Statement of intent

StuartGMC

GavB
Thanks for the confirmation, hope it helps ChirpChirp and Twinklie

StuartGMC

OH paid in our US Dollar travellers cheques we didn't need in Mexico to the NatWest last Saturday. Cashier was a bit unsure as these weren't Sterling, but OH believed they would be converted to prevailing rate on Monday and credited to the current a/c.

Well here we are a week later and still no sign of the £191.45 they should have credited :mad::mad::mad:

OH will have to pop back into branch and hopefully this will be resolved; don't they realise I need to put this into the mortgage!!!

My father and his wife arrive later today so need to get on with some jobs now. Off to Lavenham tomorrow if they agree with the plan for the day, and weather here is looking good all weekend which is great.

End of the week I have to be in Nice on business, travel Friday as my meeting starts 0800 on Saturday. Major issue is DD will have started at her new school on the Thursday and then I promptly go away a complete week which isn't the best of timing Not my fault though, meeting all day Saturday is an international standards meeting then I'm in a conference and standards event until Thursday PM. (Personally, not that keen on Nice either...)

SmileyG_2

StuartGMC wrote: »

Thanks for the replies - we can but watch and wait.... meanwhile try to see what we can do to improve our personal savings and investments, but personally I intend to also enjoy life along the way.



Chirpchirp - the two forms of pension are:
1) Defined benefit - i.e you know in advance what you will get. This is the final salary scheme or an "average" salary scheme
2) Defined contribution - i.e. you know how much you are putting in, but, the value is unknown until you convert to a pension as it depends on the stockmarket etc at that date.

Company (employer) pension schemes can be either type, but they usually involve you making a contribution and your employer likewise contributing, matching or multiplying it to a certain limit.

In a personal pension you make a contribution and get government contribution depending on tax level etc.

In my case, I pay in 10% of my gross salary and employer pays in 25% of my gross salary (whilst I don't get any extra pay, it is worth noting most schemes do not include your overtime amounts in the calculation).

As noted by Twinklie, there is a reduction in assessment but I believe the situation is:
NI is calculated on total gross salary
Income tax is calculated on gross salary-pension contribution.

Can anyone confirm this is correct?

I hope that helps?
Stuart

Stuart

Just a small tweak to your conclusions above...

Some company pensions are processed as salary sacrifice schemes. My pension is classed as a non-contributory. I have sacrificed part of my salary and my employer now pays all of my pension. This means that for tax purposes, my gross pay is reduced, but I pay less NI contributions, which means my take home pay is higher.

The downside is that my S2P contributrions are also reduced, resulting in a lower S2P pension, but as my priority is "pay down the mortgage", the extra money is useful.

SmileyG

chirpchirp

Ahh, now SmileyG has solved my original question. My first pension was a salary sacrifice scheme, if my memory serves me right. It was also final salary. Hence I didn't make any contributions. My current pension is also final salary but I do need to make contributions. The part which I find strange with a final salary with contributions is whether it really makes a difference the amount you are paying in, if the amount you get at the end is determined by the numbers of years worked and the amount of your salary? However, I think that may have been answered above. Mind you pensions have always confused me.

Taka, thanks for your reply. I was late getting into this pension. I have a really low pension based on a measly salary, fs pension. I then half my ex husbands pension hence the personal pension which makes up for my seven years of SAHM period and now in what is thought to be one of the best pensions. Still another 32 years until my official retirement date and if I can pay off the mortgage my outgoings should be alot less. So I live in hope that my pension requirements are sufficient. My IFA seems to think so, but who can ever tell.

At this point, I'm reminded of the old adage of be nice to your children, as they choose your retirement home. I hasten to add not in relation to my parents, but in relation to my children! Unfortunately there is no tongue in cheek smiley to place at this point. Oh well, this will just have to do:rotfl:.

StuartGMC

SmileyG thanks - I'd completely forgotten about that option

Well, we win some and lose some..

Just asked for the £4.01 from TopCashBack to be paid, but am waiting on the cashback from LateRooms from May and have asked for a chase on it.

I've just entered the meter readings for gas and electricity which gives about 11months running total, so gas "looks" lower than the annual figures we used in 2008 to change so I won't make a snap decision until October. However, this was the first time we fixed on gas and electricity prices and unfortunately it hasn't worked for us. Presently we can save about £211 if we switch (back) to Scottish Power from British Gas but we incur a £100 penalty to come out of the fix. This is offset by £62 cashback from TBC if we use them to link to Scottish Power so provided consumption data fits it looks like a "no-brainer" as they say over the pond....

So, I think we will likely change in October but I need to do some research on gas and electricity future prices if I can found more accurate data than before, trying to gauge prices in 2010-11 at a time when we expect inflation to become very prominent again in our lives; will it also align with global recovery and thus increased demand for energy which will boost prices?

Edit: Just seen the note on the BBC that fuel duty will rise tonight again (!) and that VAT is then charged on top which means a 2.3p per litre rise. Looks like we're now starting to see the initial signs of increasing costs we may all have to bear via taxation to replace the monies used for quantitative easing.

setmefree2

StuartGMC wrote: »

My father and his wife arrive later today so need to get on with some jobs now. Off to Lavenham tomorrow if they agree with the plan for the day, and weather here is looking good all weekend which is great.

That sounds great - somewhere I'd love to go - hope you had a great time.

StuartGMC

setmefree2 wrote: »

That sounds great - somewhere I'd love to go - hope you had a great time.

Yes, it was very nice, and the car parking was free which is so rare these days. Wonderful lunch in the !!!! Inn (by the car park entrance) which was £43 for five of us. We found some good information online for the circular walk around the area using the old railway line so generally it was easy going (good for my 70yr father and his 65yr old wife with a knee awaiting an operation in October).

Edit: LOL the name of the pub has been blocked by MSE filters! It is a male chicken...

StuartGMC

Following a call on Saturday to NatWest by OH, they called back this morning at 0920 and later it was all resolved and the £191.45 has been credited to the current a/c.

Mortgage payment, OP and discretionary OP totally £650 made today, so we are now offsetting to 116.62% and thus earning interest at the moment.

Mortgage is now £13,950 (plus the sealing fee which I think is about £245 but need to check the paperwork).

Credit card for next bill is looking promising presently at £812, so hope to keep it under £1200 by 18 September (excluding business expenses which I should be able to reclaim before this date).

Main anticipated expense in September now that DD has her new school uniform, sports kit etc, will be the buildings and contents insurance. So, finances are looking healthy but the MFD in October is still a very close call and I think it will leave us exposed with too little savings for immediate access.

However, I have also been considering what we do from next year onwards. As noted previously we will of course not need the life cover on the mortgage nor the redundancy cover (which is costly at the moment but I kept it on for mortgage cover). Conversely, we haven't got income protection insurance and this seems to be something we can look to afford once MF and it would bring peace of mind in case ill health etc hits (life cover is in place with our jobs). This is brought home by a friend now with MS, so I need to investigate this carefully (which is in a short article in Money Observer this month).

So, still things to do once MF, but where will I post my musings and mad ideas?

SmileyG_2

Re salary sacrifice pensions ....

The real reason why employers like salary sacrifice pensions, is that they don't have to pay employer's NI contributions on the amount sacrificed.

At least my employer is putting the savings back into the pension fund, which might mean that they'll keep it open for contributing members, although the suggestion out there is that defined benefit schemes may be numbered. Indeed for new members, the current scheme is a hybrid scheme ....

Whoops, just remembered this is the MFW board; I'll get my coat!

SmileyG

setmefree2

StuartGMC wrote: »

Main anticipated expense in September now that DD has her new school uniform, sports kit etc,

Went uniform shopping today - cost for 2 boys £250:eek::eek::eek: