London Socialite Sees The Light

mark55man

Hey LG for what its worth my experience as an employee presented inline for you

LondonGirl252 wrote: »

Hey LHG,

...snip ...

We had a meeting this am with the guy we used to report to and we asked him about how it all works and how they work out the pay out. He told us that over the next 2 weeks all the people will be identified, they will then be told and you get two options - to take statutory redundancy and appeal their decision or to take their offer. He is not sure what the offer is this year but last year you were paid to stay at home (gardening leave) for your notice period (1 month for me) and then on top you were offered 4 weeks pay for every year (2 years for me) you had worked there and this is all tax free up to £30k.

That is a fairly typical offer - you can ask for the notice period to be paid in lieu - amounts to the same but it would let you take a job if you could find one that quick, otherwise (I think) taking the job can affect the redundancy. Redundancy is deffo tax free to 30K not sure about notice period or in lieu

If it was similar to that this year it would be enough to keep me in London for a fair few months and if I found a job quick enough I might even end up with a nice sum to put towards debt so not feeling as worried about it as I was. Plus I'd redeem all my shareschemes and they're worth quite a lot now

Watch out for shareschemes if you cash them early you may be subject to tax as the tax free bit applies only if you follow conditions. Get work to confirm (its not too bad you only pay tax if they are in profit), but most gains are treated as income not capital gains

By next payday it will be done so I haven't really had time to put any money aside for it anyway so would need to plan my money depending on what they offered me.


This weekend turned out to be more expensive than planned (my own fault through too much drink) so I've meal planned the next couple of weeks to keep costs down and will change a couple of meals out into dinner at my place

3 day week at work for me, I have annual leave booked for Thursday and Friday - cant wait!

Unless you really need the holiday you might consider saving it as I think they have to (or you could negotiate) paying you holiday on top of your in lieu period so can turn it to cash at the point you have time on your hands - This is the point I am least sure of - all the others I think are sound (having been through it 4 times but never actually got the cheque !!)

LondonGirl252

Hey Allybee,

Thanks v much, the CIMA fees are only taken if I leave voluntarily so that is something I dont have to worry about luckily

Thanks v much So looking forward to a couple of days off

Hope all going well for you

LondonGirl252

Hey Mark,

Really useful comments, thank you. It is good to know that what i have been told seems pretty normal. I will ask about getting a new job and how that affects the package, good point.

Yep the profit would be subject to tax. Im in different types. The first I just get back what I put it as it was a share scheme over 3 years resulting in the option to buy at the end and the other is a monthly salary deduction whereby for every share you buy at full price you get 2 free.

The 2 free only belong to me after 3 years therefore I would not be able to take any of these. The shares I have bought would be mine and any gain would be subject to tax, the share price of the firm has remained pretty stagnant overall so I don't think it would be much! Will have a look however and see if they would need to be sold straight away or if I could keep them to vest later.

I need the holiday to attend a lunch I have committed to and I took Friday for the resulting hangover and plus I need to be away from the office. I have left both days this week with a headache from being stressed, Im desperate for some respite!
I will have 4.5 days left for the year after these two days after the 3 I have booked off at xmas (which I can cancel if the worst happens!)

Right, need to dash, thanks for helping its appreciated
LG

satchmo1

Don't forget you get paid time off to job hunt. Not only to go to interviews, but also to go to register at agencies.

Re the shares, when I was made redundant from Daim1er 3 yrs ago, I was supposed to sell the shares back to them within a year. I hung on as long as possible (basically by ignoring the letters) until the share price rose, then sold them back at a tidy profit. Sweet. Also, because I had had them more than 5 years they were tax free. I managed to find a better job within 6 weeks, too, so the redundancy was used to pay off some of the mortgage.

LondonGirl252

Thanks, yeah well if I got made redundant Id be put on leave straight away anyway so at least I could job hunt full time.

I think we find out next week

LondonGirl252

Hi gang,

Been a massively busy week, work has been horrible my trainee and my boss were both off so it has been stressful, seem to have a permanent migraine threatening to hit me.

I still managed to take Thursday and Friday off, had a lovely lunch yesterday and a few drinks after with some friends. Spent all day yesterday in bed pretty much. I did head to the Kings Road for some window shopping but didnt last long at all and went back to bed

Got up this morning and had a wet but lovely ride. It was the Lord Mayors Parade today so all was hectic. Then.... went back to bed for the day!!! haha

Its a friends birthday tonight so we're all getting ready to go out and celebrate, just at the local down the road so will be nice and cheap

Tomorrow I'm going to.... stay in bed! I just feel sapped off energy! If I weren't being dragged out tonight I wouldnt have bothered getting dressed!

Budget doing OK

Not much else to report really...

LondonGirl252

Absolutley horrible day at work including me getting teary in a meeting .. nice. Want to forget about it but I have had enough. Hopefully it will all come to a head soon

But I do want to ask your advice on something:

Me and my boss were talking today about the sharesave scheme we are in at work and it really got me thinking about if it is really sensible to keep investing.

From 1 June 2012 I have invested £150 a month into the scheme and there's currently a balance of £900 in there. The option price of the shares isnt too far off the current share price and there's another 2.5years before the options are mine to purchase. Its a fixed scheme so I can't change the amount I put in but I can close it and get back the money I have put in so far via a cheque.

The reason I invested in this although still paying debt was because I figured in a few years time I may be ready to buy house and it would be a great boost to the savings. But realistically I probably wont be with the firm in 3 years and therefore would just get back the money I put in. The only way to really gain from these shares is to see out the 3 year period and then another 2 years before they become tax free on the gain.

If I cancel it now I could get the money back within a couple of weeks. Take a couple of hundred to pay for Christmas and chuck a snowball at my loan. And have an extra £150 per month in my payslip to pay off my credit card in time before the 0% deal runs out.

I had originally had a thought in my head that come February and bonus time, if the bonus wouldnt pay off my loan I would redeem this anyway and get the loan paid off but it seems silly to wait until February when I could reduce the interest I pay now

Would it be sensible to close it now, get the cash back and dump it on debt? Or now I'm earning a bit more to keep it as my nest egg? I'm thinking debt bust.....

Siouxsie32

Aw LG, what a horrible time you're having at work. It was all so positive so recently. Sorry you're having a tough time.

Re your sharesave, I'm just talking off the top of my head when I say that it sounds like cashing them in is the best thing. I'm sure someone a bit more savvy to the pros and cons will be able to advise better. You have a really sensible approach to all of this and I'm sure you'll work out the best thing to do for you. Just to check I have this right, if you leave the firm you get back what you paid in? And, you have to stay with the company for the whole term (at least another few years) to make use of the profit of cashing them in for the new value of the shares? I joined our sharesave scheme at work about 10 years ago where you paid x amount in for 3 years and had the option at the end to buy the shares for a set value, which was lower than the value at the time the scheme started. Is your a similar idea? With mine, the share value plummeted over the course of the first year so it wasn't worth staying in-I just cashed out...and since it was pre-LBM, I probably just went on a spending spree!

It seems to me that debt busting is the way to go - when you're debt free I bet you could put aside how ever much it will take each month to get your savings figure to the amount it would be if you stayed in the sharesave scheme.

Good luck, and hope you have a better time soon

LondonGirl252

Hi

Thanks, well senior management are now aware of how bad the problems are so what action they decide to take will depend on if it improves.... im not holding my breath!

Yep same idea as yours, if the share price plummets then you just get back what you put in, if I leave I have to cash it in immediatley.

I do think debt busting is the way to go
Thanks

allybee101

Cashing in sounds like a good idea.
If you're not earning any interest on them then taking a chunk off your debts is better as it reduces the interest you'll be paying so debts will continue to reduce more quickly.
Wish we had a share scheme or similar. Wouldn't miss it if it came straight off the pay slip!