Why is everything so complicated?

Imelda

Thanks JohnHowell,

Personally I am going to contract out, I retire in 34 years time (that's if I can retire at 60) and I believe that by that time I will be lucky to get a state pension at all let alone the additional (there is bound to be a shortfall). I would rather have my money under my control and make provision based on the assumption that I'll get nothing from the government. But from reading up on pensions it does seem that people are turning back towards opting in, I think I will keep it under review as you can always opt back in at a later date. I am going to lunch with a colleague who seems to know a lot about this kind of thing so will see what he has to say. It's just so hard to know what to do, as you rightly say decisions you make now can seriously impact your future.

CLAPTON

without knowing your detailed situation; the following is generally true

If your only income is PAYE job related and interest from high street types bank/BSocs and paid net of tax and dividends from 'normal' companies AND you aren't on very low pay and you dont pay higher rate tax then you don't need to file in a tax form as you are already being taxed correctly. your AVCs are paid out of taxed income and the AVC company sorts out the tax situation UNLESS you are a higher rate payer then you will need to reclaim the higher rate element.
the general advice for normal income people is to opt back into the state second pension.
things are more complicated if you pay higher rate tax or have benefits in kind (company car etc) or have complicated investments .

lynsayjane

i defo agree with the financial lessons bit! like most my problems started when i left home. without even thinking about it i took the full saas loan every year meaning i'm now in about 16k worth of debt to them...and the interest is somethign crazy like £40 a month! if children were more money aware then a lot less people would get into debt like we are.

as for the pension stuff, i dont pay into one, my current job doesn't offer anything like that and as for private pension schemes i've never even thought about it. my foresight doesn't work that far in the future, plus most of the time i feel i'm immortal and will never reach retirement age!

Imelda

Thanks Clapton,
I am a higher rate tax payer but have no investments just a few ££ in savings (just trying to get out of debt at the moment so I have minimal interest), no company car, just gym membership and healthcare through work (which gets taxed via PAYE). I only became a higher rate tax payer this financial year so I guess I will have to fill one in next year. I have downloaded the form I need to claim the 18% tax back from my AVC. Do you know if there is a way I can inform my bank so that they pay 40% tax on my interest at source so I don't have to fill in a tax return?
Many thanks, Immy

EagerLearner

Calleyw - would your parents be able to use a local library? If they are anything like my mum, even if they could, they wouldn't know where to start. Maybe in the library itself they can get free lessons on how to use the net - assuming they want to that is... My mum *could* do more on the net but plays the ignorant card so I do it for her...

Lynsayjane - I nearly took a student load at Uni as they make it sooooo easy - there were signs everywhere saying pretty much 'why wait for what is yours? Spend it now! Just sign the dotted line"... Luckily my name never got written in blood, BUT Barclaycard got their fangs into me by giving me a credit card very very easily...

I am no longer in debt - and in fact am making money off the net on sites like Quidco and Pigsback - maybe the Money Tree really did work ;o)

EagerLearner

Imelda

lynsayjane,

I do agree that the government is partially to blame. They make debt socially acceptable by pushing the student loan and at the same time cut away at pensions. So people like myself (THB if my company didn't offer a pension I probably wouldn't have saved anything either) get to their mid-20s with nothing but debt. They also don't make it easy to understand, I mean have you tried to work out how much NI you should be paying? Totally incomprehensible.

lynsayjane

Imelda wrote:

I mean have you tried to work out how much NI you should be paying? Totally incomprehensible.

nope i never have, but i agree, i look at all these moeny things and my mind explodes. think i'll write it on my wish list for the next bf that he must be money savvy and get me sorted! he must also be good at gardening and decorating...then my flat will get sorted too.

have to admit tho there are times when folk don't take advantage of the money ignorant. when i first bought my house i was only just 20. i didn't have a scooby what the hell was going on. one day i went to the bank, looked at houses, next i'd signed the next 25 years paycheques away and was handed keys! i'd bought the flat for less than it was valued and it has nearly tripled its value since, granted inflation played a part but i have totally gutted what was an empty shell covered in wood chip to someplace all of my friends are envious of, doing all/the majority of the work myself and have probably spent less than 5k including new bathroom and kitchen.

Imelda

I know what you mean lynsayjane, I bought my flat last year and it wasn't until I was sitting inside it that I realised what I had taken on. I had effectively landed myself with £110,000 of debt with relatively little difficulty. It sounds like you have a lovely place and you deserve to reap the rewards for your hard work, I hope mine works out that way too!

calleyw

EagerLearner wrote:

Calleyw - would your parents be able to use a local library? If they are anything like my mum, even if they could, they wouldn't know where to start. Maybe in the library itself they can get free lessons on how to use the net - assuming they want to that is... My mum *could* do more on the net but plays the ignorant card so I do it for her...

My parents have no interest in computers at all. So you would never get them to sit down in front of one let along anything else.

I used my parents as example but there are many people young and old who don't have any thing to do with computers or any interest. My brother is the same. I am the only one in my family that uses a computer both for work and personally.


Yours


Calley

DontDoDebtKids

Imelda wrote:

I know what you mean lynsayjane, I bought my flat last year and it wasn't until I was sitting inside it that I realised what I had taken on. I had effectively landed myself with £110,000 of debt with relatively little difficulty. It sounds like you have a lovely place and you deserve to reap the rewards for your hard work, I hope mine works out that way too!

Snap. £134k debt just like that.

Haven't managed to spend quite as little as lynsayjane but not far off! Seems my flat is worth about £25k more now and is also a jealousy magnet for my friends. Shame it's going to cost something like double that debt to pay off the mortgage... :eek: