#oneminutemoneymagazine

[malswebparty]

Apologies for Absence and Plans for Future Return

Thank you to all readers for staying with me during the recent absence.  I’d love to return in full, but various essential projects make that impossible at present.  Rather than press on half heartedly, I’m going to take a break until the completion of some of the projects hopefully in Summer next year, but definitely intend to be back.

I’ll be torn between the niche oneminutemoneymagazine and the more popular malswebparty, but that’s a decision for next year.

Best wishes to all readers, Mal

(23/06/2022)

[oneminutemoneymagazine]

Goodbye to Debenhams

Barring a last minute intervention, Debenhams department stores are due to close finally early next year.  It’s a shame, but not a surprise.

It is worth visiting them now either in store or online.  There are many good quality items available with already reasonable prices discounted by (say) 20% or 30%.  There’s unlikely to be fresh stock as suppliers could not be confident of being paid by the liquidator.  This means you may have to compromise on things like the colour of a sheet, so it’s worth having a look as soon as possible.

Apologies that this is going to sound overly opportunistic, but it’s in everyone’s interest that existing stocks are sold.  Finally, please remember to be pleasant to the staff.  They lose their jobs soon after Christmas.

(10/12/2020)

[oneminutemoneymagazine]

Short Break

I’m signing off for a week or two.  Back soon, Mal

(04/03/2020)

[oneminutemoneymagazine]

How to Find Information about an Old Pension Scheme

The government has an online service to help people find details of whom to contact regarding their old pension schemes.  It isn’t perfect, but it can be very helpful.

Go to www.gov.uk , search for “find pension contact details” and select the first item shown.  Click “Start Now” and follow the instructions.  Hopefully you will find the name, address and telephone number of the organisation administering your old pension scheme.

This should not be confused with current plans for a new “Pensions Dashboard” about which I’ll be writing fairly soon.  It’s also a very good idea to maintain your own good quality records of pensions and other financial matters.  After all, a four drawer filing cabinet will occupy only 3 square feet (less than 30% of a square metre) of floorspace in exchange for masses of storage.

(20/02/2020)

[oneminutemoneymagazine]

Seasonal Break

I plan to be back in January.  In the meantime, have a happy Christmas and all good wishes for the New Year.  Mal

(13/12/2019)

[oneminutemoneymagazine]

“Men should be either treated generously or destroyed because they take revenge for slight injuries; for heavy ones they cannot.”

Niccolo di Bernardo dei Machiavelli (1469 - 1527), Italian political theorist.

This demonstrates that dirty political tactics are nothing new: no wonder the word Machiavellian has gone into the dictionary.

(06/01/2020)

[oneminutemoneymagazine]

Gas and Electricity Bills

Taking a welcome break from tomorrow’s general election and Brexit, the original photograph above is of the back of an envelope received from the DWP (Department for Work and Pensions).

I’m not sure what the Advertising Standards Authority would say about the first paragraph, but took a look at the website anyway.  You can see how much you could save by switching supplier in a straightforward table.  Always check the cost shown against the tariff in the supplier’s own website.  There’s also a guide to quality of service.

Now that there is a statutory cap on svr (standard variable rate) tariffs, they tend to change with effect from each 1st April and 1st October.  This means that there is little point in switching to a different svr tariff towards the end of a six month period as the data will change very soon afterwards.

(11/12/2019)

[oneminutemoneymagazine]

Short Announcement

Apologies that family commitments mean taking a break from the blog.  See you again some time around the second half of August.  Best wishes to all readers, Mal

(30/06/2019)

[oneminutemoneymagazine]

A Landmark for the Blog

A big welcome to my 100th follower and thanks to everyone else for their continuing support, Mal

(10/02/2019)

[oneminutemoneymagazine]

The Freecycle Movement

The Freecycle movement began in America in 2003 and has since spread to the UK and 119 other countries.  If you have something useful you no longer want, you can advertise it, hopefully receive e-mails from people who would like to collect it and arrange collection by one of them.  One photograph can be included in each advertisement.

Following a house clearance, my place is cluttered with surplus items which are much too good to throw away or even recycle.  Antiquarian books are always popular if described as such, but I have also handed over a large plastic sports bag, a small stainless steel pedal bin and an old fashioned tea tray over the last few days.

Freecycle does not allow age related products such as alcohol, tobacco and DVDs rated 12 or above.  However, there is an amazing variety on offer.  Members can also post “wanted” advertisements asking whether anyone has a particular item they no longer want.  To find your local group, go to https://www.freecycle.org/ and search for your town, city or county.  Be careful to try several times though.  For example, if you search for “Surrey”, you won’t be told about the thriving group in Guildford, Surrey with about 35,000 members.

The main economic effect is that overall we have more useful things.  This is partially offset by the need to buy less.  Unfortunately economic statistics will report only that we are consuming a little less, even though we will actually have more.  Other effects are reducing the local council’s garbage disposal costs and meeting nice people in the Freecycle movement.

(08/01/2018)

[oneminutemoneymagazine]

Signing off for a Week or Two

I’m dealing with a house sale which is taking place next week, so will have to take a short break from the blog.  Apologies to the online friend who asked for some thoughts on demographic changes and the Brexit referendum result.  They will appear, as will a radical suggestion regarding ISAs.

Back soon, Mal

(23/11/2017) [But I may post the occasional reblog in the meantime.]

[oneminutemoneymagazine]

Message from an Online Friend

“I like the financial content of your blog, but as a LIbDem think it is too eurosceptic and political.  Could you please comment.”

Thank you for writing.  I understand that there are people who like the EU and its institutions and hence feel bad about the referendum result.  I had exactly the same feeling in 1975 when the vote went the other way if that’s any consolation.

My suggestion is that you switch to following justthemoney, where you’ll find all of the financial stuff, but very little politics and no views at all on the EU.  Best wishes, Mal

(17/07/2017)

[oneminutemoneymagazine]

Introducing LISA: 2 (and last)

If you are eligible, is it right for you?

The hybrid nature of the contract and the conditions for retaining the bonus make this decision difficult.  The LISA is likely to be more attractive for 20% tax payers than for higher rate people, who will have their own personal investment and tax advice.  You will need to make your own asessment of whether your first home is likely to be in the right price range and whether you will need a mortgage to buy it.  Also will it be a joint purchase with someone else?  Frankly, it comes down to little more than guesswork.

The best response is probably the traditional one of diversification, i.e. put some money into a LISA and some elsewhere.  However, if you are approaching the age of 40, do make a small LISA payment soon to safeguard your entitlement to continue contributions up to the age of 50.  All of this naturally is subject to the dubious assumption that legislation won’t change, so good luck.

My recent reblog from online friends accountshouse mentioned the very small number of LISA providers and the fact that there is only one cash LISA on the market.  Given that the industry has had a full year to prepare, something is wrong.  I suggest that there has been too much government chopping and changing recently regarding tax free savings and that many providers are not convinced that LISA is here to stay.  The limited eligibility of the contract and fact that contributions cannot be more than £4,000 per annum don’t help either.

(23/06/2017)

[oneminutemoneymagazine]

Administering Wills 6: Statutory Advertisements

Please go back to December 2016 to see the first five posts in this series.  The observations and tips apply specifically to England and Wales, but should be generally useful in the rest of the UK.

Executors are liable personally to unpaid creditors if they distribute the estate without having found out whether there are any such claims.  One way of checking for these is to advertise in the London Gazette and a local newspaper.  After two months, the executors can distribute the estate and not be personally liable for any claims arising in the future.

The bad news, however, is that such creditors can pursue their claims directly against the beneficiaries.  In my view, this is a major drawback.  Furthermore, opportunists and fraudsters could read the London Gazette looking for targets.  Another factor is that not placing the advertisements will save the fee (in the region of £200) and reduce administration.

So how can executors protect themselves and beneficiaries most effectively?  Firstly they can read everything delivered in the post.  Secondly they can hold back some of the assets for a temporary period before distribution.  It is important to explain the issues to the beneficiaries, but they may disagree and want immediate payment.  If all of them are prepared to take the risk of being pursued by creditors in the future, maybe the advertisements should be placed.  However, executors should insist on all beneficiaries producing formal letters to this effect in their own handwriting!

Acknowledgements and thanks to my solicitor for his very clear explanation of the issues, although the views above are my own.

(04/03/2017)

[oneminutemoneymagazine]

Coffee Shop Problems

The experience of having a coffee and cake when shopping or travelling should be relaxing and non controversial.  However, I’ve met problems recently in two areas.  Before being specific, continental readers will need to know that a fluid ounce is a measurement of volume equal to 28.4 ml.  20 of them make a UK pint and 16 of them make the smaller US pint.  The latter is probably more logical as one US pint of water weighs one pound instead of 1.25 pounds.

Costa: Without telling us, they have reduced the sizes of their drinks.  Large, medium and small drinks have been cut from 20, 16 and 12 fl oz to 16, 12 and 8 fl oz respectively.  This is underhand and unfair on customers.  There’s more on https://www.thesun.co.uk/money/9684681/costa-shrinks-cup-sizes-at-the-same-time-as-putting-up-its-prices/

It is even more unfair on Costa front line staff who are having to explain the reduction to virtually every customer and, from my experience, are not briefed at all well.  The explanation I received at Swan Lane, Guildford was garbled and defensive.  It took a couple of minutes to understand it and other customers have no doubt been less sympathetic to the staff.

Costa have fences to mend with their customers and staff.

The Bitecard: This is supposed to be a discount card reducing the price of coffee etc. at most UK railway station outlets by 20%.  However, even though the website is unchanged, my card has been refused.

I e-mailed Bitecard, who have not responded in any way.  I have now chased them asking for an explanation by the end of the month and hence will update this post in November.  In the meantime, do be aware that your Bitecard will probably be refused.  If you have any recent experience here, I would be very grateful for an e-mail to the usual address (oneminutemoneymagazine@gmail.com).

(17/10/2019)

[oneminutemoneymagazine]

August Break

After a “spike” of posts over the last couple of weeks, the rest of August will be relative quiet here, but we should be back to normal in September.

My parallel general interest blog (malswebparty) will be back from its break this week with thoughts about how the two Formula 1 grands prix from Silverstone, UK could differ from each other.  There’s also an interview planned with Nottingham poet Martin Grey about his first book which is being published in September plus all the usual reblogs etc.

(05/08/2020)