Category Archives: money

Review of current income (April 2009)

By Kate Davis | Published: May 5, 2009

One of my goals is to have multiple sources of income including passive income. My first action has been to review my current situation so I have a baseline and to aid in decision making.

Definition of my income

  • I will exclude my husband’s income, however I will half any joint income we have e.g. saving accounts
  • I will not include ‘theoretical’ money such as share value increases, I will only count money that I can access
  • I will not include my daughter’s money, so for example, I will ignore the child benefit I receive

Current sources of income

I currently have three sources of income, my salary (or statutory maternity pay at the moment), interest on bank accounts and income from my blog – well it happened once! Each month I get a cash rebate from my credit card company, however I am excluding this because it is a percentage of my bill, so the way to increase the rebate is to spend more and that is not an action I want to encourage.

How I will measure progress

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Do banks provide good customer service?

By Kate Davis | Published: March 4, 2009
Bank account forms

Picture credit: ZaCky �

I am in the process of reviewing our bank accounts and investments and researching what accounts to set up for our daughter. The majority of my time has been spent on the internet, reading newspapers or brochures sent through the post, however yesterday I went into two high street banks and neither experience was great.

I am planning on making some long term investments while the stock markets are declining, however when I went to make my purchases I discovered my account is still in my maiden name and I am not able to make any additions to my account until I have updated my details. All I need to do is show them a copy of my marriage certificate, but as they are on an online institution I need to send them a certified copy of the certificate.

I went into the bank where I have my ISA (tax free savings account) and our mortgage and asked if they would certify a copy of the certificate. Their response was no, they are not allowed to certify anything unless it is for one of their own products. I pointed out they had previously certified copies as I held an account with them, but no they refused, even though it would only take a couple of minutes and the bank was empty.

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When fate takes a hand in finances

By Kate Davis | Published: April 29, 2007

Sometimes things work so neatly you can’t believe it. After five years, I was expecting to make my final student loan payment in March which would mean I had extra money to spend each month. In January, my company offered a save as you earn scheme with the first payment in April, it seemed like too good timing to be coincidental. I know I don’t ‘need’ the money because I’ve gone for years without it, so I am investing 80% of it in the save scheme.

confirmation of final loan payment

However it was nice this week to receive a letter from the Student Loan Company confirming I have paid off the loan. It is very comforting to know the only debts against my name now are my credit card which is paid off in full each month and the mortgage.

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  • About

    My name is Kate Davis and I'm working towards a happier and successful life and this blog follows my journey. I work almost full time as an environmental consultant and project manager and I'm the mother to a beautiful two year daughter.

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