Only freedom will do

edinburgher

She'll appreciate it eventually, thankfully she's too young to feel like she's being short changed at this point

Like all young children, she has more spare money than either of her parents, she won't actually be given any real money until she's 3-4 tho.

hiddenshadow

Oh yeah, I didn't mean to imply it wasn't a good gift - would love to find out my parents had done that and now I have loads more towards retirement than I thought. Unlikely though. (They did pay for most of uni so I can't complain.)

edinburgher

Her money will be more targeted towards uni/business/first house than retirement, I'd thought about setting up a pension, but it was hard enough to buy our first home with 2 ok jobs and a wee bit of parental help. I dread to think what the FTB choices will look like in 20 years! :eek:

• Paid CSD account fees for ISA/JISA, remarkably easy to do and I continue to be a fan. Lowest price I could find, decent website and efficient helpdesk
• Took a leaf out of SSS's book and applied to downgrade my S123 acc to S123 lite. After the recent fee hikes, I'm paying c. £1/month for the privilege of banking with them and the interest doesn't allow me to break even. Assuming it's successful, it should make me c. £3/month better off. We have 3 T5B current accounts still and will be able to stash £4,500 @ 3% come January. This will cover our emergency fund. Day-to-day 'operating costs' can come out of the S123 lite account (no interest)
• Have applied to switch the whole shebang to H5BC, but downgraded as a precautionary measure in case this doesn't go through for any reason

edinburgher

• Closed H@lifax cash ISA with a princely £1 in it - no longer needed as it was tied to DD's closed JISA
• Withdrew £5 monthly reward from H@lifax
• Had a cheap lunch date with Mrs E

edinburgher

• The Spanish bank have transferred me onto the cheaper account (no word from H5BC yet)
• Bought £21 of a P2P loan
• Aiming for a NSD, time will tell...
• Depressing letter received from N@twest - apparently we are free to OP £18,000 this year :rotfl:

Secret_Saving_Squirrel

Hello,
We are also shuffling current accounts. Did you know that Marks and Spencer still have a 5% monthly saver?
I am not as focused on the maths as you but seem to think that if I have 20k in the 123 it is still the best deal. am I wrong?
Thanks,
Squirrel

earthgirl

Secret_Saving_Squirrel wrote: »

Hello,
We are also shuffling current accounts. Did you know that Marks and Spencer still have a 5% monthly saver?
I am not as focused on the maths as you but seem to think that if I have 20k in the 123 it is still the best deal. am I wrong?
Thanks,
Squirrel

Hi Squirrel,

I have about 18k in sant and get about £48 interest and pay £5/month. When the rate drops, I'll look at moving it /oping.

earthgirl

You ok ed?

PositiveBalance

Yes, it's very quiet in here. *Watches tumbleweed blow by*

I'm panicking! Tell me the first book I should read about investing, please!

Karmacat

Thinking of you, Ed, all the best.