It's probably me but.....

Halifax actually cancelled a credit card I had with them due to lack of
use. They were also very careful with credit limits. While ultimately
it saves them money not to maintain the account it was interested to
note that they clearly watch what people do and in their case act
prudently. The rest of the credit card companies just keep trying to get
me to spend!

 

Lots, I bet.

 

I could afford to be out of work for about 8 - 9 years at current
spending levels given the total of my bank balances. I accept spending
levels might change if I was out of work but there is room for economies
if things got really bad ;-) This analysis does not take into account
the effect on my pension provision due to no contributions being made.
This is obviously the more serious downside.

Indeed - for those who are sophisticated enough to play the money game
well then well done them. I can't really be bothered with the hassle.

 

Don't forget to move out of equities into bonds as you near
retirement.
--
| ___ Salad Dodger
|/ \
_/_____\_ GL1500SEV/CBR1100XXX/CBX1000Z
|_\_____/_| ..87918../..23274.../..31893.
(>|_|_|<) TPPFATUICG#7 DIAABTCOD#9 WG*
|__|_|__| BOTAFOT #70 BOTAFOF #09 PM#5
\ |^| / IbW#0 & KotIbW# BotTOS#6 GP#4
\|^|/ ANORAK#17 IbB#4 YTC#4 two#11
'^' RBR Clues: 00 Pts:0000 Miles:0000

 

Not in the least - you earn them money every time you spend, and pose
next to no risk. Money for old rope.
--
| ___ Salad Dodger
|/ \
_/_____\_ GL1500SEV/CBR1100XXX/CBX1000Z
|_\_____/_| ..87918../..23274.../..31893.
(>|_|_|<) TPPFATUICG#7 DIAABTCOD#9 WG*
|__|_|__| BOTAFOT #70 BOTAFOF #09 PM#5
\ |^| / IbW#0 & KotIbW# BotTOS#6 GP#4
\|^|/ ANORAK#17 IbB#4 YTC#4 two#11
'^' RBR Clues: 00 Pts:0000 Miles:0000

 

That dear old chap, SD tugged on his pipefull of old shag and said:

Or, to put that into English, stop relying on the gee-gee's and start
going to bingo.

 

Tough at the top.

--
platypus

"Merely corroborative detail, intended to
give artistic verisimilitude to an otherwise
bald and unconvincing narrative."

 

Three months? Oh. That means I can go on a bit of a spree, then.

A "down the pub" survey was conducted among my colleagues around the
middle of last year. Of a department of 20 working in investment
management - only eight had any kind of savings/investment, other than
a deposit account. None of us had any investments lodged with our
employer - sharesave schemes excepted.
--
| ___ Salad Dodger
|/ \
_/_____\_ GL1500SEV/CBR1100XXX/CBX1000Z
|_\_____/_| ..87918../..23274.../..31893.
(>|_|_|<) TPPFATUICG#7 DIAABTCOD#9 WG*
|__|_|__| BOTAFOT #70 BOTAFOF #09 PM#5
\ |^| / IbW#0 & KotIbW# BotTOS#6 GP#4
\|^|/ ANORAK#17 IbB#4 YTC#4 two#11
'^' RBR Clues: 00 Pts:0000 Miles:0000

 

I thought you were supposed to be told that the insurers would chase
you in the event of a claim. I was warned about it when I took out the
mortgage but, fortunately, never put it to the test.

Lots of people went through negative equity. It didn't really worry me
when it happened, I just accepted that I couldn't sell the house for a
few years without getting in serious shit.

 

I think you'll find that it was the lender who was insured and they
simply made the borrower pay the premium for them.

That doesn't make the insurers bastards.

 

<AOL>

Except I use my Air Miles Mastercard to collect, well, air miles.

Which is why I've resisted the offer of a company CC for so long. I book
my own company flights and hotels on it as well, and with fairly
frequent long-haul trips, it clocks up the miles quite quickly. Used
them to pay for two of last season's skiing flights, for example.

 

I fell for that one with a company cc ... _someone_ was getting
shit-loads of Airmiles, but it certainly wasn't me.

 

Yup. Doing that gradually already. I've still not decided whether to a) put
up with this lot and cruise it b) pack it all in now or c) go elsewhere.
I've a second interview with a very decent major and well known software mob
next week, so we shall see. I'm definitely a control freak, given how much I
like having every option open.

Ali

 

Oh, quite. I doubt anyone here would starve. It's the old thing about having
been poor, having been rich, and rich is better. Not that I am the latter,
but I've been the former - I still have this almost race memory of that.

Ali

 

I had a very good IFA a few years back. He was pretty good at advice and
planning, and totally pants on his own personal finance.

Ali

 

I think it was very dependent on area. In my part of London, they plummeted.
My house dropped by over thirty percent, and I knew of worse ones than that.
These days, property values are more smoothed across the UK than they were
then.

Oh, quite - but being this close to new initiatives in property law and
conveyancing makes me just slightly wary, to say the least. Or more wary
than I am already. There will be a huge leap in property listings in May
this year, with estate agents going bugfucked to nag people to list. That
should be interesting.

Ali

 

That's a loud ding, then. (As long as one pays off in full every month, to
avoid the evil charges.)

Ali

 

message

BA Amex. Costs 80 quid a year, but got me two club class flights to Dubai
last year.

Ali

 

I use them in exactly the same way, although I'm giving serious
consideration to cancelling my Swiss card, as I hardly ever get the
chance to use the miles it earns and it costs me 40 quid a year for
the privilege.

Cunts. I've still got an MBNA card that I almost _never_ use. In fact,
I can't use it at all in the UK, as I don't know the PIN for it. It's
got a direct debit from my UK bank account, so it's really there as an
insurance premium in case I ever need it.

Sure, they all keep a careful eye on spending patterns. I've worked on
card-related systems a couple of times, where this sort of information
was very highly valued. In one case, it was used to decide which
customers would not complain too much if an annual charge was levied
on their cards - this wasn't those with loadsa money, but the ones who
couldn't afford to pay off their balance and would be reluctant to try
and move elsewhere. Wouldn't happen now, I guess.

--
_______
..'_/_|_\_'. Ace (brucedotrogers a.t rochedotcom)
\`\ | /`/ GSX-R1000K3 (slightly broken, currently missing)
`\\ | //' BOTAFOT#3, SbS#2, UKRMMA#13, DFV#8, SKA#2, IBB#10
`\|/`
`

 

Makes sense. We're slightly the other way round: when we retire to
you-know-where, we'll spend a fair bit more on the house than we sell this
one for. Going from a London three bed semi to somewhere with more space and
a sea view.

Heh.

Ali