New Rules on Pension Annuities

By the end of this week, the rules governing annuities in the UK will change.

 

Previously, the rules in force for using your pension pot were as follows: 

• You could cash out a maximum lump sum of 25% from your pension pot
• The remaining 75% of the pot HAD to be converted to an annuity by the time you reached 75

Your finances as a Couple

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A lot of this post is deeply personal, but I've decided to share my feelings for a couple of reasons.

 

1. When you and your partner are pulling in different directions financially, it causes huge problems in your relationship.

 

2. All the other posts I have read on couples and money have been from a reasonable point of view.

 

So what happens, or what should you do, if your partner doesn't respond to reason?

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More About Money and Happiness

After writing a post recently called What is Happiness and Can I Afford It? I had a few more thoughts about how money and happiness (or contentedness) are inter-related.

There's the old saying that money doesn't buy you happiness, which can be further extended: but it does make being miserable more comfortable.

 

On the other hand, let's not forget that wealthy people are still the same as the rest of us. Their hormones work in the same way, and so do their nerve endings. They still have the same feelings. 

It's all a question of your perspective and attitude. For example:

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What is Happiness and Can I Afford It?

As this post seems to be quite popular, I've written another related post you can find here:
More Thoughts About Money and Happiness

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What is Happiness.

It seems to be an age old mystery doesn't it?

There are plenty of people who have achieved this of course, and maybe you know some people yourself who seem to be genuinely happy most of the time. So what's their secret? And why is it such a secret??

Does being wealthy make you happy?

Is there something we've all been missing all these years??

Surely the human race had this problem cracked a very long time ago???

Working Lunches

It's amazing how quickly you can spend money on food at work, but with a bit of very quick arithmetic you can see why.

Imagine it's first thing Monday morning and you're sat at your desk thinking about the whole week ahead. Seems like a good time to have a bacon butty. You know, start work on a high note and a full belly. It'll make you feel better...

Later Monday, you're feeling a bit peckish. You didn't bother with lunch, so you nip out for a packet of biscuits to keep you going. The following day, you go out and get yourself a sandwich from the local butty shop, and so it goes on through the week.

It's very obvious to see where this is going isn't it? At a conservative estimate, you could easily spend £15 or more on feeding yourself at work each week, and spending that amount on feeding yourself doesn't seem entirely unreasonable, does it? Well...

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