Latest news with #granddaughter
Daily Mail
5 days ago
- General
- Daily Mail
I was the smug school gate mum that everyone hated. To this day, other women cross the street to avoid me. I now fear I'm slipping back into my old ways: RACHEL HALLIWELL
Seeing my eldest daughter with her newborn baby takes me back to the days when she and her two sisters were infants. Of course, I thought each of them was the most beautiful creation on earth. And clearly I'm back to my old ways as I'm already boasting to anyone who'll listen that my granddaughter, aged three weeks, is the world's prettiest, brightest girl.
Telegraph
24-05-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
‘How can I help one of my grandchildren buy a house without making the others jealous?'
Dear Sam, I want to help my granddaughter buy a house. She is in the police force, and is currently living in subsidised shared accommodation because it is too far for her to commute from home. My financial adviser told me that I can afford to be generous with my family over the remainder of my life without running out of money. I even have a significant 'just in case' pot which would pay for care at home if I preferred that to selling the house and going residential. I feel very well provided for. My granddaughter has found a place in Kent that makes the commute tolerable. If she can get a 20pc deposit organised, she can raise a mortgage for the rest. She has saved some, but needs another £25,000 to be sure she can cover the deposit and costs of buying her first home. I can easily afford to give her this, but I do have two other grandchildren. They are younger, and not ready for homeownership. I have two dilemmas. Firstly, is there a way I can treat them all equally? I don't know when the other two will buy homes, but the prices will be different, so I will probably need to give them more to achieve the same result. The second dilemma is that I would want them to use the money to become homeowners. I am a strong believer in getting on the property ladder and securing their housing position, but I don't want them to end up with boyfriend/girlfriend who benefits from my money if they buy something together and then have a bust up. How can I make sure I can help them all, encourage them to buy homes and ensure what I give my grandchildren can't be claimed by anyone else? – Margaret Dear Margaret, I know your financial adviser, which is how you were encouraged to write in with your dilemma – and it doesn't surprise me that because of good planning and well-managed personal finances, you find you have the means, and the heart, to support your family in a deeply meaningful way. Your granddaughter's determination, joining the police force and saving diligently, is also admirable. It's no wonder you feel moved to help her take that next step on to the property ladder. Your instincts are generous and wise, but I can see why you're feeling torn. The first of your concerns – fairness – is one many grandparents share. You want to help now, but without disadvantaging your other grandchildren later. The truth is, equality doesn't always mean sameness. Property prices will change, your grandchildren's lives will unfold at different paces, and needs will vary. Rather than trying to make identical gifts at different moments in time, it might help to shift focus toward the principle of 'equitable intention', offering similar opportunities to each grandchild, even if the financial outlay isn't exactly equal. To manage this, you could keep a simple record of gifts made, clearly noting the purpose and value. If you give £25,000 now to your eldest granddaughter, record it as such with the understanding that, when the time is right, the younger grandchildren will receive a comparable leg-up, whether for property, education, or another major life goal. If circumstances change, you'll still have the flexibility to adjust accordingly. Keeping a note like this in your will or letter of wishes (which is not legally binding, but can guide your executors) helps communicate your values and intentions without tying your hands or forcing premature decisions. The second dilemma – protecting the gift from partners or relationship breakdowns – is trickier, but it can be approached sensibly. If you were to gift the money outright and your granddaughter buys jointly with a partner, that partner could acquire a beneficial interest in the property, especially if they contribute financially or live there long-term. If the relationship were to end, your gifted money could be caught up in a dispute or division. One way to reduce the risk of this outcome is to give the money on the understanding that it will be documented as a loan, even if it is never repaid. A formal declaration of trust or a loan agreement can establish your granddaughter as the sole legal owner of the money, protecting it in the event of a relationship breakdown. This approach gives her full use of the money but creates a legal separation from her partner's financial rights. It also preserves some flexibility, allowing you to later forgive the loan if the circumstances still feel right, for example, once she's married or well-established. However, there's a trade-off here that your financial adviser may already have highlighted. From an inheritance tax perspective, gifts rather than loans, begin the clock on the seven-year rule. Provided you survive for seven years after making the gift, the amount falls outside your estate for tax purposes. Loans, by contrast, remain assets on your balance sheet and are counted in full, even if they are never repaid. So, if reducing a future inheritance tax bill is one of your objectives, a straightforward gift may be the more efficient route. Just be sure to keep good records and be open with your adviser about your intentions. As advisers we can be inclined to overweight the tax outcome in a decision-making process – forgive us. Some grandparents prefer to buy a stake in the property as a way of protecting their contribution, but you've indicated that this doesn't appeal. That's entirely understandable. Another alternative is to place the money in a trust, but this can be complex and costly to manage, and is rarely necessary for modest sums. Ultimately, the path forward may involve a combination of open communication and light-touch legal planning. Speak with your granddaughter, she will likely understand your desire to help all the grandchildren equally and to protect your gift from risk. Working with a solicitor to draw up a simple loan agreement or deed of trust can keep things clear, fair, and future-proofed without casting any doubt over your generosity. Your instincts to support your granddaughter now, to avoid unintentional unfairness later, and to encourage home ownership as a foundation for a secure life are deeply thoughtful. With some careful structuring and honest conversation, you can honour those instincts and give your granddaughter a wonderful start, while keeping options open for your other grandchildren too. Warm wishes, – Sam
Telegraph
22-05-2025
- Health
- Telegraph
Don't forget to read about the side effects of the drugs you've been prescribed
For the many nowadays who must take several different pills daily it is only sensible, if a bit tedious, to check out the detailed information leaflet that accompanies them – for reasons well illustrated by the salutary experience of a Preston reader. Not far off 80, she has acquired over the years several seemingly unrelated ailments: insomnia, thinning hair, dry eyes and generalised itchiness of the skin – warranting a medley of appropriate remedies. She was thus more than interested to discover on picking up her prescription for the blood pressure lowering beta blocker propranolol that the several side effects mentioned in the leaflet included sleep disorders, thinning of the hair, dry eyes and itchy skin! Sometimes, of course, the consequences of those 'hidden' adverse effects can potentially be most serious, as befell (or very nearly) a previously fit and active woman in her nineties – a keen reader and movie goer, brandy connoisseur and formidable member of her local bridge club. 'We realised something must be seriously amiss' her granddaughter writes 'when she started missing out on her weekly bridge game and no longer asked for her brandy'. Numerous medical consultations and investigations followed, whose results suggesting her uncharacteristic malaise might be due to an under active thyroid or low salt levels proved to be red herrings. She was eventually persuaded to seek a second opinion from a wise old physician who rather than arranging for her to have yet more tests advised she stop the medicines she was taking to control her irregular heartbeat and bladder troubles. Within a fortnight she was back at the bridge table. 'I was left pondering how things might have ended up so much worse,' her granddaughter comments 'In her miserable exhausted state my granny was on track to have a fall and fracture her hip – then she would have lost her much prized independence'. The moral of this tale is obvious enough. When symptoms remain unexplained it is imperative to consider the culprit might be one or more of the medicines being taken. There is little harm in temporarily discontinuing them in anticipation this might result, as here in a prompt and miraculous recovery. The changing reality of acne That bane of adolescence, acne vulgaris, has in recent times changed its spots (as it were) persisting for increasing numbers into their twenties and beyond. This has considerable implications for the continuing efficacy of that mainstream of treatment, antibiotics. These, whether applied topically or taken orally, inhibit the proliferation of the species of bacteria whose flourishing in the skin's oily sebaceous glands gives rise to those characteristically disfiguring pustular nodules. They certainly work very well but the need to take them long term necessarily predisposes to the emergence of antibiotic resistant strains. Hence the need for alternative treatment 'strategies', a couple of which have recently been shown to be gratifyingly effective. The first is a face mask incorporating a Light Emitting Diode (LED) device that generates blue and/or red light at wavelengths known to be toxic to the bacteria in the sebaceous glands. A review published last month confirms that exposure at home for fifteen minutes once or twice daily markedly reduces the number and severity of acne lesions with 'minimal adverse effects'. Next, the surge of the androgen sex hormones at the onset of puberty is a major factor in initiating and perpetuating acne. Logically then blocking its action with the drug spironolactone – usually prescribed as a diuretic but which also has 'antiandrogen' properties should lead to a distinct improvement. As indeed it does often resulting in 'complete clearance' observes skin specialist Dr Deirdre Buckley writing in the British Medical Journal – though as it also counters the effects of the male sex hormone testosterone its use is confined to women.
Yahoo
11-05-2025
- Yahoo
2 killed in house fire in Gaston County
Officials say that two people are dead after a house fire Sunday morning near Cherryville. Emergency dispatch officials say that they were called to the 4300 block of Old Lincolnton Road around 10 a.m. for a house fire. EMS officials tell us that two people were pronounced dead following the fire. Family members of the victims tell Channel 9's Glenn Counts that a grandfather and granddaughter were killed in the fire. Firefighters from multiple different departments could seen on Old Lincolnton Road. So far there is no word on what started this fire in Gaston County. This is a developing story and we will have the latest updates on Eyewitness News at 6 p.m. RELATED STORY: Fire at Harris Teeter deemed intentionally set
