Your last ever pay negotiation. How to get it right.

Think about this for a second, because it will help explain what I am on about.
You know with life insurance, if you smoke, or you suffer ill health, or like me you have eaten too many cakes and people say ‘You’re looking well’, the insurance companies make your insurance more expensive – well that’s because [...]

Interesting Blog on “Thinking Traps”

Here
These really highlight how we can all have habits in our thoughts that can be non productive or illogical.

Does your image lose you business?

I’ve just had an e-mail from a  freelance paraplanner who is looking for business. Now his speciality is report writing – explaining to my customer why I have advised him to do the thing I advised.
He spoke about the FSA and their rules in a very professional clear way, from what he said I expect [...]

It seems I am immune from the law.

In most professions the professional takes responsibility for his advice and takes out insurance to protect himself in the event he makes a mistake.
That’s the same in my profession.
In most professions, after you leave the industry, you take out a form of the insurance to proect yourself in case a mistake you made while you [...]

I know when you will die!

OK, that may be a little on the confident side, but I am armed with the official statistics from…the Office for National Statistics. Oh yes, the nights fly by in the Garside household.
If you want to join in the excitement, here they are.  My blog stats will show how many people click on this link [...]

Cycling to school – rules gone mad.

I encourage my 6 year old boy to ride his bike and his school have just built some bike racks.
He wants to ride his bike to school – supervised, you understand – his mum will ride with him.
But, the school, or maybe more correctly, Hampshire County Council have told us they won’t let him ride [...]

Choosing an ISA

Choosing an ISA is an interesting question.
An ISA is a savings account that doesn’t get taxed – there are two types, one that a normal savings account with a bank or building society – you just pay in your cash and recieve interest, just the interest is tax free. This is called a Cash ISA.
You [...]

OK, a £1000 + money saving tip for the organised homeowner

OK, I know lots of ways of saving money – here is one that is quite specific and should save you a significant amount of money. It won’t grab everyone, but if you are organised and a bit geeky about money, it can be a direct reward for being so.
1. You need to shop at [...]

£100 off your utility bills for Christmas

One of the companies that I recommend – Utility Warehouse – are offering a £100 off your bill after 12 months of being a customer.
They provide gas/electric/phone and broadband and you need to take 3 services to qualify for this deal.
They don’t appear on comparison websites, so you need to do this on a manual [...]

Comparison Websites

We all know that there are money saving websites out there, indeed, I have not only used them myself, I used to be a moderator for one of largest ones, so, broadly, I am a fan and I think they are generally a force for good.
However, they are useful to a point – they shouldn’t [...]