What more can I do towards savings?

Walletwatch

Hi Martin and some of the greatest money savers around,

My wife and I have been in London for two years now, and I must say, the past six months or so, since I started following this site have really opened our eyes to the tremendous amount of potential savings we can manage between ourselves.

My background - my house rent, all fixed costs including water, electricity, gas, telephone, council tax, conveyance, etc. are taken care of by my company back home. I earn a net per diem, which apart from basic domestic expenses, more or less goes into savings. The missus works, and the whole of her salary goes into savings again.

We have taken the Savings fountain route alright, and have taken an Abbey mini-ISA each (unfortunately, we only started this year, but better late than never) We have a Regular saver each with Abbey and one each with Halifax. The sheet anchor in terms of savings is a role played by an ING Savings account we have and a recently opened egg savings account. Have no mortgages and no debts as yet. While I might qualify as a tart on the Savings side, I cannot though, on the credit card side, thanx to being rejected for one credit card and one store card till date(decided not to try again and screw up my credit history any further). Have just the one credit card, which has a decent £3500 limit. Looks like my wife has an Ok credit record though, as she has just been granted a third credit card, so she can do the tarting on the credit cards front.

My question is: Thanx to the website and the Money Diet, I have managed a lot, which I wasn't even aware of, barely six months ago. What further steps do you think I can take towards augmenting my savings?

Walletwatch

Hi

Any help is more than welcome..

from a very itchy wannabe moneysaver ???

deemy2004

Invest say 2% of your savings in premium bonds.

Ernie may come knocking on your door !

mikeorange7

stakeholder pensions perhaps?

mikeorange7

if you are over 50 either of you then put some in to SAGA fixed rate bonds. 5.26% 1 year.

mikeorange7

higher rate taxpayers? have you used your stocks and shares mini isa allowances?

Walletwatch

Not over 50, not a taxpayer meself (the co I work for pays it direct coz I am here on per diem ;D), and wife is a 22% tier tax payer.

lisyloo

not a taxpayer meself (the co I work for pays it direct coz I am here on per diem )

Sorry I don't understand what you mean here.
Could you explain please.

What does per diem mean?

You will have to pay income tax on your savings so you almost certainly ARE a tax payer.

If you happen to be a higher rate tax payer (over approx £35 per year) then you should be able to make savings by putting the savings in your wifes name.

Could you explain further about "per diem".

Income tax HAS to be paid on savings. The bank or building society will automatically deduct 20% unless they are told otherwise.
If you are not due to pay tax then you should fill out an R85 form so that they don't tax.
If you are due to pay more tax then you would be better off putting every thing in the wifes name as she only has to pay 20%.

Milarky

What does per diem mean?.

http://www.wordreference.com/definition/per+diem

lisyloo

Thanks for the reference.
It's still not clear to me what the author means about not being a taxpayer.
If tax is paid at source by the employer e.g. via the PAYE system then you are still a taxpayer.
It is just the administration and payment has been done for you.
You have still paid it and you are still a tax payer.

cheerfulcat

lisyloo, per diem in this sense means allowance for expenses; in this case I think it's a tax dodge whereby the employer pays a certain amount for day to day expenses, rather than paying a salary. As he is simply " reimbursing " the employee, no income tax is due. I think that this only works for non-residents, though...

Cheerfulcat