blonde poker forum

So many Blondes I respect on 'grown up stuff' that it would be remiss of me not to start this thread.

A generic thread to talk about managing money in the non poker sense.

I'll start the thread off by saying this is the most important website you can possibly use:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/

He acts like a prize berk on TV but Martin Lewis should be Knighted for what he has done to help people with their finances. I reckon he has personally saved me and my family thousands every year.
(http://www.tntmagazine.com/image.php/media/content/_master/43222/images/martin-lewis-money-saving-expert.jpg?file=media%2Fcontent%2F_master%2F43222%2Fimages%2Fmartin-lewis-money-saving-expert.jpg&width=450)

And now my question of the day.

Just bought a house. I had a pension, not paid into it for about a year, probs worth about £12,000.

Any extra wonga I get, should it go into:

Mortgage overpayments
ISA
Pension


Personally, for me its over payments, then ISA, the Pension. Savings rates are so crappy atm and IMO in these tough times reducing your biggest expenditure (long term) seems the way to go.

I'm pretty financially literate but stocks and shares I know nothing about, so those are my generic three options. Anyone agree with the order?

Martin Lewis is one of THE most annoying individuals I've ever seen or heard, but jeez, he must have saved people hundreds of millions of £££'s.

Knighthood beckons. 

I would say

1. Emergency fund (cash) 3-6 month net salary (in an instant ISA)
2. Repay expensive credit cards
3. Pension payments (as get income tax benefit) (so +20% before your start)
4. Mortgage over payments
5. Equity ISA
6. Cash ISA

1001.  buy 1% of TK in WSOP

What really annoys me about him is that he causes a tax on the stupid.

Everyone who follows his advice gets a better deal so energy companies to make the same amount of profit have to charge extra to those who don't change. Thus the nimble benefit and the lazy / stupid pay for it.

Pls delete thread.  Don't want to spend anymore of my life arguing the pensions/ISA debate.  Definitely credit cards before other debts.  

I personally go mortgage, ISA, Pension, but use pensions to avoid nasty tax bands.  Company pension usually beats mortgage and ISA.  

Pensions are a minefield.  If you are higher rate now it can make a big difference.

Can I block an individual thread?

Serves them right for being lazy and stupid surely? You can't really blame him for that, he has helped millions of people.

His 5 live podcast is really good, much more straight talk and none of that 'dressing up as a credit card and hand puppets' stuff he does on TV

I was just going to post the same; guess its personal but I am 100% ISA before Pension, need to consider tax impact at both ends, accesibility and perfoemance of portfolio.  I persoanlly max out ISA Equity - but I am a punter.

Also mortgague debate is not always straightforward at moment - I am on a lifetime tracker at 0.22 above base so if I can get a return of over 0.75% no point making extra payments

Strongly depends on the definition of extra wonga, is there a chance you will need access to it, age when doing it, tax brackets, mortgage rate, amount to play with.....think the order can change from person to person. All sensible options though, I usually go for option 4: which is the 23 neighbours solution to get rid of extra wonga

There is no correct answer, its all about your own circumstances and your attitude towards security in later life.

I personally try to up my pension payments when I can afford it as I simply don't want to be sweating money when I get to my later 50's, and I want to guarantee a secure non-skint retirement.

The fact they take it out of my salary tax free before I can get my filthy hands on it to do something stupid with it is also a massive plus, because I'm a dickhead with money.  :-X

As others have said, your personal tax situation would dictate whether pension goes further up the order. For example if you earn around £60k and get child benefit, which is now being abated for "high" earners, then pension is  a real option as it can save you tax at a marginal rate of over 60%. Possibly even more depending on how many kids you have.

I want to build my own house, land is 200k and to build is about 250k. Can i get a mortgage before i build it? or am i screwed unless i can get someone to lend me the money from somewhere else.

Martin Lewis

A smugger looking man not possible.

Had the misfortune of meeting him at a corporate event thingy in my previous job and if he was chocolate he would eat himself and not leave any.

This was before he did "tv" (if you can call it that) so i can only imagine he is even worse now.

Actually referred to himself in the third person constantly and at one stage called himself "mr moneysaver"

He is now worth at least £150 million so i suppose he has plenty to be smug about.

I think Matthew Wright from the Wright Stuff has a smugger and more smack able face.

a fair shout

I have a stocks and shares ISA that I currently like a lot.

As per others though, depends on your mortgage rate but over payments aren't a great plan if you could get a higher return elsewhere.

Subscribed and properly popcorn.giffing

What does Martin Lewis say about trips to Vegas?

I'm sure you have liked them a lot over the last 18 months or so, but it wasn't fun in the years preceding that when they dropped a ton after the crash.  >:(

Surely no need for a financial advice thread when we already have a staking board.

This thread is for after.

There's actually a massive thread on their forum dedicated to Vegas every year, stickied and everything - does not mention gambling at all unless talking about getting free drinks but is very much well worth a read.

Read flick through the weekly emails but don't really go through the site in detail.

Thanks.

Roflcopters.

Martin Lewis doesn't seem that bad to me, but I'm not very good money saver etc. so many questions, but I'm likely to look stupid asking them, damn it.

If a property is valued at 90k but you are buying it for 60k, do you still need a deposit for the mortgage ?

If you are paying CASH for it then no but if the 60k is the mortgage then yes unless you can find an unbeliveably dodgy solicitor who will declare you are paying 90k but will only transfer the 60k to the vendors sol who are obv in on it as well.

Ask em, that's the point of this thread.

Likely still happens but much more difficult these days. The authorities are a lot better at spotting this stuff now

Go on then, but I am not very good with terms for mortages and so on.

I can't get a mortage for credit reasons, but after selling my share of business in April I really want to buy house. Anyway, I can afford to now buy house for 100%, but in an ideal world I don't want to buy a house outright, but if I have a good relationship with my banks, then what are the chances of them helping me out with mortage. I bank with Natwest where there is X amount of money and HSBC where most of the money is, but both have significant amounts in.

Is it likely that even with 'fair' credit, that I will be likely to be rejected.

Obv am very young, so not 100% on this stuff

Anyone got advice on claiming back tax relief on pension, 40% tax payer and getting 22% relief at moment, last did it in 2007 via a financial advisor at work for free and got a cheque. From the taxman for a few grand, however this time he wants to charge me a few hundred quid
Thanks

You pay Income Tax on your earnings before any pension contribution, but the pension provider claims tax back from the government at the basic rate of 20 per cent. In practice, this means that for every £80 you pay into your pension, you end up with £100 in your pension pot. If you pay tax at higher rate, you can claim the difference through your tax return or by telephoning or writing to HMRC. If you're an additional rate taxpayer you'll have to claim the difference through your tax return.

Taken from HMRC website.

No need to pay an advisor just contact HMRC

+1 to not using an advisor.  If you don't want to complete a self assessment form you can just write a letter.

http://www.hl.co.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/5822684/Guide-to-Claiming-Higher-Rate-Tax-Relief.pdf (http://www.hl.co.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/5822684/Guide-to-Claiming-Higher-Rate-Tax-Relief.pdf)

Self assessment is an absolute doddle just in case the thought of it worries you.

Pretty thin by the way ;)

Thanks, although does it just mean my tax code gets adjusted, fancy a nice big cheque to splash out on a holiday?

I believe you get the  choice but it depends how much it is.

Do you know roughly how much to expect?

Pretty easy to work out if you know how much your pension contributions were and how much you paid at 40%

The max you'll get is about 20% of your total contribution but only if your higher rate earnings cover it.

Basically whichever is the lower of your contribution or higher rate salary you'll get approx 20% of that back.

If it's a tidy amount they'll give you a cheque. If it's a few hundred they'll tax code it but either way you get the choice.

I got a cheque last time. When you write don't forget to include any gift aid payments you have made and other deductible stuff like professional subscriptions etc.

Make sure you are clear in your letter whether the amounts you have stated are gross or net. I'd check any calculation by hmrc as they got my last claim wrong, twice.

Thanks all, finally got the letter done and will be sending, hopefully will get a few quid (I also recently claimed back on laundry costs as I normally wear a company polo shirt to work, bit random I know and not heard anything back yet)

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/you-switch-gas-electricity

Npower are doing a price fix until 2017, this deal is expected to only last a few weeks and gas/leccy prices are expected to rsie 50% in the next 2-3 years, so its worth switching now imo.

I'm with Scottish Power and just rang em up, they are going to match their Dec 2016 price fix for me. Its only three months difference so I decided to stick with them to avoid the hassel. The rate is about a tenner more a month right now but I'm sure it will pay for itself as my current fix only lasted till next Jan.

Anyone one had any experience of ground source heat pumps / air pumps / biomass boilers / solar etc. ? I am just about to start on a biggish rebuild and extension and due to huge fuel bills on my last property am looking down the Eco route and to capitalise on the government rebates starting next year. I am leaning towards biomass boiler and solar panels but any advice, personal experience is welcome as this is a new area for me. At the moment the property only has LPG.

My mortgage rate is fixed as rates were rocketing and things uncertain when i took it out. Its about 4%. I am abut to get a redundancy pay out. Surely i am best lumping off an overpayment with it than putting in savings or pensions?

I find myself in a similar quandry (not the redunancy but where to invest my funds) and I think the same thing. If your mortgage provider is like mine, then if something goes tits up in the current 5 year mortgage window for you, you can use the overpayment to cover your regular payments as a payment holiday instead of as an overpayment, which is an extra safety net.

Saving rates are piss poor currently so yes probably.

You won't get 4% on any savings bond unless you stick it there for donkeys years on a fixed rate. Better to reduce debt tbh

Cheers. Just wanted a second or third opinion. We can get payment holidays yes and as savings rates are poor and the mortgage is pretty big i will lump off the mortgage and maybe some premium bonds for the sweat.