Expert Savings Advice

A colleague of mine at work has recently had the news that her partner is about to be made redundant and like so many people her age had been spending virtually all their combined income without saving anything for a rainy day. I suppose they are relatively fortunate that she still has a job and that he’s quite prepared to do anything to bring in some money and believes he can pick up some temporary shift work in a factory but it won’t make up for the shortfall. They were faced with a scenario of having to save a few hundred pounds a month if they were to remain with their heads above water and stay solvent so they have had to sit down and analyse their entire spending to see what could be cut back on, what could be cut out all together and what they needed to prioritise like rent. There were a few quick wins; Sky was cancelled as was gym membership and direct debits to lottery syndicates etc. Charities have been shelved temporarily as have anything that wasn’t vital. She then used the comparison websites to source better deals on the home insurance, car insurance and a critical illness cover quote. In most cases she was able to save a few pounds to chip away at her shortfall.

To me and my partner the PC in the corner of the lounge had always seemed to me like a waste of time like so many gadgets we have in our   home that are purchased with the best of intentions but after the initial enthusiasm has waned sit there collecting dust until they are thrown out with the rubbish tens of years later. That was very much the case with ours and with many of my friends all of whom bought a similar computer around the same time until our children discovered Facebook. At first we didn’t allow the children to use it as we had been scared off by a barrage of horror stories in the press but after friends of mine set up our accounts with the correct security setting we decided to give it a go but as a family and although we started slowly we soon got the hang of it and now a year later have persuaded the rest of my brothers and sister to join in. We have moved the computer from the lounge to the kitchen breakfast bar so I can keep an eye on the children and we now use the computer for many more things besides social media. We have tried to use the computer to do the things other people go on about all the time. Getting quotes for car insurance and booking holidays. We sat down one weekend and got a quote for another mortgage took ten minutes to compare life cover.

When considering how the new Pension legislation will affect our company I have been put in charge of reviewing the various options regarding setting up a suitable pension plan. This task seemed fairly straight forward but the one thing that surprises me is the lack of information on the subject, when I would have expected a large amount of advertising and so on from the government.

From my research it seems clear that our firm will have to start paying into a pension plan in January 2013 for all members aged over 22 and earning more the £7,464 per year. We understand that all members will have to be ‘automatically enrolled’ into a pension plan and then if they don’t want to pay in then that means we don’t have to pay in as the employer. If they do pay in then eventually they will have to pay in 4% of their earnings and as employer we’d pay in 3%, there would be a further tax relief payment of 1% from the government.

Then if someone has opted out of the scheme then we have to opt them back into the pension plan every 3 months.

If I have any of this information incorrect then I’d be interested to know how.

I have just been made redundant for the second time in my career. I did not do anything wrong, the company has just decided to relocate their offices to Leeds where the office rates are much cheaper than Bristol. Because I have been through this experience before I had fortunately visited Mortgage Protection Insurance last year and got myself a very reasonably priced policy. Last time I was made redundant I was out of work for over a year and my property was repossessed, I spent several years in rented accommodation before I was able to get back on the property ladder. For a relatively low premium, I was able to get myself covered to ensure I never go through the agony of having the roof over my head taken from me again. It is well worth the extra few pounds a month to have piece of mind that this time I can concentrate on finding myself another job that I like as I have this cover to fall back on, rather than having to take menial jobs to try and get by. I know its going to be a hard slog, but I have learnt from past experience and having this sort of cover in place is vital.

We recently had the opportunity to attend a session at work on managing personal finances. The session was very helpful and covered lot of useful topics such as restructuring debts and keeping a record of all your outgoings for a month. One of the other things they suggested was to go through all your insurance premiums and utility bills and see if any savings could be made using comparison websites. I have since ventured online and saved myself an absolute fortune each month. By far the biggest saving I have made has been on my life insurance premiums, I visited a life insurance comparison website and reduced my premiums by over 20 percent. I have since been on all the utility and car insurance comparison sites and saved myself loads more money. I can’t believe it took a session like this to open my eyes. I wish I had done all this ages ago, I can’t bear to think of all the money I have wasted by not being more organised and proactive. With all the money I have been able to save, there is a chance I may even be able to afford a holiday next year. Fingers crossed.

I have always been quite careful with my money, probably something I inherited from my parents. Take care of the pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves used to be my fathers mantra when I was growing up. I do try to watch my outgoings, but have never thought about insuring myself against hardship until a friend of mine was made redundant recently after a long illness. I decided to look into an income protection policy to ensure my essential outgoings would be covered every month if something happened to me. After visiting the Permanent Health Insurance website I was able to get myself very generous cover for a much lower premium than I was expecting. I have also got myself some life cover, so I can now sleep soundly at night, safe in the knowledge that me and my loved ones won’t lose the roof over our heads no matter what happens to me. Saving money is all well and good but if you were off long term sick how long would that last?  Not as long as my income protection policy would continue to pay me out for. I am trying to spread the word, so that no other members of my friends or family are left at risk.

Recently my mother was talking about her potential inheritance tax liability as she is worried that when she passes away there would be a bill of almost £200,000 which we would have to pay within 6 months. She had heard that probate can take longer than 6 months so was concerned that we would not have enough money to pay the bill. As she got divorced she was left the family home which is worth around £700,000 and she also has a further £150,000 in investments. Although she is considering taking out Life Cover which would pay £200,000 when she passes away, I have heard that there may be a way she can hold her investments so that they would not form part of her estate when she passes away. If she can hold the £150,000 in such a way that it would not be considered as part of her estate then it would mean we wouldn’t need as much life cover, which would reduce her monthly payments. I’d like to know what would be the best way to hold this money so that it would reduce her potential inheritance tax bill.

I have been a free spirit for quite a few years now, the gap year after university turned into several years and I have been lucky enough to visit many beautiful places whilst travelling the world. Money was always tight whilst I was travelling, so I became very good at not wasting any and making the most of what I had. I have now settled down and started to think about having a family. Now I have finally got my own place, the last thing I would ever want was to risk losing it for whatever reason. And for the first time in my life, it is not just me that I have got to think about. I have wider responsibilities now. And if, as planned, we were to start a family that would make it even more important that it is now . To be on the safe side I recently visited the mortgage protection insurance website and was able to source myself very comprehensive and reasonably priced insurance to ensure my mortgage premiums are covered. Many people worry about things going wrong but don’t do anything about it. With a few simple clicks I found the added security of an insurance that covers most eventualities.

The best credit card deals online is offered to you by various popular companies. People often choose the low interest rate cards or 0% introductory on balance transfers and purchases. Most people prefer the cards to offer cardholders’ points, miles, or rewards.

The best credit cards offer you reward miles, or points, and 0% interest rates. Many of the vendors online offer 1 percent cash back on all purchases. Some vendors offer additional 2% cash back on grocery purchases. You earn more rewards when you buy gasoline at selected gas stations. Some card providers offer you 3% bonuses. You can receive other bonuses when you redeem your reward points at certain locations.

In some cases, you must qualify to receive cash back rewards on restricted purchases. Once you add up your points, you can redeem by setting up an automatic redemption account online. You don’t have to worry about losing points because most vendors offer unlimited rewards, meaning your rewards never expire.

Card providers that do not charge annual fees are usually considered some of the best credit cards. Currently the rates are going up, but you can find rates as low as 10.73 percent by shopping around. Capital One offers you the Prestige card. This card provides you with the best benefits, but you must have excellent credit scores to apply. (more…)

My girlfriend and I have been together for approaching 4 years now and we have lived together for nearly half that time in rented accommodation as the cost of buying a property has been out of range. It has also had a lot to do with the fact that we both felt that we wanted to be sure that our relationship would last having both come from families where our parents had been divorced. We were keen to do what we could to avoid this happening to us. Six months ago we decided that we would like to make a more long term commitment to one another and started to look around for properties in our price range. The four years of getting to know each other has provided the ideal time for us both to save and we have built up a reasonable deposit to enable us to get our foot on the first rung of the housing ladder in an area that would be best described as up and coming. We arranged a mortgage through a financial adviser, got a range of life cover quotes from the internet and put in a speculative offer on a small house. We were completely taken aback when it was accepted straight away by the sellers. Eight weeks later we moved in and we have spent the past three months armed with a paintbrush and roller as we have gradually worked our way around the house putting our mark on it.