Very Expensive Gifts.

What do you do with heaps of money? – spend it on very expensive gifts.

These presents are suggestions on the city-of-london site for the wealthy Englishman to buy as gifts for others or indeed as a self indulgent treat for themselves.

A Racehorse
Beryl Cook Paintings
J D Yachts
Tiffany
Vintage Wine Gifts

Expensive Gifts of this nature are perceived to demonstrate affluence and the sense of having “made it”.

Of course many people who have created great wealth would be less reckless in their spending and prudently look to invest – finding less blatant and understated ways to display riches and success.

Its not what you buy – its the way that you buy it – a marketing message taken to heart by top banana banks who now issue the ultimate in cool for credit cards - black and made of titanium. See the reaction when the card drops to the counter when reserving a suite at the say The Grand Hotel, Jersey, when visiting your international bank manager at RBS Coutts to check on your offshore investments.

Flash the cash but only in the right places – RBS Coutts is the international banking arm of “The Queen’s Bank” a far cry from the days when Royal Bank made these commercials to attract the man in the street

Cheap Broadband

According to moneysaving websites it is recommended that we shop around and compare the different broadband providers in the UK and approach them directly to try to get the best deal – much like car insuarnce – each time our fixed term contracts end.

A chap on moneysaving expert – “Drunkstar” – a top banana bloke – claims to work for BT and offers no bias towards their products and services http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=6802402#post6802402  – he simply passes on his inside knowledge about the various options and discounts he is aware BT sales staff are able to give.

Well never look a gift horse in the mouth I say so I checked out the BT site to compare their various broadband packages.  Hmm lots of “pay this much now then that much for another period of time” confusion - just tell it to me straight I cried – then I rememebered the Drunkstar and sought his advice.

Sometimes its the obvious that gets overlooked – and one of his responses made me chortle – “Thats odd, means the advisor was crap. Just phone and ask for a cheaper deal. Be honest, its easier.”

Then a colleague suggested, what about using a shopping price comparison site?

Surely an appropriate place to search for and find a fast cheap broadband supplier? i have to say the result was a little disappointing – mainly cables and accessories for broadband not the actual suppliers and packages.

Well to come round full circle back on to the BT site. This time I caefully scrutinised each package and then calculated the benefits of the free Home Hub and Digital TV Rcorders on offer with their Options. if you take your time you will find some really helpful info on this site – download connection speeds, regional availability and eventually you are convinced that the BT Total Options offer reliable, fast and cheap broadband connection.

Let the bandwidth be with you.

MP3 Player Bargains!

A couple of months ago I wrote about the Cowan iAudio D2 media player? Since then a whole rack of mp3 and multimedia players have entered the market. Apple have released iTouch with massive memory for videos and mobile phones are keeping their end up becoming three in one phone, camera and media players.

Searching reveals a wide range of players at incredible prices – a basic MPMAN 256kb mp3 player costs a poultry £3.96.  Comparing prices at the othe end of the market is clearly worthwhile.

 A search for mp3 players on one of the UKs newest price comparison sites found a lowest price of £209 for iAudio D2 8GB MP3 Player with DAB Digital Radio Colour BLACK - saving over £40 off the high street price.