The Savings Fountain Discussion Area

Tiff_2

Hello Martin,
I'm such a newbie, but I have what I'm sure is a really silly question : who qualifies as a non-tax payer?
I keep seeing this in different places.
I'm on highest rate DLA care & mobility & Income Support with a premium - a new situation for me. Highly unlikely I'll be able to work again.
Could you please advise me about tax situation.
Best wishes.

Paul_Herring

who qualifies as a non-tax payer?

Someone who 'earns' less than their personal allowance per year.

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/forms/r85.pdf

Have a look at that form and fill pages 1 and 2 out. Page 2 will tell you if you're a tax payer or not, page 3 is a form you take to your banks to tell them to pay interest gross if you are a non-tax payer.

Mum_of_5_2

Hi.

I've just finished the money diet book and although i thought i was pretty good with money (and knew which bits i wasn't good) it's made me think a little harder. I don't have any credit or store cards and the only debts we have are our mortgage approx £50,000 and that we are normally about £200 over drawn each month, can't seem to clear it with 5 kids. I don't work as i'm at home with kiddies thanks to our low mortgage.

Here's my question. About 2 years ago we started putting £25 into a cash ISA. My hubby and i have no pensions or any savings and are getting a little concerned, i''m 33 he's 30. We don't have any money to spare - literally, holidays in other peoples houses and always thinking about what i spend. kids get what they need to have a quality of life similar to their peers (this isn't that they are kitted in NIKe just that they go on school trips etc!) Anyway i have £300,000 colateral in my house. So i heard you recently say that you should put savings into the mortgage, but then you said you should also have rainy day savings so i'm confused. Should we basically be trying to pay all money into the mortgage and have no savings or should we try to build up some savings??? I understand about the interest rates but isn't having savings equally as important. What do you think?

Also another quicky, it did occur to me after hearing you say that most people's debt is because of life changes, that if my hubby was made redundant, that we would instantly be in trouble. i could temp immediatley and get a good job but that would mean leavign my little ones earlier than i'd like. so i wondered if i should get some redundancy cover and if so what to look for. i hate throwing money away on empty insurance covers. i can't find anything in the book that covers this?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

$17mma

Mum_of_5 wrote:

Hi.


Also another quicky, it did occur to me after hearing you say that most people's debt is because of life changes, that if my hubby was made redundant, that we would instantly be in trouble. i could temp immediatley and get a good job but that would mean leavign my little ones earlier than i'd like. so i wondered if i should get some redundancy cover and if so what to look for. i hate throwing money away on empty insurance covers. i can't find anything in the book that covers this?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

You should look into PHI cover. Check on the insurance thread for info

JayD

I have a question to ask, if I may please Martin?
How can those of us who prefer to have joint accounts with our spouses and partners get the best interest rates on our savings?
It seems that all of the online high interest savings accounts can only be opened in one name - there is no provision for a couple to open one jointly.
What are the best savings accounts for couples who don't want to split their savings in half and open two separate accounts? And why are the 'joint account' savings options so much meaner with their interest rates?

johnwoodcraft

Hi
I would like some advice please, Barclays have offered me a 12.5% regular savers account fixed for one year. This sounds very attractive, and appears to be out performing my ISA (5.3%). Is this as simple as it first appears, ie put money in barclays for a year then transfer to an ISA? or am i missing something important. I dont have a lump some to invest but i want to start regularly saving.

Thanks

John

Paul_Herring

John wrote:

Is this as simple as it first appears, ie put money in barclays for a year then transfer to an ISA? or am i missing something important. I dont have a lump some to invest but i want to start regularly saving.

Welcome John (noticed it was your first post)

If you don't have the lump sum, and you're saving from income, no, you're not missing anything. It's the best rate you can get for what you want to do.

(The problems usually cited with Regular Savers come when people have a lump sum to invest, and then complain they aren't getting "12.5% on the whole amount.")

lipidicman

Make sure you invest in your isa this tax year if you haven't done so. Then invest again as the new year starts. THEN use the reg saver to build up £3k for the next year.

The reg saver lasts only for one year, the ISA will be better if you are leaving it for the long term. If you dont use it, you lose it. Get it?

annabob

Hi Martin,

I was just in need of a little help regarding savings advice! I am finishing university this year and would now like to save money more seriously in order to put towards house buying etc. There was just too much of :beer: to get on with it before now! Are there any specific savings accounts I should look out for? I plan to save an amount each month so I thought a regular savings acocunt would be best, however I'm not sure on the best options!

At the moment I have a bog standard graduate account and a building society account, I'm in need of major updating! Thank you!!

Kazza242

annabob - I hope you don't mind me replying to your question. Welcome to MSE.

The best place to start when saving is a mini cash ISA. As you are still at Uni you're probably not a taxpayer yet, but you will be soon. A mini cash ISA allows you to keep all of the interest that is generated from your money. Whereas, regular savings accounts and other savings accounts will deduct tax from the interest earned once you start working.

Savers are currently allowed to save up to £3,000 per tax year (April 6th - April 5th) in a mini cash ISA (increases to £3,600 from April 6th 2008).

Check out this article and this thread for mini cash ISA information.

After you have filled up a mini cash ISA a regular savings account is a good option. Check out this article and the Moneyfacts regular savings accounts list for account options.

The YBS account is a particularly good one because it doesn't sweep the funds out after 12 months like most regular savings accounts. It allows you to continue saving from £10 - £500 per month until your balance reaches £20,000 and pays a high rate of interest at 7.00%.

After regular savings accounts think about opening an easy access savings account. The Icesave account is one of the best paying 5.70% interest.