Saving is a Great Habit!

Getting into the habit of saving regularly is a great habit!

If you visit the website www.thisismoney.co.uk

you can use their calculator to compare the effect of regular savings with
stashing a lump sum.

e.g if you save £250 a month over a year earning 6% interest, at the end of the year you will have
a sum of £3,083 in your savings account.

If you could earn the terrific interest rate of 25%, you would have accumulated a sum of £3,368.

With regards to investing a lump sum, if you invested £15,000 over two years at 6% interest, you
would have a sum of £16,907 to your name.

But just imagine if you could earn 25% interest. Your £15,000 would have been transformed into the
tidy sum of £24,604!

This shows the amazing effect of compounding on your savings which has been described as
the eighth wonder of the world!

Happy saving!

Aled Evans

BBC Website Article on SSE Smart Meter Raises Concerns!

Just thought this article on the shortcomings of some SSE smart meters would be
of interest to consumers contemplating having one installed.

Smart Meter GB, a government agency is keen that all consumers have one
installed by 2020.

Apparently the whole scheme has cost £11 billion pounds so far!

Here is the link to the BBC website article:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-39169313#_=_

Any comments welcomed at:

aledevans910@btinternet.com

Kind regards,

Aled

Smart Meter or Not So Smart!

In my wisdom I recently agreed to having a smart meter installed later this month by SWALEC (SSE).

However an article in today's Guardian (April 7th 2018) has reaffirmed my initial doubts.

The Guardian consumer champions, Miles Brignall and Rebecca Smithers advises readers to be cautious.

If you do decide to go ahead, ensure that you get a written guarantee that the smart meter will be a second generation Smets 2 version.

They describe this campaign to persuade residents to agree to having smart meters installed as ".. the whole thing is a giant expensive mess"

So far, the smart meter programme has cost £11 billion!

And as you can imagine this is scandalously paid for by all of us through higher electricity bills!

Aled Evans

Be cunning with your M&S Sparks card account!

You can sign up for an M&S Sparks card account online on their website.

Every so often you can select special offers giving you discount on certain products.

The secret is to buy the required products e.g jumpers, coat, underwear during a period when a e.g 20% discount is offered on your sparks card account.

Buying goods outside the discount window of say 7 to 14 days can be expensive as I discovered recently!

Having bought £90 worth of clothes at full price, the following day a 20% discount was offered on all  clothing items on my sparks account. This would have saved me £18!

So the lesson is to wait until you're offered a discount before purchasing clothes.

Happy shopping!

Aled

Help with Insulation Costs!

You may not be aware of this, but some councils offer help with improving the insulation and energy efficiency of your home.

You may have to fill in a form giving basic information about your home and your general health.

They ask you for the rating with regards to your property's Energy Performance Certificate.
If you cannot find these details, visit the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government web site at www.epcregister.com
and enter your postcode.

With a bit of luck you should be given your property's EPC, that is if an EPC assessment has been carried out on your house. The ratings vary from A to F, with A being naturally the best.

My local council (Ceredigion Council in West Wales) sent the form out automatically, but if not, always ask as you have nothing to lose, especially given this remarkably cold spell!

Keep warm and best of luck!

Aled

Great energy saving at home advice thanks to SSE

https://sse.co.uk/help/energy/energy-efficiency-and-saving/energy-saving-at-home

Why Loyalty Does Not Pay with Big Businesses!

A great article in the Weekend Financial Times edition dated February 17th, courtesy of
Lucy Warwick-Ching under her weekly column titled "Loyalty counts for nothing when it comes to your household bills."

It relates to how large businesses take advantage of people automatically renewing their annual household energy and insurance contracts along with their car insurance and telephone, internet and television services.

The message imparted by Lucy is shop around when it comes to renewing your policies. She reckons that her parents' annual household heating bill of around £1,200 could easily be reduced to in line with her bill which is £300 lower, an incredible saving of 25%.

Therefore today's lesson with regards to money matters and economic sense is shop around and secure the best deal when renewing your policies! The money saved could pay for a nice holiday in the sun!

Aled Evans

Simple Steps to Start Paying off Your Debts!

Thanks to Martin Lewis at the Money Saving Expert web site here are some of the immediate and simple savings you can make, in order to start clearing your debts: 

• Stopping going on holidays abroad
• Stopping going out with friends for dinner, which had usually been a couple of nights a week 
• Taking packed lunches instead of buying lunch 
• Cutting out buying coffees while at work
• Always using her season ticket and using more public transport, rather than driving

You can use the MSE Forum for help with ideas on cutting back, and one lady with serious debt problems remembers seeing other forumites talking about having debts of £60,000 to £70,000 and realising there were other people with large debts too.

Wishing you a prosperous new year in 2018!

Aled Evans