How Sez Sees It

The Tories accused Labour of having a magic money tree for all their plans but they are the ones using it for the Queen and DUP when everyone else is suffering. It has made me so angry that the Tories voted down a motion to remove the freeze on public sector wages. In real terms those wages have actually been a pay cut as prices of everything continues to rise. This means our teachers, firefighters, nurses, doctors, police, local government officers and many more are doing the same job for less. Actually, in some cases they are doing more for less as there has been a huge reduction in job numbers over the last few years. Meanwhile, the Queen, an unelected head of state, gets a pay rise which constitutes multi-millions so that she can refurbish her home. Compare that to one case study (because we have heard a lot about it) Grenfell Tower. This is a place where people were in social housing and it was re-clad with something highly flammable to save a couple of quid for each p...

I'm studying a course on poverty and inequality with the Open University via the learning website Future Learn . It is really interesting and I thought I would just share some of the things the course has so far made me think about along with some of the recent news stories doing the rounds. We need to pay more: I am a socialist and, as such, I believe we need to be paying more taxes. I for one would be happy to do so and I certainly think the rich should be paying more. I also believe they should not be allowed to put it in off shore holdings in order to avoid paying tax. I have heard the argument before that if people earn the money they should be allowed to keep it. Great, yes, keep some of it. We are all human beings though and it should be within us to want to help our fellow humans out. By paying more in the way of taxes we ensure that people have a good education and access to health care or that they can afford to travel to work (I am also in support of re-nationali...

Having just bought our first house I can tell you it can be confusing if you don't know when certain things need to happen. How can you put an offer in if you don't have a mortgage? How do you know how much mortgage you need if you don't have an offer accepted? When do you pay and how does it all work? Here is how we did it and this worked really well. Save Get your deposit sorted. House prices change all the time but keep your eye on costs and build up your deposit. I had 10% saved up and used that alongside mortgage calculators (see links in below item) to work out what we could borrow and afford to pay each month. This works the other way too and they can help you work out how much you need for a deposit. There are schemes which require only a 5% deposit ( Help to Buy ) but it is advisable to save up before approaching this scheme too. Remember, you will have to afford mortgage payments and payments to the provider too. Also bear in mind additional costs such as ...

I was brought up by accountants. By that I mean my parents were either full accountants or training. Even my brother has gone into accountancy and, while it was never a career path for me, I have learned a few things about savings and saving money. Here are a few of my tips and tricks (although this is my no means definitive). Savings accounts: There are loads out there and this can seem like a daunting thing. Use a comparison site such as Money Supermarket or Compare the Market (other comparison sites are available...search online for them first) to save time. If you have more time then make a list of banks you trust and go on their own webpages for more information. Often existing customers get preferential rates so if you have a current account see what savings that provider will do for you too. Remember though that most rates only last a year and then drop quite low so it might be worth having a look after a year to see what else is available. The best rates belong to fixed...