Bell: Yeah.
Gethin Jones: But it is a great way of getting on the property ladder, and if you want more information on how to buy the home that suits you, check out "NatWest Home Buyers", there's some really useful tips on there.
Angellica Bell: Also if you'd like to see any of our films in full, go to NatWest YouTube channel. And while you're there, please subscribe. Now have you had enough coffee for today?
Gethin Jones: Just about, but come on, it's good in there, isn't it?
Angellica Bell: It's great, and we've had fun in Manchester.
Gethin Jones: We certainly have, and just to remind you before we go that music by local band emerging bands will be playing in NatWest branches all over the country very soon, just like Manchester's Brunelle.
Angellica Bell: Take it away, boys.
Gethin Jones: See you next time. Bye. (singing)