Clever s*ds - help required please!!

[gill216]

I was going to ask MBH to put on paper something he showed me. Got here and he'd already done it Hows that for service.

[MBH]

I think I would put a few examples of things people might like to learn.

Nice one I'd thought of this after I put together my sample poster, but it's good to have it confirmed. A nice bullet point list:

* Getting to know the keyboard

* Simple word processing

* Introduction to spreadsheets (Excel)

* Using the Internet safely

MBH where was the button that makes things go transparent? ( In paint)

No such animal I'm afraid The paint is real colour, so if you go over the top of something you obscure it. I've got as far as the screen dump and putting it into Paint on the puzzle you mention. The first job I did was expand it's size to 150% of it's original size

Well done on the control of your lines and thank you for the nice words.

I was going to ask MBH to put on paper something he showed me. Got here and he'd already done it Hows that for service.

If that referrs to generating squared paper - you should be ashamed of yourself(selves) when you look at the date of that particular posting..... Do I write too much at once? Too daunting to read??

[LAT]

Hoping you take this the right way - not as criticism at all, just ideas and thoughts as I see things.
I think sometimes what you write is too wordy. It's good to be chatty when you are explaining things in person, but when you write things down I find it is easier to follow if it is a bit more of a list of bullet points.
If you do get going on the classes, or individual help you are talking about, it could be helpful to give people a sheet to take away which lists the main points you have covered so that they can refer back to it afterwards at home.

And on your feeler sheet I would offer the choice of filling in details or contacting you direct. Some people might not want to write their names and contact details down where anybody could see them.

Best of luck with it though!

[MBH]

Thanks LAT - all useful stuff

I type as easy (or possibly easier) than I talk - it costs me no real effort - that can easily twist my thinking on how easy it is to read Bullet points are good.

I'll clearly mark the 'Contact Details' as "Optional".

[Bunnylump]

I think this sounds like a great idea. The thing which would have attracted me (well, assuming that I didn't know you, obviously!) would be to have seen something like:

EXTREMELY patient tutor, prepared to start right from scratch and to answer even the daftest sounding questions. OR
Are you self taught, but would like to know how to do things PROPERLY?

I know this sounds ridiculous, but I've always been put off doing a course in anything to do with computers because I find that most people ASSUME a certain level of knowledge, which is really off-putting.

Also, I would suggest that if you added your photo, it looks a bit more personal, and people can see at a glance that you're not some scary computer geek.

[Redfraggle]

Is anyone on here connected to legal proceedings for accounting?

[LAT]

Not sure exactly what you mean by that.

[gill216]

I'm not sure what you mean either. I'm a legal accountant as opposed to being a chartered accountant.

In simple terms that means I'm familiar with solicitors accounting rules.

[Redfraggle]

Gill - I'll explain via PM.

[gill216]

Cutting a long story short, I have what I deem to be an impossible scenario.

I still pay class 2 NI even though I could claim exemption because I gave up working to any great extent about 5 years ago. (Thanks Eirian- I still have no regrets )

I'm 55 now. I decided to apply for a pension forecast (state pension) because Oh is about to be made redundant and hence retire early and I wanted to know if I still needed to make NI contributions for my own state pension in my own right eventually. . The ruling is 30 years for full state pension. They tell me I have 37 years - and I have that in writing and that I already qualify. It is actually impossible for me to have paid my own contributions for 37 years. Nor could I have done so even if I took into account my child rearing years and claim on my ex's contributions for the years I didn't work. It was probably about 2 years in total including maternity leave.

Can anyone expand on why I'm allocated 37 years

[Bunnylump]

Well, they do give you an allowance for any time you are not working and when you are rearing children, right up to the age of 18. (Can't remember what it's called) .But that only counts for up to a certain number of children. I don't know other than that. But I certainly wouldn't argue about it!! Probably some oik who can't add up.

[LAT]

But years when you are bringing up young children do count, I think. There are lots of helpful pages on the HMRC website.

I believe the rules changed fairly recently (a couple of years, not months ago though). Several years ago I paid some additional voluntary contributions to make up for time when I was living and working abroad. Then they changed the number of qualifying years needed and under the new rules I don't think I would have had to pay the AVCs! But I doubt I can claim them back now.

[clvrlad]

you get credits when...

when you are unemployed, or unable to work because you are ill, and claiming certain benefits
If you were aged 16 to 18 before 6 April 2010, you were usually credited automatically with National Insurance credits. No new awards will be made from 6 April 2010.
if you are on an approved training course
when you are doing jury service
if you are getting Statutory Adoption Pay, Statutory Maternity Pay, Additional Statutory Paternity Pay, Statutory Sick Pay, Maternity Allowance or Working Tax Credit
if you have been wrongly put in prison
if you are a man approaching age 65 (however, from 6 April 2010 these credits are being phased out in line with the increase in women's State Pension age)
if you are caring for a child or for someone who is sick or disabled
if your spouse or civil partner is a member of Her Majesty's forces and you are accompanying them on an assignment outside the UK

[Wulfruna]

Well, I was extremely pleasantly surprised 5 years ago when we retired to discover that I had some unknown credits on my account and that my pension in my own right was much higher than I had expected. I had assumed that because I was only actively employed and paying in for a really short period of time (-and all those years that I spent at home bringing up children in the 60s did not actually count because it was before the new system came in to recognise that - I guess this applies also to you, Gill as it is relatively recent ) - that I would end up with only a tiny amount. But it seems that the previous Labour Government, amongst a whole lot of other measures that they introduced to try to relieve poverty and injustice to women, put in place an interim measure which gave people like us an 'extra' pension. That might explain it. However, I must say no more, in view of the ban on raising political issues in the Forum! Ssshhhhh.

[giraffe]

I was told that I would get 50% based on my husband contributing.

[Wulfruna]

Yes, I had also assumed I would just get the reduced amount based on my husband's contributions (in the old days when married women were allowed to 'opt out' on that basis), but was surprised to discover this bonus extra which I had apparently acquired in my own right on top of that basic 50%.

I just gave my experience as an example that the Pensions system (like the tax office!) appears to be a law to itself - they keep changing their methods of calculation and it's hopeless to try and make sense of it. It is all to do with making allowances for gaps in contributions - for students, for women taking breaks from work, etc, and the rules just keep changing. They also use "equivalents" which may not be complete years, as far as I can make out.

[LAT]

I got a bizarre letter fairly recently about the date I will qualify for the State pension. It told me the revised date that would apply to me based on the latest rules - and then went on to say "this will not necessarily be on your birthday" As if I was waiting for them to tell me when my birthday will be.
I think I might actually know that date, I have been celebrating it for rather too many years after all!

[gill216]

I understand that one Lat. Previously women got their pension on their 60th birthday. Now it could be 61 & 4 months or something like that. What they mean is that the date you will start to receive your pension will not necessarily coincide with your birthday anymore.

[LAT]

Oh I know that! It was just the order they presented the information in that was odd.
Instead of saying "the date you will be eligible for your pension will not necessarily be on your birthday, we calculate it to be..." they said "we calculate the date you will be eligible for your pension to be..., this will not necessarily be your birthday"

[Laura]

If I have a wireless printer, do I still need to attach it to my computer by cable if I want to scan a piece of music into my music programme? Any ideas, anyone?