Moneyblog

Finding a savings account that allows you to collect any interest at all, while still having access to your cash when you want it, can be tricky. There are some options out there, though. Here are the best Easy Access savings accounts on the market at the moment, from data supplied by moneyfacts.co.uk.

The Resolution Foundation suggested that a third of Britons born between 1980 and 1996 will never own their own home. Which European countries have the highest and lowest rates of homeownership? Highest Romania 96.2% Slovakia 90.3% Lithuania 89.9% Croatia 89.7% Hungary 88.2%   Lowest Switzerland 44.5% Germany 52.5% Turkey 61.1% Denmark 63.3% UK 64.4% Source: Eurostat

Should governments abolish their welfare states and replace them with a Universal Basic Income (UBI), paid to everyone, even billionaires, regardless of means? Such payments would be designed to cover essential living costs, leaving individuals free to make the choice of whether they wished to work in order to gain themselves a better lifestyle. It is an idea which until yesterday seemed to be in the ascendant. Bernie Sanders has advocated it. John McDonnell has launched a study to determine whether it should become Labour policy. It hasn’t just attracted the Left – Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg have declared themselves in favour, seeing a UBI as a means of

Buy-to-let property is still a popular investment choice for those who can afford it. Here are the best 5-year fixed rate mortgages on the market at the moment.

I said last week that WPP chief executive Sir Martin Sorrell was in ‘a very exposed position’. Sure enough on Saturday he resigned from the global advertising giant he created and had run for more than 32 years. ‘But he didn’t “create” it,’ one ex-employee told me, illustrating the internal resentments that seem to have contributed to Sorrell’s downfall. ‘He just made a lot of acquisitions and counted the pennies.’ Whatever he did or didn’t do, his departure was undignified and ill-explained. After he’d gone, WPP’s board announced that its investigation into an allegation of financial misconduct against him had concluded, but ‘did not involve amounts that are material’ and

The shipping industry contributes around 2% of all global carbon emissions – a figure comparable to the entire CO2 emissions of a country the size of Germany.  In many ways that isn’t surprising: shipping powers the world economy, and carries 90% of all international trade. But although people understand the link between trade and prosperity, they quite rightly demand it is done in a responsible and environmentally friendly way. Globalised trade has brought rapid growth and helped see a remarkable fall in extreme poverty around the world, but it is not without negative consequences. Scientists say that to stave off potentially dangerous levels of warming later in the century, global

If you’ve got a chunk of money that you don’t mind having locked away for a set amount of time, fixed rate bonds can often give a better rate of return than most accounts. Here are this week’s picks of the best one year fixed rate bonds on the market at the moment.

Last week there was an exclusive in the Times – widely followed up – revealing majority support for NHS-linked tax rises. ‘For the first time in more than a decade, a majority of Britons say that they are personally willing to pay more to increase spending, according to the respected British Social Attitudes survey’. It followed this up by a leading article to this breakthrough, saying: ‘Ministerial hearts may be gladdened, therefore, by a new poll published in The Times today. It suggests that 61 per cent voters back higher taxes to fund the health service, with 25 per cent saying that the government should raise existing taxes and 36

Monet spinner The National Gallery was criticised for charging £22 for an exhibition of Monet’s work, although the rest of the gallery is free. How much do you have to pay for art? Uffizi, Florence €20.75 (£18) New York Metropolitan $25 (£17.75) Louvre, Paris €15 (£13) Hermitage, St Petersburg $25 (£17.75) Museum del Prado, Madrid Free  

The car insurance industry is a racket: I think we all suspected that. But unless you’ve had personal experience of its devious workings you probably have no idea just how much of a racket. I didn’t myself until just recently when I had to make a claim for a tiny bump on the door of my car. Soon, I found myself sucked into a system that taints almost everyone it touches — insurers, garages, solicitors, car hire firms and claimants alike — with corruption so flagrant it’s hard to believe such a thing could be possible in hyperregulated modern Britain. It all began when Mark, a nice, decent chap who

Top of the wish list in the country estate and farm property market is space for rural enterprise. Whether the property in question is a main home or a country retreat, space to host festivals, rear specialist breeds or offer boutique accommodation has become the latest must-have in the estates market. Commercial space was always sought after in the country estates market, but over the last few years, buyers are no longer wanting just farmland to rent out, but space for their own enterprises. Since the economic crash in 2008, buyers are more conscious of where and what they are buying. A ‘trophy asset’ is still wanted by some, but having a

If you’re looking to move house or become a first-time homeowner any time soon, this week’s Best Buys – of two year fixed-rate mortgages – is worth having a look at.

The Russian economy is not in the greatest of shapes. That being the case, one would have thought friendly diplomatic and economic relations with the West would be a priority for Vladimir Putin, given his need for cash to build weapons against threats from superpowers such as Estonia. A little Roman history would help. As has been well documented, the collapse of the Roman Empire in the west in the 5th C ad heralded something of an economic dark age for Europe for some 200 years. The long-nurtured Roman economic networks extending east as far as China simply could not survive the break-up that would create the beginnings of today’s