General Discussion and Whimsical Banter

RG2015

poppystar said:

That 2p a week x 52 x the number of state pensioners means they’re saving probably in excess of £12m in the year! 

Good news for taxpayers then.

(Whimsical comment).

mebu60

SnowMan said:

poppystar said:

mebu60 said:

If the 'new' State Pension of £221.20pw for 24/25 is going up 4.1% then why is the 25/26 amount only £230.25 instead of £230.27? Is there an official rounding policy does anyone know? 

Not sure on their rounding policy but the weekly rates always end in 0 or 5 (as in the £221.20 and the 230.25) going back the last ten years at least.  So maybe rounding to the nearest 5p? 

Yes that's right I think, it's rounded to the nearest 5p. If you start at £155.65 in 2016/2017 you can replicate all the subsequent years figures. So there's no bias to rounding up or down, it all cancels over time.

MSE take note, nearest 5p. Spreading incorrect information in note(1) on first table stating 'State Pension payments are typically rounded up to the nearest 5p':
State pension set to rise by 4.1% and benefits by 1.7%

SnowMan

mebu60 said:

SnowMan said:

poppystar said:

mebu60 said:

If the 'new' State Pension of £221.20pw for 24/25 is going up 4.1% then why is the 25/26 amount only £230.25 instead of £230.27? Is there an official rounding policy does anyone know? 

Not sure on their rounding policy but the weekly rates always end in 0 or 5 (as in the £221.20 and the 230.25) going back the last ten years at least.  So maybe rounding to the nearest 5p? 

Yes that's right I think, it's rounded to the nearest 5p. If you start at £155.65 in 2016/2017 you can replicate all the subsequent years figures. So there's no bias to rounding up or down, it all cancels over time.

MSE take note, nearest 5p. Spreading incorrect information in note(1) on first table stating 'State Pension payments are typically rounded up to the nearest 5p':
State pension set to rise by 4.1% and benefits by 1.7%

It has been rounded to nearest 5p since 2016/2017 and so is £230.25pw

If it had been rounded up to 5p since 2016/2017 it would now be £230.45pw (20 pence more)

If it had been rounded down to 5p since 2016/2017 it would now be £229.95pw (30 pence less)

If it had not been rounded at all since 2016/2017 it would now be £230.21pw (4 pence less)

masonic

IvanOpinion said:

RG2015 said:

poppystar said:

That 2p a week x 52 x the number of state pensioners means they’re saving probably in excess of £12m in the year! 

Good news for taxpayers then.

(Whimsical comment).

Not if the administration cost is £15m each year

I doubt it has cost them an extra £15m to administer the rounding vs if they hadn't done so. Of course in years they rounded up the taxpayer would have lost out (or pensioners on the full pension gained).

UKX69

Bob2000 said:

DasTechniker said:

Came out of hospital yesterday after having knee replacement surgery - 30 hour turn around, can’t fault it. Opted for epidural as recovery time is quicker. Part of the prep is having anti sickness drug and some tranquilliser. I think they overdosed the tranquilliser, fell asleep at the start and woke up as they were finishing! Couldn’t make it up. 😂

How is the knee shaping up?

Sorry Bob2000, now seeing your post.
The first fortnight after surgery was the worst as restriction on movement around the house is limited until you get used to manourvering with crutches. Also getting into a rhythm of medication for pain control is vital. But I have to be honest and say the overall experience wasn’t half as bad as I thought it would be. The pain - to me - was only like bad toothache and would virtually disappear after meds. Today I can walk the dog a reasonable distance and yesterday went for follow up physio at the hospital. If my other knee gives out in the near future, I would not hesitate to go through it again! 👍😁
My grammar and spelling is getting worse. I should have said: As movement around the house is limited until you get used to manoeuvring with crutches. 😳🧑‍🎓

Bob2000

DasTechniker said:

Bob2000 said:

DasTechniker said:

Came out of hospital yesterday after having knee replacement surgery - 30 hour turn around, can’t fault it. Opted for epidural as recovery time is quicker. Part of the prep is having anti sickness drug and some tranquilliser. I think they overdosed the tranquilliser, fell asleep at the start and woke up as they were finishing! Couldn’t make it up. 😂

How is the knee shaping up?

Sorry Bob2000, now seeing your post.
The first fortnight after surgery was the worst as restriction on movement around the house is limited until you get used to manourvering with crutches. Also getting into a rhythm of medication for pain control is vital. But I have to be honest and say the overall experience wasn’t half as bad as I thought it would be. The pain - to me - was only like bad toothache and would virtually disappear after meds. Today I can walk the dog a reasonable distance and yesterday went for follow up physio at the hospital. If my other knee gives out in the near future, I would not hesitate to go through it again! 👍😁
My grammar and spelling is getting worse. I should have said: As movement around the house is limited until you get used to manoeuvring with crutches. 😳🧑‍🎓

Glad your recovery is going well.
Take care.

ircE

Came across this fun article from Robin Wigglesworth at FT Alphaville (courtesy of Monevator). It's a proposal to open up Norway's SWF to other institutional and retail investors, given it's essentially a global tracker with certain screens/filters, careful management, and economies of scale in administration. 

Someone in the comments asked why no one has made a tracker based on the fund's investments, given its public details and apparent success. Does anyone know?

Bridlington1

BOE Base Rate held at 4.5%.

8 voted to hold, 1 voted to cut to 4.25%.

Bridlington1

Just a slight quirk of Darlington BS's technical systems people may or may not be aware of and could be useful if anyone has an old account with £1 that has since had a few pence interest added to it and wants to get hold of these pennies without closing any accounts.

Darlington BS have a ``quick transfers" option in their online banking. Ordinarily it won't let you type a leading zero, e.g. it won't let you type 0.05 as an amount.

However I've found if you type ``10." and then go back and delete the 1, the leading zero remains, allowing you to make internal transfers of under £1.

flaneurs_lobster

Bridlington1 said:

However I've found if you type ``10." and then go back and delete the 1, the leading zero remains, allowing you to make internal transfers of under £1.

Shocking, their unit tester needs a talking to.