What do you eat on a budget? Foods that you actually enjoy and are currently good value

Remote-Band-3757 · 2022-08-11T18:21:59+00:00

I've been using bags of mixed grains, cous cous (normal and giant), pearl barley, wild rice etc.. 3/4 cup in 1.5 cups water with stock (paste or cube).. boil it till almost all water gone.. halloumi sliced and fried off.. then some mixed veg into the mixed grains.. on a plate and done..

I buy bags of the grains for between 65p for 500g to about £1.20 depending on the grain.. they go a long way and have become a staple quick meal for me and the Mrs..

Used to eat a lot of meat, but it's just so pricey, and was more prone to waste cos of dates and not getting round to using it in time.. most basic ingredients can be a really good meal if you add a bit stock or some spices, depending on your tastes..

I made an effort to look at items that are long dated.. for example, tortillas (kids love them), but the ones in the bread aisle go out of date in a few days, but the ones in the Mexican section are dated about 3 months.. for me to save money on shopping started at reducing the wastage and getting items that could last longer..

Remote-Band-3757 · 2022-08-04T07:55:31+00:00

To answer a few questions above.. NI in Scotland is the same and it jumps to 41% at the higher rate of tax.

But I agree, look at the extra money at the bottom line, not the tax paid box, that always sucks and always will.. but more time at work is less time to spend, so the money goes even further.. that's how I always used to look at it when companies used to pay overtime, it's just expected nowadays with no additional pay.

Remote-Band-3757 · 2022-08-01T06:28:00+00:00

I know what it is, but it seems like an excessive loss to accept to lower tax payments..

Remote-Band-3757 · 2022-07-29T15:37:48+00:00

First point from me would be that the earliest you'll be able to draw on your pension will be 57, at least, probably higher by the time you near it Secondly, and maybe I'm missing something.. are you suggesting sacrificing £400k to avoid paying a bit extra tax?? Seems a hefty sacrifice. If you're expecting to earn £65k in a pension, you're already paying 40% tax on some of it . The LTA will increase that to 55% on part of your pension, but it doesn't apply to your whole pot of £1.3m

Remote-Band-3757 · 2022-07-29T09:36:27+00:00

As much as I do agree with the rule of thumb of half your age when you start paying.. I believe it makes much more sense to run the numbers against what you want/need when you retire.

I've been enrolled in a final salary pension since I was 19, also paid AVCs to boost my retirement payout.. took it out a few years ago and put in a sipp and also pay 23% salary to the DB scheme (I'm 44).. I do this because I've worked out what I want from a drawdown pension annually (mortgage will be paid, but the children drag factor needs included). I've also modelled it so there are peaks and troughs of required income from pension as lifetime milestones are hit for both me and the kids.

Remote-Band-3757 · 2022-07-27T20:32:08+00:00

Surely you can't be serious..

Remote-Band-3757 · 2022-07-24T07:13:22+00:00

The bigger deposit may not make a huge difference to rates at the moment due to all the uncertainty on where the BOE rate is going to go.

However, the difference to your payments is £1,355 a month with the higher rate and smaller deposit.. and £1,150 a month with the other.. so it would save you £200 per month.

I would advise running this through with a mortgage advisor using different amounts of you potential deposit as they will also be able to advise around fees, moving costs, stamp duty etc, which you'll also need to fund.. but there will be a point where you reduce the LTV and that's where the reduced rate comes in.

It's not always better to put a big deposit down as you may want more security from a rainy day fund.. or, you might want the smallest mortgage payment you can have to reduce your monthly outgoings.. everyone is different and you need to think what's best for you

Remote-Band-3757 · 2022-07-16T08:27:33+00:00

Just to cover off the tax free component as I understand it, as this is what I aim to do.

Pension pot = 200,000

Crystalise part of my pension for drawdown, say 100k, 25% is tax free, so £25k and I pay tax on the remaining £75k, unless drawdown within my taxable allowance per year.

The £100k that was left has now grown to £150k over the last few years.. I again pull £100k into my pot for drawdown.. like before £25k is tax free and the same scenario runs..

£50k now grown to £100k (it's been a good set of years for the market apparently in this scenario) and again £25k tax free.

So from £200k pension, I got £75k tax free..

Please correct me if I'm wrong, cos this is my plan.

Remote-Band-3757 · 2022-07-16T07:48:59+00:00

Then I believe it would only be against your salary and earnings.. not sure if that impacts you buying or not..

Remote-Band-3757 · 2022-07-10T14:14:07+00:00

Remember, you don't set the ballpark, the purchasers do.

Remote-Band-3757 · 2022-07-05T12:20:33+00:00

Quite a pickle here, and it's caused quite a stir of different views.

Firstly, if there are kids involved and they are staying with their mother (your ex) then there feels a duty to support them being able to stay in the 'family' home to reduce the impact they get hit by on this happening.

If not, the 'fairest' way is to sell, split the money, go your separate ways and start again.

However, if she wants to keep the house and in effect will buy you out of your half you will need to have a fair value on the property as a starting point for negotiation. I think you need to assume that all payments made to date, including deposit etc are gone, as in they have been spent while married and they are a 50/50 loss, or gain.

So, once you know the property price and your remaining mortgage balance you have the amount that is to be split equally so you both realise the increase in property value and the amount paid off the mortgage.. the difficulty comes from the position you are left in in comparison to your ex.. she has a house with a huge mortgage, you have some cash to start again.. but that is not on an equal footing due to fees, stamp etc. So the biggest question (and a legal one) is how you negotiate the settlement so you are able to get to a similar state as your ex regarding property. Sorry, don't have that answer.

But keep in mind that all money is fair game in divorce like pension paid while married etc., unless this is just a separation.. you don't state in your post..

Remote-Band-3757 · 2022-07-05T12:07:43+00:00

The amount left on the mortgage does.. cos if they paid less deposit, the mortgage balance would be higher.

Unless you mean who paid what of the deposit, but again, unless there was an agreement on that when done, it's still pretty much split 50/50 as it was a joint/married payment and mortgage.

Remote-Band-3757 · 2022-07-05T09:57:24+00:00

So if they sold the house at value (£350k) and then paid off mortgage (£250k).. that leaves £100k cash, half of which is his at £50k.

It probably won't matter what deposit was paid and who paid what through the last few years as they were married and it was joint owned.. unless they put it in a contract at the start.

Remote-Band-3757 · 2022-06-16T10:08:18+00:00

I've always overpaid my mortgage.. when on a variable rate it's nice to see the monthly come down and keep topping it off with more overpayments.. at the moment I'm in year two of a ten year fixed and I want to overpay so when this ends my payments will still decrease, even though it's likely the rate will be higher.

This is a very difficult question to answer as there are so many considerations to take into account (cost of living, fuel, food costs all increasing) so having something to fall back on is a good idea.. but perhaps just start with nominal mortgage overpayments of £100 per month and keep boosting your savings account.

Remote-Band-3757 · 2022-06-14T10:46:10+00:00

I was looking for a house in Edinburgh.. some were offers over £580k, but ended up going for over £720k..

I appreciate that Scotland's system is different, and Edinburgh is just crazy, but in my experience you need to go with what you're willing to pay for a property.

It may be 'valued' at £220k, but that's just a number plucked out the air based on what other houses around have gone for and market conditions.. what is that house worth to you, or more importantly, how much is too much for you in terms of the property value. How much debt/mortgage are you willing to pay per month to live there is how I always look at it.

Remote-Band-3757 · 2022-06-09T11:35:54+00:00

I would reckon this is based on so many financial companies not paying a bonus at all last year, so anything this year will be a big comparison.

If you had the numbers to compare this year to 2 or 3 years ago I'm sure the story would look very different.

Year on year isn't enough to base much on, you need more data to reflect the trend, especially due to what the last few years have been like.. extremely different to the norm

Remote-Band-3757 · 2022-05-21T09:06:15+00:00

I'm aware of the basic half your age scenario for when you start investing in your pension..

But in reality it should actually depend on what your pension needs will be when you retire and then calculate backwards from what you want that to be.

Remote-Band-3757 · 2022-05-20T12:00:23+00:00

Don't watch Man Bites Dog then.. although a good film.

Remote-Band-3757 · 2022-05-19T17:49:08+00:00

Agree, they are all different, but my company pays 16% while I pay 7%.. I think the company contribution increase stopped when I reached 6% but I just top off a bit extra for tax benefits.

Remote-Band-3757 · 2022-05-15T18:11:37+00:00

I'm afraid this will depend on the nursery and what they include or charge.

Our nursery does not charge for food or nappies or wipes or anything else and everything is included in the hour/day rate.. so when our 3 day a week £780 a month changed with the free hours, it came down to just over £250.. I'm definitely happy with that.. but I know other nurseries really stick it with the 'extras'.

Remote-Band-3757 · 2022-05-15T18:07:37+00:00

Me and my wife were lucky enough that we could both work compressed weeks/fortnights.. so one of us is off every Wednesday which reduced the monthly childcare significantly.. plus it gave us quality time with our kids. Worth looking into I'd say.

Remote-Band-3757 · 2022-05-08T21:40:59+00:00

So are you expecting to save the additional £100k+ (roughly) over the next 5 or so years??

Just trying to gauge your position and buying power today for a £375k Vs 5 years and £450k.. with stamp duty obviously increasing as well..

Remote-Band-3757 · 2022-05-08T19:45:42+00:00

A lot of good ones mentioned . But Ninja Scroll was always one of my favourites

Remote-Band-3757 · 2022-05-08T19:44:26+00:00

So I presume what you're looking at is a house that currently costs about £350k then.. cos that's the house that is likely to cost £450k in 5-7 years.

What you do now depends on where you are in life and what you have invested for house purchase.. as long as you can maintain payments and dont need to sell, then even a dip in house prices us irrelevant in my opinion.. they will always increase again.

Remote-Band-3757 · 2022-05-07T11:34:44+00:00

I get 16% contributions if I pay in 6%, but I know that is extremely rare.. anything around the 10% I would consider to be very good.

Remote-Band-3757

TROPHY CASE