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Month: February 2015

February 2015 Income/Expenses

February 2015 Income/Expenses

It’s month end today which means time for this month’s Income/Expenses! February is the month where all our big annual expenses come in as its the anniversary of us purchasing the house. I also registered my motorbike in February so annual expenses relating to that come in this month too. Fortunately the bike passed it’s first MOT, the mechanic commented on how high the mile counter was for such a small/cheap bike.. he couldn’t quite believe I’d used a £700…

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I just saved over £500 with a single phone call

I just saved over £500 with a single phone call

What would you do if someone came knocking on your door demanding over £500? Would you invite them in for a friendly discussion to sit down and work out the calculations used to reach this figure.. or would you tell them to shove it and crawl back under the rock they came from? Having recently watched a TV series (on catchup, no tv licence required) which followed a team of court bailiffs; I’ve seen plenty of such reactions and they’re…

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Family finances and property

Family finances and property

Apologies for the delay between posts, I got hit by a cold and have been pretty groggy for the past week. Last weekend I received a call from my younger sister, She’s a couple of years younger than me and in almost the exact same position of life as I was at her age.. Living in rented accommodation with her partner and desperately trying to save a house deposit whilst seeing the money disappear in rent. She was calling to…

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Why do personally tailored annuity rates matter?

Why do personally tailored annuity rates matter?

Despite their bad press recently, annuities still remain the firm favourite for a majority of new retirees.. and with good reason. They offer the security of a fixed income for life and with the ability to match inflation and/or offer spouse support. However many people are simply purchasing an annuity from their pension provider without comparing the market to find the best rate, potentially losing them tens of thousands of pounds. I’ve asked Ryan from Compare Annuity to give us…

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The 4 Foundations of Retirement

The 4 Foundations of Retirement

I was initially going to title this article “The 4 Segments of Retirement” as the maths behind it is more easily demonstrated in pie charts.. however while thinking about it further it becomes obvious that each of these 4 areas are indeed the foundations on which your retirement is built and supported. For many people retirement is a distant thing which slowly and predictably edges closer while being built up automatically through small pension deductions and government support. However those…

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