The budget today so......

Well, Gordon did raid the pension funds for which act many of us in receipt of our pensions are now paying. He also claimed 'no more boom and bust' so not very foresighted of someone who was supposed to be a good Chancellor.
He encouraged debt ( along with the greedy bankers) and a vast increase in house prices so that people felt well off even if it was all an illusion.

I won't take offence at being called one of 'you two', even though I got into trouble when I called some posters 'you lot'.
However, please don't blaspheme, there is no need.

Yes, JessM, I do remember the banking crisis, and DH and I could see it coming from way before it started. Cannot understand why people with more financial acumen than us could not see it either! As HM said "how come none of you saw this coming?" Well, we could have told her it would all end in tears.

Governments may think they control the finances of their countries but they are just doing the housekeeping. It is the big financiers and big business who run the world.

Yes jingle and all the people who took on mortgages they couldn't afford to pay too. Now I know someone will say they should not have been given the loans but what about personal responsibility?

No one seems to attribute any blame to the auditors of the banks who imo have a lot to answer for. I could never have got the slightest thing through ours.

Remember the collapse of Lehman Brothers? Remember the sub-prime mortgage market in the US? These can hardly be laid at the door of Gordon Brown or ever Tony Blair!

It didn't help that so many people ran up credit card debts that they had no chance of repaying. Ordinary people have to take some of the blame.

Greed all round.

The sad fact is, friends, that we the people have been well and truly rogered by our politicians for many years. The most recent financial crisis was not caused by the Labour Party. It was the result of the most appalling greed and lust for money by international financial institutions whose activities were left unchecked, in fact encouraged, by national governments of all political colours who failed completely in their responsibility to those who elected them.

The Cameron/Osborne clique are no different to the Blair/Brown outfit. However, Cameron/Osborne have underhandedly used the excuse of the crisis to force through many un-manifested right-wing policies whilst using our tax money to bail out the very banks who caused the problems. This budget is just a shabby attempt to blow yet more smoke over the government's murky relationship with the world of finance and big business, in preparation for the election next year. I am not taken in by any of it.

Annuity. Give with one hand, take with the other. 55% tax.

JessM is right It was the greedy international money markets that caused the credit crunch by making some very bad loans. They were mostly responsible for the massive Banking crises, not governments.

Bankers cannot blame the government for this. They were supposed to be "the experts" and act sensibly with their investors money.

They cannot sit there and bleat that "the government should have stopped them."

Oh good God. Don't you two remember the banking crisis? You might say that GB did not regulate the city well enough, but the Tories were right behind him on light touch regulation - and there is not a lot of evidence that they have tightened up on the City in the last 4 years.

Rosequartz

Am with you all the way. Gordon Brown et al bankrupted this country.

Miliband spluttering on about privilege in his response to today's budget was risible. There are more millionaires on the Labour front benches than on that of the Coalition. This "cost of living crisis" is just another Labour soundbite.

Seemed to be an attempt to appeal to potential UKIP supporters. Nothing for the hardest off is there - apart from slight concessions on beer and cider.
(those poor people will vote for me if I help them to stay pissed and they might not even notice the benefit cuts, the NHS cuts and the council services cuts???)

Feeling I've just missed out! A couple of months ago I was repaid a substantial debt. Isa allowances used up for year so started a 3-year bond with stepped interest of 2.2%, 2.3% 2.4%. This will be taxed on maturity so the new increased Isa allowance would have been better I think. If new pensioner bond is taxed the rates would have to be significantly higher than Isa rates to balance out.
At least some recognition that savers have seriously lost out recently and I haven't forgotten Gordon Brown's raid on my pension fund which meant my monthly annuity is far less than I'd calculated.

Too complicated for me!

I don't understand all the ins and outs of sipps and drawdown. Just so long as the money turns up each month.

Brighton is excellent if you're into the gay scene.

Just grab your rainbow scarf...

I'm lucky with my lifestyle if I have a couple of thousand to go into an Ida, and then my Pfa tells me to put into my sip. I still don't understand any of it. I'd rather spend it anyway.
Cunard here I come!
Just worked out, the world cruise I'd love to do in princess grills on cunard would be a mere £60000.
Anybody know what Brightons like these days?

Yes. And they haven't issued a new Children's bond for ages.

It's still not a patch on the Index linked, national savings certificates which were tax free. Unfortunately they became a victim of their own popularity and were withdrawn.

Is the pensioner bond going to be taxable? Would think so. You need to take that into consideration when deciding Galen. And at the end of the three years you would be restricted to that year's allowance to go back into isa-land.

I thought it was a good budget statement.

And the better rates apply if you invest for 3 years I think.

I should think so Galen but we need to wait and find out what the tax situation on the granny bond is. I think it is still likely to be a better bet but then of course you won't have the money in an ISA in years to come if rates go up.

Nonnie

My financial adviser is me

Does this pay to draw out of my iISA to buy a grannie bond?

Have to consult my financial adviser.

Too late for our pensions, we have already bought annuities. I like the idea of the pensioners' bond as we have been losing out on our savings for years now.

I am concerned that some will just simply go on a spending spree when they can draw what they like from their pension. Will they then get a top up from the welfare budget?

rose do you think if the Labour Party get in next year they will claim that they are responsible for the figures forecast for 2018-19? Will it still be the bankers who are blamed for everything that goes wrong including the rain?