Preparedness for when

RAS

Over on the benefits forum there a people frightening others who want to replace the fridge and the clapped out sofa and buy a mobility scooter and others who plan cars, holidays etc. It seems from one poster that the DWP have rather different rules to HB.

I do recall one poster whose mum tried to sign up for benefits and was told that the money given to family and the new car for her daughter was deprivation of capital. The cruise was not, but paying for her mate was deprivation. There was a bit a panic going on.

thriftwizard

I still have an inkling that TS that hits TF might come from an environmental direction. I'd never underestimate an Icelandic volcano, for example, bearing in mind what effect the Skaftar fires of 1783 had in the UK; Eyjafjallajokull was a little smoky bonfire compared to that one. But they are well-behaved compared to some elsewhere in the world, which have literally blotted out the sun for a couple of years - imagine the effect that'd have on our monocrop agriculture and just-in-time delivery systems.

There are a number of other worrying possibilities, many of them involving ice - or the lack thereof! - but none of them keep me awake at night. There's no use worrying about things that may never happen, but the sheer number of things that may never happen kind of means that sooner or later, at least one of them will! So a well-stocked store cupboard, a good first aid kit and a head full of ideas and useful knowledge & skills will never go amiss.

Frugalsod

GreyQueen wrote: »

Evening all.

Re claiming means-tested benefits (housing and council tax benefits, income-based jobseeker's allowance and laterly universal credit) the amount of savings a working age person is allowed to have is £6k, with a taper applied between £6-£16k. For the retirement age cohort, they're allowed £10k with tapering up to £16k. At £16,000.01, both groups fall out of entitlement altogether.

And yes, there is a ridiculous assumption of high weekly interest from savings which was laughable even before near-zero interest rates which have been the case for a number of years.

There can be knock-down drag-out fights between local authorities and claimants (and their welfare advice advocates) about what consititutes 'deprivation of capital' in terms of money disappearing in implausible directions/ implausible quantities conveniently around the time someone finds themselves subject to means-testing.

These are the reasons why I am aiming to keep any assets below that £6000 limit. It ends all further queries, and the arguments over the taper rates.

With savings accounts offering very little as well I decided to merge all my current and savings accounts and avoid the risk of going overdrawn with all the fees and charges involved. This will simplify any claim should I become unemployed, which quite frankly can happen to anyone.

ivyleaf

jk0 wrote: »

What happens if you fall under a bus before the last payment is made?

Then my executor will get the amount I've paid in, "less interest", so I hope to stay alive for the next 4 years!

[Deleted User]

Thanks THRIFTWIZARD, those wise words are from the same hymn sheet that I have in my hand, I'm so pleased someone else knows that tune as well as I do!!! LIFE HAPPENS as does death and all stages between. The capacity for disasters of some kind has been with humanity since humanity first crawled out of the jungle and will be there still (unless it's already happened) when the last human gives up the ghost. We have no control whatsoever over that type of event, ask King Knut, he of the increasingly wet feet and if it's gonna happen.....happen it will no matter what we think of it!

Frugalsod

ivyleaf wrote: »

I'm so glad. I have £190.15 :rotfl: and I'm sure that's a lot more than a fair number of people have.

Mind you, I am putting money into a trust fund for my funeral as well. But I can't have that back until I'm dead
ETA It's the sort of plan where you pay over a set amount of years, so although it's a lot of money for me to find each month, at least I know there'll be an end to it. One year down, four to go!

Some years ago there was an Institute for Fiscal Studies report into the level of savings held by the public and it averaged about something like £150 then. I am not sure if that figure has increased by much since then, especially in the years since the financial crisis.

thriftwizard

It's kind of hard to save when there's no reward... if I could see my savings grow, I might be more interested in saving! 0% interest - or near as makes no difference - means zero interest from me! Though I do have to admit to more than £150 - new tyres for my van would cost me more than that.

moneyistooshorttomention

'Tis true that saving isn't exactly encouraged when it is so difficult to even get enough interest on it to match inflation - let alone "real" interest.

I'm nervously watching in case some bright spark decides to go in for trying to charge us interest for actually having savings - a complete reversal of the proper way round. What plans/remote ideas rolling around in mind/etc does anyone have for how to get round that if they ever try and charge us for having savings? There has to be some way somehow to safeguard a modest amount of savings from being whittled away by "negative interest rates".

(No wonder people with spare money are spending it on "experiences" - rather than saving it - but I want to have some savings safely there in case my house or health ever have to have a substantial amount spent on them by me).

thriftwizard

No wonder they're trying to push us into going cashless; who in their right mind would put their money in the bank if they're going to get charged for the privilege?!

[Deleted User]

Premium Bonds and ISA's serve us well as we get £25 from the premium bonds most months and the ISA's give an acceptable rate of growth for our savings. Not huge money but better than none at all? I think that banks and financial institutions would find themselves in very, very deep water should there be a charge to keep your money in their systems, big business might need to keep their accounts but I rather think that those with small amounts will just withdraw their cash and close them down should such a thing be implemented!