I have had a Revolut card for a few years now, find it really useful for holiday spends and multiple currencies. But I don’t think I would use it as an everyday bank account. My wife has a Currensea card, but again that’s more a holiday thing, she raves about it, it might be worth a look.

It’s a fever dream, dial 111 immediately and get some medical advice.

Or, call her bluff and get one ordered. At least that way you will find out the real agenda.

I sold a 3 year old Audi Q3 via Motorway. £1200 more than WBAC and the dealer didn’t try to haggle when he collected the vehicle. I thought it was a good process, obviously other people have had different experiences. I guess it comes down to the dealer who buys the vehicle in the end.

My son just opened a Junior ISA account with Wealthify for his son (newborn so not an exact comparison) mainly so that we as proud grandparents can pay into it on a regular basis.

Very well reviewed – might be worth a look. https://www.wealthify.com

It is backed by Aviva so has some weight behind it.

I had a D Lock confiscated at Malaga Airport, despite the fact that It had gone through security Ok at Stanstead on the way out – It was years ago and I still have the key for it on my keyring.

My father in law was travelling to Alicante one year and went through security only to find himself escorted into a private room for a serious chat with the authorities. He had forgotten that he had been shooting the week before and had six shotgun cartridges in his jacket pocket! His wife was not impressed.

You will know when you visit, use your nose – literally – what can you smell? Use your ears – are the TV’s all on and very loud, worse still is there a horseshoe of chairs around a single loud TV. Use your eyes – is it clean, tidy and are the residents happy.  Talk to a resident if you can (with similar care needs to your parent). As above interview the manager.

We (my firm) also have developed a care readiness app – https://www.clearlines.co.uk/care-readiness-assessment/ it is in Beta at the moment and is free to use. It might be helpful.

I agree it is super annoying, but sometimes people don’t help themselves. I stayed at a hotel last week where the Dinner, Bed and Breakfast offer was significantly cheaper than their standard B & B rate. Consequently me and about 50 other people booked the offer rate, and then went to the awards ceremony next door (which was catered by the same hotel).

This meant that the restaurant which looked like it had 50 bookings on the offer ended up empty.

Singletrack and Cyclist on subscription.

Camping & Motorhome club magazine by default, usually goes straight in the bin without being opened but there doesn’t seem to be a way of opting out.

No newspapers anymore, I do have a readly subscription though and access lots of stuff on there.

I’m in, only 9 in the STW league so far though. At least I am guaranteed a top 10 finish.

Hi,

Late to the party, but like others have said the £86,000 cap has not been bought in yet and even if it is it won’t be applied retrospectively.

With dementia and other progressive diseases there is often a point at which the NHS will step in and pay for care after what is called an NHS continuing healthcare assessment. It is a complex process and not easy to negotiate, but I have both personal experience (my Dad was living in a care home for 4 1/2 years before his death – we got NHS funding for over 3 years) and professional experience acting as an advocate for families going through the process.

If you want a chat (no obligation obvs) about what your options might be then drop me a message nick dot ash at wplegal dot co dot uk.

We are just changing fibre provider. Our current provider UPP was subject to sanctions against its Russian owners and there was a forced sale to Virgin Media. Consequently we have chosen to exercise our right to break contract and go with Lightspeed who also serve my area.

Anyway to answer your question, Lightspeed are due to take over this Wednesday and last Friday they turned up and ran their own piece of fibre from the same telecoms manhole to the house. Apparently the two networks are separate so whilst they use the same tech they use their own cabling.

Ours all runs through ducting that was installed when the house was built in the late 1980s.

We stayed in Pentewan last year. There is a small bike hire place at the start of the gravel road, they sell maps of the Clay Trails, there is a whole network of trails that can take you from the south coast to the north. They are not the most challenging trails in the world, I rode them on my gravel bike rather than MTB but plenty of options and you can get around avoiding the traffic.

Bike parking at Eden Project wasn’t great considering how green it is supposed to be. Lost Gardens of Helligan is good, accessed completely off road from Pentewan.

I am old and not at all trendy, so my Jeans come from M&S. Fit well, last well  and under 40 quid. Loads of cut and size options too.

I have quite a few younger friends and colleagues who agree as well.

There is a company called Estate Search that will do a financial asset search which is pretty comprehensive and will highlight and debts as well as any assets (lost pension funds etc). We use them at work, so I am not entirely sure that they offer the service direct to the public. But it might be worth a shot https://www.estatesearch.co.uk/services/financial-asset-search-for-the-living/ 

When my dad succumbed to Dementia we (me and my brothers)  found out he had quite a lot of debt, with the care that he then needed and the fact that he would never be able to afford to pay any of it back we wrote to all of his creditors explaining the situation. We had Power of Attorney so they were happy to deal with us. Each one of them was very understanding and wrote off the debts, over £16k in all.

So before you go down the Bankruptcy path I would take that option first.

Hope that helps. 

I have worked with financial advisors for most of my career, so 30 plus years now. I am afraid that experience shows that there are very few good ones. Most of them are firmly in the ‘What’s in it for me’ camp. Very few truly have their clients needs at heart.

That said the fees quoted seem really high. The up front fee for the advice is fair at £500. The consolidation fee should be between 1.5% and 3% of the funds being transferred into the Royal London pot (most advisors would rebate the £500 too at the point of transfer). As far as the annual fee goes, I would be looking to pay 0.75% to 1.5% per year of the value of funds under management.

I have my own stuff with an IFA and I pay him 1% per year and I get a review with him once a year. I think my transfer fee was 2.5%.

The equity release company won’t like it, the terms of any equity release are that the loan is repayable in two circumstances. When the second (surviving) spouse enters long term care or when the surviving spouse dies. The equity release company can then enforce their charge over the property ensure it is sold and get their money back. 

If your brother were in the property, especially if he has been there for any period of time, they wouldn’t get vacant possession of the property and would then have to take enforcement action to evict him and his family, which could be difficult if he has accrued and rights of residence and especially if he gets any sort of beneficial ownership of the property in your parents wills.

I am not an equity release lawyer or broker, but work in an adjacent sector – Wills and LPAs and my experience would indicate that the equity release company would have terms and conditions in place that prevent him and his family moving in, notwithstanding the fact that they are family, for the reasons outlined above.

They couldn’t stop them moving in, but what they could do is require an immediate repayment of the loan in full because of the change of circumstances. Read the Ts & Cs carefully and make sure that your parents are aware of the consequences. 

Another vote for Emovis, we have had ours for 3 years now. Euro account through Revolut to pay the fees. It just works.

We had ours done 2 years ago. We managed 15 years of too cold in winter and too hot in summer. We had the polycarbonate roof replaced with Vinyl Tiles, 15cm of insulation, plasterboard ceiling with recessed lights.

Our first quotes from the companies that we found advertising on facebook etc were in the region of £12k, we found a local guy who did it for £7k. He was excellent and the results have been transformative, we now have a room that we can use all year round. We use it as a quiet space for reading etc. Very happy that we had it done.

It will probably be awful, expectations are super low, but I used to watch it with my kids when they were young*. Both my boys loved it. So for old times sake I will give it a go.

*both Kids over 30 now!

You have done the right thing. 

My dad is four years into his care home residency. Vascular dementia and Parkinsons. He is virtually mute (Parkinsons does that bit) and in the deep depths of dementia. But when his carers come into the room he always manages a smile for them. They keep him healthy, excepting the degenerative diseases, fed and safe. 

In hindsight putting him in the home saved my Mum and has vastly improved her life. We didn’t know how much she was enduring in caring for him and hiding from me and my brothers.

Obviously if you are self funding it is very expensive, but there is some help out there and talking to someone in the know about benefits etc can help, as can an NHS continuing healthcare assessment in the right circumstances. We paid for Dad for the first 6 months or so, but his needs are so severe that the NHS has fully funded his care for the past 3 1/2 years and the funding has just been renewed for next year too. 

Taken an illegal drug

When I started out I found the Federation of Small Business to be an affordable way to access the things that I needed, we didn’t go to dedicated HR support until we had 10 members of staff. 

http://www.fsb.org.uk if you want to find out more.

I needed someone to give me permission to succeed. After nearly 50 years of thinking like you are I went on a course called ‘The Will to Act’ where the mentor/tutor gave me permission to succeed. I got a coach, made a plan and for almost 10 years have been enjoying the permission I was given. It’s not easy and I didn’t suddenly become a multi millionaire or anything like that, but I do earn more and do a lot more things that I enjoy and less of the things that I used to endure.

Therapist, Life Coach or whatever you want to call them, if you can find the right one it works.

When we bought our place in Spain back in 1999 my wife and I decided to check out a local ‘night club’ fortunately the taxi driver who was taking us there spoke reasonable English realised what we thought we were doing and took us to the local Discotheque instead.

Apparently the distinction still exists.

Do you really want to do whatever it is – I mean really deep down – if you do you will probably succeed. 

I am about to embark on a year long fundraising challenge with a target that is on the face of this really hard to achieve. But I absolutely believe it is possible so I am going to try my damnedest to get there. If I don’t there will be egg on my face, but no life threatening consequences or liabilities for others, so whilst the personal stakes feel quite high in the grand scheme of things it wouldn’t matter.

But I have a plan, I believe it is possible and most importantly I really want to do it, so I most likely will.

Go for it. 

Not in the north west, but happy to help if I can. I have both personal and professional experience of this and can take you through your options. We help a few families each year by representing them at continuing healthcare hearings. Unfortunately we have to give many more families the bad news that they are on their own as far as funding is concerned. But at least you will know.

Happy to do an initial Zoom/ Teams meeting to talk you through the options – F.O.C and no obligations. nick.ash@will-probate.co.uk if you want to get in touch.

My Brother in Law went on a Gin making thing, thoroughly enjoyed it and got to distil a couple of bottles of his own blend.

Think it was this one http://www.virginexperiencedays.co.uk/product/masterclass-with-tastings-for-two-at-crossbill-distilling

Obviously you have to like Gin.

You can take him to court. But the courts care about proof and facts. You have said everything you need to say in your original post. No dashcam, no witnesses, no CCTV and inconclusive photos. Your only chance of a win is if he decides to say it’s a fair cop, it was my fault all along. The court process or the threat of it could make him do that.

Also, it only costs you £100 to start the claim, if he defends it (or his insurance company’s lawyers do) and you lose you might have to pay their costs too. You can guarantee that won’t be cheap.

Move on, buy a dashcam.

You would find the outdoor pool on the cool side, but not unusable. It is Jan, Feb and March when our communal pool is too cold to use.

We have a place out there, October is one of our very favourite times to go. Low to mid 20’s ideal for shorts and T shirts, you might need a jumper for the evenings though.

I have a friend whose brother is a cold caller. He is based in Barcelona but spends his days calling elderly British gents (they target men with this scam) to sell them investments in Whiskey casks. It is quite sophisticated, buttering them up telling them how knowledgeable and discerning they are when they show any interest at all in Whiskey. They promise returns of up to 30% a year and always give examples of McAllan to justify their claims. Then they drop the hammer and suggest that the average investment is in five casks and ask you to part with £30k.

Loads of people fall for it, and to be fair when he pitched it to me I nearly did to (He had misjudged me though as I didn’t have £30k to invest).

He recently inherited £30k himself after his mum died, and invested it straight into his own Whiskey scam – you just can’t help some people.

I got my wife one of their changing robes for when we are away in our camper, she loves it. Decent quality and good value (in their sale).

The response that @noone gave regarding the ownership of the house is correct. Search here https://www.gov.uk/search-property-information-land-registry

The cost of care is a much bigger picture and will really need some individual advice.

There are two assessments – A Care Needs assessment that needs to be done first and should be blind to financial questions, followed by a financial assessment that decides who pays.

In England – Broadly speaking if a person has assessable assets of less that £14,500 then your Local Authority will meet the entire cost of care. They have to offer you one place and it might not be that nice (the family can opt to top up the LA’s contribution and choose somewhere different).

Between £14,500 and £23,250 there is a sliding scale where the LA pays less and the person in need of care pays more.

Once you get to £23,250 in assessable assets then you are on your own as you are judged to be able to pay for your own care.

Assessable assets –

Money in the bank or building society

ISAs

National Savings and Investments incl Premium bonds

Stocks and shares

The family home in certain conditions – This is disregarded if the person receiving care, their spouse or a dependent relative aged under 16 or over 60 is still residing in the property.

Certain investments – Insurance based investment bonds – fall outside the scope of the assessment.

As others have said it is a minefield. But it is one that to a large extent fills my days so if you need some advice on a one to one basis just message me.

Hope that helps.

Nick.

I got a Brennan B3 and a pair of Wharfdale diamond 9.1 speakers. It is a great setup. I have ripped my CDs to the hard drive in a lossless format and can play them either via the onboard app and attached speakers, or over my Sonos network too. Much better sound than streaming and the best of all worlds.

I have used it four times in the last 2 years (2x Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam). Three times we sailed through with no problems and ended up with a long wait in the departure lounge. Once when we went to Amsterdam we queued for over two hours (problem with the border control computers) and they ended up having to hold the train for us and the other 500 people who weren’t through security by the scheduled departure time.

In every case it is way better that flying.

You cannot get a Power of Attorney for someone. They have to grant you the power, if they refuse or if they have already lost capacity you can apply to the Court of Protection for a Deputyship Order. This is a long winded and expensive (about 10x the cost of an LPA) process. So use your powers of persuasion and encourage the person to make the arrangements before it is too late.

The Office of the Public Guardian are currently taking about twenty one weeks to register an application, so if your relative were to apply today and there are no mistakes then you will be able to make decisions by Xmas.

Viz and quite a few of the other magazines mentioned in the thread are all available on the Readly app. I got a free trial of it from my bank and then went onto the paid version. I get my choice of daily newspaper and a good selection of magazines to browse through every month.

That said I still get physical copies of Singletrack and Cyclist Mags and will as long as they are available.

I am in, team picked and I have been brave with my cash as well, a bet on Fred Wright to win a stage, and a double of Cav and Pidcock to each win a stage.

Oh and Pog for the win.

Our Admiral Multi Car went up by £1100 (c£800 last year wanted £1900 this) when they sent the renewal through. LV multi car was £900 less for the same cover and the same cars. I phoned Admiral and said I didn’t really want to change, but I would as the price difference was extortionate. Their retention team magically got the price down by £850 to keep me as a customer. It was not worth changing to save £50 so I renewed.

So it’s always worth a call.

2009 it says in my profile, my mag subscriber number is 666 which makes me smile.