Farepak

[EmmaG]

lol taxes, my favourite subject, so what is the rate of say the equivalent income tax, capital gains tax, inheritance tax, VAT over there??

Everything seems to be so expensive over here.

[alexgirl73]

Sandy, people were taking responsability for their financial situations, by saving with a respected, well established company which was very popular with hundreds of thousands of people over at least 2 generations. How on earth would they have any idea that this company was going to go into administration? It is all very well to say from Holland that you don't understand people using this type of scheme, when obviously from your posts things are far less expensive over there and there is less financial constraints on people in the way they shop. You may not have thought you have personally attacked anyone on here but when you are scathing in regard to peoples choices and some of those people are members of Catsey, then of course they are going to take it as a personal attack!

[sandy]

Originally Posted by EmmaG

lol taxes, my favourite subject, so what is the rate of say the equivalent income tax, capital gains tax, inheritance tax, VAT over there??

Everything seems to be so expensive over here.

Emma, it's dreadful. Pin back your ears and get a load of this. Inheritance tax: children are allowed 8 thousand euros tax free, then pay about 25% tax on the rest! Brothers and sisters get the same tax free allowance, but pay 50% tax!!!! No way out. If you give your money/property to your kids before you die, the tax is exactly the same.

Income tax and pension/health deductions are staggering here, th British EU workers who come here are appalled at what they have to pay. It's hard to do a comparison, since we have a lump deduction for both tax and contributions to a scala of other funds for benefits. Give me a while to work out an example, do the currency conversions and I'll get back to you.

Mind you, we do get twice the old age pension you get in the UK. it's enough to live on, just, and there are no social security top-ups.

[Kim]

Originally Posted by sandy

Then I won't address any more posts to you. I have a right to voice my opinion without being attacked personally and have not criticised anyone here personally. If people want to risk their money 'saving' it with companies instead of banks, then it's their own affair and their own loss.

We live in a hard world, not Disneyland, and people have to take some responsibility for their own financial decisions.

Yes, of course you have a right to voice your opinion, I just objected to the way you went about it. Most people, thankfully have been sypathetic to the situation with farepak, and I thought I was taking responsibility for my own financial decision. I'm sadly well aware we don't live in Disneyland.

[sandy]

Originally Posted by alexgirl73

Sandy, people were taking responsability for their financial situations, by saving with a respected, well established company which was very popular with hundreds of thousands of people over at least 2 generations. How on earth would they have any idea that this company was going to go into administration? It is all very well to say from Holland that you don't understand people using this type of scheme, when obviously from your posts things are far less expensive over there and there is less financial constraints on people in the way they shop. You may not have thought you have personally attacked anyone on here but when you are scathing in regard to peoples choices and some of those people are members of Catsey, then of course they are going to take it as a personal attack!

What's the point of discussing politics or current affairs if you have to pussy-foot around for fear of upsetting people who have made the wrong choices? There is a very considerable difference between clean, hard, no-nonsense argument and personal attacks. If people can't discuss without getting personal, you end up with a vicar's tea-party atmosphere where nothing of any substance can be said.

[Kim]

Originally Posted by alexgirl73

Sandy, people were taking responsability for their financial situations, by saving with a respected, well established company which was very popular with hundreds of thousands of people over at least 2 generations. How on earth would they have any idea that this company was going to go into administration? It is all very well to say from Holland that you don't understand people using this type of scheme, when obviously from your posts things are far less expensive over there and there is less financial constraints on people in the way they shop. You may not have thought you have personally attacked anyone on here but when you are scathing in regard to peoples choices and some of those people are members of Catsey, then of course they are going to take it as a personal attack!

Well said Alex. I did take the things that were said personally. I also did not feel I attacked Sandy personally, but simply objected, like you to the critical, scathing way she worded her posts.

[sandy]

"How on earth would they have any idea that this company was going to go into administration?"

Any company can go bankrupt, we have seen it time and time again. People need a bit more financial savvy, that's all. Companies never, ever, warn anyone when they are in trouble.

[sandy]

Originally Posted by Kim

Well said Alex. I did take the things that were said personally. I also did not feel I attacked Sandy personally, but simply objected, like you to the critical, scathing way she worded her posts.

Read the thread again. See where the personal stuff comes in, look for adjectives like patronising, scathing, objectionable, "you don't live in the UK" stuff. I could have rejoined with adjectives like "stupid", but it ain't my style.

[EmmaG]

Originally Posted by sandy

Emma, it's dreadful. Pin back your ears and get a load of this. Inheritance tax: children are allowed 8 thousand euros tax free, then pay about 25% tax on the rest! Brothers and sisters get the same tax free allowance, but pay 50% tax!!!! No way out. If you give your money/property to your kids before you die, the tax is exactly the same.

Income tax and pension/health deductions are staggering here, th British EU workers who come here are appalled at what they have to pay. It's hard to do a comparison, since we have a lump deduction for both tax and contributions to a scala of other funds for benefits. Give me a while to work out an example, do the currency conversions and I'll get back to you.

Mind you, we do get twice the old age pension you get in the UK. it's enough to live on, just, and there are no social security top-ups.

Thanks Sandy I would be interested to see the figures and how they compare with the UK.

I think it is a shame what has happened with Farepak as I believe there are a few other companies who do a similar business and have done for a long long time. They will lose out and so in the long run will it's members.

I remember about 12 years ago when money was very tight for me and my OH, living in a rented flat with only my income which I think was about £600 per month and our rent alone was £280 let alone council tax of £89 per month, that we decided to join Sainsburys Christmas saver club, we paid in by direct debit about £20 a month to save for our christmas presents for family and a little bit of food. It was a great idea and we tried to forget about the savings and not touch them if we had an emergency, we were just very luckily there was only two of us and we don't/didn't have any children.

I do feel for the farepak members because I have been in the situation were you go to the cashpoint and can only draw out £20 to pay for a weeks worth of shopping. Luckily for us it was when we were young and things have changed a lot since.

[sandy]

Emma, I've been there! When I lived in London, I was so poor it wasn't true, paying half my salary for one lousy bedsit.

I brought up a child alone for the last 2 years of my studies and was managing on considerably less than a single mother on social security gets - and half of the amount was a state loan which I paid back over 10 years! I had kitties for Christmas, clothes, holidays, spent hours budgetting. Ah, the bad old days, eh?