Preparedness for when

nuatha

GreyQueen wrote: »

Interesting about the texts. A very unsubtle Big Brother is Watching You type of message. Tin hatters have long been a bit anti these new phones, which betray your position even when switched off, and the heavy hand of state intervention will just make the tin-hat crowd look credible. Phones will be left at home and some people might have second thoughts about owning this type of device all together.

Myself, I own the cheapest, most basic dumb phone and good luck to tracking my whereabouts via one of those.

Even changing sim cards doesn't work, as every phone has a unique serial number which is broadcast by the phone along with the sim card details. Smartphones may allow a more precise location of a mobile phone to be determined, but any mobile phone's location can be determined to around 50 sq. m by triangulation in an urban location. I've no idea how long mobile phone companies keep triangulation data, but given the recent NSA/GCHQ data harvesting revelations I would be surprised if there weren't at least several months of location data available if TPTB were to take an interest in an individual.

Just done the sums; for every £900 you invest you get an extra £1 per week on your pension. So, to get an extra £25 per week, you have to pay in £22,500. Investment £22,500, annual return £1,300. Hmmmm, not really floating my boat, especially as inflation between what you invest and what you get back will reduce the spending power dramatically.

Its approximately double what you'd get from a savings account at the moment, but given we have the lowest bank rates known and everyone seems to be predicting a rate rise, then even a savings account is likely to out perform the pension return - and you'd have the option to actually use the money if you needed it. Though it would make more sense to invest in something that gave you a better return - additional insulation and tins of corned beef being items that spring to mind.

paidinchickens

It could be possible that why we're all sat with our "big buttoned" calculators we are not protesting in the streets or running down our MPs with pitchforks.

boultdj

I'v not got a pitch fork PIC, can I use my rake instead? :-]

Frugalsod

GreyQueen wrote: »

Morning all.

Frugalsod, my experience IRL is that some people get a bit sneery about us Iceland shoppers. I happen to find them a pleasant place to shop with many items keenly-priced and excellent quality. Afer all, why the hell would I give £1.49 for a Burgen loaf when Iceland sell them for £1?

There was a comment by Iceland about people being snobs about frozen food a little while ago. While I have not used Iceland in a while, my freezer is pretty full anyway. I am looking at an Iceland delivery at some point. I am certainly not a snob about frozen food or Iceland.

GreyQueen wrote: »

Interesting about the texts. A very unsubtle Big Brother is Watching You type of message. Tin hatters have long been a bit anti these new phones, which betray your position even when switched off, and the heavy hand of state intervention will just make the tin-hat crowd look credible. Phones will be left at home and some people might have second thoughts about owning this type of device all together.

Though what will they learn? I have a Faraday bag to completely cut off my phone if necessary. Just pop it in the bag and it becomes untraceable.

GreyQueen wrote: »

Myself, I own the cheapest, most basic dumb phone and good luck to tracking my whereabouts via one of those.

They can still track you with those, or at least the phone.

GreyQueen wrote: »

TPTB typically betray their hands by over-reacting and coming down too strongly and then excaberating the very protests they wish to suppress. Only the details change with the times.

Back in the 1980s on anti poll-tax demos, we went out with only a little cash and the phone number of a friendly solictor in biro on the back of our hands. Never got arrested by the policing was pretty heavy-handed at times and my flatmate got a broken leg on one demo because of a crushing incident. Bit of a beggar, we shared a first floor flat with several others...............

The government know that they are messing up which is why they will be acting tough, and ordering water cannons. Though eventually I suspect that they will over play their hand and the public will rise up and many politicians might end up dangling on the end of a lot of nooses.

GreyQueen wrote: »

jk0, I suspect that the USA and probably our government as well, would like to have the maximum control over our cash, present and future. Just in case they need to dip their hands in the cookie jar to bail out their banker buddies. I wouldn't trust them any further than I could spit a rat.

Just done the sums; for every £900 you invest you get an extra £1 per week on your pension. So, to get an extra £25 per week, you have to pay in £22,500. Investment £22,500, annual return £1,300. Hmmmm, not really floating my boat, especially as inflation between what you invest and what you get back will reduce the spending power dramatically.

It might seem to be a bad deal but the alternatives are such that the insurance/pension funds companies are going slowly broke because of the low rates. With the pathetic returns from pensions even with the tax advantage why save in a private pension?

Frugalsod

VJsmum wrote: »

We are a bit the same - pension stuff is soooo boring as well.

When my OH turned 50 he had about 25 years in a, by then, "frozen" pension. On turning 50 he could "liberate" it. We went through the most tedious hours of calculations and "what if" scenarios because, obviously, taking it so early meant a lower lump sum and monthly pay than leaving it in. Eventually we decided to take it and we bought an investment property (which has it's own risks but, touch wood, has been OK in the 4 years we've owned it) - a month after we took the money word came that all of those pensions would not pay out any more than we'd got - even if we'd left it there for 10 years we would not have got any more, whereas that has now been working for us for the last 4 years.

OH then decided to invest in a new pension (ironically with the seemingly up the spout HSBC) but got his calculator out again and realised that he'd have to live to be 80 before he got anything like payback, so we've stopped that now but where is the best place to invest? Only so much can go in an ISA, gold has to be kept securely etc.

I do realise it is a nice problem to have rather than not knowing where the next meal is coming from BTW and by no means take it for granted as I know what it's like not knowing how to pay the rent and choosing between food and heat or bus fare.

Well gold coins do not attract CGT and can be "lost" when necessary.

I think that many pension liberation schemes are quite frankly a waste of money and do far better for those that manage the liberation than for the pension holder.

Hollyberry

Re pensions...I went to a talk this week given by a former financial adviser. He mentioned as an aside that when he went for an interview for his final financial adviser role, he refused to sell pensions, as ethically he couldn't bring himself to do it. And that from a financial adviser...

I'm expecting to die in harness as pensions ages move ever upwards, but if not, my pension is taking a rather more physical form: bricks, tins etc, etc.

pineapple

Just been revisiting Chris Martenson's site which has some useful free info along with the commercial slant.
For those new to our preparedness shores this might be interesting. Scroll down to 'What should I do'
http://www.peakprosperity.com/learn
In fact put on your walking boots - the entire site is worth a ramble through.

Karmacat

Hollyberry wrote: »

Re pensions...I went to a talk this week given by a former financial adviser. He mentioned as an aside that when he went for an interview for his final financial adviser role, he refused to sell pensions, as ethically he couldn't bring himself to do it. And that from a financial adviser...

:eek: Thats scary. Must do more.

pineapple wrote: »

Just been revisiting Chris Martenson's site which has some useful free info along with the commercial slant.
For those new to our preparedness shores this might be interesting. Scroll down to 'What should I do'
http://www.peakprosperity.com/learn
In fact put on your walking boots - the entire site is worth a ramble through.

I've been looking at preparedness properly for a couple of years now, and this is interesting to me (I'm maybe new at looking at the financial preparedness side). I took an online course at Coursera in preparedness, run by an East Coast US university, and it was hopeless. Thanks for this linkie.

jk0

pineapple wrote: »

I've wondered about this myself (for silver too) but am put off by the fact that like anything you pay a loaded price to get the 'new' product and of course if you are selling back to a dealer they buy back at a lower price. Possibly much lower. So my issue is this - can I (at my age) hold on to the gold long enough for it to rise enough in value to compensate for this? Of course we might get to an era when gold coins take over as currency - but that's a big might.
But it seems there is plenty of advice on the net. I might take a look!

By the way, you need to make sure they are UK issued gold coins, as these don't attract capital gains tax when you sell them. Other countries' ones do attract CGT.

Silver attracts VAT at 20%, so will make more of a loss than gold.

[Deleted User]

I think that when the chips really ARE down the only person you can truly rely on is YOU!!! and to that end the more you can learn about living life without modern trappings the better you will fare in life in the future. If the chips are down so low that currency is of no use whatsoever the best way to cope will be to know how to build a shelter to keep you warm and dry, to know what is edible and what will kill you, to know how to obtain clean drinking water and to know how to make a fire to warm you and cook on. There are many periphery skills like being able to make a pot and preserving food, fishing, hunting, curing skins, weaving,basketmaking etc.etc all of which will make you more comfortable but the basics will keep you alive and healthy and are a necessity to know if you are going to prep sincerely and not just hope for the best.