::: Wednesday November 14, 2007 :::

The DVIator arrived from the US today. This is an interface to adapt the proprietry Apple ADC monitor connector to DVI, USB and power. Why do I need one of these? Well, I got myself an Apple 23" widescreen cinema display, which has an ADC connector.

I suppose I could have quite easily have cut the plug off the monitor, and soldered the required plugs on myself, but I didn't for several reasons:
1. The PSU required is 25V 3A, a costly beast
2. My time.
I calculated that $56 plus postage for the DVIator came to less than the cost of my time and PSU.

I now have the new monitor and my old 19" LCD side by side, running off a Radeon X1600 Pro graphics card, and am enjoying the screen real estate. I have just played a game of Command & Conquer, and Doom 3, and the quality of the Apple display is awesome, as it should be at 1920 x 1200 pixels.

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::: Tuesday November 06, 2007 :::

Recently I contacted one of the local firms who specialise in transferring pensions from the UK to New Zealand. This company claims on their website that one shouldn't go to the smaller firms as they didn't have the expertise, had hidden charges, yadda, yadda, yadda. So I set up a meeting.

Along came the day of the meeting, and, clutching my paperwork, I made my way to the cafe where I'd agreed to meet the "consultant". He took me through their process, explaining their fees, and explaining that there'd be two sets of fees, one for each of my pensions. As they charge a percentage, with a minimum charge of NZ$1500 per scheme transferred, half of my smaller fund would have gone in their their transfer fees for that fund alone, let alone the fees for my other, much larger, scheme. I questioned these charges, and was informed that there was an awful lot of paperwork, it was a very complicated process, the funds had to be transferred into a qualifying fund to avoid UK tax of 55% of the fund (Which I already knew), yadda, yadda, yadda.

A few days later, I was in my bank, and on the spur of the moment, asked to see an adviser regarding a pension plan. "No worries", was the reply, and the next day, I met with one of their investment advisers. He was well aware of the fact that the plan had to be one approved by HM Governments tax man, in order to avoid the 55% tax, he got the paperwork done to start the plan, and told me to expect some correspondence from my UK pension providers.

A few weeks later, a questionnaire arrived from one of the providers; I filled it in, and forwarded it to my banks investment adviser to complete the pension plan section. A day or two later, a similar questionnaire from the other provider arrived, along with a request for a certified copy of my birth certificate, which was treated in the same way. A few weeks later, the money was transferred into my new NZ pension plan.

The total charge for this?

The princely sum of NZ$ 0.00

So, if you're transferring your pension, it pays to talk to your bank, rather than to the scalpers who charge lots of money to do what amounts to bugger-all

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