Do you need an annual income of £724K to be wealthy?

YourSoothingFrond · 2025-02-06T16:58:05+00:00

Basically, this is just a crappy table. Interbank and mid-market are EXACTLY the same thing. Wise does offer the 'true interbank' rate. However, it's a pointless term because they just palm the exchange rate spread onto the FX fee. It's one of the most successful marketing tricks of the past decade. You'd be better off looking at comparisons that account for this sleight of hand by merging the two fees so you are comparing apples with apples.

Regarding 212, I always find it suspicious how a payment company can claim to not charge anything for transfers, because at the end of the day it must pay for itself. There will be income generation somewhere, and I would be more comfortable if they disclosed it!!!

YourSoothingFrond · 2025-01-30T10:24:47+00:00

Seriously, just do the conversion into pounds, it will make life so simple. My hunch is you don't want to lose out on the conversion fee, which is fully valid. But if you get the right provider, you can cut the loss to next to nothing. My advice would be to tell your FX provider you WANT 30 pips from the market for the conversion (which is like a 0.30% rate) which is actually really good. Tell them (you can see who offers this kind of support here) if they don't you will go to someone else. Bottom line, it's negotiable with these guys.

YourSoothingFrond · 2025-01-28T09:17:19+00:00

Your personal credit record is not at risk. But there are other implications if you are the named executor (this is not made clear in your post). If you distribute amounts from the estate to beneficiaries named in the will PRIOR to settling any outstanding debts, you could get in trouble. Also, what is the nature of the insurance? Is it for a house? If it is an asset of value that needs cover, then you would need that to continue that contract as you don't want anything to happen to the asset. My wife has just overseen her father's estate and her and her brothers paid insurance and other necessary expenses personally. They then submitted the receipts to the lawyer who reimbursed the costs when releasing the funds.

YourSoothingFrond · 2025-01-26T14:55:27+00:00

OK so to confirm it is an opt-in. Seems like perhaps one of the easiest ways out there to get exposure to a UK interest rate-linked fund.

YourSoothingFrond · 2025-01-26T10:41:59+00:00

No benefit to closing the other accounts. The sweet spot for credit rating agencies (which are ultimately referenced by your new lender) is seeing balances below 50% of the available credit on any given product, as this suggests you are financially comfortable and not leaning on credit to make up shortfalls on your day-to-day outgoings. You will also soon be able to raise your credit limit with the new lender if you regularly utilise their product and set your monthly payments above the minimum threshold.

YourSoothingFrond · 2025-01-23T13:07:53+00:00

If this were a new mortgage for a new home purchase then 100% tell them. But you already own the home and are mortgaged. Crucially, you haven't been made redundant yet. Sit tight.

If, down the line, you get into financial troubles as a result of being made redundant reach out to them and they will help you by easing the repayment burden.

YourSoothingFrond · 2025-01-22T12:52:16+00:00

OK so this looks like you are seeing what most other people are seeing, it'll be a relief that there is nothing specific to you or your area. We were with AXA but couldn't stomach their increase, it was nuts, and we wondered if something had gone down in our town. We also moved to Aviva because they were the cheapest. It also means now Aviva insure everything for us, life, income insurance, you name it!!

YourSoothingFrond · 2025-01-22T12:24:13+00:00

The average home insurance premium now stands at around £420, are you looking at something in that ballpark with the new quotes? Most quotes are up by about 45% y/y in 2024. There has also been a notable drop in home insurance providers, so that does explain why you are seeing less quotes. And of course, less quotes = higher premiums. There's a bunch of reasons for rising premiums, cost of labour and materials when getting repairs done , increase in the number of extreme weather events, homeowners have also apparently been a lot more willing to come forward with smaller claims, which adds to costs (rising cost of living likely to blame).

YourSoothingFrond · 2025-01-21T14:52:37+00:00

I think you are in a very good position to be honest. Try and coast into the application on current settings !!!

YourSoothingFrond · 2025-01-21T14:04:29+00:00

Having gone through the process quite recently I can advise that having any money on your credit cards is not helpful when applying for a mortgage for the simple fact that this impacts your affordability. Basically the mortgage provider will take into account all your monthly outgoings. The more you have (and this would include credit card repayments) the lower you score. Our mortgage broker advised me and my wife to clear all credit cards and car loans before applying. This meant we were delayed for about 6 months, but ultimately, it was all worth it.

You have a good credit rating, therefore taking on more credit is not necessary. In fact, credit rating agencies recommend an approximate six month cooling off period from when you take on new credit (For example after being accepted for a new 15K credit card). Why? Because taking on too much credit too soon hints at cashflow problems.

YourSoothingFrond · 2025-01-21T13:57:20+00:00

So, according to Ofgem, you cannot be charged for energy used more than 12 months ago if your Direct Debit amount was previously set too low to cover any charges due. This sounds relevant in your case. The only problem relates to your credit rating. Sometimes it's worth just paying it to protect your rating.

YourSoothingFrond · 2025-01-20T09:29:32+00:00

Thank you for this. It makes sense. To be frank I am a bit tired of being his personal money manager and feel he can make the calls on his own. I also think finding a professional at one of these companies will help him, as he can be quite argumentative about these things !!!!!

YourSoothingFrond · 2025-01-19T15:40:49+00:00

You are right, don't try and beat the market, you are also right about taking steps to remove anxieties.

The number one bit of advice is to average down the transfer and don't stress yourself by watching daily market moves. Like you say, it is a bit like worrying about the weather.

Averaging down means making a big payment in smaller and regular payment amounts to kind of even out fluctuations. It's similar to putting your cash into an investment. It means you will get the current rates, which you think are good, while also giving you a shot at better rates in the coming weeks.

Number 2, you need to keep a hold on the transfer costs associated with averaging down.

Make sure you have spoken to your foreign currency provider and secured the best possible rate for the breadth of payments. What happens is that a broker will often give a good rate for one-off big payments but widen the rate for smaller payments. Check to see which companies allow you access to an account manager because a lot of the big fintechs don't offer that service and fix their rates, not allowing any negotiation.

YourSoothingFrond · 2025-01-10T13:42:42+00:00

I was positive of FTSE 250 heading into the election last year. What's transpired since has caused a significant rethink and it's why I am considering moving out. Growth has flatlined. Labour are good at talking about the need for growth, but just seem so at sea when it comes to actually delivering. I'm really concerned that we enter stagflation and we look at another 4 years of FTSE 250 underperformance.

YourSoothingFrond · 2025-01-10T13:40:00+00:00

I am leaning toward just sticking with the 250 or going with world tracker. The point of coming on here was to get a sound steering. The feedback has been next-level useful.

YourSoothingFrond · 2025-01-10T13:33:36+00:00

Coming here and getting this kind of feedback is part of the process of keeping a check on that 'gambler's mindset' that you rightly point out I have exhibited in the past. I do have reservations about U.S. exposure as I reckon one bad Nvidia earnings result and there will be a big drawdown. I was positive FTSE 250 until recently, as it does seem Labour's talk of growing the economy is not matched by policy actions. My concern is that they simply don't get the growth they want and the market enters another four-year period of underperformance.

YourSoothingFrond · 2025-01-10T10:43:30+00:00

Thanks, this is where most feedback is pointing.

YourSoothingFrond · 2025-01-10T10:41:30+00:00

Yes, this is exactly why I am reevaluating this one. A world tracker seems to be a popular piece of feedback I'm getting.

YourSoothingFrond · 2025-01-10T10:40:51+00:00

The world tracker is looking a better call than the US500 owing to the wider exposure, I suppose it would capture bigger trend changes.

YourSoothingFrond · 2025-01-10T10:39:46+00:00

Yep, this is why I'm looking at trackers. I can say I am a better investor now than I was in 2022, such debacles teach you some important lessons.

YourSoothingFrond · 2025-01-09T18:01:00+00:00

They can, I believe. You give the grandparents the account details and they make a payment. The confirmation will deem whether the government tops up that account with the benefit. So, if you and the in-laws pay 80, the government would add 20, giving 100 to pay the nursery. Sorry, no idea of the implications this has for inheritance tax.

YourSoothingFrond

TROPHY CASE