This segment was broadcast on 28 January 2016. Some information may be out of date.

Setting financial priorities

  • Best thing to do with excess cash: the rule about repaying debt versus investing
  • Applying this to: credit card and other high-interest debt, mortgages, student loans
  • Top priority for all: repay credit card debt
  • Next priorities:
  • If you don’t own a home
  • If you have a home with a mortgage
  • If you have a mortgage-free home

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Mary Holm is a freelance journalist, a director of Financial Services Complaints Ltd (FSCL), a seminar presenter and a bestselling author on personal finance. From 2011 to 2019 she was a founding director of the Financial Markets Authority. Her opinions are personal, and do not reflect the position of any organisation in which she holds office. Mary’s advice is of a general nature, and she is not responsible for any loss that any reader may suffer from following it.