Any question answered...

bah i dont know, i want to buy a house/flat, but have nowhere near enough for a deposit. its been sat in an isa for 6 years now and made something like 34p interest.

i could tie it up for 5 years no probs, that would make me 30 for my first time buy. i just don't know where i'm gonna get 30% deposit from otherwise

anyway, bed time.

There are no forms to fill in now, unless Aussies have extra paperwork. They're just like a normal bank account. Although you do tend to have to move banks every April in order to keep a competitive interest rate. I wish I could just phone up my bank and say 'match this rate, or I'm off'.

Just wait until the end of the financial year looms, then look at MoneySupermarket.com. In olden days they'd use to compete for business. Not sure they're that bothered at the moment.

I warn you. Come Saturday I'm going to pick your brains about this shit.

Just sayin'

should i invest all my savings in stocks and shares, leave it in the ISA, or blow it all on beer and holidays? serious question!
I'd be very happy to look after it for you for a few years :)

But seriously, I'd say:

Beer - no

Holidays - important but not necessarily expensive

ISAs - not sure why you'd have to move banks each year - I have lots of ISAs in diff banks (the rates don't seem to vary much at all these days) but primarily bank in just one. I'm a big fan of ISAs and bonds you can't touch for X number of years.

Stocks and shares - Only if you're willing to lose a few squid along the way or are Warren Buffet.

Can you invest in property? That's what I would do if I could right now.

Fixed rate cash ISA pref. rates = ~2.5% AER

My Aussie term deposits started at 8 dropped to 2 and went back up again to maybe 6%. I started them when I was a kid though (with parental help) and I'm a good saver. Trick is to have auto xfer just dribble monies into a savings account before you can spend it on drugs and midgets. I'd also do holiday work as a kid and drop half of it say into the "rainy day" savings account. Then you forget about it, buy stuff out of the normal account and all the while it grows.
Smarter people who want to watch numbers move around and shit can do shares - that kind of stuff bores me to death. I like the deposit and forget method.

I like the deposit and forget method.
+1 Though obviously I don't want to forget about it completely.

thats what i just started doing ^ signing up to Esaver account with santader 3.2% for the first year, but then, like my ISA it drops to 0.5.

im not really gonna splash it on beer. Ive held on to it this long. only spent a litttle bit of it at uni, well a lot, but i repaid it last year with a frugal lifestyle.

anyone wanna go halfsies on a 1 bed?

Can you invest in property? That's what I would do if I could right now.

I don't think property is all that great an investment unless you really know the market or are just getting on the ladder. The initial costs are high, the total costs are high, the risk is high, it's long term. Switching from renting to buying - sure, but buying to let or to try and sell on, I'm not confident it's a good deal any more. All the people who got rich off that started years ago in boom times and rode that overinflated property value wave.

+1 Though obviously I don't want to forget about it completely.

I've got super in Oz that I have no idea about. I hope they don't forget about me!

I don't think property is all that great an investment unless you really know the market or are just getting on the ladder. The initial costs are high, the total costs are high, the risk is high, it's long term. Switching from renting to buying - sure, but buying to let or to try and sell on, I'm not confident it's a good deal any more. All the people who got rich off that started years ago in boom times and rode that overinflated property value wave.
I don't think I'd be looking at property as an investment per se - i.e. I don't want to try and flog somewhere for twice the price in twenty years. Rather a way that in 20 years time, depending how I'm doing, I don't want to have to pay rent any more and can start spending it on crabon tarcks instead.

I don't think property is all that great an investment unless you really know the market or are just getting on the ladder. The initial costs are high, the total costs are high, the risk is high, it's long term. Switching from renting to buying - sure, but buying to let or to try and sell on, I'm not confident it's a good deal any more. All the people who got rich off that started years ago in boom times and rode that overinflated property value wave.
buy to let - no way. those bastards contributed to the shit we are all in now. but I think buying in London is a yes. then again, it does drain your income...

I'm with CYOA on this: I'm not looking to make money on a house, and I'm not really banking on it going up in value. It's just somewhere that eventually I won't have to pay to live in. I'm fed up giving a big chunk of my rent to someone just because they were able to buy into a slightly saner market.

My biggest gripe now is that having done the sensible thing and saved hard for years, I'm now seeing that pot of cash eroded by inflation. I'm also unable to buy somewhere decent in London so must continue saving, at the same time as paying all this rent and compensating for the erosion of my savings.

Eventually when I do buy, it'll probably end up costing me more than renting, but I won't feel the need to save then, it can happily go into the house. Plus your mortgage gets cheaper with every passing year. Unless interest rates shoot up. Which they will.

I'm speaking here of Canada, but everything I've read concerning rent vs owning says that ownership costs more in the long run. So don't do it strictly for monetary reasons. That said, we bought in 91 and paid it off by 98, with our gross income at the time around $45,000. Of course, we've since put a new roof on, new weeping tiles, exterior foundation/basement insulation, new furnace, 3 new water tanks, exterior re-paints, new electrical, new plumbing: the hole is large, puts me in mind of a Handsome Family song...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6y9wQGkkVgo

I don't think property is all that great an investment unless you really know the market or are just getting on the ladder. The initial costs are high, the total costs are high, the risk is high, it's long term. Switching from renting to buying - sure, but buying to let or to try and sell on, I'm not confident it's a good deal any more. All the people who got rich off that started years ago in boom times and rode that overinflated property value wave.

There are people out there still making money from property but it's no different to any other business as in you can't just expect to become an overnight property speculator. It takes time, knowledge, contacts and so on. Oh, and money. Preferably lots of it plus a healthy input of OPM.

what is all this " keep calm and carry on " nonsense and why has it made a re appearance recently
why does almost every drama / soap and documentary have some bit of this branding in ?
is this the phrase of 2011 ?

Its a wartime thing innit - i blame the tories.

if you buy a joint before the end of march and it is valued under 250 000 clams, you won't have to pay stamp duty. which is nice. if you like that sort of thing.

There are people out there still making money from property but it's no different to any other business as in you can't just expect to become an overnight property speculator. It takes time, knowledge, contacts and so on. Oh, and money. Preferably lots of it plus a healthy input of OPM.

That's basically what I said.

if you buy a joint before the end of march and it is valued under 250 000 clams, you won't have to pay stamp duty. which is nice. if you like that sort of thing.

If you're a first time buyer. Bastards introduced that a month after I got my place.

#dodgesmoretax

buy to let - no way. those bastards contributed to the shit we are all in now. but I think buying in London is a yes. then again, it does drain your income...

I'd only spend it on shit anyway.

Tried searchign for similar problems on here and found nothign I also tried the Garmin forum but couldn't see the same issue. I wondered if anyone else had eperiencd the following?

During my ride the fully charged 705 screen fades ( leaves a ghost of the screen which then also goes)and the unit switches off. I'm not on a particularly bumpy road and I'm not touching any of the buttons.

It did this three times yesterday morning durign my 40 min commute. Did it twice on the way home and once on the way in this morning.

If I press the on button after it shuts down it boots up quickly and seems to remember the data (although it does not then subsequently up load to Training Centre).

Short of contacting Garmin customer support (who I hear are awful) has anyone experienced this and better yet solved the issue?

Have you tried a hard reset?

Not yet to be honest -I didn't think it was a software error as such. It seemed more like a 'mechanical' problem. But it's a good point I'll try that tonight where I can leave it somehwere where it can see satellites for 30 mins.

I'd only spend it on shit anyway.

dog cat or cow shit ?

Blend.

What's the cheapest way to get a Russian tourist visa?

Marry a Russian.