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Main boards => The Chat Room => Topic started by: klondike on January 01, 2023, 07:35:22 PM

Title: I've been suckered. Again
Post by: klondike on January 01, 2023, 07:35:22 PM
Remember - for the sake of your beneficiaries. Please keep your affairs simple.

My father died in 2006. Fortunately he had had his will changed to set the executors to  my mother rather than the solicitors that drew them up. If he hadn't I reckon the solicitors would have scooped the pot.

The problem was that when all the building societies were demutualising he had put a few hundred into loads of them hoping to scoop the members bonuses many gave when they did. He scored with some for sure but not all as they either never demutualise or didn't pay. For some he got penny-ante lots of shares which he hung on to. When he died there was also still quite a bit of money scattered around although he had drained quite a few of  the accounts by then.

Anyway sorting it out took quite a while but I did it eventually as there was little chance that my mother could have.

At some time whoever controls financial stuff changed the rules and made those running dormant accounts track down beneficiaries and send them the assets no matter how small. Over the years I've been contacted over quite a few where the account had been cleared out but before the final interest was paid so the account ended up with a balance.  Usually the amount involved is pence and you get an option for them to pass it on to a charity. Sometimes they have sent cheques which weren't worth the effort of paying in.

Anyway I just had another one. They wanted birth and death dates past addresses and even an original death certificate for my mother (the deceased executor). Anybody who hasn't been through this a dozen times before like me would be rubbing their hands in anticipation of a nice little unexpected windfall.  I know better. I still dug out the necessary paperwork though. You can never be sure :grin:
Title: Re: I've been suckered. Again
Post by: Diasi on January 01, 2023, 08:19:04 PM
I did it for my wife's Will as the person she appointed couldn't do it & signed the job over to me, but I've appointed our solicitors to be executors for my will which is a very simple & straightforward one.

They quoted in the region of £1,000, but I might revisit it.
Title: Re: I've been suckered. Again
Post by: Michael Rolls on January 02, 2023, 04:26:31 AM
I was my sister's executor - nightmare. She was in debt when she died, probate took months, her house was in joint ownership between herself and a housing association who were worse than useless. She died in February 2019. I finally managed to sell her house in September 2021, and finally cleared all the bequests, settled the debts, etc. that November. In the process I sent or received around 1,000 e-mails and 200 letters! And this was a straightforward estate! When the time comes, mine will be considerably more complex - my solicitor will be my executor!
Title: Re: I've been suckered. Again
Post by: Sheila on January 02, 2023, 08:57:42 AM
Be wary if you are thinking about a trust.  My aunt and uncle had a trust and it cost my cousin thousands to get out of it.  She said that the only people who benefitted from it were the bank and the solicitor.
Title: Re: I've been suckered. Again
Post by: GrannyMac on January 02, 2023, 11:33:13 AM
I remember Mike posting about the problems selling his sister's home and all the work it entailed. 

Our children are our beneficiaries and our executors. Very simple. 
Title: Re: I've been suckered. Again
Post by: Michael Rolls on January 02, 2023, 12:07:10 PM
you have to be careful setting up trusts - especially careful with 'tax and spend' Hunt at the wheel that he doesn't go and introduce something to get his hands on as much of them as possible. When Veronica died, Niall and Victoria benefitted from the trust she had established tax free. Hopefully that will still be case when I go,  but with shower in charge, who knows? And if Labour were to get in...
Mike
Title: Re: I've been suckered. Again
Post by: klondike on January 02, 2023, 12:24:44 PM
I'm pretty much certain that your "if Labour were to get in" should more realistically be "when Labour get in". Surely nobody can be expecting the next government to be Tory?
Title: Re: I've been suckered. Again
Post by: Michael Rolls on January 03, 2023, 05:07:17 AM
sadly, you are probably right. It reminds me of a Peanuts cartoon - Lucy and Pattie are giving Charlie Brown a hard time and he responds with 'One day I'll be president and then you'll be sorry!' Doesn't have the desired effect as the girls chorus 'I'll say we will!'
Title: Re: I've been suckered. Again
Post by: Alex on January 06, 2023, 01:43:07 PM
Quote from: klondike on January 02, 2023, 12:24:44 PMI'm pretty much certain that your "if Labour were to get in" should more realistically be "when Labour get in". Surely nobody can be expecting the next government to be Tory?

The Tories do  :grin:
Title: Re: I've been suckered. Again
Post by: klondike on January 06, 2023, 02:05:39 PM
Certifiable.
Title: Re: I've been suckered. Again
Post by: Scrumpy on January 06, 2023, 05:39:25 PM
I don't think Labour will get in.. 
I know the Conservatives are unpopular.. but that doesn't make Labour more popular..
Title: Re: I've been suckered. Again
Post by: JBR on January 06, 2023, 07:00:48 PM
Quote from: Scrumpy on January 06, 2023, 05:39:25 PMI don't think Labour will get in..
I know the Conservatives are unpopular.. but that doesn't make Labour more popular..
Needless to say, I hope neither of them get in.
My only hope is that a new centre-right party forms the next government.  Reform is the one I shall vote for.
It does seem a forlorn hope, to be honest, but I am encouraged when I read that many traditionally Conservative voters say that they, too, will be voting for Reform in 2024.
Title: Re: I've been suckered. Again
Post by: klondike on January 06, 2023, 07:21:54 PM
My rather farfetched vision through a murky crystal ball sees a continuing fall in Tory popularity as they fail to achieve any of the things their potential supporters desire. This will probably push enough votes to Reform to produce a Tory wipeout similar to that suffered by the ruling progressive Conservatives in Canada in 1993

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993_Canadian_federal_election

Such a defeat should kill the party. The most likely result here of a total rout of the Tories will be a Labour Party with a huge majority and they will bugger things up so badly that the next election will be open to all manner of new parties. Whether any of them are capable of doing any better though remains to be seen.
Title: Re: I've been suckered. Again
Post by: JBR on January 07, 2023, 02:31:24 PM
Quote from: klondike on January 06, 2023, 07:21:54 PMMy rather farfetched vision through a murky crystal ball sees a continuing fall in Tory popularity as they fail to achieve any of the things their potential supporters desire. This will probably push enough votes to Reform to produce a Tory wipeout similar to that suffered by the ruling progressive Conservatives in Canada in 1993

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993_Canadian_federal_election

Such a defeat should kill the party. The most likely result here of a total rout of the Tories will be a Labour Party with a huge majority and they will bugger things up so badly that the next election will be open to all manner of new parties. Whether any of them are capable of doing any better though remains to be seen.
Probably so.
As it has been many years since Labour had another go at cocking up the country (and succeeded), many people have forgotten what happened and, being basically unadventurous on average, cannot see beyond the Conservative-Labour two-party politics that seems to have become a tradition.
Title: Re: I've been suckered. Again
Post by: Raven on January 07, 2023, 08:31:48 PM
A very bad tradition in my book.
Title: Re: I've been suckered. Again
Post by: JBR on January 08, 2023, 04:06:36 PM
In my view, the Conservatives have been incompetent for at least the past ten years.
Labour for about fifty.  Their last reasonably competent PM, again in my view, being Harold Wilson.
The last Liberal PM was Lloyd George in 1922, that's one hundred years ago, so I think we could discount them as an option now.

As neither of the 'two main parties' have been particularly successful for such a long time, I believe that it is high time that we should consider giving a new political party a chance of showing what they can do for the next four or five years.

If they then turn out to be as equally unsuccessful as the Tories and Labour, we shall have the opportunity to think again.
Title: Re: I've been suckered. Again
Post by: Diasi on January 08, 2023, 06:26:51 PM
Quote from: JBR on January 08, 2023, 04:06:36 PMIn my view, the Conservatives have been incompetent for at least the past ten years.
Labour for about fifty.  Their last reasonably competent PM, again in my view, being Harold Wilson.
The last Liberal PM was Lloyd George in 1922, that's one hundred years ago, so I think we could discount them as an option now.

As neither of the 'two main parties' have been particularly successful for such a long time, I believe that it is high time that we should consider giving a new political party a chance of showing what they can do for the next four or five years.

If they then turn out to be as equally unsuccessful as the Tories and Labour, we shall have the opportunity to think again.
Harold "the pound in your pocket" Wilson.!! Lol

The most corrupt PM we've ever had, who presided over the devaluation of the pound & far higher interest rates than today & handed 25% inflation to 'Sunny Jim'Callaghan.
Title: Re: I've been suckered. Again
Post by: JBR on January 08, 2023, 07:23:05 PM
Quote from: Diasi on January 08, 2023, 06:26:51 PMHarold "the pound in your pocket" Wilson.!! Lol

The most corrupt PM we've ever had, who presided over the devaluation of the pound & far higher interest rates than today & handed 25% inflation to 'Sunny Jim'Callaghan.
True.  But I did say 'reasonably competent', and I was desperately searching for at least one Labour PM who might fit that bill!
Title: Re: I've been suckered. Again
Post by: klondike on January 08, 2023, 10:29:43 PM
Tough challenge that. As is finding the last half way competent PM of any flavour. It's certainly beyond the memory of most. Beyond mine anyway. 
Title: Re: I've been suckered. Again
Post by: Michael Rolls on January 09, 2023, 07:54:20 AM
Thatcher
Title: Re: I've been suckered. Again
Post by: klondike on January 09, 2023, 09:05:39 AM
She got rid of our manufacturing and turned us into a service economy. She also consigned vast numbers to the dole queue. The economy prospered at the time and she destroyed union power but it seems those gains have both vanished now. 

Millions are in low paying jobs that only exist because they are subsidised by the taxpayer in the form of universal credit. In my day you were either working or on the dole. What we have now is a chunk of the country with a foot in each category.
Title: Re: I've been suckered. Again
Post by: Raven on January 09, 2023, 10:52:02 AM
Not helped IMO, by employers taking on foreign folk and paying them peanuts. It's no wonder Brits are refusing the jobs as they can't live off the pay.
Maybe it's time employers were made by law to pay a decent wage. You can bet your life they will be on good money.
Title: Re: I've been suckered. Again
Post by: Michael Rolls on January 09, 2023, 11:19:49 AM
minimum wage?
Title: Re: I've been suckered. Again
Post by: Raven on January 09, 2023, 11:35:48 AM
For the boss? Not on your life. :boo: Top whack for them.  :nooo:
Title: Re: I've been suckered. Again
Post by: klondike on January 09, 2023, 12:25:58 PM
> Maybe it's time employers were made by law to pay a decent wage.
That's what the minimum wage is supposed to do but it is set way too low unless subsidised by the taxpayer.

January 09, 2023, 12:30:03 PM
Quote from: Raven on January 09, 2023, 11:35:48 AMFor the boss? Not on your life. :boo: Top whack for them.  :nooo:
They are better off paying themselves rock bottom and living off dividends. At least that used to be so but tax changes may well have made it less attractive in which case there will be evasion going on rather than the avoidance of yore. Once into evasion you may as well be hung for a sheep. Another reason why increasing tax rates rarely increases the tax take for those able to avoid it. Not folks on PAYE naturally - they just get creamed.
Title: Re: I've been suckered. Again
Post by: Diasi on January 09, 2023, 04:01:52 PM

Quote from: Raven on January 09, 2023, 10:52:02 AMNot helped IMO, by employers taking on foreign folk and paying them peanuts. It's no wonder Brits are refusing the jobs as they can't live off the pay.

For years I've been saying the same thing in reply to those who say that the Brits are too lazy to do land work.

Well the Brits did it long before Blair opened the floodgates to the Eastern Europeans, but as you say, the Brits can't survive on £2 an hour as they have families to support & don't live 10 to a caravan.
Title: Re: I've been suckered. Again
Post by: Ashy on January 09, 2023, 06:09:28 PM
Part of the problem, no doubt, is that pay that looks attractive to young men from Poland &c isn't enough for British people to live on.

The labour party resisted a legal minimum wage when it was proposed after the war, the argument was that minimum wage would become the unskilled wage, and they weren't far wrong.
Title: Re: I've been suckered. Again
Post by: JBR on January 10, 2023, 11:56:09 AM
Quote from: Michael Rolls on January 09, 2023, 07:54:20 AMThatcher
Yes.  The best PM we've had since Churchill.

January 10, 2023, 11:58:39 AM
Quote from: Raven on January 09, 2023, 10:52:02 AMNot helped IMO, by employers taking on foreign folk and paying them peanuts. It's no wonder Brits are refusing the jobs as they can't live off the pay.
Why do you think the government is inviting in ever more illegal immigrants?
Title: Re: I've been suckered. Again
Post by: klondike on January 10, 2023, 12:02:37 PM
Quote from: JBR on January 10, 2023, 11:56:09 AMYes.  The best PM we've had since Churchill.
It's over 30 years since the men in grey suits told her it was time to step down. 
Title: Re: I've been suckered. Again
Post by: JBR on January 10, 2023, 01:35:41 PM
Quote from: klondike on January 10, 2023, 12:02:37 PMIt's over 30 years since the men in grey suits told her it was time to step down.

One thing about Maggie: she wasn't afraid of anyone.
I've been watching The Crown on Netflix, and the episode where she stands up to the Queen and basically tells her to mind her own business, as it isn't her job to interfere in politics.
At the end of the day, the Queen lost!
Title: Re: I've been suckered. Again
Post by: Raven on January 10, 2023, 03:11:27 PM
Quote from: JBR on January 10, 2023, 01:35:41 PMOne thing about Maggie: she wasn't afraid of anyone.
I've been watching The Crown on Netflix, and the episode where she stands up to the Queen and basically tells her to mind her own business, as it isn't her job to interfere in politics.
At the end of the day, the Queen lost!

WOW, I didn't know that had happened, but yes I can see Maggie doing it alright. She was one strong lady and kept that lot in Westminster under control.
Title: Re: I've been suckered. Again
Post by: JBR on January 10, 2023, 03:38:14 PM
Quote from: Raven on January 10, 2023, 03:11:27 PMWOW, I didn't know that had happened, but yes I can see Maggie doing it alright. She was one strong lady and kept that lot in Westminster under control.
I didn't know about it either, but I assume that The Crown is fairly accurate.  It has been in other respects, anyway.
Title: Re: I've been suckered. Again
Post by: Raven on January 10, 2023, 05:36:13 PM
I've never seen The Crown, but yes I've heard it's pretty close to how things happen.
I've not seen a TV in over a week now, not since I landed in here, AND I'm glad the ward doesn't have one. It's a peaceful place unless some poor person is being pulled out of bed by the demon physios.
Title: Re: I've been suckered. Again
Post by: Jacqueline on January 10, 2023, 06:04:45 PM
When we stayed in a B & B house with no TV before Christmas, I thought we would go mad with boredom, first night not so good, by the second night it was lovely, sitting by the fire reading a book I really enjoyed the peace and quiet of no TV, wouldn't want to do it all the time but it made a welcome change, we watch too much of the thing. 
Title: Re: I've been suckered. Again
Post by: Scrumpy on January 10, 2023, 06:46:24 PM
I would be lost without a tv.. I guess it's easier when there are two of you.. You can actually talk to one another..
Title: Re: I've been suckered. Again
Post by: Alex on January 10, 2023, 06:49:04 PM
I too would be lost without my telly, I don't always hear sense when I talk to myself  :grin:
Title: Re: I've been suckered. Again
Post by: Scrumpy on January 10, 2023, 07:07:07 PM

I must give myself a good talking to tonight.. See what I come up with..  :grin:
Title: Re: I've been suckered. Again
Post by: Raven on January 10, 2023, 08:16:54 PM
About ten years ago I got into audio books, it's great on a dark night curled up on the couch in just the firelight listening to one. I love Detective ones especially the magic and myth ones. I could spend hours doing that.
Title: Re: I've been suckered. Again
Post by: klondike on January 10, 2023, 10:42:27 PM
There is one disadvantage I have found with audiobooks. If you nod off it's a bugger to find your place.
Title: Re: I've been suckered. Again
Post by: Raven on January 11, 2023, 10:37:26 AM
That's true, but often it's near the end of the disc
Title: Re: I've been suckered. Again
Post by: klondike on January 11, 2023, 12:57:22 PM
I don't have them on CDs. I have them as MP3s on my phone and they will run from start to end of the book. Of course the answer is not to shut your eyes when listening to them.
Title: Re: I've been suckered. Again
Post by: Raven on January 11, 2023, 06:34:47 PM
Ohhhhh, I see how that could become a pain. I was always getting 2nd hand ones from Ebay and Charity shops, also borrow a lot from the library.
Title: Re: I've been suckered. Again
Post by: klondike on January 12, 2023, 10:13:14 AM
If I'd ever had the CDs I'd have ripped them to MP3 anyway as I don't have a personal CD player and tend to listen to them on headphones from an app on my phone while doing other stuff. 
Title: Re: I've been suckered. Again
Post by: Raven on January 12, 2023, 10:21:23 AM
Mine are on the stereo in the lounge or on my small player if I'm on my own in bed and can't sleep.
I do also have a load on computer file that I listen to when I'm doing my jigsaws.
Title: Re: I've been suckered. Again
Post by: Cassandra on January 12, 2023, 01:02:44 PM
Quote from: Alex on January 10, 2023, 06:49:04 PMI too would be lost without my telly, I don't always hear sense when I talk to myself  :grin:

Very droll :grin:!
Title: Re: I've been suckered. Again
Post by: Michael Rolls on January 12, 2023, 06:15:06 PM
the five stages of verbal communication

Talks with God
Talks with angels
Talks to himself
Argues with himself
Loses those arguments
Title: Re: I've been suckered. Again
Post by: Raven on January 12, 2023, 07:58:37 PM
Personal experience talking there Mike.  :1020:
Title: Re: I've been suckered. Again
Post by: klondike on January 12, 2023, 08:21:49 PM
:lipsrsealed: :lipsrsealed: :lipsrsealed:
Title: Re: I've been suckered. Again
Post by: JBR on January 12, 2023, 10:42:47 PM
Quote from: Michael Rolls on January 12, 2023, 06:15:06 PMthe five stages of verbal communication

Talks with God
Talks with angels
Talks to himself
Argues with himself
Loses those arguments
Great!  I love it.
Title: Re: I've been suckered. Again
Post by: Michael Rolls on January 13, 2023, 04:34:23 AM
Quote from: Raven on January 12, 2023, 07:58:37 PMPersonal experience talking there Mike.  :1020:
Absolutely!