Money Whinge

Raising of The School Leaving Age

2007-05-12T18:08:00.001Z

Item moved to http://gosportinfo.blogspot.com

Charity or Pressure Group

2007-04-27T10:16:00.000Z

I understand a charity called Alcohol Concern is saying (according to the BBC) the age when alcohol should not be given to children under any circumstances should be increased to 15, from 5 now.

I understand the Grip Water given when I was young had 4% alcohol and shandy under 2% was sold with the soft drinks. I may have this wrong as it is memories from many years ago.

I understand that some give a small drink to children or with water at special occasions so as not to make a big deal out of drinking. I am sure this works with some and not others, but this is probably the case with whatever you do. I understand that the Minister said it would be very difficult to police, though you wonder about some of these groups, do they want every second of every person watched, perhaps we do not have enough CCTV cameras, which in some cases are fine, but footage should only be used where a crime has been committed. They also want the price to go up, well that will give the Government more money to waste, or perhaps they think the extra should go to groups such as theirs.

In the past I made home-made wine and a bit of beer, but with the reduction in prices and my other interests this has stopped and I feel more did make wine and beer at home in the past, so is it just the measurable amount of alcohol (that bought) that has gone up but overall gone down. Not all home-made came from kits and who know what kits were made and how many failed. So are their statistic correct. After all at school I was told the oil in the North Sea would run out in the 1990's and in 1985 by the year 2000 there would be 2,000,000 who were HIV+ and 1,000,000 dead, the insurance companies excuse for increasing male life insurance premiums by about 50%.

Anyway, what I wonder is, has this charity over stepped the mark and become a pressure group not entitled to tax exempt status? I understand there are organisations that are classed as pressure groups as they lobby for a change in the law. I hear charities doing the same thing but they keep their charitable status and so are subsidised by the British Tax Payer.

When a charity as with any organisation anything said is only being said by a proportion of that group, usually the stronger character types from the organising committee. Ian

MS Vista UK Price

2007-04-10T22:24:00.000Z

Though I am trying out a vertion of Linux called Unbuntu which is the first one I have been able to install and work, it even has the advantage of being about to select the applications that you want and the system will install them, sort of like installing MS Windows modules.

Anyway, the reason for looking at it is that I cannot see that I will be able to afford the VISTA cost for my PC and Laptop. In the past I have bought my computers from Novatech, who included a proper MicroSoft O/S, though for XP it was a cut down recovery disk. In the leaflet provided, it says if you have a problem, and have a full XP disk you can use 'Recovery Console' if a Novatech Recovery disk you have to format and start again. I feel a lot of the MS advertising was about recovering your system. Now I find some, who knows maybe all computer suppliers, do not even provide a disk, you have to remember to copy it off your system when setting it up. What if you disk or copying software fails, no recovery disk?. So perhaps you go for a Full Vista and pay double the USA price. There is a Number 10 Petition which you maybe interested in, unless you are one of those great people who program for Unbuntu Mozilla or OpenOffice you are making the software able to be used by more people each year. Ian

Recycling and Bins Charges

2007-04-09T19:14:00.000Z

I was not sure whether to add this item to this blog or the other that I do called 'Gosport.info' where I put down things about Gosport or a Gosport linked theme.

I hear today that Councils will be allowed to charge for the quantity of waste taken. If Gosport was to do that they will have to sort out the glass recycling, which is not collected with the recycling bin. You have to take it to a glass bin in car parks and so on dotted around Gosport. It is OK for me as there is one in Whites Place which I pass a couple of times a week, but only have a bag full of glass once a month or less. I know of people who do not, and add it to their waste, due to the amount they have or as they do not have a convenient bin.

Now if there was a charge it may encourage more to put the glass in the bin, but as I said I go past the Whites Place bin and at least 3 times this year at least one section of the bin is full, so there are boxes and bags of bottles, piled around the bin. How many more bins or times a year would Gosport need to empty the bins. Of course this also answers the criticism of Gosport made by local papers and politicians, as I could see if we were as bad as they say there would be a risk of someone breaking the bottles around the car park, would the Council be responsible for any damage? I feel I could point this out as only a month or so ago I e-mailed the Council about the full bin, even then it was a couple of weeks before it was emptied.

The Gosport recycling does seem to cause some confusion. I understand in some areas letters are put through the door. The people who receive them see them as threats. I do some gardening including some bungalows in the Elson/ Hardway area, an elderly lady received one of these letters, as she was sorting out the recycling items and putting the different types in different carrier bags, she thought that she was helping, but the Council were not happy as the plastic bags were in the bin. She said that,'they will have to sort it themselves'. Which is I suppose what the Council want. The authorities talk about recycling of the past, but do not seem to want to look at how it was done then. Even I remember the recycling of 'tin foil' - aluminium foil, I think most of the 'Guide Dogs for the Blind' were paid for by it. I also feel it is odd that household batteries are not recycled, as I understand they contain metals, some of which I understand, have a value others are toxic, so should they be buried or burnt? Ian

Incandescent Light Bulbs

2007-03-26T21:10:00.000Z

I understand that the British Government with the EU are going to ban the sale of incandescent light bulbs in 2010. Now that is OK, I do not have any in my house now but there are problems with the new low energy bulbs.

I have some that are over 15 years old with no noticeable reduction in light output, whereas the bulbs that I have added over the last 5 years either do not last more than 2 or 3 years or their light output drops, I would say in a few months. I feel that the quality of the current range of bulbs are poorer quality, perhaps as they can get away with it due to all the stuff about Global Warming. Though the bulbs claim to have 4 times the light of an incandescent bulb of the same wattage, surely that is when first produced, mine seems to fall by a third so roughly that would be closer to double the light output of the normal bulb, but they cost a lot more. So perhaps the thing to be in with Global Warming is low energy light bulb manufacture.

I also understand that there are people with a light sensitive form of lupus, which means they can only be in rooms with incandescent bulbs, I wonder how they will deal with that? Ian

IVA (Little Known Government Legislation)

2007-01-04T00:31:00.000Z

IVA - Little Known Government Legislation - Well that is what they say on the increasing number of adverts on television.

For the last few years that I was in the Inland Revenue I was involved in dealing with bankruptcies, liquidation and other insolvencies. I left over 6 years ago, so am sure there have been many changes since then.

As usual there two ways at looking at these adverts. I felt that if you had no money you had the worst help, if there was some money but did not know how to work the system, would be badly treated and I even felt the creditors did not do well out of it, if £2,000 available the fees from the Insolvency Practitioner would be more than that or if £10,000 the fees would be over £8,000. There was even a case where the insolvent person had a creditor, who was paying back £150 per month, so the Practitioner kept the case open to receive these funds, but also added there would be nothing available for creditors.

If you knew the system and could pay a few thousand to the Insolvency Practitioner for the initial work, they would be able to bid for the assets at a price, true low, but also true, the original owner of the business would place more value in the assets than others. In the case of professionals very often IVA's would be sorted out, they always claimed the bankruptcy costs would give more to creditors with an IVA, of course there is also the 5 years of payments in to the fund.

I feel it is good that the IVAs are not now limited to a small number of people. The downside being that if you have just spent more than you earn, should this be encouraged. After all if you do not pay what you owe, others have to, hence the Banks wanting to charge for more services. If you have been borrowing responsibly, but say lose a job or become ill, I feel help should be there. With everything something is set-up to help others take advantage. Like the accident compensation, where people have serious injuries need money to keep them going, industrial decease which can disable or kill, the time has been reduced. Them people who fall over take advantage of the system. Ian

Pirate Items on the News

2007-01-04T00:01:00.000Z

I will say first, that I do not approve of 'Pirating' items, even to the extent that people get annoyed with me over not accepting things.

The thing that annoys me it the figures given on the News etc. for the amount lost as if people would be able to buy the same number of items if only available at the full price. For example there was a News items about computer games in markets, at a time when the were £40 plus, in the market the pirate version was £5 and people were buying say 3 at a time. They seems to have calculated a loss to the business in that case of £120, but if they had that much money would they buy only 3 of the £5 ones?

Another annoyance, was the CD Wow thing where they charged an additional amount for CDs obtained outside the EEC. The business and band maybe from the UK, but they are happy to do the recording abroad, printing of the discs and covers in Southern Europe, producing the discs in Asia. They sell in these places at a lower rate (even the USA) but they do not like it if we buy from the best value place. They say as there is a cost of research and development, but why should the UK be the only place that pays for this. Even if it is a British band, if someone from overseas enjoys the music they should also pay their share of R & D.

I know some US states tried to charge Banks which had branches in the State, the worldwide profits to the States taxes. Perhaps the UK should charge UK companies to worldwide profits based on the price they would have charged for their goods in the UK. Perhaps they would do more of the production in the UK or reduce UK prices, OK it would not work. Ian

Not a Money Whinge (Voting Age)

2007-01-02T16:59:00.000Z

I understand that the Government from October will increase the age that people can buy cigarettes and tobacco from 16 to 18. Now this does not effect me as I am well over 18 and have never smoked.

I understand that the Government wants to show how seriously it takes the damage to health of smoking, in the past comments have been made that the Government does not have any interest in reducing smoking as the tax on a packet of cigarettes is about 75% of the total cost.

The problem as I see it, is that the Government wants 'young people' to become more responsible, but increases the age limit for purchasing certain items, perhaps they need to offer something back. I feel reducing the voting age to 16 will not cause any harm and may have some benefits. There is a General Election about every 4 years on average, (up to the 5 years maximum) so the first General Election that someone could be when they are 22-23 a time when they are living their life and have managed without politics, so why would they bother about it. If reduced to 16 it would take the first General Election say to 20-21 and a number before leaving school or college, a time when people are more interested in politics so the Parties may find it easier to recruit help for General Elections if they are also going to be able to vote.

I doubt the outcome of an election would change much as it would would only mean about a million or so potential electors, spread over the UK and of course would not all vote the same way. It may also help to balance in a small way the increasing numbers of electors in the older age group. It may also balance the feeling the Government is against the young, in increasing the age for various things (except in one area effecting a minority of the population), comments about 'Youths in Hoodies', 'Overweight young people', 'Binge drinking', pushing for the further education, and so on. It may even reduce or reverse the fall in people voting in elections, by catching peoples interest at a young age and maybe even holding on to some of it. Ian

Why I Started

2007-01-01T02:08:00.000Z

Many years ago I noticed interviews, one with a Petrol company spokesman, on one occasion at a time when petrol prices were going up, the interviewer suggested the profit per gallon had gone up to 22p, but the spokesman could not say the profit, he said there were problems with calculating the costs of different products from a gallon of oil. A couple of years later petrol companies were complaining of falling profits, at that time they told the interviewer they knew they were only making 6p a gallon.

Another time there were complaints in the media that Barclaycard was making very high profits, the spokesperson was only able to say as Banks provide a number of services but they do not know the breakdown of the costs of the Bank for each service. This was accepted by the interviewer. My feeling were that if someone went to a bank to ask for a loan to increase part of their business, I feel the bank would say,'but how do you know that you are increasing a profitable part of your business.' After all the part of the business that the person is increasing, could be making a loss, that is not noticed as overall the business is in profit, the banks would expect a breakdown of the costs of each product.

I felt that in both cases, the interviewer did not know much about the subject. I feel this is improving with the likes of Adrian Chiles, who when necessary, will question about the reply given, but by the same token, where you could not expect a business to give a full answer, but does the best that they can, he seems to appreciate it, after all who wants to hear the same question 15 times, when you know that it will not be answered after the first couple of times. Ian

Money Expert Web Sites

2006-12-31T06:39:00.000Z

I have been receiving e-mails from two money advice web sites. One of them has even saved me some money and even gives a donation to charity for each new subscriber to the web sites. Both sites have article of financial interest. They are Money Saving Expert and Money Info Master have a look and see what you think.

Best wishes for 2007. Ian

Endowment Mortgages

2006-12-30T14:02:00.000Z

I know a lot has been said about endowment shortfalls, but I would like to add my personal experience, when applying for a mortgage in 1984.

I went to what was then the Abbey National Building Society and they did try to get me to take out an Endowment Mortgage, but I thought it was not suitable to me. I was 25 and single, I also felt that as the tax relief was going down there would be less of a benefit paying interest only. They tried the,' but you could expect £10,000 (on a £15,000 mortgage), I did not think £10,000 would be worth very much after 25 years, as it is houses like mine are about 5 times the price I paid for mine 21 years ago.

I also said I wanted to be sure that the house would be paid off after the 25 years at the latest, the mortgage adviser did not seem to understand that it could be a problem, she also said that if I had wanted a 75% or higher mortgage, there would be no option with them. At that time people tended to take a mortgage with the Building Society that they saved with, the Building Societies even used to say you had a better chance of getting if you saved with them, so little shopping around. I did take a repayment mortgage with which I was able to pay off in 11 years, by paying extra after the 5 years, when a penalty would have been charged.

So how can they say any were not miss-sold when most would have just gone and taken what the Abbey National said they could have, without knowing what questions to ask. Ian