If you have borrowings (a mortgage) then, IMO, you should use your spare money to pay that down provided there aren't penalties for overpaying.

We're in the fortunate position of only having a very small mortgage (housing association, shared ownership) so, although we were advised to take out an interest-only mortgage, we won't have any problem paying it off, and intend to before it reaches the 25-year mark.

But as a result of having had low incomes for so long, the flat needed work doing and at least that ISA I emptied meant a completely new bathroom, as the old one was falling apart.

It was tremendously useful when we moved in to have somewhere, for instance, with carpets, but after 20 years, nylon carpets were not in good nick and needed replacing. The kitchen is now on its last legs and the patio door is a mess (two attempted burglaries have not helped with that), so the other ISA will at least cover the cost of that work.

Interest-only mortgagaes are a pain. I had one - in retrospect I have no idea why I did it. I got roped into a £200 a month ISA contribution which was intended to provide a sum to repay the capital. However, its costs and poor stockmarket performance meant it was never going to get anywhere near the required amount. Then a few years back it dawned on me that I had this six figure liability handing over me and not a penny had been paid off. So, I got down to paying it off - which I was lucky enough to be able to do very quickly due to circumstances at that point in time. Glad I did! If I had my time again I'd have gone with a erepayment mortgage.

Quote ="BobbyD" What energy price rises have I experienced? Just how much have my bills gone up since 2010? I'm intrigued how you know this info. Aaah VAT, that old chestnut, yes, it's appalling that everything that once cost £99.99 now costs £102.'" I've been saving a bit each month on motoring costs thanks to this. www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-26669614

Quote ="BobbyD" What energy price rises have I experienced? Just how much have my bills gone up since 2010? I'm intrigued how you know this info. Aaah VAT, that old chestnut, yes, it's appalling that everything that once cost £99.99 now costs £102.'" I've been saving a bit each month on motoring costs thanks to this. www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-26669614

I've had to throw away £20 worth of unleaded this week.

But it isn't ridiculous, it's exactly what was going to happen, people in power surround themselves with people similar to themselves, people they know, people they trust. How many MP's have members of their family on the payroll? Are their many Etonians/"toffs" invited round to Len McCluskeys shindigs? People don't elect a cabinet, they elect MP's and if the electorate want to vote for an Etonian in a particular constituency then they've every right to do that, and long may it continue. If the PM then decides to give these people, who he knows and trusts positions then he can and will. The easy way to stop this happening is don't vote for them in the first place.


People are bought off all the time, by all parties. Budget headlines were always about the price of fags and booze.
My income has improved since 2010, and I'm certainly not one of the few. Maybe I'm the only one of the proles to benefit.

As figures published this week by the Office of National Statistics show, average weekly earnings rose by 1.4 per cent from November 2013 to January 2014 – 0.5 per cent below the current rate of inflation.

[url=http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/lms/labour-market-statistics/march-2014/sty-earnings.htmlONS stats.[/url

And wages have nowhere near recovered to 2009 levels.

[url=http://s27.photobucket.com/user/Mintball/media/RPI_zpsa866a548.jpg.html[/url

A weekend poll shows a post-budget bounce for the Tories who are now neck and neck with Labour. George Osborne has seen his personal ratings improve (up 14%), as Ed Balls-Up's ratings decline, to such an extent that now he is regarded as the best Chancellor by more people than Balls and Cable combined!

The positive reaction to the budget from the public and the lacklustre response from the Labour leader to the Chancellor's budget speech on Wednesday where all he could come up with was his repetition of lines from his previous budget responses have caused alarm among senior Labour figures.

Many of the measures in Chancellor Osborne's budget, including allowing people to cash in their pension savings rather than buy a poorly performing annuity, have been widely welcomed. Even the poe faced Rachel Peeves acknowleged that Labour would support the chancellor's overhaul of the pension system.

Not difficult as neither Balls nor Cable have been Chancellor.



Straight outta the Daily Mail? Or do you just speak like a tabloid journalist anyway?

And neither are likley to be either according to the results of the YouGov poll at the weekend!




Wrong as usual. I commented earlier in the thread "Ded Ed avoided mention of the budget in his "budget response" having to fall back on old outdated arguments"

Any way you should know by now I read the Sunday Times.

Now the IMF are predicting the UK economy will be the fastest growing of the G7 developed nations this year. They have revised their January estimate of 2.4% upwards to 2.9% - ahead of the US. Good news.

Gideon's cheerleader arrives on time as usual.

Hopefully nobody will feed the troll

The pre-election handouts continue apace today with news that after David Cameron had promised "to do all he could" to prevent the closure of Kellingley Colliery (who would have thought it, a Tory PM supporting the miners) and today he bungs then £10million to keep the pit open for another year.

Maybe just a coincidence that one of the union reps was on local radio today speaking of a new seam that they about to open which has upwards of £150 million worth of coal in it - could be completely coincidental of course.

between 2008 and 2013 coal miners hourly pay rate has apparently (per this morning's Metro) fallen by 29%. So, I guess he's happy about low production costs.

Compare that with a 68% rise in legal professionals hourly rates.

Don't you like good news?

Well if a troll is someone who disagrees with you then so be it. At least you can't argue with my point about the good news on growth.

Is a troll someone who implies that a forecast or prediction is bound to happen?

A troll because you posted a piece of news!! How dare you post such inflammatory statements!!

They can't bear to see a recovery under a Conservative chancellor.

Everything Tory is bad remember.

Let me know when we get back to the position we were in when this shambles got their hands on it.



1,800 posts and finally you get it. Congratulations.

Another cheerleader that doesn't know the difference between a forecast and a solid fact.





indeed.

I am neither a Tory or Labour, most on here are too entrenched in their belief of who is right and who is wrong, I think Blair(on the home front) had us going in the right direction, Brown was an absolute disaster and considering the mess the Tories inherited I think they're doing okay.
I'd love to see a few political neutrals, with all the facts telling me where we actually are in terms of growth and the direction we are heading. The trouble is everyone is pulling out the facts which suit their argument and ignoring the facts which harm their point.

Another right wing apologist who may be able to answer the question because a previous apologist hadn't a clue or the question confused him/her.
Which economy?

'tis always the case for politics is a world of lies and manipulation - it has to be so in order to keep your job.

From the frontline that I see on a day-to-day basis, and ignoring all of the flim-flam of media reporting and political crowing I see businesses more confident this year than last and more so than the previous five however those businesses are very different organisations to the ones that they were five years ago mainly because the recession of these past five or six years - I make no apology for using the word recession outside of its defined political meaning for businesses have seen markets and turnover recede over that time - the recession years have given them the upper hand in wage control.

Very few employees have had regular wage rises, many are still in a worse place income-wise than they were in 2007, so although anyone will repeat the phrase "confident" back to you when asked about employment prospects, few will tell you that they are more wealthy now than they were, many will tell you that they are still worried about employment contracts, many will now be working alongside colleagues who have little job security or who are employed not by the business but by employment agencies - THIS has been the biggest change since 2007 and is simply the result of the boot being firmly on the foot of the employer, it will be interesting to see what happens in future years as employment increases and employees can start to negotiate better terms again.

As for next years election, throw away the policy manifestos, anyone who believes a manifesto booklet after the 2010 election farce is a fool who should be locked away in an asylum, the next election will be won on TV and in the newspapers and in that respect the Tory party hold every single card bar one, their only fear will be to keep them all onside and to gain enough seats for a working majority.