[IanP]

I think good advise for the normal punter (ie don't drive around in 5 series or have multiple properties etc...) on here would be to make over payments instead of banking it (interest on borrowing is always more than interest on saving accounts), gambling on the stock market is just that, gambling.

I think there's some sense there.  Also worth considering that many people these days have considerable exposure to the stock market in the form of their pensions.

Though as somebody who's fairly risk adverse this possibly displays my biases.

[shark]

Though as somebody who's fairly risk adverse this possibly displays my biases.

Climbers at some point risked life or at least limb. It is not logical (to me) to shy away from from calculated risks  hich don't hurt or kill you. 

[Johnny Brown]

I've now got a vision of Shark stick-clipping his way through the stock market...

[IanP]

Though as somebody who's fairly risk adverse this possibly displays my biases.

Climbers at some point risked life or at least limb. It is not logical (to me) to shy away from from calculated risks  hich don't hurt or kill you.

That only make sense if you think there has to be a direct connection between how you view physical risk in activities you do in your free time and how you view financial (and other) risk in you general life and work.  For me there is no connection at all - I enjoy a degree of risk and excitement in both climbing and cycling but work and finance wise I'm the epitome of boring middle class.

[mark s]

just renewed mine today to a 2 year fixed and saved 60 a month.shall carry on paying the amount into though as get it payed off sooner.
doing that rather than the massive pension payments at work

[Johnny Brown]

Are the fire service pensions not pretty good?

[Probes]

This thread has spurred me into sorting my morgage/remorgage out. Tesco seem to have a good deal on fixed rate... only £195 switc over fee on 2/5yrs with intial rates being pretty standard to £1000 switch overs and svr of 4.24 thereafter.. 

[Snoops]

If you're looking to remortgage we''l do 'mates rates' for the conveyancing.

'cause my ignorance, but why do we need conveyancing for a remortgage? Get it when you are 'buying' the house from someone, but can't quite understand why I need solicitors for a remortgage?

Because unless you're staying with the same mortgage provider you'll need to discharge one mortgage and have the entry on the LR changed, I can't imagine there's a lender who'll allow you to do this yourself and even if you're staying with the same lender they may insist on sols doing the work.

Thx for the explanation.
Whats the going rate?

[shark]

That only make sense if you think there has to be a direct connection between how you view physical risk in activities you do in your free time and how you view financial (and other) risk in you general life and work.

Its all life.

[IanP]

just renewed mine today to a 2 year fixed and saved 60 a month.shall carry on paying the amount into though as get it payed off sooner.
doing that rather than the massive pension payments at work

I'm not a financial advisor but a quick Google finds that the 2006 NFPS has employee contribution rate of approx 9-10% and a nominal employer contribution rate of 14.2% - I think even Shark would consider that to be very difficult investment to turn down unless you have very specific personal circumstances.

[Sloper]

If you're looking to remortgage we''l do 'mates rates' for the conveyancing.

'cause my ignorance, but why do we need conveyancing for a remortgage? Get it when you are 'buying' the house from someone, but can't quite understand why I need solicitors for a remortgage?

Because unless you're staying with the same mortgage provider you'll need to discharge one mortgage and have the entry on the LR changed, I can't imagine there's a lender who'll allow you to do this yourself and even if you're staying with the same lender they may insist on sols doing the work.

Thx for the explanation.
Whats the going rate?

We'd do a UKB special @ £270 + VAT & dibs but we're not on the Santander Panel.

There are some bucket shops who'll charge £150 to £225 but at this price you're getting an an unqualified monkey and your 'client experience' will be shit with no one returning your calls etc. 

People think that remortgages are a five minute job, they're not.

[shark]

just renewed mine today to a 2 year fixed and saved 60 a month.shall carry on paying the amount into though as get it payed off sooner.
doing that rather than the massive pension payments at work

I'm not a financial advisor but a quick Google finds that the 2006 NFPS has employee contribution rate of approx 9-10% and a nominal employer contribution rate of 14.2% - I think even Shark would consider that to be very difficult investment to turn down unless you have very specific personal circumstances.

There have been a few company pension schemes that have gone to the wall as Im sure you are aware so by no means risk free. There are also charges (sometimes well hidden) and most funds perform less well than the FTSE100. With ISAs you (effectively) are taxed on the way in but pensions you are taxed on the way out subject to allowances. They are also subject to political meddling though Osbourn has gone some way to increasing flexibility. There are advantages to pension schemes and employer contribution is an additional incentive to take into consideration but not necessarily the no brainer you imply.

[IanP]

There have been a few company pension schemes that have gone to the wall as Im sure you are aware so by no means risk free. There are also charges (sometimes well hidden) and most funds perform less well than the FTSE100. With ISAs you (effectively) are taxed on the way in but pensions you are taxed on the way out subject to allowances. They are also subject to political meddling though Osbourn has gone some way to increasing flexibility. There are advantages to pension schemes and employer contribution is an additional incentive to take into consideration but not necessarily the no brainer you imply.

Well its a government scheme so is pretty much as low risk as you can get.

I'd be interested to see some maths that suggests you can get a better return investing 10% of your income outside of a pension compared to investing 24% of you income inside one. 

[lagerstarfish]

I spoke to a fit bank drone at TSB about the 5% on the first 2k thing a couple of weeks ago

she pointed out that my wife and I can have 3 such accounts - one each and one joint and also said that just shifting my wage through all three (one into the other into the other) each month would be cool with them for the basic conditions

[shark]

There have been a few company pension schemes that have gone to the wall as Im sure you are aware so by no means risk free. There are also charges (sometimes well hidden) and most funds perform less well than the FTSE100. With ISAs you (effectively) are taxed on the way in but pensions you are taxed on the way out subject to allowances. They are also subject to political meddling though Osbourn has gone some way to increasing flexibility. There are advantages to pension schemes and employer contribution is an additional incentive to take into consideration but not necessarily the no brainer you imply.

Well its a government scheme so is pretty much as low risk as you can get.

I'd be interested to see some maths that suggests you can get a better return investing 10% of your income outside of a pension compared to investing 24% of you income inside one.

I was making some general points about Pensions vs ISAs. Granted in the near future you are not forced into an annuity but your "investment" went to zero when you died.

[shark]

When you bank your hard-earned pay check, the bank immediately loans it out to Shark to buy yet another Sheffield student flat.

Thanks guys 

[GraemeA]

Just to confirm, Habrich. Do you mean to say that the most sensible option is to take a low rate and put the excess money into some financial product or other?

Without getting into more complicated products, cash ISAs are paying out between 1.5 and 2.5% at the moment, so with borrowing rates being consistently higher it makes more sense to me to put excess money into overpayments (with some still going to the cash ISA rainy day fund; haven't got round to a stocks and shares ISA yet) insofar as early repayment rules allow.

Stabbsy sent me a PM with some useful stuff to consider so need to scratch our heads a little more yet.

Yes - stocks over the longer term as habrich suggests is worth considering. One relatively straightforward and flexible approach would be to regularly pay into a shares ISA that can hold a low cost FTSE tracker fund that reinvests the dividends like this one.

3.05% of that fund is BAT 

[lagerstarfish]

you got a problem with selling fags to kids or something?

[Sloper]

Nah, G's just a lifelong Imperial Tobacco man.

[Paul B]

just renewed mine today to a 2 year fixed and saved 60 a month.shall carry on paying the amount into though as get it payed off sooner.
doing that rather than the massive pension payments at work

It seems like since I first took out my mortgage the rulse have changed and now, over the phone, companies are unwilling (unable?) to give out terms and rates and instead spend 60 to 90 mins asking your opinon on financial risk and then present you with one solution (as deemed best by them). Has the general public been deemed incapable of deciding their own financial future in the past few years?

This is quite annyoing, mainly because First Direct can't offer me a phone appointment for nigh on 3 weeks!

Is there a way to proceed 'un-advised'?

[Sloper]

Yes, the government has finally woken up to the fact that most people are pretty ignorant when it comes to 'number style err economic thingies' and so on and it is now part of the regulation of financial services / banking that the affordability of the loan is discussed and the bank gives advice.

When you look at the number of people with interest only policies with policies that won't cover the principle, people not allowing for rate rises and so on I'd say this paternalistic approach is no bad thing.

[Paul B]

Affordability, key facts etc. fair enough... but I find the approach of only presenting me/the public with one rate that they deem best for me as a little patronising.

[Jaspersharpe]

Best not to go direct to the lender and get someone who knows how to sort these things out to sort it out. In my experience (and that of loads of my clients, friends, family etc) anyway.

[Sloper]

Affordability, key facts etc. fair enough... but I find the approach of only presenting me/the public with one rate that they deem best for me as a little patronising.

We were presentd with various options, in terms of periods of fix and so on all with different rates as well as flexible BOEBR + x%, of course they were all RBS products but that's because we got our mortgage through our bank.  While we might have been able to save £30 per month by shopping around the upfront brokers fees and the risk of losing the house we want wasn't worth it.

Anyone with half a brain knows we're in line for another recession: if we get another 3/4 years of good growth (I can't see it lasting longer than that) the next time I don't think we'll be able to keep rates @ .5% and I expect that there'll be a significant contraction in property values and a lot more repos.

[Paul B]

We were presentd with various options, in terms of periods of fix and so on all with different rates as well as flexible BOEBR + x%...

...and I'm informed as of April last year they can no longer do this, hence the above.