The Treasury is quietly pocketing hundreds of millions a year in ‘unfair’ tax nabbed from savers paying into company pensions, it has been claimed. Fresh estimates suggest some 425,000 Britons are failing to claim tax back on pension contributions. In a cruel double-blow, the Treasury then rakes in millions more by taxing their incomes in retirement.
This is something that affects all of us and has been the subject of much debate in recent months, particularly in view of the Public Sector Pernsions debacle, check out the article from Mail online here:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2086600/Treasury-pockets-850m-forgotten-higher-rate-taxpayer-work-pension-refunds.html#ixzz1ji8v1jlE
Most people are looking for ways to earn extra money from home in their spare time, but it is not so easy, with many scams & rip-offs out there. I have come across a product call Real Writing Jobs, which is proving very popular for anyone who wants to earn extra cash by writing artciles etc. on any one of hundreds of topics. There is a 60 day money back ‘no quibble’ guarantee on this so if you think it might be of interest to you, have a look here:
There are 100’s of different ways to earn money from home, some of them fairly easy & others a lot harder (this is not counting the scams, of which there are many!!). One thing that you should always do if you are considering earning income from home, is to research the company, offer, type of work etc., by simply going online in Google and typing in any details you have, or even asking a question like, “information on xxx company” or “is xxx a legitimate offer”. If there are any forums, blogs or sites with other people who have used the product, they will soon become evident and the feedback will be invaluable. Anyone can fall foul of the scam artists, as I nearly did recently when I saw an offer that looked to be viable, was professionally presented, involved well known names and seemed to be reasonably priced. However, a few minutes after having Googled the offer I found several posts & sites with dissatisfied customers from 3 or 4 different countries, telling how they had been ripped off, misled & were out of pocket by a lot of money, needless to say I took the offer no further. Any good product provider will offer a no quibble money back guarantee so check they are a reputable company & if so then you have nothing to lose by trying the product. If it is a service you are signing up for (that is to do work for someone else or similar), never part with any money, accept if there is stock involved & the employer needs a deposit to cover the cost in case you don’t return any goods, equipment etc., but then there should be a clear contract stating that this is fully refundable when said product/equipment is returned & it should be a reasonable outlay. Beware of company’s that are in effect ‘selling’ you products in this guise, which are then left to you to sell on, once again research on Google will reveal any likely problems.
A good philosophy to adopt is “if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is” and then you won’t fall foul of the scammers too easily.
The opportunities fall generally into 4 categories, which are:
Home working doing work of some kind for an employer from your own home
Selling products online Ebay, Amazon, etc
Internet Marketing setting up a website or blog to sell your own or other peoples products whether you actually sell the product on a site or possibly incorporating Goole Adsense or similar advertising and selling via links to other products
Affiliate Marketing promoting other peoples products that do not involve you handling or selling them, but give you a commission for every person you send to the affiliate website, that buys the product. This does not need a website and can be done via Google Adwords or similar when you direct the potential customer straight to the sellers website.
Other this basically covers a combinations of any of the previous categories and includes Email marketing which uses either internet or affiliate marketing but via a list of subscribers that you build up yourself to market to.
Before deciding which area you want to get involved in, remember they each have their own unique positive & negative aspects and these need to be understood before committing to anything. For instance Home Working is fairly secure and should give you a regular wage with little or no risk, but returns will be very low. Similarly, selling your own products, either on EBay or your own site involves buying & storing products up front as well as delivery requirements, with the risk that they may not sell, but the possible returns will be a lot higher, and so on. My particular favourite is affiliate marketing where you simply direct potential buyers to the sellers site & have no other involvement with customers, product etc., you simply refer people. I say ‘simply’ refer, but this involves cost on your part to advertise in one form or another to point the customers to the affiliate site, and this can be the costly and more difficult aspect.
Hopefully this has given an insight to anyone thinking of this course of action, but remember these ventures are always best started on a part time basis as they will not make you rich overnight (watch out for anyone claiming they will), and once the venture is proven and bringing in money, then you can decide whether to “sack your boss” and work for yourself full time. Further explanation and specific details of opportunities available can be found at www.moneysaverstrategies.co.uk/home-income-opportunities
There has been a lot of coverage in the press and TV recently about the mis-selling of PPI (Payment Protection Insurance) on mortgages, credit cards and loans. It is estimated that there may be as many as 30 million policyholders that have a claim, and this situation may result in even bigger compensation payments than the endowment scandal. Unfortunately, many people do not even realise they can claim or, in fact, that they have PPI insurance cover for their borrowing. It is well worth checking documentation for any loans, credit cards or mortgages that have been taken out within the last six years, to see if you are affected. To find out more information on this subject and also if you are eligible to claim should you have this insurance, go here:
Why do I need to see my Credit report?
Regardless of whether you are applying for a car loan from you local garage or car showroom, a personal loan from your bank, a mortgage from a building society, a credit card or store card or a new 3 piece suite from a furniture store, they will all perform 1 simple action before they accept your application and that is a credit check. They will then either accept or decline you depending on what this credit report says and if they refuse you, that is the end of the matter, there is no negotiation or appeal.
If you are refused credit, it is not because you are on some ‘credit blacklist’, (there is actually no such thing), it can be for a host of reasons that your rejection has occurred.
Here are just some of the possible reasons;
a) Your unique, personal record of your credit history could show that you already have a number of loans and the lender may be worried that you will not be able to repay another.
b) A credit card issuer may only give cards to people who already have fewer than three, or a mortgage lender may specialise in first-time buyers.
c) You may be a non-standard, more than one in five adults in the UK are deemed non-standard. They may include the self-employed, others who cannot provide sufficient proof of income and people who have an outstanding county court judgment (CCJ) against them or have had their homes repossessed for non-payment of mortgage.
d) Credit companies look for stability – for example, living at the same address for at least three years or having a long-term relationship with the same bank. So, if you move around a lot or switch banks often, this may tell against you.
e) Lenders generally base their decisions on a credit score, which they calculate using the information in your credit report and your application. Every lender has a different formula which can even vary from one type of loan to another.
The result of all this is that it is essential that you know what information your credit report contains so that you can not only work towards improving it, but actually see the information that companies you have dealt with, have added to your report. It is not uncommon to find that an entry has been made incorrectly because you have the same name as someone else, or someone at an address you previously lived at has had a credit problem or a host of other possible inaccuracies. Additionally, if you subscribe to a credit report company, you will receive alerts when your credit report is checked and this is a key factor in preventing identity fraud as it alerts you to the fact that someone has applied for some type of credit, and if it wasn’t you then it is usually the start of some fraudulent activity in your name.
The service that I recommend is Credit Expert from Experian, you can get a 30 day FREE Trial with no obligation, click below for details.
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Should I use a cashback site?
I have been looking at the so called ‘cashback’ sites that we have heard about lately, to see how they work & if they really are a good deal. I’m always a bit suspicious when someone offers me something for nothing, in this case a ‘discount’, but when you look closer, all becomes clear. One of the most popular cashback sites, and the one that I have reviewed is Quidco, and they are quite upfront about how they work.
What happens is that when you want to make a purchase, instead of going direct to the retailer, you buy through the Quidco site (they currently have nearly 2300 retailers in the scheme) and the site gets commission on your sale, which they pass on to you (minus the first £5 cashback you earn each year), straight into your bank account. The same applies to their voucher codes & printable vouchers, and on some deals you can actually use a voucher code to obtain discount and get cashback as well. They report that the average Quidco member saves over £250 each year, just by starting each purchase at Quidco and shopping as they would normally, apparently some of the easiest cashback savings are on mobiles, utilities & insurance. Registration is free and with over 900,000 members they can command quite substantial deals from merchants and their membership is growing all the time, it’s just grown by 1, as I registered too this week, so it definitely get the ‘thumbs up’ !!
Check it out at Quidco.com
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To manage your finances effectively you need some sort of money management program. Yes, it is possible to use a basic spreadsheet, but this does not provide all the benefits that a tailor made program does. If you have one, then stick with it, there is no need to update it constantly. The one I use is Quicken 2000 which is 10 years old and no longer available and many people use Microsoft Money which is also no longer available, unfortunately both of these programs will not work on the new Microsoft Windows 7 software, so I have been forced to look for a new program which will work on the new laptop I’ve promised myself. I was looking for a cost effective replacement, and finally I’ve found one. It’s called Home Accountz & it’s from a UK company, so everything is not ‘Americanised’, (don’t you just hate it when they refer to ‘checks’ instead of cheques !!), I’m so impressed, I’m advertisng the product as they even offer a 30 FREE trial, so it was risk free for me. If you’d like to check it out click here. In the meantime, you might like to download a FREE Budget Planner which helps you to list all your Income/Expenses, to aid you to plan & stick to a budget, it is the essential first step before you can use a money management program, get it FREE HERE, and you might also like to sign up for the FREE newsletter this site offers, it’s www.moneysaverstrategies.co.uk
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