Friday Questions - Spend and Save!

[Si Hunt]

Finance is a hot topic in these uncertain times! But how have you coped?

1. Would you say you are a "spend" person, or a "save" person?

2. Have you had to/chosen to change your lifestyle because of the recession?

3. Do you have a credit card? How many? What do you think of them?

4. Do you consider yourself careful with money?

5. Do you manage your household finances? How do you tackle this task?

6. What's your top tip for saving? Do you ever invest?

7. What's your top household tip for saving pennies day to day?

8. Have you ever been deep in debt?

9. What do you think we should do about the Banks?

10. If you could write one policy into the next Budget, what would it be?

11. Tell us one thing about yourself that we don't know already.

Si.

[Rob McCow]

1. Would you say you are a "spend" person, or a "save" person?
I used to be a "save" person, but I'm leaning more towards "spend" now. But only after wringing my hands and agonising over it!

2. Have you had to/chosen to change your lifestyle because of the recession?
Yes, I'm spending more to encourage the recession to end.

3. Do you have a credit card? How many? What do you think of them?
I have one which I pay off in full each month. They're incredible useful provided you are very careful.

4. Do you consider yourself careful with money?
Only if I have to be.

5. Do you manage your household finances? How do you tackle this task?
Only to the extent that we've been going to Aldi.

6. What's your top tip for saving? Do you ever invest?
There's little point in having savings with 2% interest if you're paying back a mortgage with 4% interest.

7. What's your top household tip for saving pennies day to day?
www.find-dvd.co.uk

8. Have you ever been deep in debt?
No thank goodness. Though we have a mortgage, so technically yes!

9. What do you think we should do about the Banks?
What can one person possibly do to justify making £10 million? We should have public scrutiny of pay and bonuses at all levels and discourage speculative banking. Also we should work out a way to abolish money.

10. If you could write one policy into the next Budget, what would it be?
Not sure, I'd try to make government bodies less reliant on consultants.

11. Tell us one thing about yourself that we don't know already.
When I was in my teens, I played bass in the church band.

[Si Hunt]

There's little point in having savings with 2% interest if you're paying back a mortgage with 4% interest.

True, but you might need your savings for something. It's not as easy to take money out of a mortage as it is to put it in!

What can one person possibly do to justify making £10 million?

Make the country £100m?

Si.

[Rob McCow]

Yeah, I did think actually 'unless you're saving for something specific' such as a holiday or a car. Or a life-size Dalek.

Make the country £100m?

It's the company or the bank that's done that, the individual might have made the decisions but it's not their money. It's not as though they have gone out, on their own without any help and made £100m out of nothing. They would have needed help and support.

Or to argue the other way, if this person has made £100m then why give any of it back to the country? They made that money, so they should keep it all.

[Si Hunt]

I guess reading the Standard (shame on me, but it's free and I need something to read on the way home) they have recently quite forcefully put forward an opposite view to the standard "Bankers are greedy b*****ds who shouldn't get bonuses". It's just made me wonder if we know what we're doing. I don't know if one person individually can make the economy that much - but suppose he can, and does? All these Bankers are now going abroad. We didn't pay them a Kings Ransom for nothing. I wonder if they made the country a lot of money and who's going to replace them if they go?

It's like people who say "Oh, footballers are vastly overpaid!". Well, no. If a player being at a club pulls in £10m more in gate receipts, by definition he's worth £10m.

But I don't know. I just wonder. I always wonder.

With the first point, it's an interesting discussion. I'd like to get on and pay off my mortgage but I'm never quite sure how much to keep on standby in case I need it. Also paying it off requires a bit of courage as it's a long-term saving; you're effectively saying "I'm going to be now paying my mortgage for 20 years instead of 21". But will you care about an extra year when the time comes? It seems to me almost like something you have to throw yourself into (which still means chucking all your spare income into a wormhole leading to 20 years in the future) or not bother with at all. But I'd still like to do it!

Si.

[MinaHarker]

1. Would you say you are a "spend" person, or a "save" person?
Save.

2. Have you had to/chosen to change your lifestyle because of the recession?
Yes, I've had to give up the tutoring because it is no longer economically viable.

3. Do you have a credit card? How many? What do you think of them?
Yes, after having been a victim of card fraud and having money taken out of my account via my debit card I got a credit card in July 2009. I use it in the same way as I did my debit card, and pay it off by DD each month. I get sick of people telling me hoe "evil" credit cards are and how careful I have to be. I'm a Jewish accountant, people - I KNOW!

4. Do you consider yourself careful with money?
Yup. Mum always said I'm "tight", but I don't think that's true. I do maintain a cashflow forecast schedule on my computer though.

5. Do you manage your household finances? How do you tackle this task?
Jason does it. But it's all in my cashflow forecast.

6. What's your top tip for saving? Do you ever invest?
I have a savings account, that's about it!

7. What's your top household tip for saving pennies day to day?
Remember that cost and value are two different things.

8. Have you ever been deep in debt?
Only my student loan and mortgage, but they don't really count as they are not current unsecured debt.

9. What do you think we should do about the Banks?
Haven't the foggiest!

10. If you could write one policy into the next Budget, what would it be?
Don't have the foggiest about that either!

11. Tell us one thing about yourself that we don't know already.
I trained as a nail technician. It cost me £300 and I don't use it at all because I turned out to be crap at it!

[Captain Tancredi]

1. Would you say you are a "spend" person, or a "save" person?

Spend. I come from a family where people have only ever really made just about enough to live on.

2. Have you had to/chosen to change your lifestyle because of the recession?

Slightly, to the extent that I'm more likely now to patronise local shops on the grounds that I know I want them to be there.

3. Do you have a credit card? How many? What do you think of them?

I have three. Since I had a card cloned just over a year ago, I have one for internet use, one for use in shops and one which is dormant.

4. Do you consider yourself careful with money?

I can't afford not to be.

5. Do you manage your household finances? How do you tackle this task?

Mainly by setting up a spreadsheet so that I can plot my outgoings against my income- particularly useful when I was doing a lot of overtime so couldn't predict from one month to the next what I'd actually be paid.

6. What's your top tip for saving? Do you ever invest?

There's actually still a lot to be said for a change jar- I save about £10 a year just by taking the coppers out of my pocket at night. Otherwise, a small amount by standing order from your bank account will also go a long way.

7. What's your top household tip for saving pennies day to day?

Leave some space on your shopping list for any meals which are on special offer rather than being tied to brands.

8. Have you ever been deep in debt?

Have I ever not been deep in debt? It's a fact of life but should be straightened out in the next three years or so. What seems weird in retrospect is that I used to feel bad about having a £500 overdraft.

9. What do you think we should do about the Banks?

From an entirely selfish point of view, pay everybody in a bank from the City highfllyers to the lowliest cashier the same bonus. Otherwise accept that we live in a capitalist world and we need to learn from any mistakes and move on- if the high powered bankers weren't in this country paying UK tax and buying expensive luxury goods, they'd be in another country and we wouldn't have any benefit at all.

10. If you could write one policy into the next Budget, what would it be?

I've often thought about charging double car tax for second cars registered to members of the same family at the same address.

11. Tell us one thing about yourself that we don't know already.

When I was in my teens I drank Bass in the school choir.

[Si Hunt]

Wrt your election pledge Ian, who would get lumbered with the double road tax in our house, or would Simon and I have to armwrestle for it! :-)

Great answers guys!

Si. :mobile

[Jamie McCrimmon]

1. Would you say you are a "spend" person, or a "save" person?

I used to be quite reckless with money, but I'm better now and I do prefer to save than to spend.

2. Have you had to/chosen to change your lifestyle because of the recession?

Not really, it hasn't affected me in a personal way.

3. Do you have a credit card? How many? What do you think of them?

I paid it off and cut it up last year. They're evil.

4. Do you consider yourself careful with money?

Yes, these days, after learning the hard way and working overtime to pay off debts. I want to keep myself where I am now, financially, which is no debts (except mortgage) and steadily adding to savings. It took me years to get here.

5. Do you manage your household finances? How do you tackle this task?

I have a sort of ledger, almost. I write my income, all the bills for the month, a bit for emergencies and a bit for things I can't live without such as new Dr Who dvds, then I save what's left over.

6. What's your top tip for saving? Do you ever invest?

I always aim to save at least a little each month. The enemy of saving is spending on. dvds, cs, clothes etc, so I ask myself what I really need and only buy that.

7. What's your top household tip for saving pennies day to day?

I scour supermarkets for bargains, such as BOGOF offers whichs can save money into the next week if it's something that won't go off.

8. Have you ever been deep in debt?

I have bipolar disorder so, yes! Which is why I'm so happy to be debt free and have a real determination to stay that way.

9. What do you think we should do about the Banks?

Anybody who took a large bonus should be pilloried, then burned.

10. If you could write one policy into the next Budget, what would it be?

Stop giving millions to the E.U.

11. Tell us one thing about yourself that we don't know already.

I'm partially deaf in my left ear, have been since I was 7.

[Captain Tancredi]

Wrt your election pledge Ian, who would get lumbered with the double road tax in our house, or would Simon and I have to armwrestle for it! :-)

Oh, everybody would have to arm wrestle- then my Government would sell the rights to Channel 5 as daytime entertainment.

[Andrew Curnow]

1. Would you say you are a "spend" person, or a "save" person?
Instinctively, a save person - but on a practical level, spend, in as far as we never have enough to save!!

2. Have you had to/chosen to change your lifestyle because of the recession?
"Lifestyle" is probably too grand a word - but certainly we've probably not eaten as well, or with as much variety, over the past year or so, because food prices have gone up more than income. (Additionally, which isn't a recession thing, but is a factor in this, our local Somerfield closed down and was then turned into a Waitrose - so their prices are higher anyway.)

And also, we had a smaller-scale Christmas than usual, with less presents across the board.

3. Do you have a credit card? How many? What do you think of them?
No. Been there, done that.

4. Do you consider yourself careful with money?
Ye-es, ish.

5. Do you manage your household finances? How do you tackle this task?
Yes, but largely in a 'hand to mouth', week in week out basis.

6. What's your top tip for saving? Do you ever invest?
Don't know, and no! (Ooh, helpful Andrew.)

7. What's your top household tip for saving pennies day to day?
Ah, if only I knew... Ian's change jar is a sensible suggestion. I suppose I'd say that one of the best things we did is have an electric key meter installed - first, it means that you can't get into debt on it; and second, it also allows you to see what things really eat up the electric. When you can see the pennies disappearing because you've forgotten to switch off the immersion, or because you've put the tumble-dryer on during the day instead of the evening, it really focuses the mind!!

I also found that going back out on the game helped, although it's not the quickest way to earn 50p.

8. Have you ever been deep in debt?
Yes. Really deeply twice, although touch wood I think that's now over. First was many years ago, and even now I can remember being incensed that when I went to the CAB their first, 'best' suggestion was to declare bankruptcy. Good grief. Debt does almost seem to be a fact of life, and certainly there have been weeks on end where not a day has passed without my worrying about it; but on the other hand, you sometimes hear on the news about people who are so-many thousands in debt, which makes me feel a lot better about our small amounts.

9. What do you think we should do about the Banks?
I don't know. We seem to hear on the news about how banks still aren't lending enough money to business, or as mortgages; but isn't that what started this whole mess in the first place, lending 'recklessly'? Maybe the honest answer is that banks ought to be a lot more cautious than they have been, they should stop trying to be all things to all men by selling insurance, or doing credit cards, etc, etc, and just stick to handling people's money.

One thing that does really madden me is Direct Debits. You set them up for a date (eg, 15th) but can't set them up for a day (eg, the first Friday of each month). If you're paid on say, the second Wednesday of each month, for example, the 15th may be payday, the day after pay day, or it may be the day before. If it's the last one, and there's no money left, you'll go overdrawn and the bank will charge. I'd like to see banks being more flexible - if they can see from your account history that, say, money goes in every Wednesday, then they should charge only if the account is overdrawn that week, not on a specific day.

10. If you could write one policy into the next Budget, what would it be?
Not sure - although it always niggles with me that we're being encouraged to spend more to get our of recession. Isn't overspending part of the problem?

11. Tell us one thing about yourself that we don't know already.
I'm half human, on my mother's side. Sorry, but I can't think of anything you don't already know.

[MinaHarker]

3. Do you have a credit card? How many? What do you think of them?

I paid it off and cut it up last year. They're evil.

See that's what I don't understand. Why?

[SiHart]

See that's what I don't understand. Why?

Because not everyone has self control and some people see a credit card as an excuse to spend beyond your means and not worry about how the hell you're going to pay it and the excessive interest back. Maybe.

Si xx

[Andrew Curnow]

I'm not going to get into that debate, but I would say that I think people should only be allowed to have one credit card at a time. If it's being used, as it ought to be, largely for convenience then one is ample - if it's being used essentially as an overdraft, then one is more than enough!

I've had troubles with cards in the past, and obviously that was my fault and is sorted now. BUT, even now I still get letters through the post offering credit cards - I'm not saying that if I applied I woud automatically get them, I don't know, but even the fact that they're happily sending out these mailshots suggests there's too little checking going on before they dish cards out.

[Jamie McCrimmon]

That's exactly why I dislike credit cards, they're given out too freely, and they have a nasty way of increasing your credit limit by an extra 500 quid suddenly without asking you if you want it. They're fine for people who really can use them sensibly, but they're far too easy to get out of your depth with, without even realising it.

[Philipnet]

1. Would you say you are a "spend" person, or a "save" person?
I was a spend person. I want to be a save person now.

2. Have you had to/chosen to change your lifestyle because of the recession?
No, but I have changed my lifestyle to save more.

3. Do you have a credit card? How many? What do you think of them?
Yes, I have three.
Two have nothing on them and I have £1,000 on the other. I want to pay that off by the end of Feb.

4. Do you consider yourself careful with money?
I want to be that way.

5. Do you manage your household finances? How do you tackle this task?
As I rent, I manage my personal finances. Currently I tackle that by hoping ! however - right now - my income exceeds my outgoings .

6. What's your top tip for saving? Do you ever invest?
My top tip, but it's not for saving, is to pay off your credit card as buy on it.
This works brilliantly on my LloydsTSB credit card (if I buy something online I can put the money on the credit card minutes later) and allows me to have an up to date view of my balance online.

7. What's your top household tip for saving pennies day to day?
Setup a monthly standing order into a savings account or investment portfolio.

8. Have you ever been deep in debt?
Somewhat. I had (and still have) a student loan, car loan, bank loan and debt on a credit card. I want to get rid of those.

9. What do you think we should do about the Banks?
We need to keep the high street banks and we certainly need to keep free banking.

10. If you could write one policy into the next Budget, what would it be?
To give me loads of money

11. Tell us one thing about yourself that we don't know already.
I can play the piano

[MinaHarker]

Personal misuse of a tool doesn't make the tool itself "evil".

[davethesailor]

"""With the first point, it's an interesting discussion. I'd like to get on and pay off my mortgage but I'm never quite sure how much to keep on standby in case I need it. Also paying it off requires a bit of courage as it's a long-term saving; you're effectively saying "I'm going to be now paying my mortgage for 20 years instead of 21". But will you care about an extra year when the time comes? It seems to me almost like something you have to throw yourself into (which still means chucking all your spare income into a wormhole leading to 20 years in the future) or not bother with at all. But I'd still like to do it!"""


Hi Si, if I was in a position too I would certainly pay any extra cash that I had into paying off my mortgage. I see my mortgage as simply a debt like any other and paying it off and reducing it will save a fortune in what you pay in interest.

The only exception to make would be putting savings into your isa first (each adult is allowed to save up to £3600 every year, tax free, into an isa. The return you would get on that would likely be more than the interest savings you make on putting the same amount into reducing your mortgage.

I would go as far as saying that I would have no savings at all (other than isa contributions) until I have cleared every penny of debt (including mortgage) that I have.

I would however have a credit card on stand by in case I got into any real financial hardship and needed to access emergency funds.

[Philipnet]

It took me more minutes that I care to admit to find this old thread

All I want to do is to post a simple link to this site: http://blog.selfmadewealth.com/


But it's a good site.


The guy in the videos, Eban, is obviously trying to sell something and he knows all the tricks in the book to convince you to part with your cash/wealth.

What's good, is that the free information he is already giving away is an excellent re-frame on the money game that we all find ourselves in.

Go on, check it out. See which paradigms your subscribe to and what you can do to change them!

[shada pavlova]

1. Would you say you are a "spend" person, or a "save" person?

I try to save, but I never quite manage it, what with my computer needing constant repairs, and all the latest DW dvds...

2. Have you had to/chosen to change your lifestyle because of the recession?

Not really.

3. Do you have a credit card? How many? What do you think of them?

Nope. I prefer cash, it's harder to trace.

4. Do you consider yourself careful with money?

Unfortunately not.

5. Do you manage your household finances? How do you tackle this task?

Nope.

6. What's your top tip for saving? Do you ever invest?

Top tip? Well...always check if somebody's left coins in a vending machine!

7. What's your top household tip for saving pennies day to day?

Only buy new undercrackers when the old ones disintegrate.

8. Have you ever been deep in debt?

Thankfully not.

9. What do you think we should do about the Banks?

Bring back the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air...oh, wait.

10. If you could write one policy into the next Budget, what would it be?

2|Entertain and the RT recieve 5% of the country's budget.

11. Tell us one thing about yourself that we don't know already.

I'm currently in the company of some abusive chavs. FML.

[Rob McCow]

9. What do you think we should do about the Banks?
Bring back the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air...oh, wait.

That's a rather left-field (west-side) answer.

10. If you could write one policy into the next Budget, what would it be?
2|Entertain and the RT recieve 5% of the country's budget.

As that figure is likely to be in the millions, they could hire actors to have plastic surgery to look like the original cast and re-create the missing episodes in their entirety.

Who are these abusive chaps, FML? I've heard of JML.

[MinaHarker]

It took me more minutes that I care to admit to find this old thread

All I want to do is to post a simple link to this site: http://blog.selfmadewealth.com/


But it's a good site.


The guy in the videos, Eban, is obviously trying to sell something and he knows all the tricks in the book to convince you to part with your cash/wealth.

What's good, is that the free information he is already giving away is an excellent re-frame on the money game that we all find ourselves in.

Be careful, McAfee says that site is unsafe.

[shada pavlova]

That's a rather left-field (west-side) answer.


As that figure is likely to be in the millions, they could hire actors to have plastic surgery to look like the original cast and re-create the missing episodes in their entirety.

I think that's technically blasphemy.

Who are these abusive chaps, FML? I've heard of JML.

No, it's an acronym. It means "F**k my life".

[Larry]

1. Would you say you are a "spend" person, or a "save" person?

definitely a saver



2. Have you had to/chosen to change your lifestyle because of the recession?

no

3. Do you have a credit card? How many? What do you think of them?

i have a barclay card and a connect card - I only ever use my connect card

4. Do you consider yourself careful with money?


I'm very much like my dad, in that I've always been carefull with my money I've always had savings and have only ever once bought some thing on HP.I am proud to say i have never been in debt. My mum says her dad was the same so may be it's because I'm half scotts and my mums dad was a Yorkshireman the reason i'm carefull with my money.



5. Do you manage your household finances? How do you tackle this task?

living at home my mum deals with all that


6. What's your top tip for saving? Do you ever invest?


really don't know
- i suppose don't keep buying things for the sake of it.

7. What's your top household tip for saving pennies day to day?


just a have a small pot/jar on a shelf some where.


8. Have you ever been deep in debt?


never been in debt. I know people might say ah you've always lived at home but that IMO is no argument as many people still living with their parents are in huge debt.

9. What do you think we should do about the Banks?

make them more responcible in that they shouldn't be allowed to constantly give overdrafts or loans to people who are bad debters.


10. If you could write one policy into the next Budget, what would it be?


no more huge bonuses for bankers

11. Tell us one thing about yourself that we don't know already.

[Si Hunt]

1. Would you say you are a "spend" person, or a "save" person?

Save, usually. But only because you need to save to spend it! I save, I save some more, then I spend it.

2. Have you had to/chosen to change your lifestyle because of the recession?

No. The recession has been good to me - my mortgage payments are very low, I don't really like to keep money in banks anyway so I'm not bothered about the interest, and when I lost my job it wasn't down to the recession. We each have our own times of boom and bust, and you should change your lifestyle to suit whether you personally are in a peak or a trough, I think.

3. Do you have a credit card? How many? What do you think of them?

Yes, one. They are fine, as long as you set it up to always be paid off at the end of the month. A six week delay to pay my bills? Why not?

4. Do you consider yourself careful with money?

I think so. I always, always try to be. Sometimes I envy people who don't care. Sometimes I wish I could just have one week without having to think about money. It becomes tiresome.

5. Do you manage your household finances? How do you tackle this task?

Yes. I find it impossible to know how much money I have at any one time. You can't just check your balance, because bills get paid at different times and there's never any one time when everything has gone in or out. So I simply keep a spreadsheet each month and record everything that goes in and out - as long as it's even at the end of every month, I know I'm okay.

6. What's your top tip for saving? Do you ever invest?

I do invest in this and that. By my 'month' plan above, sometimes if I have an unpleasant bill to pay I cheat and deduct half from one months money, and half from the next. It makes it seem like half as expensive.

7. What's your top household tip for saving pennies day to day?

Never draw money out the wall if you can help it - paying by card (switch or credit) means you don't get lumbered with loads of change, which gets lost.

8. Have you ever been deep in debt?

Not beyond my mortgage. Twice in my life I had to extend my mortgage because I had bills I simply couldn't avoid and couldn't pay - when I needed to buy a car, and when I was hit with an unexpected solicitors bill.

9. What do you think we should do about the Banks?

Hold them to account! Make a law that stops them ripping us off! Money does NOT take four days to electronically transfer from one account to another! We even own half these bloody banks now, and still they steal from us! Arn't the MP's supposed to be in our employ? So make some laws to protect us!

10. If you could write one policy into the next Budget, what would it be?

MP's salaries and future decided by members of their constituency. We ought to hold regular performance reviews too.

11. Tell us one thing about yourself that we don't know already.

My Grandma's father had a felt business that provided the felt that Winston Churchill lay on at his funeral.

Si.