Against a backdrop of the country’s recession-depression I pondered the impact of having to cut back on spending today.
After visiting an exquisite (free) exhibition of ceramics at the Korean Cultural Centre and wandering into the wonderful (free) Photographers Gallery (where Hans Aarsman’s Photography Against Consumerism includes ‘Desired things photographed – not bought’) my optimism was reinforced by the sight of a young oriental man with a huge smile outside the National Gallery.
He held aloft a placard offering ‘Free Hugs’. Priceless.
Wednesday, 27 August 2008
Sunday, 17 August 2008
A brain wave
The human condition sometimes seems characterized by a cycle of endless repetition. We are endowed – but also trapped by – a brain that wants to compel us to keep doing the same things. The smoker who can’t give up, the gambler who’s drawn to the betting shop and the shopaholic who’s convinced just one more purchase is the route to happiness. We truly are habit machines if we give in to our compulsions.
It’s hard to tell the brain to stop doing something.
But it is easy to tell it to do something else.
That’s why the Do Something Different approach is at the heart of Sheconomics – and the book is full of ways to Do Something Different with money. It simply makes being good with money a bit of a no-brainer.
It’s hard to tell the brain to stop doing something.
But it is easy to tell it to do something else.
That’s why the Do Something Different approach is at the heart of Sheconomics – and the book is full of ways to Do Something Different with money. It simply makes being good with money a bit of a no-brainer.
Monday, 21 July 2008
The money illusion
As holidays approach so does the season of silly money. I’ve just picked up a pile of Japanese yen for my Tokyo trip and, quite frankly, it could have come with a pile of community chest cards and a tiny iron for how real it looks to me.
No wonder that we all suffer from the money illusion when we visit foreign countries with a purse full of play money. Even when we know the conversion rate, the money illusion fools us about what the money is worth.
According to research we spend less when the foreign unit of currency is less than our own (e.g. £1 = 0.89 Oman Rials). But we spend more when the foreign unit is more than our own (e.g £1 = 1.25 Euros).
So with £1 = 220 yen, I guess that means I’m in for a blowout. Do not collect £200, do not pass Go, do pass on all those gorgeous Japanese designs ….mmm, we’ll see.
No wonder that we all suffer from the money illusion when we visit foreign countries with a purse full of play money. Even when we know the conversion rate, the money illusion fools us about what the money is worth.
According to research we spend less when the foreign unit of currency is less than our own (e.g. £1 = 0.89 Oman Rials). But we spend more when the foreign unit is more than our own (e.g £1 = 1.25 Euros).
So with £1 = 220 yen, I guess that means I’m in for a blowout. Do not collect £200, do not pass Go, do pass on all those gorgeous Japanese designs ….mmm, we’ll see.
Sunday, 6 July 2008
However much I try, I cannot get my heart to sink when I hear the phrase ‘credit-crunch’.
Even ‘income squeeze’ doesn’t grip me with fear. And recession, I think, has a nice ring to it.
If it means we can say bye-bye to bling, say up-the-Joneses instead of keeping up with them, and reject rampant consumerism, surely that’s a good thing? Then we can find creative ways of cutting things like our utility bills. Edna Everage halved her electricity bill just by turning off her husband’s life support machine. Perhaps I’ll try low-energy light bulbs.
Even ‘income squeeze’ doesn’t grip me with fear. And recession, I think, has a nice ring to it.
If it means we can say bye-bye to bling, say up-the-Joneses instead of keeping up with them, and reject rampant consumerism, surely that’s a good thing? Then we can find creative ways of cutting things like our utility bills. Edna Everage halved her electricity bill just by turning off her husband’s life support machine. Perhaps I’ll try low-energy light bulbs.
Friday, 27 June 2008
Reunited, and it feels so good....
Simonne writes:
Ever felt like a mug when you’re still redirecting mail for the previous occupant of your flat years after they moved out? While the junk mail deserves the bin, there’s some correspondence that’s important.
Several years ago I forwarded windfall shares to a previous occupant of my flat. They’d moved out five years earlier. I only knew the importance of the envelope because I’d received similar post from the same company.
And a client of mine recently discovered they had £5,000 of windfall shares that they hadn’t known about, which nicely paid for a new kitchen.
Think back to the last couple of times you moved. Did you send out change of addresses to all of the companies? Can’t even find paperwork on the account or plan? All’s not lost. Even if you’ve only got a vague recollection of a pension you once held with a previous employer or an investment plan or savings account that’s long been forgotten.
You can get reunited with lost monies by visiting:
http://www.mylostaccount.org.uk/ which guides you through the process of tracing savings accounts you’ve lost track of. And http://www.thepensionservice.gov.uk/atoz/atozdetailed/pensiontracing.asp for lost pensions. Or, if you’re time poor, you can pay £18 to get a search done for you of any lost life policies, pensions, savings or investments by visiting: http://www.uar.co.uk/.
Ever felt like a mug when you’re still redirecting mail for the previous occupant of your flat years after they moved out? While the junk mail deserves the bin, there’s some correspondence that’s important.
Several years ago I forwarded windfall shares to a previous occupant of my flat. They’d moved out five years earlier. I only knew the importance of the envelope because I’d received similar post from the same company.
And a client of mine recently discovered they had £5,000 of windfall shares that they hadn’t known about, which nicely paid for a new kitchen.
Think back to the last couple of times you moved. Did you send out change of addresses to all of the companies? Can’t even find paperwork on the account or plan? All’s not lost. Even if you’ve only got a vague recollection of a pension you once held with a previous employer or an investment plan or savings account that’s long been forgotten.
You can get reunited with lost monies by visiting:
http://www.mylostaccount.org.uk/ which guides you through the process of tracing savings accounts you’ve lost track of. And http://www.thepensionservice.gov.uk/atoz/atozdetailed/pensiontracing.asp for lost pensions. Or, if you’re time poor, you can pay £18 to get a search done for you of any lost life policies, pensions, savings or investments by visiting: http://www.uar.co.uk/.
Wednesday, 25 June 2008
Why aren't banks clairvoyant?
Annoying, inefficient, expensive…… my reactions to absent-mindedness. Of which I’ve had a few moments lately (going upstairs and wondering what I went up for, waving my wet hands under the tampon machine in the ladies, forgetting to post a blog, you know the kind of thing).
I was reassured that the considerably-younger-than-me brilliant wit and comedian Sue Perkins admitted she’d had a direct debit going out of her account for insurance on a home she hasn’t lived in for six years.
“I should have informed them when I moved” she says, adding with surprise, “apparently there’s no clairvoyance with banking which is annoying”.
Hugely annoying, Sue, we're with you on that one.
Note to self to check all direct debits on bank statements. Maybe that’s what I went upstairs for.
I was reassured that the considerably-younger-than-me brilliant wit and comedian Sue Perkins admitted she’d had a direct debit going out of her account for insurance on a home she hasn’t lived in for six years.
“I should have informed them when I moved” she says, adding with surprise, “apparently there’s no clairvoyance with banking which is annoying”.
Hugely annoying, Sue, we're with you on that one.
Note to self to check all direct debits on bank statements. Maybe that’s what I went upstairs for.
Saturday, 31 May 2008
Starbuck’s or megabucks?
The miracle that is compound interest never ceases to amaze me.
An improbably named financial planner Malcolm Cuthbert is quoted in today’s Times as saying that if 35 year olds put the £1.80 a day they spent on a daily cup of coffee into their pension pots instead, at age 65 they’d get £3,843 more every year for the rest of their lives.
Wow! Worth suffering chronic caffeine withdrawal for I’d say.
An improbably named financial planner Malcolm Cuthbert is quoted in today’s Times as saying that if 35 year olds put the £1.80 a day they spent on a daily cup of coffee into their pension pots instead, at age 65 they’d get £3,843 more every year for the rest of their lives.
Wow! Worth suffering chronic caffeine withdrawal for I’d say.
Sunday, 25 May 2008
Simonne's hot tip for budgeting on the go!
Hey, I’ve just discovered a nifty little budgeting tool that you can download onto your mobile phone.
You keep track of day-to-day spending by recording it on your phone. It lets you set your own spending limit on things like food & drink, clothes or entertainment. Then you compare actual spending against the limit you set. Much easier than scrambling around for a notebook when you’ve spent £3.40 on a sandwich! You choose how you want your spending reported - daily, weekly or monthly.
It’s free to download (just the cost of connecting to the internet for a short while) but your phone needs to be WAP enabled. You can download the ‘spendometer’ by visiting Credit Action’s website: http://www.creditaction.org.uk/spendometer.html or by opening your phone's web browser and going to: http://www.spendometer.co.uk/spendometer2.jad or http://www.spendometer.co.uk/spendometer2.jar. It will then try to download and install automatically.
You can now have fun staying in control of your spending!
You keep track of day-to-day spending by recording it on your phone. It lets you set your own spending limit on things like food & drink, clothes or entertainment. Then you compare actual spending against the limit you set. Much easier than scrambling around for a notebook when you’ve spent £3.40 on a sandwich! You choose how you want your spending reported - daily, weekly or monthly.
It’s free to download (just the cost of connecting to the internet for a short while) but your phone needs to be WAP enabled. You can download the ‘spendometer’ by visiting Credit Action’s website: http://www.creditaction.org.uk/spendometer.html or by opening your phone's web browser and going to: http://www.spendometer.co.uk/spendometer2.jad or http://www.spendometer.co.uk/spendometer2.jar. It will then try to download and install automatically.
You can now have fun staying in control of your spending!
Monday, 19 May 2008
Simonne’s tip for surviving the credit crunch
With the credit crunch continuing to bite, banks and building societies are becoming increasingly selective about who they’ll lend to. So, if you’re planning to borrow any money or apply for new credit in the near future, make sure you get hold of a copy of your credit report. You can then see if there are any mistakes on your record and you can use the information to help you hunt out the best deals from lenders that are likely to accept you. Use a comparison website like Money Supermarket (http://www.moneysupermarket.com/) to compare loans and credit cards without leaving a ‘footprint’ on your record. And try Experian (http://www.creditexpert.co.uk/) for a free credit report provided you sign up for monthly membership which you can cancel within 30 days.
Friday, 9 May 2008
Sheconomics...Dear reader,
It's been pretty hectic on planet Sheconomics lately.
The book Sheconomics is motoring along and we've been getting onto its pages everything women have told us about their relationship with money. That's no mean feat. Or should I say no mean feet given the shoe-habits some have divulged.
Anyway we're really tuning into who will love the book. If you recognise yourself on the list below it'll be worth spending your well-earned money on a book about, well... about managing money:
o Every time you feel happy/ sad/anything, you celebrate by shopping
o You’re struggling to understand why there’s always so much month left at the end of the money
o You’re in debt up to your eye-balls and have just got to do something about it
o You tremble with fear/guilt/excitement at the mere mention of money and have decided it’s time to get a grip
o You’re incredibly sorted in all areas of your life but somehow, along the way – you forgot to get a pension/make investments/provide for your financial future.
Back soon!
The book Sheconomics is motoring along and we've been getting onto its pages everything women have told us about their relationship with money. That's no mean feat. Or should I say no mean feet given the shoe-habits some have divulged.
Anyway we're really tuning into who will love the book. If you recognise yourself on the list below it'll be worth spending your well-earned money on a book about, well... about managing money:
o Every time you feel happy/ sad/anything, you celebrate by shopping
o You’re struggling to understand why there’s always so much month left at the end of the money
o You’re in debt up to your eye-balls and have just got to do something about it
o You tremble with fear/guilt/excitement at the mere mention of money and have decided it’s time to get a grip
o You’re incredibly sorted in all areas of your life but somehow, along the way – you forgot to get a pension/make investments/provide for your financial future.
Back soon!
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