Back to blogging

Well, it's been quite a while since I visited my site, and my apologies for anyone who came along in the meantime. The months of December and January are traditionally the very busiest for the Fund, and everything else takes a bit of a back seat to the business of helping our clients.

In speaking to my clients, people seem to have been very affected by the general messages of doom and gloom that are abundant at the moment. There is no doubt that the economic difficulties remain real and present, and probably unprecendented. But on a personal and individual level we can remain in control.

In fact, remaining in control of our personal financial life is probably a really good way to try and insulate yourself from what you are hearing every day. There are so many things that we are unable to control, but if we can remain in charge of our budgets and household economies we will stay ahead of the game.

I spoke a little about this late last year, but perhaps its time to repeat the message. I firmly believe that each household should have a firm idea of how the money is managed within it. Households can vary very significantly in composition, but it should hold that if someone is able to contribute financially, they should be doing so. I often meet parents who are struggling to manage to put food on the table but are too nervous or ashamed to ask their working chidlren who are still living at home to contribute. I appreciate that the kids may be saving for the future, but I am also fairly certain that open and honest communication about the costs of every day living is more useful than pretending that everything is OK and becoming stressed.

There are really two positions to be in at the moment. Either you have been affected financially through the loss of an income, or you haven't. If you are in the position of being directly affected, there is no excuse not to look for guidance from an experienced adviser as soon as possible. You may have savings and insurance policies to help you over a period of time, but an objective overview of your personal situation might also be very helpful. An advier may also help you to negotiate with your bank or creditors while you are going through a difficult period.

In the context of my work, I am finding it pretty common for women in the civil service to have husbands who have lost work in the building trade or other industry and are suffering from the loss of income. I have spent quite a lot of time over the past couple of weeks helping families such as this to make arrangements to keep their head above water for as long as possible.

The second category of people are those who are still working, but have been affected by the uncertainty that is percolating. I've been doing 1-hour lunch time sessions at various civil service locations since last December on Money and Budgeting advice. The sessions cover looking at your present and future requirements and provide advice on how to best manage your finances. My next set of presentations will be in Dundonald House on February 25th, so if you want any details just let me know. Those sessions are largely based on the FSA workshops, but adapted for the Civil Service. I may have mentioned it before but the best website for information is the one run by the FSA.

As always, please feel free to leave a comment or contact me directly as so many of you are doing.

Safe and happy holidays to all!

My goodness, the past few weeks have just flown by, and I am a little embarrassed that I have been so remiss in keeping up my blog. I'll have to move 'keep up with blog' to the top of my New Year's resolution list.

As you might imagine, this is an exceptionally busy time of year for the Fund. Although we cannot help with the cost of Christmas, there is an overwhelming sense of panic that seems to come at this time when people realise that there are expectations that they have placed on themselves and they may not be able to deliver on them financially.

It's the wrong time of year to give out preventive advice about saving for Christmas, but it is worth asking yourself what the true cost of spending money at this time of year is. It's not just interest rates or rising bills, it becomes an endorsement of the need to spend to have fun. I caught a little of Watchdog last night, and I heard about a man who did all his Christmas shopping for £60 and I was charmed to hear it.

I visited my son in St Andrews (no apostrophe) last week, and he was bemoaning the fact he couldn't buy me a Christmas present. I hope he knows I meant it when I said that every day of his life has been a gift for me, and I don't need or want anything else. In these times of increasing economic gloom, let's enjoy the company and gift of each other, and remove ourselves from the race to buy and spend, even just a little. Warmth and sincerity beat glitz and expense every time for me.

I hope you all have a safe and happy Christmas, and I look forward to renewing the Blog next year and continue to promote the great work of the Fund.

Staying in control in difficult times

I wasn’t sure if it was my new perfume or my generally charming nature, but I found myself unprecedentedly busy at the Department of Health ‘Healthy Lifestyle Convention’ that was held in Castle Buildings on October 14th. Many people might wonder what the connection between Healthy Living and the Civil Service Benevolent Fund might be, but there was a very lively and genuine interest in the dozens of people who stopped by to have a chat. All joking aside, I am quite aware that the current climate is really affecting people, in a real or an imagined way and more than ever people are turning to the Fund for advice, reassurance and financial assistance where it is needed.

Every day that we turn on the television or radio, and indeed almost every conceivable form of print media we are assailed by news of the credit crunch and the economic downturn. Even if we are not directly affected by what is happening, the impact of the continuing coverage is to make us feel quite negative and under siege. It is at times like this that it is particularly important to stop a moment, stand back and assess our own personal financial status so that we know exactly where we are positioned and if we need to be a bit more careful or prudent with our spending. I know that for me personally there was a feeling of panic and anxiety until I sat down and made very sure of where all of my spending was going and how I could budget for the coming winter months.

The Fund is produces 2 booklets that can help you assess your financial position. One of them is specifically about ‘Dealing with Debt’ but the other one is a more general booklet on Managing your Finances. There is a simple financial balance sheet inside the booklet where you can have a look at your income and expenditure and see exactly which runs out for you first: the money or the month! At our stand at the Convention, we distributed more than 50 booklets to people who had some concerns and who were interested in being in control of their personal financial situation and understand it fully.

I live by the dictum that ‘every penny is a prisoner’ in my household and I identify where it came from and where it will be going. A daily excel spreadsheet is a very useful device for controlling spending, so that you remain fully in charge of your affairs. The FSA have an excellent website for people who want to manage their finances with knowledge, and its a great place for a range of advice. These money saving tips are also well worth having a look at.

I hope you find that useful for now. Thanks to the many people who continue to e-mail me through the site. I wish you wouldn't be so shy about posting comments, it can be done anonymously if you like, and I think it would be great to get a discussion going on the issues of the day.

Before I go, a big thanks to Pat and Marylou who organised the Convention. They did an excellent job for the attendees as well as the organisations in attendance and the huge attendance was a great testament to their hard work. The relationship between your money and your health may not be obvious to everyone, but to anyone worried about their position, it can be very detrimental. I look forward to my next invite!

Benevolence Today

It's hard for me to believe that I have been with the Fund for 9 years now, and that I am as passionate about my work today as I was when I began. Of course, I had very little idea what a Benevolent Fund was when I started all those years ago, but I think I am becoing a bit of an expert now!

I love to find out more about the history and background of everything, and the nature of my own employment was no different. And once you start digging, the story goes deeper and gets much more interesting. Finding out about Benevolent funds takes us backwards through some very fascinatung times and perspectives of how society has been formed and changed. Our own Fund has had many different functions over the years, including the running of different kinds of 'homes' at different points in time, including orphanages and nursing homes. But even before that, Benevolent Funds played an essential part in society particularly prior to the introduction of what we now know as the welfare state.

It is very hard to imagine, but there was a time no so long ago when not being in work meant not having the means to survive outside a workhouse or poorhouse. This was the driver for people coming together with a common background to ensure that their fellows and their dependants would have some means of survival in hard times. Commonly people formed these societies when there was a shared interest, such as religion, occupation or location. There was quite a range of societies in those early days, particularly after the industrial revolution. This was a time when government did not provide for those less well off in society, and again this presents a difficult notion now that we have become so accustomed to the safety net of welfare provision as we know it today.

The great challenge to benevolent funds has obviously been to remain relevant as times change. With social welfare benefits available, the theory is that people will not need any further intervention in tough times. But of course, it hasn't worked like that completely, and benevolent funds are busier and as relevant today as they ever were. If you'd like to know more about the wider range of organisations that's out there, you can check this link. Benevolence Today is a collaborative project of over 30 benevolent funds who have come together to promote awareness of benevolence and remind people of the value of such funds and organisations.

The Empty Nest

I've been up to my eyes for the past few weeks, helping my youngest son get ready for University. My daughter and I brought him to St Andrew's last week, and he slipped into the place like a little yellow duckling plopping into a pond and paddling away. We wanted to be available to him for the first few days to allow him to settle in, but his hectic new life started immediately and once we had hung up all his clothes and stocked his larder we were dismissed. It felt a lot like his first day at school for P1, but more permanent.

Scotland seems very, very far away at the moment of course, even if St. Andrew's is one of the most beautiful places on earth! It's a university town, and a very compact one, so I don't have to stay awake at night worrying about the traffic.

While this might seem like a strange subject for my blog, I have been quite surprised at how widespread this empty nesting can be, and how many other women have spoken to me about it recently as well. There is the overwhelming feeling that your job or function in life is over, and that there isn't much left out there. Of course, anyone who knows me knows that couldn't be much further from the truth about my hectic life, but we all have to deal with the reality of how we are feeling.

As with any other emotional area, the best remedy is to share how you feel with friends, colleagues and family. I have had such great support from my friends and colleagues at the Fund today, and I feel blessed for it. But it is so important to seek the right help and at the right times. If you click on this link, you will find an article with further information about the best ways to deal with your empty nest. I must say some of it hit home for me: for instance, I saw no reason not to phone my son every day to make sure he was OK. Although I had suggested we speak only on a Sunday, I was making the other calls to him 'just in case'. I'm going to stop that now, and wait until the weekend to talk to him. The article goes on to look at other areas of our lives that might be affected by children leaving home for good, and while it makes good reading, be prepared to take the next step if you recognise some problems or issues there for you.

My first thought was to sell my house and wander around the world, but then I remembered that I'm really not too keen on travelling, so I might give that one a skip! But I will remember to be good to myself and take advantage of all my friends who have offered me a meal or a coffee or even just a listening ear. So to all the newly liberated mothers out there- I salute you and hope you all take very good care of yourselves!

The wonders of insurance

It was coincidental that my last blog was about insurance on two counts: Just last weekend, I had my renewal notice from CSIS. Perhaps because I had just 'preached' about the subject, I actually took out my policy and read it from beginning to end. There was a very helpful leaflet enclosed that takes you from room to room and enables you to make a valuation of your property in case it ever has to be replaced by insurance.

I blush as I say it, but I was pretty out of date with some of my estimates! I phoned CSIS and as always they were helpful and had me sorted out in a jiffy! In the little booklet that they send out are also details of home security, a subject very close to my heart. So, the next time your renewal comes in, do take a few moments to make sure that you are fully up to date with all of your contents and belongings in case of the worst.

I should add that CSIS are always the cheapest quote when I compare my policies at renewal time. Interestingly, the Fund have now teamed up with a company called Switch and Give. Unfortunately, they won't give quotes on insurance policies, but if you are looking for better prices on electricity, oil, gas and phone you can make some savings through this site while at the same time making sure that the Fund will benefit as well. I also use the excellent Moneysupermarket for comparing products and prices when I need to.

As is often the case, we are limited in Northern Ireland for electricity and gas suppliers, but the telephone information is quite good on the site. You may have heard that Northern Ireland is facing some very severe rises in the cost of electricty this winter. The Stephen Nolan show dedicated its entire time slot to the subject, and it is very painful to hear how people are struggling and wonder how they are going to survive. We have been told that the government is looking at emergency measures to help those who are worst off, so I will keep an eye on those developments as they happen. It's also very comforting to know that the Fund is there to help members of the Civil Service family who are most in need during difficult times.

Well, on a more positive note for today, I mentioned that I felt my insurance blog was coincidental on two counts. As I said on that previous post, the CSIS contribute their profits each year to the Civil Service Widows and Orphans Fund, who in turn make a generous contribution to the Fund. This year, that help will be more widely available to civil servants who qualify for assistance whose children are entering third level education or who are currently in third level but have more than one year to complete. There are some conditions and restrictions, but on the whole it is a very generous and appropriate way to help families who are trying support their children in this way.

I suppose this is yet another subject particularly close to my heart, as my youngest child is about to pack up leave home for the wilds of Scotland in 2 weeks time. We went and did a little 'basic' shopping for him yesterday, and while we both survived the experience, I was pretty staggered at how much it cost to buy so little. It was a little easier with my daughters as they were closer to home, but I guess I feel my son needs to be prepared for any and all eventualities as he is going so far away. Perhaps I really feel he needs to have me there for those eventualities, but thats a good a sign as any that its time to let him go.

If you want to get any information on the education grants that may be available, please dont hesitate to contact me directly or phone the Fund on 0800 056 2424.

Housing relief

Over the weekend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer described our current economic situtation as the worst in 60 years. He sounded quite bleak and admitted that there was no clear indication of how far it would develop or how much further damage would be done to the economy. As you will have seen, much of the weekend was spent by the politicians trying to 'limit the damage' that could be done by such comments, but it's always very difficult to take back something once it has been said.

My own view is that we are in somewhat unchartered waters when it comes to the economy. In the 1970's, the government of the time introduced a liberalisation of the financial services market, and those moves profoundly changed how we use and view money. I can remember my first pay of £11 per week, being paid to me in cash in a small brown envelope. As a society, that method of payment has almost completely ceased with our pay now coming into our accounts and our use of cash reducing all the time. Increasingly, we are a cash-less society with plastic being used for all ranges of transactions.

The other major impact of the Thatcher governement that has continued to affect our economy was the sale of rental property to tenants through the 1980 'Right to Buy' legislation. Over 2 million homes were purchased through the scheme, and this changed the face of the property market in the UK for all time. With ownership came access to home equity, and increased spending power. And of most of us now know, once you owned a house, your access to finance became more of a right than a challenge. But we have now come full circle in many ways, and those heady days of free access to money have turned into the credit crunch and soaring rates of re-possession of houses.

While I will come back to managing debt in later blogs, I thought I would bring you the Chancellor's package of measures that were introduced yesterday to help people who now find themselves in serious financial difficulty with their homes, or indeed younger people who are unable to access home ownwership at all.

One of the key measures announced was the suspension of stamp duty on houses worth up to £175,000 for 12 months. This will mean a saving of up to £1750 for home buyers. Of great importance and interest is the news that the waiting time for income support relief is coming down frmo 39 weeks to 13 weeks. I know that this will provide much needed support for many families, although the detail has not yet been finalised.

Other measures will include:

• Extension of powers for councils and housing associations to be able to pay off debt for homeowners who can no longer afford mortgage payments and then charge rent.
• Bringing forward spending from future years to encourage more social housing to be built
• Free" five year loans of up to 30% of a property's value for first time buyers of new homes in England

The loans won't apply in Northern Ireland, where a separate scheme known as 'Own a Home' was launched yesterday by Social Development Minister Margaret Ritchie. Although there were only 20 houses involved in the scheme, we will be watching with great interest to see what other measures will be introduced to help those in dire need here. This is a partnership scheme with 100% finance available to prospective owners.

All in all, we are seeing some very rapid changes in a very fluid economy. As I said at the start, it is unchartered territory in many ways, but I hope we can keep an on the developments and bring them to you. Please leave a comment if you have an opinion, or you would like to start a discussion on this issue.