Sandstone VS Mortgage!

Sandstone

Many thanks for the encouragement.

New thought of the day: Food
How much do you spend on food, per week?

I don't have any dependants, and I get dinner free at work, so it's mainly just lunches during the week. Breakfast is almost negligible, considering I eat cereal, and only when I have time in the morning (terrible I know, I should just get up earlier). On the weekend, I take my girlfriend to restaurants fairly often, so I guess I would average about £80 per week, all included. I'm pretty proud of this, but I'm guessing many of you can do even better?

mmmmmm food.

Sandstone

Gah.. seems I need a new condensing boiler. Any tips?

Sandstone

I've just posted this on another thread, but thought it might be useful to some people, so here it is again:

Wills aren't always necessary
As for everyone's discussion on wills, I think there may be some misunderstanding. If your intention is for your estate to be distributed in accordance with your wishes, then that's great. If your intention is to avoid inheritance tax ("IHT"), then just make sure that you gift away those assets seven years prior to your death (easier said than done, of course).

The other thing to note is that IHT is only applicable on the portion of your estate that is greater than the IHT threshold - currently 325K. (http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/rates/iht-thresholds.htm).
If the sum of your assets is less than this figure, then your estate won't incur any IHT at all. It's like being within your personal allowance when calculating your income tax.
Remember to include your house, minus your debts, and remember that the threshold is per person, so, if you own jointly with your wife/husband, you can leave £325K each without incurring IHT.

In summary, your will only redirects the assets, and doesn't necessarily reduce your IHT bill. It doesn't make a difference to IHT who you are leaving your assets to. If you have no will, there are automatic rules that come into play. Administrators' costs, debts, and the rest will go to your 'next of kin' automatically. It only goes to the state if you have no will, and no relatives whatsoever.

If I'm mistaken about any of the above, please let me know.:money:

I'm still shopping for that new boiler too.

QB_Wolf

Sandstone wrote: »

Gah.. seems I need a new condensing boiler. Any tips?

We had a new one last year a Worcester Bosch, my tip is get 4 or 5 quotes, make sure they're offering the same thing and go for the best price if you trust them - that is. The quotes can differ wildly.

Sandstone

Thanks QB Wolf.

I've been slowing down my OPs lately, since discovering that my money is better off in a savings account. I've had to delay setting up my new ISA and everything though, because of the situation with the boiler - I don't yet know exactly how much it will cost.

Frustrating times.

Sandstone

These are fantastic!

I know that there's one here on MSE but there's also by HSBC:
https://mortgages.hsbc.co.uk/repayment-calculator

What's the best one to use? Can anyone show what they use?
I'd like to add one-off payments as well as regular ones.

Have a great weekend!

Sandstone

I've just noticed, the signatures auto-update. That means that when I update my mortgage balance (now £210860), I can't look at my old posts to review my progress, because they all become updated to show the new figure.
I guess I could just mention it in the post.

Do any of you use www.hotukdeals.com? I find it somewhat addictive, but overall I'm sure it has saved me quite a lot of money. The trick is to make sure that I don't buy stuff that I wasn't planning on buying anyway, and be disciplined about it, I think.

VoucherMan

Sandstone wrote: »

I

Do any of you use www.hotukdeals.com?

Been using it for some time now. Even managed to post a few deals myself. I've got it set so that I get an email for every deal in the grocery section. So a quick glance through them I can see if there's any worth a closer look. When I find a decent offer I seriously stock up. I've listed some of my grocery mountain somewhere on these forums.

As for your mortgage balance. Unless your a spreadsheet freak - I've at least two with my mortgage details on - then, like you say, putting the current balance in a post is probably the easiest way.

cb4fwh

I also use http://www.hotukdeals.com. Do you use http://www.quidco.com? I've made circa £1900 from Quidco in recent years.

Re. boiler, I recommend http://www.ratedpeople.com. I paid circa £1800 for a new condensing boiler to be fitted 2 years ago. However, prices fluctuated massively, so it's worth getting as many quotes as you can!

Sandstone

Thanks VoucherMan and cb4fwh. Yes, I enjoy using HUKD and Quidco.

Thanks for the link too, cb4fwh. I have sorted it now but I'm sure it will come in useful next time.
By the way, why do you have two mortgages?