To go from this to this  you need SAVINGS

1. Savings provide independence and free you from the shackles of government mis-management.
2. They allow you to plan for your future and secure your old age without having to rely on the spin and
     deceit put out by governments who are only after your money to salve their own conscience, and give
     it away to causes they believe in, not you.
3. It's only worth saving if you save in schemes where you don't pay tax. Remember in a high tax country like
    Britain today the return on your savings can be at least 20% greater if you avoid tax.
4. If you control it, then it's your money and you can move it if necessary to a safe haven, you can't do that if the
    government is 'looking after it for you'.
5. If you are a basic rate taxpayer under current legislation and in the current climate you must ask yourself, 'is it
    really worth saving for anything other than emergency purchases, holidays etc'. The reason for this is because
    the low returns offered by savings providers and the removal of the 20% tax by government plus inflation will
    leave you worse off than if you spent the money.
6. Now we are all in favour of savings and independence, in fact independence does have a price, e.g. if you
    decide to be independent of government you will need to save a fund approaching £150,000 in todays terms
    to equate to the Labour governments minimum income guarantee. In other words why save for your
    retirement when the government guarantees you a minimum anyway? Of course the MIG may be allowed to
    wither on the vine as the old age pension has but the political implications of this for the Labour government
    would be catastrophic so for the moment long term saving is fraught with many slip ups.
What are savings?

Savings are long term, the money you are putting away for the new car or a holiday is not savings. That is short term money designed to see you over a crisis, or emergency. Everybody should have a short term fund of 15 to 20% of their annual gross income.

Savings are designed to reflect the growth in the economy, preserve your wealth against inflation and ensure you can be independent of government as you get older. You don't have to be rich to be wealthy. Forget the adverts you see offering advice for a booklet on how to be wealthy etc. or a months course on wealth creation for X £'s. We will tell you how to do it for free.

Remember we are not offering financial advice but telling you what we do. If it makes sense the choice is yours!!

Wealth creation is like baking a cake, designing a new recipe or re-decorating the lounge. It's easy providing you follow the rules, which are :-

                                                          a) You need time
                                                          b) You need compound interest
                                                          c) You need to understand growth and income
                                                          d) You need to understand nothing in life is risk free

TIME :- You must be sick of the number of times you have been told, "if you had invested £100 in the stock market in 1900 you would now have 1, 2 or 3 million pounds" The firms constituting the stock market in 1900 were far different then from now, society was different then and who wants a million when you are 101, you can't enjoy it . The only purpose this little story has, is to show you what growth and compound interest does to long term savings. Very few analysts add in inflation or what £100 would have bought at the turn of the century.

At the turn of the century £100 was the equivalent of £10,000 today, but even that is meaningless as what you would buy then and now are two different things. In todays world you are probably looking to start saving seriously in your late twenties and drawing the rewards in your late fifties, early sixties.

1. Plan your objective, is it short term savings or long term savings. You can run both at the same time, but
    remember long term means you can't access it at the drop of a hat.

2. What can you afford to put away each week or month, be realistic.

3. Start with good foundations and that usually means cash.

4. Use direct debits to put money away, that way you will be less likley to miss deposits at Christmas etc.

5. Don't worry about wasting money thinking your going to die and lose the use of your long term money. If
    you think like that you shouldn't be reading these pages anyway.

6. Put your money with names you know and trust, we are investing/saving not gambling.

 

Short Term  (6 to 18 mths)  1. Choose a high interest, instant access account for      ready cash. Don't leave it resting in your current      account. (sorry this is taxable, unless your a non      taxpayer). 2. Use a  cash ISA for savings for cars and expensive      items. With this you can strip out the interest once a      year, or draw capital. But remember you can only put     in £3000 per year, and capital drawn out can't be      replaced in that year.

Long Term    (minimum 5 to 10 yrs recommended) 1. Pension Contribution or Stockmarket ISA 2. Insurance Products, e.g. Lump sum bonds, we will     explain these later. 3. With Profits policies, they still have their uses. 4. Additional Voluntary Contributions 5. Overseas Accounts, if tax wasn't so high you wouldn't     need them, but needs must etc.

What about stakeholder pensions?

This is another Labour government disaster area. The stakeholder pension scheme was designed to make 'poorer' people save for their old age. In fact the main people to benefit have been those earning in excess of £30,000 per annum who can afford to take out stakeholder pensions for their children. By the time the darlings reach retirement age many will have a pension pot worth in excess of £1,000,000 not that we object to that, it's just that once again Labour government fiddling means that the wealthy gain at the expense of those who the scheme was originally targetted at.

In fact the stakeholder pension is such a disaster area that of the 400,000 employers who should be setting up stakeholders for their employees only, 88,304 had nominated an insurer to run it. Most of the schemes were empty, that is the employer had not paid anything in and if your employer is not paying anything in then there is no point in you having a stakeholder from your employer, it's as simple as that.

Is it worth saving?

We are in favour of independence and self sufficiency. Unfortunately Mr Blair and his socialist government make this as awkward as possible. If you don't work in the UK and make no contribution to a pension or other benefit then you are likely to end up better off than people who work all their lives and get a state pension.

It operates like this, there are contributory benefits and non contributory benefits. A short while ago the Socialist Government in the UK introduced another benefit called 'The Minimum Income Guarantee' this wonderful device means that no one in the UK when they reach retirement age gets below a certain amount, whether they have contributed to the system or not. (are you with me so far).
Currently for a man and wife the MIG is £140 per week. To match this you will need a pension fund of, £153,000 saved up out of your income. If you idle your time away through your working life you still get £140 per week.

The Governments pension minister, Ian McCartney, (who has a final salary scheme funded by the taxpayer) has no intention at the moment to allow pension scheme holders to avoid the disgusting situation of having to buy an annuity at age 75 irrespective of market conditions. Mr McCartney considers that the situation regarding annuities is only a problem for the rich. Does he regard someone who has saved to draw £140 a week as rich, what arrogance.

Lets now consider the effect of National Insurance. This is in effect double taxation. The original idea was as its name implies, a form of insurance so that working people could provide a pot for themselves when they retire.

As early as 1948 the Labour Government realised there was never going to be enough money in the pot to provide free health care and decent pensions. Hence today we have a lousy health care system in the UK and a decreasing state pension tied to prices not earnings.

If you earn in excess of £29,900 per annum you pay less National Insurance, proportionately, than someone on less than £29,900. Someone on £50,000 pays exactly the same N.I. as someone ona lower earnings scale.

If N.I. were combined with income tax it would be fairer and the consequent savings in administration huge. It is estimated that a minimum of 35,000 civil servants could be freed up to take up jobs in, teaching, nursing or any other productive employment which takes their fancy. They might even work for themselves and build up a pension pot entitling them to more than the MIG.

TAXATION----THE REAL STORY
red tape, treasury coffers,   tax as % of gnp,   UK savings anomoly
B.P. Amoco, Your Savings,   Customs and Exise (under development),

Question:- Why do you pay a good part of your income to people you don't know, who can't spend it efficiently, who give it away to causes you don't support and who spend a good proportion of it telling you why you should pay it and then paying others to threaten you with loss of liberty if you don't pay it.
Answer:- Because you have always done so and think you can't change the system. Well your wrong! LETS BEGIN AT THE BEGINNING Tax gathering goes back a long way, even slavery is a form of tax gathering. In some ways its the ultimate tax, the state has the lot, even your liberty. (starting to look familiar already is it?). Religion, duty, charity, etc. etc. have all been employed to con you into thinking the state has a right to help itself to your earnings, just because it has the money, (your money remember) and the force to do so.
Remember when the oppressed tax payer in the Bible asked Jesus about paying Caesars taxes and didn't Jesus diplomatically reply, "whose head is it on the coin, etc. etc. then render unto Caesar that which is Caesars", get the idea.
In William the Conqueror's day you paid your "tithe" for protection by the local lord from marauding villains and you could sleep reasonably safely at night. Go back even further to the group living in the cave, unless you all chipped into the pot you didn't eat. Unless you were prepared to tackle the lion on the loose with the others in the group then the entire group might get eaten. In other words we all put a little into the pot in the interests of self preservation. WHAT NEXT Seems reasonable so far, and you wouldn't be wrong while things stay small and everyone can see who's pulling their weight. There's ample evidence that even in those early times the old and infirm were looked after, and quite rightly so, everyone can make a contribution, we all have experience and ideas.

The problem occurs when the "leaders" for want of a better word start using the contributions of the group to salve their own conscience or encourage individuals to believe that the only solution to problems emanates from the "leader". In such a situation lie the seeds of dictatorship. Consider the following, if you look at the old communist economies of eastern Europe and some Latin American economies. Those that fail miserably all had governments which spent well over 50% of the GNP of the country. Look at the table below, we will add more country specific data in due course:-

 

Country

Percentage of GNP spent by government

Eastern Europe Western Europe Britain America

Still anywhere between 50% and 70% 45% 40% 30%

The Tax Burden
In Britain the tax burden continues to creep up towards European levels. Even with a current account surplus the government is having difficulty balancing the books, and it certainly cannot maintain spending at the current level without major increases in taxation after the general election. The government claims to have a current surplus of £23.5 billion, no need to raise taxes you might think. Think again, £22.5 billion of that was from the mobile phone auction. Without the auction, (a one off event), the surplus becomes £1 billion. The latest figures show a cash outflow, £800 million greater than anticipated, £9.5 billion as oppossed to £8.7 billion. They are spending faster than collecting, result future interest hikes after the election or more tax increases. How the Total Tax Burden has increased under Labour by 35%

Year	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000
£ billions	189	211	217	234	252

But, you say, interest rates are coming down. Yes in America, they can afford low rates due to the continued growth in the economy, even in a slow down. In Britain with penal taxation there is little room for encouraging enterprise to create growth. Even Mr Gordon Brown has bleated on about the need for more productivity. The trouble is you can't have that while carrying the millstone of current British government spending. Income Tax Burden since Labour came to power up by 43% total take

Year	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000
£ billions	69	75	84	92	99

The savings anomoly in the United Kingdom  In Britain the tax burden is greater because you are taxed twice on savings, taxed on the way in and taxed on the way out. This is more acutely felt by those on fixed incomes, e.g. pensioners. Many of these like to be independent of 'government' but anything they have saved out of a lifetime is taxed at the penal rate of 20%. Those who choose not to save are better off, they get a minimum income guarantee from the government, irrespective of national insurance contributions or anything else. Is it any wonder that the savings level in the UK has fallen from 10% of disposable income when Mr Blair came to power to a miserable 2% today, (see chart).

YEAR	%age dis. Inc.
1997	10%
1998	8%
1999	4%
2000	2%

Red Tape Strangulation

Mr Brown, our meddling Chancellor, got quite upset this week when Forbes Magazine claimed there was excessive red tape and heavy taxes on British industry strangling innovation and enterprise. Perhaps he should take notice of Ruth Lea, head of policy at the Institute of Directors. She said in a response to the governments proposals to give people from ethnic backgrounds time off for religious prayers and festivals, "Our members are already totally fed up with red tape this government has introduced. The idea of employees taking time off for religious festivals will only increase their frustrations.
This sort of legislation will be counter productive because employers will be put off taking on people from ethnic minorities. If you run a  business, especially a small one, you can't have people disappearing" These are the hidden taxes on Britain which we as consumers have to pay for to salve this governments conscience.
Treasury holding £16 Billion of UK taxes

Excessive taxation by the chancellor Gordon Brown means that the treasury now holds £16 billion of excess taxation from taxpayers. Is it any wonder 1/3rd of all cigarettes are now smuggled or purchased abroad. What does he intend to do with the money, well it certainly won't be put to productive use. It will no doubt go to the feckless, workshy and other architects of their own misfortune in the form of increased benefits. The pensioners who have paid in might get a pittance while other taxpayers who generate the wealth won't get a look in, just remember you have a vote.

What Gordon Brown and the rest of his chums don't say about BP oil company profits

Here we go again, Blair and the other big spenders at the treasury wondering if they dare impose a windfall tax on B.P. because they dared to make a profit. They don't reckon on telling you about the massive tax take they get from B.P.
Neither do they advertise the horrendous tax take, Brown and his chums get from the motorist. We don't have the most expensive petrol in the world, we have the most heavily taxed petrol in the world thanks to Mr Blair and the other meddlers.

According to the Blair government and their acolytes, John Browne, chairman of BP should be burned at the stake and his company profits distributed to the "poor".

In reality Mr Gordon Brown, the meddling British chancellor draws, £4 billion  in corporation taxes from Britains biggest company as well as taxing the rest of us at the highest rates in Europe on what it sells at the pumps. These pump taxes bring him in a further £6 billion a year. B.P. also handed over £700 million on its north sea operations.

On top of that, the dividend paid by B. P. supports those who have been frugale enough to provide for themselves in their old age unlike this spinning government who can't even maintain the value of the much reduced state old age pension.

Unlike Mr Brown, Blair etc. oil companies have to operate in the real world like the rest of us, they can't rely on taxpayers to foot the food bills. Instead of whinging and carping about profits they make he should be planning to put John Brownes statue on the empty plinth in Trafalgar Square!!!

Don't they go on these Blairites, now they appear to think windfall taxes are the solution. If they recycle any more of their daft ideas they'll be recycling themselves. Remember all you motorists, Gordon takes 87p in every £1 in tax, while petrol stations closed at the rate of 2 a day in 2000. They are happy to dip their grubby fingers in company profits but not so happy to hand out some tax rebate when trading is hard. Like all socialists and the liberal elite, so long as they are spending someone else's money they're happy. The only person who knows how to spend your money well is yourself.

page updated regularly

Keep visiting because over the next few weeks tax levels, national and local will appear on these pages.
 We'll tell you how to cut your tax bill and how the government acolytes avoid paying their dues, (legally of course).

CUSTOMS AND EXCISE,  A LAW UNTO THEMSELVES? Not ready yet folks but keep visiting if you want to read about the  activities of what used to be Britains front line against drug dealers and economic migrants. We'll be writing about how they now target the soft targets, i.e. the Britains returning from holiday with a few extra bottles of booze or fags legally obtained in europe so we don't have to pay Mr Blair's exorbitant taxes.

Read how they illegally impound peoples cars and possesions in defiance of magna charta and the law. Yes its happening in your country, supported by a British government and executed by your countrymen masquerading as law enforcers. Still it's easier than catching drug Barons or economic migrants.