General finance planning

[GillyBee]

Our finances changed for the better when we applied the rule of saving ten percent of our income BEFORE spending anything else that month. Saving what was left at the end of the month meant it was always used up.Saving first focussed our minds on not spending so much.

[itsybitsy]

Our finances changed for the better when we applied the rule of saving ten percent of our income BEFORE spending anything else that month. Saving what was left at the end of the month meant it was always used up.Saving first focussed our minds on not spending so much.

I do that - money goes into ISA/Premium Bonds and also a bit to top up my SIPP each month just after payday.

[Ara]

Recently I was trying to help my mother to sort out her finances. Unfortunately, she is becoming increasingly confused and could'nt remember where her folder for the everyday stuff was. I organised what I could find into date order and put relevant pieces of paper together so it's easier to see what's what. At least I found her will on my hunt and it is a simple one, everything divided equally among her offspring. I will have to go back to have another look for the rest of her paperwork.
This got me thinking about our finances too. We have no mortgage or debt and know where each other has their savings. My sons know where to find my "important" papers but we do need to write new wills (our children are long grown up and the question of guardians for them is no longer necessary) and organise Lasting Powers of Attorney. As I get older I am trying to simplify things for the time when someone will have to deal with what I leave behind.

[moominmama]

Some excellent points here, very useful food for thought

We have wills in place, and keep these with account information, and funeral requests in labelled folder with our records.

Husband and I both have life insurance, through workplace pensions and separate life insurance policies, luckily I got mine in place a number of years ago before recent health issues as that put travel insurance premiums through the roof, and expect it would do the same for life insurance.

I monitor utilities, and subscriptions - we have Amazon prime and no other streaming.

We have no big ticket expenses coming, that I know of, we got new double glazing windows in recently to replace original 1970's windows, and got in solar panels and a battery last year.

Other thing is that I made a point of ensuring that my current account is different provider from our shared joint account provider in case of problem with one provider.

Couple of thing I had really not considered. One was the changing credit card - as it was paid in full and no charges I had never looked at changing, I am now going to look at Sainsbury for nectar points, thank you for flagging this up. The other was 'food wealth' - for some reason, although I 'prep', and am good at food growing and planning / purchasing / storage I had never considered this as 'food wealth' or a hedge against inflation.

[Frnc]

Some excellent points here, very useful food for thought

We have wills in place, and keep these with account information, and funeral requests in labelled folder with our records.

Husband and I both have life insurance, through workplace pensions and separate life insurance policies, luckily I got mine in place a number of years ago before recent health issues as that put travel insurance premiums through the roof, and expect it would do the same for life insurance.

I monitor utilities, and subscriptions - we have Amazon prime and no other streaming.

We have no big ticket expenses coming, that I know of, we got new double glazing windows in recently to replace original 1970's windows, and got in solar panels and a battery last year.

Other thing is that I made a point of ensuring that my current account is different provider from our shared joint account provider in case of problem with one provider.

Couple of thing I had really not considered. One was the changing credit card - as it was paid in full and no charges I had never looked at changing, I am now going to look at Sainsbury for nectar points, thank you for flagging this up. The other was 'food wealth' - for some reason, although I 'prep', and am good at food growing and planning / purchasing / storage I had never considered this as 'food wealth' or a hedge against inflation.

What I do is try to buy things when they are on offer. So I might have a stock of a certain item because it was cheap at the time. Also I stock up on things that are unavailable where I live. I just got 3 tubs of Bisto Parsley sauce off ebay because I can't get them in Saisburys, Tesco or Aldi. Was only normal price, free postage. Sainsburys have good offers on their app and also Nextar prices. I got £5.50 off a £17 shop the other day. Sainsburys are making an effort to compete with Aldi. I just discovered their Both In One bread as same price.

[Arzosah]

Those are really good, moominmama. Your point about your own current account being with a different provider from your joint account with your husband struck a chord with me. Not quite the same thing, but I have two credit cards: one Mastercard, and one Visa. Like you, I pay them off every month - I've only just got them set up again, because a fraudster cloned my Mastercard from somewhere, and it took a while to prove I was me and not a fraudster. Which kind of proved to me why I had two cards in the first place - against central theft and hacks.

The other thing is if you have to send money abroad, or bring it home (offspring gone missing, holiday rental to be paid for, all sorts of things): I have an apartment in France, and needed to subsidise the blasted thing because it was such a bad purchase which meant sending money through my bank at first. Now that the mortgage is finally paid off, that money stays with me, hurray, so I now use a "multi currency account" with a UK firm. Money goes from my French bank account to my English one in about six hours. I tested it for a while to check it was cheaper than a bank, as they claimed, but I haven't for a while, I confess.

[jansman]

Like Moominmama,my wife has set up a current account also. Beyond our joint one. We have one credit card,which is used online only at eBay and Tesco. Paid in full each month. However,in light of the fact it is in my name ,I shall cancel it. It too was merely to keep fraud away.
I don’t like online shopping particularly,I prefer cash,but my wife does hers from an account she can control. One doesn’t get mugged in the street anymore!

[Frnc]

Some excellent points here, very useful food for thought

We have wills in place, and keep these with account information, and funeral requests in labelled folder with our records.

Husband and I both have life insurance, through workplace pensions and separate life insurance policies, luckily I got mine in place a number of years ago before recent health issues as that put travel insurance premiums through the roof, and expect it would do the same for life insurance.

I monitor utilities, and subscriptions - we have Amazon prime and no other streaming.

We have no big ticket expenses coming, that I know of, we got new double glazing windows in recently to replace original 1970's windows, and got in solar panels and a battery last year.

Other thing is that I made a point of ensuring that my current account is different provider from our shared joint account provider in case of problem with one provider.

Couple of thing I had really not considered. One was the changing credit card - as it was paid in full and no charges I had never looked at changing, I am now going to look at Sainsbury for nectar points, thank you for flagging this up. The other was 'food wealth' - for some reason, although I 'prep', and am good at food growing and planning / purchasing / storage I had never considered this as 'food wealth' or a hedge against inflation.

Summary of below:
At Sainsburys there are:

Offers
Nectar prices
Nectar points from spend
Nectar point offers
Personal Nectar point offers in app (need to save these)
Personal Nectar prices (Smart Shop)

Nectar is not just points. They have Nectar Prices as well. These are temporary. So one day an item will be full price. Then it will be £1 off for a few days, maybe even 2 weeks. At the moment there are a lot of frozen things that have good Nectar prices. You need to remember to scan your Nectar card to get them.

Another thing with Nectar is extra points. These are personal, and show up in the Nectar app along with your personal Nectar prices which you need to do a Smart Shop to get. You need to save the Nectar points offers.You can save them all at once. Smart shop is where you can items yourself in the Smart Shop app.

Finally there are normal prices reductions. You can see these online or in the Saimsbury's app. You can save things you buy regularly to Favourites.

So, when I'm going to Sainsbury's, I do the following:

1. Look for offers in the Sainsbury's app
2. Look for Nectar prices in the Sainsbury's app. Also you can look for high value Nectar points being offered.
Obviously you do 1 and 2 at the same time
2. Save my personal Nectar points offers in the Nectar app
3. Look at my personal Nectar prices in the Nectar app. These are what you need to do a Smart Shop to get. You only need to do a Smart Shop if you want these.
All of the above I note on mt shopping list, using Notes app.
4. Remember to scan your Nectar card. You need to do this before clicking the pay by card button.

To do a Smart shop you scan each item in the Smart Shop app. For things like Cauliflower you scan the tag on the shelf. For loose mushrooms etc you weigh them and scan the label. At the end, you scan an image/code on the screen of a self checkout, or next to the till.

All this is pretty complicated, but you soon get used to it. I walk round Sainburys with my phone in my hand. My shopping list is on it, so I use it even if I'm not doing a Smart Shop. On my shopping list I note offer prices, Nectar prices, my personal Nectar prices (Smart Shop), personal Nectar points offers and general Nectar points on offer. I only note Nectar points if it's a large amount, or enough to make me decide to buy something.
The list is a tick list so I tick what I want, and untick them as I go round.

NB: if you do a Smart Shop, remember to scan everything, remember to put everything you scanned into your basket, remember to check numbers of items in the app, eg 1 of A, B and C, 2 of D. If you are buying 2 you can scan it twice, or once and change it to 2.

[jansman]

Here is a good one for you; I have been on the phone this morning to life insurance and pension funds. No problem. However,if I claim now,it will affect my benefits ( and after 40+ years of tax payments,that ain’t happening!). My illness would allow me to claim now.
So I have spoken to reps at all these places,and such things as up to date wills are most important. Not a problem,as I have dealt with that too!
My point though is that you make sure your paperwork is straight.

[Arzosah]

Here is a good one for you; I have been on the phone this morning to life insurance and pension funds. No problem. However,if I claim now,it will affect my benefits ( and after 40+ years of tax payments,that ain’t happening!). My illness would allow me to claim now.
So I have spoken to reps at all these places,and such things as up to date wills are most important. Not a problem,as I have dealt with that too!
My point though is that you make sure your paperwork is straight.

And to get good advice about the way various finance pots interact, and then think it through before a decision - it sounds like you've decided to leave the pots where they are and keep on the benefits you're entitled to. Good! That's certainly what I'd do in your current situation.