Preparedness for when

Frugalsod

nuatha wrote: »

An ISA allows you a lot more flexibility (and access to the money in an emergency). Above £85K you are certainly in haircut territory but below that I'd regard ISAs as safer than pensions.

Since I think that many pensions are already in that situation. They also have three additional benefits. One, you can see exactly how much you have at any time. Two no fees, so you actually will not lose half to the city in fees over the life of your pension. Third you avoid the risks of a stock market crash completely. Which when you have a seriously overvalued stock market like we have now is probably a very good thing especially if you are close to retirement.

nuatha wrote: »

Stealing pensions is fairly old hat - the Government has been telling lies and stealing pensions since they introduced the state pension. They extended the right to do this to corporations a while back - leaving most pensions seriously underfunded.

In the eighties we had one of the largest surpluses in pensions in the world, but government policy to reduce them to boost tax take meant that they were gone years ago. Poor returns and constant pension holidays meant that the death knell of pensions was inevitable years ago. For governments raiding a pension has two benefits. Voters do not notice because it is not clear what they have accumulated and the city are more than willing to hide the effects to mask their own incompetences.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Afternoon! Still here quietly in the background.

The BOG came in handy at the weekend. Went to the beach with boyfriend/offspring. He always carries tons of unnecessary stuff in a rubbish bag.

Anyhow, got teased for patronising him when I pointed out that smallest child would need her tights off if he was going to let her dip her toes in the sea. Laughed and apologised. All was well.

Anyhow, one slightly damp kid later and he realised he had no means to dry her feet.

'Oh, well, I didn't think you could possibly have forgotten to pack one of these...' [producing small towel from inside largish handbag that is easy to carry]

Frugalsod

Perplexed_Pineapple wrote: »

My thoughts are that the £85K limit is an arbitrary one set by the government and it would be dropped like a hot potato should it prove politically expedient to do so. If TPTB need to raid savings as a Cypriot style "haircut" I think they would set the limit much lower, maybe in the 20-30K region. Probably now is a good time to put money into tangible assets like property and land - we may seem to be in a bubble at the moment but the new pension rules will release large amounts of cash to look for a home and I don;t know where else it would go. The worrying aspect is that a large proportion of retiree cash, removed from annuities, is likely to go into the buy-to-let market, and that this will further price our children out of the property market. Just another Ponzi scheme waiting to hit the wall of reality.

The real problem is that everything is supported by dodgy credit. So even real assets will fall in value considerably as no one will be able to buy them. It is only worth what you can get for it. Buy to lets could suffer as wages collapse in SHTF situation. So a flat with no income and council taxes to pay could rapidly drag many into bankruptcy. I have seen people suggesting farm land as it produces an income, but it also suffers from the problem that will people be able to afford food? Look at the numbers of people starving in Greece. The real problems will follow as wages are pushed even lower.

Perplexed_Pineapple wrote: »

Have spent some time decluttering today. Will aim to spend some time this week reviewing the food reserves - saw another article predicting problems with the wheat supply:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/wheat-rust-the-fungal-disease-that-threatens-to-destroy-the-world-crop-9271485.html
Still in terms of staples we have plenty of rice, potatoes in the ground, and bread flour for a month or so, could do with building up the flour stocks though if wheat harvests are going to crash. I don't know what our communal experience is of storing flour, we've certainly used flour that has been stored for 18 months or slightly more just in a paper sack and it has been fine. I guess Mylar bags would give better longevity for a longer term pantry but haven't ventured into that territory yet....it's probably only a matter of time though!

I use a water proof and airtight food barrel. It does at least protect from weevils and I do not have rats or mice to worry about. I might get some more for rice and lentils etc. Dirt cheap and would pay for itself very quickly, especially if you had another SHTF moment.

Frugalsod

Jojo_the_Tightfisted wrote: »

Afternoon! Still here quietly in the background.

The BOG came in handy at the weekend. Went to the beach with boyfriend/offspring. He always carries tons of unnecessary stuff in a rubbish bag.

Anyhow, got teased for patronising him when I pointed out that smallest child would need her tights off if he was going to let her dip her toes in the sea. Laughed and apologised. All was well.

Anyhow, one slightly damp kid later and he realised he had no means to dry her feet.

'Oh, well, I didn't think you could possibly have forgotten to pack one of these...' [producing small towel from inside largish handbag that is easy to carry]

Does that count as a bug out handbag? :cool:

Who goes to a beach without a towel? I have microfibre towel for travelling.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Frugalsod wrote: »

Does that count as a bug out handbag? :cool:

Who goes to a beach without a towel? I have microfibre towel for travelling.

Well, it contains a spare three month supply of the Pill at all times, tampons, important information, a photocopy of my passport and last three bank statements/council tax bill for ID purposes, emergency cash, mini bottle of ecover washing up liquid (which is mild enough to use as shampoo), small tool kit with soldering iron and spare batteries, guitar strings...plus a few small items of clothing in a zipped section for *ahem* unscheduled nights with the boyfriend :cool:

I could last for about a week with the contents if the house suddenly vaporised.

ginnyknit

SiClist thats a beautiful piece of kit you have there - grain mill envy :rotfl:

Due to the intense boredom of being mainly housebound for the last 4 months I now have enough crochet blankets to cover all the living room walls to ensure we are warm in a crisis - must find an alternative to make with the yarn stash!

Am going to clear the cupboards in the kitchen and re- organise my storage. Then I will use up my flour stocks to use up the free eggs I keep getting via Mum and freeze cakes etc. Re- stocking with better flour next time, not as happy with the basics flour as I used to be. Its ok for biscuits but anything that needs to rise isnt :eek:

DawnW

Si_Clist wrote: »

We have this Atlas Plate Grinding Mill, aka Atlas No 1 Hand Mill, which we bought new complete with the optional kibbling plates about 25 years ago. They were made by a foundry in Earls Colne which seems to have ceased production some time ago.

I used to have one of those, though I must confess I could never get it to grind fine enough for flour Perhaps it had the wrong plates. I used to use it to grind/ break grain for chicks etc. I think I must have sold it on, years ago. I don't have it now unfortunately. It was a great piece of engineering but took up lots of room in the kitchen I remember

We got ours second hand - and it was quite expensive then, I remember. Not sure if there are any on ebay?

Si_Clist

DawnW wrote: »

I used to have one of those, though I must confess I could never get it to grind fine enough for flour Perhaps it had the wrong plates. I used to use it to grind/ break grain for chicks etc.

A pound to a penny says it had the kibbling plates in it. With the normal milling plates, if you're daft enough to try it and you have the energy, you can actually harvest sweetcorn, dry it in the sun for ages, then grind your own cornflour that sieves just the same as shop-bought

Having said (and done) that, though, it's not something we'll be repeating any time soon ...

Witless

MrsLurcherwalker wrote: »

Thank you so much SI CLIST I'll do some research and see if I can track one down, or perhaps a look alike if the original company is no longer in existence. Nothing like good advice from someone who actually does the thing you're enquiring about, brilliant, Lyn xxx.

Not exact, but might do you.

http://www.wondermill.co.uk/Wonder-Junior-Deluxe-Hand-Mill/products/8

ETA - the larger one is powered so not necessarily a SHTF model.

anika

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