As the Budget looms at the end of November everyone seems to be worried about tax increases that will cost them dear. Hundreds of millions of pounds are being invested in pensions to take advantage of tax relief and similar sums are being taken out of pensions to use the tax-free allowance, which they fear is going to be withdrawn. Meanwhile there are lots of easier and less dramatic ways to pay less tax without taking big risks.Make sure you use your personal tax allowance and if you do not earn enough your spouse or civil partner can benefit. It takes minutes to apply online for the marriage allowance that can give a couple more than £150 a year or £1,000 if backdated by four years.Low earners can also keep more of their savings' interest than the rest of us. It is possible to earn more than £17,000 in bank or building society interest and pay no tax. Couples should organise their savings so they pay the least tax. Individual Savings Accounts are available to all of us and are free of income and capital gains tax on cash or stock market accounts. Higher earners may also able to keep their entitlement to child benefit or free child care by paying more into their pensions. Noone should pay more tax than they need to. Now is the time to claim your full allowances. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Ep - 110 - Your Questions Answered
Mortgages cause worry and uncertainty about how to get the best deals. While people with fixed rate mortgages at historically low interest rates are worried about making ends meet when they have to remortgage there are lots of people who took out loans two years ago and now face enormous exit fees if they want to change lender to get lower mortgage payments. Both problems are tackled by Mrs Mean in today's podcast. One listener faces an £18,000 exit fee to leave his five year fix with more than 6% interest to move to a loan at 3.75%. The exit fee is horrendous but moving now could save £36,000. Brokers should help make such a deal work.Moving from a very low mortgage rate to the current moderate mortgage payments can be daunting if your wages have not increased substantially in the last few years. Taking a lodger under the government's Rent-a-Room scheme may help to stretch budgets. It allows homeowners to earn £7,500 tax free and cover the higher mortgage payments. Taking a part-time job can also boost your income, and generally in UK an employer cannot stop an employee from having a second job, unless it is specificaly prohibited in their employment contract or would bring the firm into disrepute. That means no to Only Fans but yes to dog walking. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Ep- 109 - Back to School Savings
Autumn is a time of reckoning and it reminds us of the days when the long summer holidays were over and we had to go back to school to a new class and new challenges The holidays are a memory and the credit card bills have arrived. New jobs, new schools, new students, new rentals,all house purchase beckon as we make a new start ahad of winter.You also need to make sure you are getting good value for your money and to sort out your finances before the end of the year.Having a deadline in the calendar is much more likely to spur us into action than the vague notion that we ought to be better with our money.The cost of renting is rising far faster than house prices and many tenancies are up for renewal in the autumn. Around a million home owners are facing higher mortgage rates. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Ep- 108 - Cut Energy Costs
Days are getting shorter and it is time to start thinking about heating and lighting bills after months of no heating costs.The energy price cap is set to increase again in October, but there are lots of fixed price tariffs that can save you money. It only takes minutes.It is also time to think about insulation while the foam is cheaper. You can also get boilers serviced cheaper this month and benefit from more efficient heating into the bargain .Before the heating goes back on there are lots of quick ways to save money and many households can also get help with cost of insulation and new boilers, especially if their council tax band is A to D and their energy performance certificate is D,E, F or G. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Ep - 107 - Keep Track of Your Money
We need to talk about money. Banks and building societies have more than £280 billion of our money in accounts that pay no interest whatsoever. Customers may not realise how much they are increasing the profits of banks, but if they paid customers a modest amount of interest if would cost them £7 billion a year. As the banks will not look after us we have to do it for ourselves. It is time to check all our accounts and to make sure that we are getting a fair deal, and then to keep a record of all our financial dealings. We also need to make sure that we are not ripped off, and that we pay less interest on overdrafts and credit cards. But that is not enough we should share information with partners or other close family members. By doing the homework we can pass on the information to others and ensure thaqt elderly relatives are not taken advantage of. If we keep records it also helps us to be more efficient. And if we need help with our finances during ill-health it will be easier to get.Too often insurance companies, banks and others take advantage of older customers, especially those that have been loyal. Just because we choose the best account or policy it does not mean that it remains market-leading. We need to check the market often to protect ourselves. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Mrs Mean sets out to save you money every day. She details the tricks and the ways we are persuaded to spend more than we can afford. With the economic crisis hitting so many people, now is the time to work out ways of saving your money. Let Mrs Mean and broadcaster Glen Thompsett guide you through the maze. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
UK