I agee with every word, I am widowed,but as widows benefit was cut out a few years ago, I don't receive that as I am under 60, didn't seem to matter that my late husband had paid National Insurance for years thinking that I would receive something after his death. but I have been managing my money carefully and what happens, interest rate cuts mean I shall lose at least £40.00 a month something I cannot afford to do.

That means the heating will go off a lot more now, I was already cutting down on this. but I am sure Gorden stays nice and warm in his home.

Hi Splodge. Yeah, I know what you mean about being too expensive to come back. That's what we found the last time we did it. A year ago, we looked at a house in France asking E285K or about £190K. Now that E285K price is closer to £285K, so on that basis, it wouldn't be 'too expensive' to come back. Of course, the French property market has always been less susceptible to price rises like we've had here (especially in the South, where we are, too), but at least for the next 5 years or so not a lot's going to happen so far as price rises are concerned. One of the good things about living in Continental Europe is that it's a whole lot easier to border hop when the fancy takes you. No channel to cross. Doubt we'll do anything about it for the time being, though. got to get through Xmas and see what the first quarter of 2009 brings us all.

Thank you, Nigel52. Sounds like a learning curve for me, working with MoneyCorp and their ilk. We have no time constraints and that forecast for the £ rate against the Euro to rise sounds good, be it ever so little. So, thanks again.

Dear Optimist, Make sure you od not get fobbed off by Barclays on the Euro account - some branches are totally unaware they offer this. What is really fun is after you have opened the Euro account and have transferred some euros into the account and then you go into your local branch to pick up some euros and they quote you the days rate plus their commission and you tell them you want the euros from your euro account which is always much better and no commission for them. The Sunday times this week-end was saying that the Euro FX rate will improve over the next 3 months and definately over the next 12 months. I obviously don't know your specific circumstances or requirements but if you can set yourself a target for what you think is a reasonable FX rate say over the next 12 months you might say 1.22 - 1.25 euros to £ and then ask MoneyCorp/HiFX/Caxton etc to buy you euros up to an amount you are happy with and then keep that in your Barclays Euro account. I try and buy my requirements 12 months in advance in order to avoid to many fluctuations. Hope this helps.

Hi Nigel52: I shall pop into Barclays sometime this week and see what they can tell me about holding a Euro or $ account. As soon as the £ = the Euro it won't much matter whether we have £-savings or Euro-savings. Even the interest rates are not so different. So I guess I think I'm gambling the £ situation will get even worse. I can't imagine we would go into the Euro quickly. We ought to have a referendum on it anyway, not that that's a foregone conclusion. I did talk to HSBC around March this year about a Euro account, and they could only offer Euros held in Guernsey or Jersey (one of which wasn't guaranteed; can't remember which), but they were definitely 'Offshore'. So, now that Alliance & Leicester have dropped their e-savings rate, we're ready to pull out of there. Decision time: $, Euro or Tesco's for 12 months? Hmmmmm.

Well Opti. the difference is you would be going into it with your eyes open and with experienced. I too lived around the world with the forces inc 4 years in Hong Kong as well as time in Norway/NZ/Kenia/ and Canada to name but a few. It worries me when people go to get away from the UK rather to get to a specific place. Better to go to Italy because you really want to be in Italy than to go to get away from the UK...if you see what i mean. The other point would be , remember that once you have gone it may well be too expensive to come back. I live in the South but i know people who moved North for cheap housing and could never afford to come back and its the same principal. If its cheap going one way it will be expensive coming back. Have to say if i went anywhere it would be " Norfolk" :-) way cheaper than here and i have family there.....not really emigrating tho is it....lol

ps

The worst people i ever came across were German house wives in the ques at supermarkets ! talk about kick and barge..lol I taught my three year old a song that went along the lines of ten little Messer***'s flying all around, alone comes a spitfire and shoots one down....and there were nine little Messer.....you get the idea. No sense of humour Germans :-))

Dear Optimist - I think you will find most of the major European countries ae suffering the economic crisis. If you are going to emigrate make sure you are doing it for the right reasons. Regarding holding foreign currency in a UK bank this is quite possible and Barclays for instance have currency accounts. We spend alot of time in France and half our outgoings need to be in Euros- to manage this with interest on savings nearly halved and the Euro FX rate dropping to 1.10 then one has to currency trade in advance. A good company to deal with is MoneyCorp where you can place advance orders when the exchange rate meets a level you think is acceptable. (One needs to be realistic) I sometimes have to wait 6 months to get a reasonable rate. This then goes into a Barclays Euro Account held in the UK which I draw upon when I travel to France. Over the years I have measured the low rate of interest I get on my Barclays Euro Account and the loss of interest on my savings account versus the gain of buying Euros and holding them when the swing is in my favour. Certainly for anyone that needs a fair amount of foreign currency do everything not to be forced to buy it with minimum notice otherwise you are at the mercy of the market. Holding a UK Euro Account is not seen as a tax dodge.

Hi Splodge: re emigrating - We've lived in Belgium (twice for 5 yrs each), Germany, 5 years, Spain 15 years, Gibralter 2 years and France 5 years. We came back to England 10 years ago to retire (we ran a business in Spain) and because of grandchildren, who we hardly ever see, now they're teenagers. Our first shock - 10 years ago - was how expensive everything was, especially housing. The benefits we get here we got elsewhere in Europe and I guess we're lucky that half of our pension is paid in Euros. That said, I agree with you: the problems we have here are the same everywhere in this global village. But we do have a basis for comparison. The best place we ever lived in was just outside Barcelona (10 years). Yes, they have a corrupt property market in Spain and you have to be aware of all that. It's more a quality of life thing. We have many friends in all those countries of all nationalities and we get news from them - great thing, the Internet. They are all glad not to be in England. Maybe we're too much influenced by them. People who emigrate often have language and cultural problems and may miss their families or the English way of life, so they come back, without really giving it their best to integrate. Going for sunshine just isn't enough. We, personally, consider ourselves European as well as English and were thinking of emigrating - again - for economic reasons: more house for your money in many regions which would have freed up capital for us to live on. That's no option now, as selling our home could take a while, and with the £ about to be at parity with the Euro, we would be no better off. So it's just too late. But we do have a cunning plan .....

Looks like i spoke to soon re: Bradford and B !

On the 1st of dec i closed my internet saver 2 account and transfered the money to a new internet saver 6 account. I also transfered my icesave £40k from its nominated current account to the internet saver 6.

This morning i have checked to see if the icesave cash has been transfered. ( needs 3 working days usually) and guess what. ?????????

I now have two internet accounts at Bradford and B. the new "6" account and the old "2" account, both still open,both with the same amount in...and the £40k has not moved !! further more it says their are no pending transactions. So it seems i have doubled my money as both accounts say " available to withdraw/cleared funds"....and i have lost another weeks interest on £40k.....

Lucky me eh :-))

Can no one run a bank account any more ??

Why does everyone think emigrating will make all the difference like other places are actually better than the UK ?

I have friends who went to Spain three years ago and have just come back. they went saying the UK has gone to pot.... no respect..crime...not a good place to bring up their kids etc..

Now they have come back looking for British education, the national health and to be in a country that is on the outskirts of Europe and not in it !!...all the reasons they went in the first place.

The vision that the other mans grass is greener is fine but in a small world like we have today, don't expect it to be any better.

It beats me how some banks can be so arrogant. Lloyds has gone right down in my estimation and it will only be worse if they take on HBOS as well. Alliance & Leicester have likewise reduced their rates with no e-mail alert. Time to move out of there as well. Trouble is, all the best rates have gone now, and the 5%ers seem high. Effectively, earnings have dropped by a third, which will make a huge difference to our spending power, once our fixed rate accounts mature. We are seriosly thinking of emigrating. Wish we'd done it a year ago, when we first started talking about it. We'd be in Euros now. However, the only currency to hold right now looks like the $. Why can't you hold foreign currency in UK banks without it being 'offshore' and therefore considered some kind of tax doge?

I dont understand why savers are affected by the drop in base rate, the cost of money to the banks is set by the inter bank lending rate LIBOR which is currently at 3.7%. Why should they pay savers less to borrow their money?

At the very least the pain should be shared between borrowers and savers not given as a benefit only to the borrowers

You would have to check opto, re: Euro accounts. things change daily !!

Likewise with your savings accounts. The banks no longer seem to tell you when they change the interest rates, not just in general but when an account is no longer available and a new identical one springs up and your left with a low interest, put out to grass account.

I was following my Bradford&B account and then found out that the current rate did not apply to my account but just new ones. Its easy to open a new one and transfer the money over but its up to you to watch daily for any changes. remember the advert and don't get hooked by the big juicy worm :-) at least make sure you keep going for the big juicy worm and don't end up in the keep net :-))

Back to the subject of Interest Rates: It is most underhand of the Banks that they don't e-mail their internet customers when there is a rate change on the accounts. Discovered the other day that Lloyds TSB are paying a derisery 1.75% gross on their internet saver for balances over £25K. It gets worse for amounts below that, of course, 0.25% up to £2.5K. Not that it's an account for saving, but it was useful for parking cash for a day or two (like the Icesave compensation). No longer! They keep on about their being the safest bank and triple A, etc., which I find most annoying and patronising. Considered Euro ccounts earlier in the year, but they appear to be offshore and not guaranteed. Is that right?

I can tell you where this is heading as well ! Before you know it Brown will have bounced us into the Euro through the back door. Peter Mandelson, ( recently disgraced twice and now back again! ), said "our goal should be to enter the single currency".

Then you can kiss goodbye to democracy and have your interest rates set by an un elected European.. If you want to see your mortgage rate set by Brussels at a high rate when we really need a low rate but Spain is in a mess so you have to pay a high rate..then the Euro is for you..but god help the rest of us. Germany is already in a deeper recession than us and they were stronger financially than us. Fat lot of good the euro did them.