[Misc] Retirement

[Papak]

I tend to look for bargain holidays on a Sunday evening, I.e. anything flying out of Gatwick tomorrow (Monday), tend to use TUI, LoveHolidays & Kayak, anyone know any other good places to try? Gone are the days of arriving at Gatwick with your passport I guess!

Teletext used to be decent...

 

[Professor Plum]

Not sure how that helps with gifting money to a child (to help with a property purchase) ?

It may not help in all circumstances but a trust is a way of keeping money apart from the estate in general. This could be useful should you die and your son splits from his wife before the money is used. In normal circumstances your gift will be split between them. but money held in a trust is a way of saying that you want the money to be used for X purpose / person only. If the money has already been used, I’m not sure but possibly (in the case of a dispute between the couple) the fact that it had been held in a trust at one point MAY just help to influence the way their wealth is divided — but I’m only guessing here.

 

[dazzer6666]

It may not help in all circumstances but a trust is a way of keeping money apart from the estate in general. This could be useful should you die and your son splits from his wife before the money is used. In normal circumstances your gift will be split between them. but money held in a trust is a way of saying that you want the money to be used for X purpose / person only. If the money has already been used, I’m not sure but possibly (in the case of a dispute between the couple) the fact that it had been held in a trust at one point MAY just help to influence the way their wealth is divided — but I’m only guessing here.

Yeah I know about trusts…….just couldn’t work out how you could wrap a gift to an offspring into one to protect the money in the event the offspring and partner split (without it being overly complex and expensive)

 

[Professor Plum]

I tend to look for bargain holidays on a Sunday evening, I.e. anything flying out of Gatwick tomorrow (Monday), tend to use TUI, LoveHolidays & Kayak, anyone know any other good places to try? Gone are the days of arriving at Gatwick with your passport I guess!

Not sure about last minute packages but on Skyscanner you can search for all flights from London (or a particular airport) and leave the destination open. Sort according to price and you’ll get a list of cheapest flights. We’ve done this before and ended up in Athens, Budapest and Oslo on unplanned but really good breaks.

 

[Professor Plum]

Yeah I know about trusts…….just couldn’t work out how you could wrap a gift to an offspring into one to protect the money in the event the offspring and partner split (without it being overly complex and expensive)

If you know more about trusts than me (which isn’t saying much) then fair enough but I thought that was the whole idea of trusts ie a way of ringfencing money for a particular purpose in case of divorce/ death etc. I’m guessing that most needn’t be overly complex but no idea about cost. Only worth investigating if we’re talking about a largeish sum.

 

[CorgiRegisteredFriend]

I looked at Secret Escapes for next weekend in Chester for the Friday/Saturday to take in the Everton game. £259 for the two nights, which includes a bottle of Prosecco in your room on arrival. Same hotel and dates with Booking.com £250 but without the Prosecco.
So basically £9.00 for a bottle of fix to tempt you.

You are saving the hotel between 15% and 20% of that £250 by booking direct and avoiding booking.com.

 

[Wes Tupper]

You are saving the hotel between 15% and 20% of that £250 by booking direct and avoiding booking.com.

Indeed. However I’ve not once been able to get a hotel to offer below the booking.com price when I’ve contacted them direct. You’d think they’d be happy to share the booking.com fee saving. Maybe booking.com prohibits hotels from offering a lower direct price. A few hotels have asked me to book any future bookings directly with them, but have never offered me any discount.

 

[Mr Bridger]

You are saving the hotel between 15% and 20% of that £250 by booking direct and avoiding booking.com.

not sure that’s my main focus when I’m booking a hotel.

 

[Tim Over Whelmed]

You are saving the hotel between 15% and 20% of that £250 by booking direct and avoiding booking.com.

They are contractural obliged not too undercut Booking.com so these “savings” sites aren’t all the seem.

 

[CorgiRegisteredFriend]

not sure that’s my main focus when I’m booking a hotel.

Id rather give a small independent bed and breakfast my money than booking.com.

 

[Flounce]

Good to see we’ve moved back to “look at me I’m booking holiday“ rather than look at my investments on this thread

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Id rather give a small independent bed and breakfast my money than booking.com.

Never a good idea to use any of these intermediaries in my opinion. Use them to find a hotel/flight but then go direct.

 

[Weststander]

Never a good idea to use any of these intermediaries in my opinion. Use them to find a hotel/flight but then go direct.

Imho always book flights directly with airlines. This helped us greatly in situations such as cancelled flights due to alleged 'force majeure', also the lockdowns. Receiving full refunds swiftly and full compensation for the costs of making our own way.

The one time I didn't, lesson learnt, the intermediary grabbed a disproportionate chunk. They can also be deviously rigid about no later changes, or a 100% loss of fare.

 

[CorgiRegisteredFriend]

Never a good idea to use any of these intermediaries in my opinion. Use them to find a hotel/flight but then go direct.

Absolutely. Last time we booked a B and B directly they gave us free drinks the first night in their bar area,

 

[A mex eyecan]

Another one here who reckons best to book hotels direct. However, personally I’d be really wary of booking villas etc direct, you hear of so many scams that I’d be dead worried of getting caught. Dare say that’s just me being daft and i’m sure there’s many who have done that over again with no problems.

 

[Professor Plum]

Good to see we’ve moved back to “look at me I’m booking holiday“ rather than look at my investments on this thread

Room for both!

 

[dazzer6666]

Good to see we’ve moved back to “look at me I’m booking holiday“ rather than look at my investments on this thread

What apps do people use to keep track of their portfolios when on holiday ?

 

[Weststander]

Another one here who reckons best to book hotels direct. However, personally I’d be really wary of booking villas etc direct, you hear of so many scams that I’d be dead worried of getting caught. Dare say that’s just me being daft and i’m sure there’s many who have done that over again with no problems.

Only do this where you can pay by credit card?

 

[Flounce]

What apps do people use to keep track of their portfolios when on holiday ?

Spreadsheets as well as apps I hope!

 

[dazzer6666]

Spreadsheets as well as apps I hope!

I don't bother filling in the spreadsheet whilst on holiday unless away for more than 3 weeks