Live Well on Less

Payment Methods and What You Should Know - Standing Orders

2013-03-19T11:33:00.000+00:00

This post is the fourth in my Payment Methods and What You Should Know series.

Standing Orders

These are the best method to use for regular scheduled payments, simply because it is a kind of payment that is

New Rules on Pension Annuities

2013-03-01T16:16:00.000+00:00

By the end of this week, the rules governing annuities in the UK will change.

Previously, the rules in force for using your pension pot were as follows:

You could cash out a maximum lump sum of 25% from your pension pot
The remaining 75% of the pot HAD to be converted to an annuity by the time you reached 75

Payment Methods and What You Should Know - CCA's

2013-02-22T21:30:00.000+00:00

This post is the third in my Payment Methods and What You Should Know series.

What is a CCA?

CCA stands for continuous card authority, and this is a payment method that not many people are aware of, even when they have one set up!

Payment Methods and What You Should Know - Direct Payments and Transfers

2013-02-18T21:50:00.002+00:00

This post is the second in my Payment Methods and What You Should Know series.

Direct Payments

What is a direct payment? This is a bank transfer from your account, to another person, or organisation's bank account, for the purpose of paying a bill. A reference number or code is usually attached to the process so the other party can see the payment and tie it up with the relevant transaction at their end.

Payment Methods and What You Should Know - Direct Debit

2013-02-13T21:30:00.000+00:00

On the way home from work last night, I was chatting with a friend when the subject of monthly bills and banking came up.

It turns out my friend didn't realise Direct Debits are entirely controlled by the other party who bills him!

He's a bit older than me, so I was shocked.

Then I started paying a bit more attention to what some of my peers knew about basic banking, and where they stood with what - oh dear, oh dear, oh dear...!

So this is the first of a series of posts to do with everyday banking, and covers such things as payment methods, the rules regarding them, and personal bank accounts.

10 Tips for Buying a New Mobile Phone

2013-02-01T21:30:00.000+00:00

So I finally got round to replacing my battered mobile...

(This is a continuation of my previous post: Coming to the End of My Mobile Phone Contract)

I'd been keeping an eye on the prices for a couple of phones over the last few months, hoping the contract rates would drop in the New Year.

It seems to me that newer models, and more fashionable models are often sold at prices that are a little over the odds, but then that's business for you. If there's the demand for a product, the price will go up!

So what did I do in the end?

Should I Convert My Car to LPG?

2013-01-31T21:30:00.000+00:00

I like cars.

I like fast cars, but with a new family and a restricted budget, I don't really have the funds for it.

Or do I? I've been eyeing LPG conversions and apparently, a car running on LPG is only slightly less powerful, and will give slightly less mileage, (I'm led to believe it's about a 10-12% loss).

But have you seen how cheap LPG fuel is??

Let's do the maths...

10 Blog Posts I Liked This Month

2013-01-25T21:30:00.000+00:00

I've noticed several bloggers often post a list of posts or sites that they like on a weekly or monthly basis etc.

At first I thought this was just lazy blogging to be honest, but then it occured to me, that some of these are themed, or just have a certain "flavour", so reading one that fits with your out look can actually be immensely helpful, (and all too often very time consuming!). So, I decided to do the occasional one myself as well.

This one isn't themed as such, (future ones will be), it's just posts I happened to have recently read and liked.

Here's my first short list:

The Zulu Principle

2013-01-23T22:48:00.000+00:00

Currently I'm reading a book, called "The Zulu Principle"^*, with a view to making some selections this year to start up my investment portfolio with.
*amazon affiliate link

It's a book outlining a particular investment strategy based on your own "circle" of knowledge.

Warren Buffet refers to the "circle" of knowledge and advises you don't invest outside it.

So what is this "circle of knowledge"?

When Should You Buy A House?

2013-01-15T21:30:00.000+00:00

Both here in the UK and abroad, housing markets have been somewhat unstable over the last decade, and it appears to have inspired a lot of debate.

As someone from the UK, buying a property has always been seen previously as a no brainer. Over time, property prices always go up.

Traditionally, renting a property has been thought of as like flushing a lot of money down the drain every month, but is that still the case?

What are the options??

Save on that Gym Membership!

2013-01-14T21:00:00.000+00:00

OK, I nearly gave in.

I've been working on my fitness at home recently, mainly because I've been unlucky enough to catch the damn norovirus. I've pretty much fought it off now, but it's parting gift has been a nice rash all over my body. The doctor tells me it will pass in about 4 weeks(!), so my usual trips to the swimming baths are totally out of the question.

Anyway, following that, over the weekend, I also managed to break my rowing machine >:(

As a result, I'd been edging ever closer to that gym membership, until I discovered: Youtube!

Save Your Shoes!

2013-01-09T22:00:00.000+00:00

Once upon a time I took up what I thought was a really good offer. Two pairs of shoes for £55, (that's about $90US) from a shop that looked like it was closing down - oh fool that I was!

Within literally 4 months, both were falling apart. I'd worn through the soles on one pair, the soles were coming away on the other, and I needed to spend more money to have something professional looking to wear on my feet to work.

And the shop is stil there, advertising it's "bargains".

It reminds me of a fictional character (by authorb Terry Pratchett) called Capt. Vimes and his theory of "socioeconomic unfairness".

It goes something like this:

New Year's Resolution - Getting Fitter

2013-01-07T22:00:00.000+00:00

OK, so this post isn't exactly about personal finance per se, (there are obvious parallels if you look for them), but from chatting to my work colleagues I thought it might be relevant. It seems the three of us have kicked off the New Year, with different personal fitness training regimes.

Colleague A has decided to plumb for the P90X program, colleague B has gone for something called, "Cardio!", and I read and decided to try something called the "Afterburn Effect".

It's all part of that New Year's resolution thing of course, so my posting on this blog also means I can be held accountable to it!!

So, first things first, what are they?

New Year's Resolutions

2013-01-01T22:30:00.000+00:00


Click for Attribution

Terms like #NYE, #2013 and the like have been rife on twitter these last few days. Not surprising really with 2013 being round the corner, but reading some of the tweets has left me a bit saddened.

Most of them have been along the lines of:

"...I hope 2013 turns out better than 2012".

And it's the same every year.

Every one looks to the future in hope, lamenting the past/passed year.

This year, my resolutions are going to be slightly different...

Start Planning for Christmas and Everything Else Too?

2012-12-31T22:00:00.000+00:00

Click for attribution

Listening to the Radio on the way into work this morning, and it turns out that nearly half of us have used some form of debt to pay for Christmas this year.

According to the BBC, the average amount put on credit cards, overdrafts and the like is just over £300.

Combined with this, the news also told me that several retailers had record sales figures on Boxing Day as well this year.

What's going on?

Your finances as a Couple

2012-12-27T21:30:00.000+00:00

Click for Attribution

A lot of this post is deeply personal, but I've decided to share my feelings for a couple of reasons.

1. When you and your partner are pulling in different directions financially, it causes huge problems in your relationship.

2. All the other posts I have read on couples and money have been from a reasonable point of view.

So what happens, or what should you do, if your partner doesn't respond to reason?

Coming to the End of My Mobile Phone Contract

2012-12-13T20:30:00.000+00:00

This is currently how I have to recharge my mobile phone...

Turns out my "trusty" Samsung Galaxy S1, is probably more "rusty" than trusty. For a while now, it's had it's problems, and then 2 weeks ago I dropped it in the bath...

It's those damn breast pockets. Ideal placement for your mobile until you bend over like I did getting my son out of the bath. Doh!

I fished it out quickly, took the battery out and left it near a radiator to dry out overnight. Thing is, it wasn't very well before I did this, so I've been oggling new phones and trying not to fall for any hype over any NBT (Next Big Thing).

So what am I doing about it?

More About Money and Happiness

2012-12-10T18:30:00.000+00:00

After writing a post recently called What is Happiness and Can I Afford It? I had a few more thoughts about how money and happiness (or contentedness) are inter-related.

There's the old saying that money doesn't buy you happiness, which can be further extended: but it does make being miserable more comfortable.

On the other hand, let's not forget that wealthy people are still the same as the rest of us. Their hormones work in the same way, and so do their nerve endings. They still have the same feelings.

It's all a question of your perspective and attitude. For example:

Make Your Car More Efficient

2012-12-05T17:25:00.000+00:00

Fuel is soooo expensive these days, or rather the huge amount of tax on it is. It's the major price of car ownership, and if you're like me living in the country, it may well be a necessity too.

Fortunately today, the UK's chancellor decided once again to put off the 3p rise in fuel duty he had planned to introduce next month, but that won't happen forever. As sure as eggs is eggs, fuel prices are going to go up again some time soon.

On the plus side, modern cars get ever more efficient, but if you can't afford to change your car right now, what do you do?

You can actually make your car more efficient without having to learn one end of a spanner from the other. Here are a few very basic tips to help you save.

Reaching My Target

2012-12-04T17:04:00.001+00:00

Well, a couple of weeks ago I finally reached 40.

Am I happy about this? No not really, no one wants to get old, and the "old" jokes from my colleagues in the office have got "old" really fast...

So why this post?

Basically, because I had a target to be debt free, (apart from the mortgage), by then.

Did I make it?

Saving on Fuel Bills

2012-11-29T00:41:00.001+00:00

You might not think there's much you can do to save money on your gas and electric.

After all, you need the heating during the winter, and most meals need cooking. Then there's the lights, hot water and the washing machine. There doesn't seem much scope for cutting back on these things and you would be right.

However, there's a few quite small things you can do that make a significant difference to your home's efficiency, and with the energy companies putting their prices up far more than inflation each and every year, it's definitely worth looking in to.

I've Joined the Yakezie Challenge

2012-11-27T23:50:00.000+00:00

OK, so this post isn't going to be quite as laser focused on personal finance as my previous posts, but bear with me as it is still related.

Currently, I work for an insurance firm as a webmaster, and I set this blog up for 2 reasons, firstly, it's partly an experiement for promoting my workplace (see the link for business insurance down the right hand side).

Secondly, I feel, given my mixed history with my own finances and my career path, that I potentially had a unique perspective that could help people. I'll be going much further into this point in a new post very soon.

Anyway, as part of my on going personal struggles with money I have been taking comfort and inspiration from other blogs such as the rather wonderful Mr Money Mustache which was one of the first ones I happened to come across. Since then,

Managing Your Money With An Aggregator

2012-11-21T23:31:00.001+00:00

Reading a few other personal finance blogs, I recently became aware of a type of service called a "money aggregator" which a few bloggers have raved about, so I decided to have a look into them.

I found a couple, such as mint.com and watched the explanation video and was very impressed with what it appeared to offer, but not living in the US I couldn't try it myself unfortunately. However, I did find one that's based in the UK called Money Dashboard and decided to try it out...

Accountability

2012-11-13T18:30:00.000+00:00

OK, so I'm writing all this stuff, and I'm sure a lot of you, dear readers, may think something along the lines of: "Well it's alright for him, he's sorted now, he can preach as much as he likes, but things are different for me."

Well that's not the case. This is where I take a bit of a risk and make myself accountable to you all. I am only part way through my recovery process. It's been a lot of hard work, and there's still a long way to go.

This is where I am right now:

Saving

2012-11-08T17:00:00.000+00:00

The returns are too low, it's not worth it.

I'm 50, it' far too late for me.

I'll get round to it sometime.

I don't have any spare cash.

I'm paying off my debt first.

There are better things I can do with my money.

There are many reasons (or excuses) for people not to have any savings, and these days with credit still being easily available, (although not as cheap), should you even bother?