Statement of intent

SmlSave

The new MS cat sounds lovely and in this cold weather its nice to have a warm lap.

Now, what on earth will I do once MF....

My prediction is that you'll become a world guru on becoming MF and have your own TV show.

StuartGMC

SmlSave wrote: »

The new MS cat sounds lovely and in this cold weather its nice to have a warm lap.

He certainly is a very "person" oriented animal, hope he's happy with us. Just had details from our local animal shelter noting they are already full and apparently fewer people than ever are rehoming animals, obviously a real effect of the current financial climate.

My prediction is that you'll become a world guru on becoming MF and have your own TV show.

You have a very warped sense of humour :rotfl:

StuartGMC

Well, NatWest have finally sent the letter advising the interest rate cut they applied from 1 December and the nasty so-and-so's have only dropped the offset by 1.0% so it is now 4.95% as per their website :mad::mad::mad:

Wonder what they'll pass on from today's cut? (As a tax payer and thus owner of RBS I am a bit miffed!!!!).

This drops our minimum payment from £292 to £273 per month, but mortgage interest is likely to be about £44 per month.

Obviously this is more incentive to clear the mortgage and perhaps a point for others to note in their planning. With only £20.5k owing it is not viable to move mortgages (below thresholds, fees too large a proportion etc) so consider this once you are close to these thresholds and what you will in effect be locked into after that.

Anyway, the rate reduction means with a payment of £650 per month we overpay by £377 or 138.10% per month. Still looking to save £812 per month (in normal months) plus the £220 that goes into the Stocks & Shares ISAs (which still sit at -49% but, it's a long game and we'll pick up the investment amounts significantly from March 2010, which looks like it will be ahead of much growth in the markets)

Our effective rate is now 1.55% but this may be affected if the interest rates on savings drop because that will reduce the "loss" as we don't earn interest due to offset, hence effective rate would then also decrease.

Hope others are benefiting from the interest rate cuts better than we are.

Just did the weekly Grocery bill split on Morrisons bill (food, cleaning & toiletries and others) and see that we incurred VAT of £10.53 which means the VAT reduction saved us £1.76 this week on groceries, mmmm what to do with all this extra money... ?

With some Christmas items like wine in the bill, our average weekly cost for groceries is £78.75 and £11.05 for cleaning & toiletries. Cat hasn't added much cost to this, but we did of course have to pay the animal shelter for him (no problem, they need cash so badly presently) and for some additional items like cat box and such.

SuiDreams

Well keeping my fingers crossed with skipton out of the 2% cut (oct o Nov) they passed on 0.5%. I'm hoping that they drop the rate by a further 1% (at least) but don't think thats likely. Hope your rate gets cut further.

gallygirl

StuartGMC wrote: »

Hope others are benefiting from the interest rate cuts better than we are.

Our rates are fortunately linked to base rate so as of next month our rates will be 2.74%, 2.99% and 3.24% :T, however it is not knocking as much as I hoped off the term, assuming we carry on with projected payments . Here's hoping the full 1% is passed on to you this time Stuart.

StuartGMC

SuiDreams
That is not a good situation with The Skipton; hope it improves soon.

Gallygirl
With our offsetting the impact of changes is moderated as only 20.96% of the capital incurs interest. BOE Trackers are definitely winning out, those linked to the lender's base rate perhaps less so. Pleased it's working for you.

I have just checked the rates for the account in which the savings sit which offset, and see the rate has dropped to 0.3% (not that I'd keep cash there at that rate!). So combined with the 0.1% current a/c would earn, the effective interest rate is actually 1.20%. The alternative instant access a/c is earning 2.30% so this would lead to effective interest rate of 2.14%, however, I want to have a feel good factor so will stick with 1.20% effective rate!

EssexHebridean

Stuart - when checking details on insurance for puss-cat, remember to check that it's a "lifetime promise" policy as many companies leave themselves a loophole by which they can ditch an animal once it gets to the age where claims are more likely. Another thing to keep an eye for is policies which have a "maximum claim per condition" as opposed to a "maximum claim per year, per condition". PetPlan have always been our choice - a little more expensive but they pay up without quibble, reset all balances to nil (as it were) at the commencement of each policy year for any ongoing conditions (not though Her Ladyship has any of those, thankfully) and are generally very good. With her now being over 8 years old changing wouldn't be practical anyway. Good luck looking.

StuartGMC

EH
Many thanks for the advice. Cat was issued with 6 weeks insurance under PetPlan and we thought it logical to maintain a policy with them (because obviously there is no history for the cat) but at their level with the lifetime cover. It's reassuring to hear that you've had good experiences with them.

SwitchyChick

StuartGMC wrote: »

Both of us are now on varifocals so I'll have to increase the annual allowance, but I think we are "out of sync" so should only need one of us to get replacements each year, thankfully. Therefore need to allow £350 per year from now on which is £29 a month :eek:

Hi Stuart - Have you worked out whether it is worth signing up to a 'payment plan' for specs, dental treatment etc? We have a family policy which costs about £25/month but it means we can claim back up to £130 each for dental treatment (£80 for children) annually and £150 each for specs/contact lenses every 2 years. We also both have occasional osteopath treatments & these (& others like chiropody, etc) are also covered. Just thought it meant be worth a mention.

We're with HSA but there are others out there.

Switchy

StuartGMC

Switchychick
Thanks for the idea. I may look at this, but wife has teeth that have never needed any work on them, and daughter is ok presently. I've also been lucky not needing anything dental wise for many, many year, but time is marching on of course....

Glasses etc would be worth thinking about too.
I think I should add this to my increasing to-do list