Money comes and money goes, as is well known. For some time now, however, more and more Swedes have had to see expenses increase when everything from interest rates and food to fuel have risen in price.
However, in recent months the wind seems to have turned. The Riksbank has repeatedly lowered the key interest rate and now a future double reduction is predicted. This means, after hard economic times, that more and more people will now have a little more left in their wallets every month.
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Mom hides cash at home – what should we do?
How one chooses to deal with household finances differs from individual to individual. Some choose to keep the money in a yielding account, others to put it in the salary account, while some may even keep it under the mattress – literally.
The latter is actually what a person chose to do. Amelia magazine has in its “question/answer” segment, where readers can send questions to the financial journalist Birgitta Piperreceived a specific question.
A sender writes how she and her siblings are thinking about how to deal with the fact that their mother keeps a lot of cash in the home. Because she is afraid of losing her housing allowance, she does not dare to have more than SEK 100,000 in her bank account. In order not to risk having more, she regularly withdraws money which she then hides away, explains the sender and asks:
“How are we going to solve this on the day it’s time to inherit?”.
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The warning: You should never do that with large sums of cash
Piper then chooses to raise the specific question to provide answers, but also to issue a warning about the mother’s methods.
Storing large sums of cash is not something she recommends. Instead, she urges the children to help their mother get a new, safer storage place for the “secret capital”.
While Piper points out that it can be dangerous to have large sums at home, as it is easy to fall victim to thieves or fraudsters, she understands the mother’s concerns. Especially since it all boils down to her not wanting to lose her housing benefit, which can happen if you are considered to be able to pay the costs on your own.
“One can feel a certain understanding of your mother’s fear and concern that her extra capital would nullify the possibility of keeping her housing allowance. But the issue of grant fraud is not always easy to deal with. It is perhaps time to hire an experienced and reputable family law lawyer who can guide you and your mother towards a constructive decision about how she should handle this delicate situation”, she writes in conclusion to the questioner.
DON’T MISS: A warning is addressed to you who have received a message like this
Decisive for whether you are entitled to housing allowance are several parts. Partly your housing costs and your income, but also what assets you have and what your family situation looks like.
The Pensions Authority always checks whether you are entitled to elderly care support at the same time you apply for housing allowance.
The housing allowance, if you are granted it, can be paid in amounts from one kroner up to a maximum of kroner 7,290 – per month.
If you are married or cohabiting, and live with your partner, you can receive a maximum of SEK 3,645 per month. This is because you are considered to have shared housing costs.
Source: The Pensions Authority
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