The two newspaper articles aren't mutually exclusive. they're cumulative. The problem mentioned in the first article (removal of ACT - abolition of Advanced Corporation Tax Relief) has been doubled by the problems mentioned in the second article (QE and Gilt yields). Removal of ACT was a major (not 'the' major) contributory factor in causing QE and the fall in Gilts. Unfortunately, the financial side of the market is too complicated for simple solutions. When times are bad the value of precious metals soars and the stock market drops. So gold and silver were the things to have, if you could afford it (affording it and being able to get it are two totally different matters) and after 2008 they went astronomical. Then, as the stock market improves, because of QE, the price of metals drops and 2013 was a real bummer for people who had invested in metals. Now that QE has been 'eased' I reckon things are going to swing back although Margin Debt isn't quite so bad this time. All this gobbledegook is just a way of saying that there are many other factors that influence our pensions and the country's finances and we (the general public) don't have a snowballs at being able to understand it or affect it. We just get dumped on by incompetent Chancellors and Brown gets the Oscar for that! He not only removed ACT but, much earlier, sold off our gold reserves for a fraction of their value! The Bundesbank has recommended that countries in severe financial problems should start taking capital assets from their richer citizens - I hope the airlines have enough planes to take them to their tax havens! Even some of our banks have been said to have stopped ordinary people withdrawing large sums of money (in excess of £5,000) without explanation. None of this may sound a problem to those of us that have very little but it's the general public that gets hit by all this incompetence and lack of forethought. Vote Shiney for Chancellor!
They are blaming that on Quantitative Easing I think? The pound in your pocket is now only worth 90p, or whatever, but still buys whatever a quid used to buy. That's another economics lesson I need to attend!
That's my problem with learning Economics - the need to know all of it, before you can understand any of it. You never explained Margin Debt before using the term ... when you do get to explain it, in five lesson's time, I won't have remembered that it was important in this discussion. Just like the problem I had with learning history. Every history book I have ever read assumes you know all earlier history so they can say, talking of a specific issue, "this was caused by X and Y marrying Z" - except I have never heard of X, nor who Y and Z are. I go and read up on them only to discover that to understand that I also need to know about A through W :( The Computer dictionary is much easier to understand: Recursion: See recursion
I'm never going to explain Margin Debt or any of the other terms! They're all interrelated and will just drive you mad - well, madder than you already are! Recursion. I use a similar thing when running quizzes. I start off by announcing the two main rules for the quiz. 1. The quizmaster is always right. 2. If his answer is wrong then please refer to rule no. 1
Don't waste money at Starbucks, Costa, Nero, etc. Free cup of coffee once a day per myWaitrose Card at Waitrose. Get a voucher once a month for free coffee and cake (nice big portions) at John Lewis with a myJohnLewis account http://www.johnlewis.com/our-services/my-john-lewis Get 4 accounts each and go every week! We also get free tea/coffee on Wednesday mornings at the garden centre with our (life membership) discount cards. And there's always
That picture doesn't bring back good memories of me being in A & E last month. They took a couple of armfuls of blood In that photo you can see Frank Thornton in the background. He played Mr Peacock in 'Are you being served?' and was in most of the good comedies from the 1960's until this century. He was a very good straight actor and appeared in many stage plays and films. They did a 'This is Your Life' on him in the late 90's. He died last year aged 92.
This is why we have loads of email accounts - the first of lot of our vouchers for free pizzas arrived in the post today with loads more to follow. As they're more expensive at Sainsburys than anywhere else, we'll buy 6 pizzas together with a 3 pounds worth of other stuff, use 6 of our pizza vouchers plus our £3 off £20 Sainsburys spend voucher, and get all of our shopping for free plus get £1 'Brand Match' refund per pizza (£3 each at Sainsburys and £2 at Asda). Plus we get Nectar Points on £20 + for bag re-use. Good innit?
Scrungee, I'm beginning to wonder, how do you and Mrs S manage to eat the mountains of food you are stockpiling? Re the free coffees at Waitrose - is it really nice coffee, like a Costa two-handled cup of latte, for example? Or is it a weedy cup of instant? Do you ever have buy anything with the store card, or is it enough to just possess it? Any tips for cutting the cost of eating out as I am seriously overspending on this at the moment?
It gets even better! Those free pizzas that Sainsburys will pay you £1 to take away also have 40p cashback on them http://www.topcashback.co.uk/SnapAndSave/upload/1306 Shame it's only the pepperoni ones and we don't eat meat. Another good cashback is from Quidco, 20p on a pack of 3 peppers. These packs are only 99p in Morrisons at the moment getting them down to 79p for 3 peppers. https://www.quidco.com/clicksnap/details/1787/mixed-peppers-3pk/?ref=/clicksnap/offers/all/ As I mentioned above, if you join and recommend a 'friend' you get a bonus (normally about £10) when they've reached an earning threshold (normally about £10) so you all recommend one another and get a cascade of bonuses. Sometimes the same product is on Topcashback and Quido, such as Quorn Burgers at the moment, then check out cheapest place and upload same pic to both of them (and I've got voucher for money off Quorn at Tescos).https://www.quidco.com/clicksnap/details/1774/quorn-burgers-300g-6pk/?ref=/clicksnap/offers/all/ and http://www.topcashback.co.uk/SnapAndSave/upload/1243 Multiple accounts means multiple savings. Reduced items still get full cashback, but beware Morrisons reduced items don't give a good enough description on the receipt to claim cashback.
Thanks to this thread I currently have 250 instead of 0 in account. Keep the tips coming. What about Facebookgroups like bargain basement or free cycle / Gumtree. I picked up 8 baby outfits a huge play mat with toys attached a baby photo frame and a new birth certificate box a pair of shoes and slippers for £30
Absolutely use Freecycle/freegle. They are a great resource. Also, do you make anything yourself to save money? Good job on the savings! Excellent.
