Moneyblog

For a long time, the energy market has been dominated by six giants: British Gas, EDF, E.ON, npower, SSE and Scottish Power. According to the latest figures from regulator Ofgem, between them the so-called ‘big six’ have a market share of 85 per cent. The trouble is, they are often the most expensive. Recent years have seen a number of less well-known names emerging in the market, offering better customer service and better prices. So is it time to take the plunge and go with a small supplier? The big six premium Millions of people are languishing on their supplier’s standard tariff. These are the most expensive tariffs, the ones

Once, after a few too many sherbets, I tipped the pizza delivery man with my supermarket trolley token instead of a pound coin. It was a genuine mistake but I still feel guilty. Tomorrow sees the introduction of the new 12-sided pound coin, forcing a root-and-branch overhaul of supermarket trolleys, vending machines, parking meters and anything else that requires a perfectly round pound coin to operate. The launch will also presumably result in bins full of defunct charity tokens, mine included. While businesses have had three years to prepare for the switch, many are still lagging behind. Tesco has admitted that 200 of its supermarkets haven’t adapted their trolleys to the new

‘Northern Powerhouse fires up house prices in Manchester’ shouts one headline. ‘Manchester is at the centre of Britain’s property boom’ declaims another. ‘Manchester top for house price growth’, a third declares. As a property-owning Mancunian who has no intention of moving, this is welcome news. According to Hometrack, prices in my home city increased by 8.8 per cent in February, a faster rate than the property market in any other large British city. Also in the top ten are Portsmouth, Bristol, Glasgow and Birmingham. But what of the capital? It is now in tenth place in terms of year-on-year house price growth in Hometrack’s list which tracks the movements of house prices across

There’s an episode of the TV political drama The West Wing which focuses on the raising of the retirement age. After much to-ing and fro-ing it’s decided that the subject is too toxic to tackle and so it is dropped from the President’s agenda. If only art mirrored life. A new report suggests that the UK state pension age should rise to 68 by 2039 instead of the previously planned 2046. John Cridland, former director-general of the Confederation of British Industry and the author of the government-commissioned study, also rules out ‘early access’ to the state pension. The state pension age is already due to rise to 67 for both men and women

Apathy. In a world where there are countless demands on our time, social media never sleeps and 24-hour news bombards us with stories of doom and gloom, it’s tempting to down tools, reach for the duvet and adopt the foetal position. But an apathetic attitude has consequences, whether it’s missing that crucial deadline or turning up late for work – again. The same is true in finance, as two new studies out today demonstrate. Take the thorny issue of remortgaging. According to L&C Mortgages, the advisory firm, four million UK households are languishing on standard variable rates. That’s more than a third of homeowners. In addition, 3.4 million households don’t

‘I think pre-nups are brilliant,’ Catherine Zeta Jones told Vanity Fair back in 2000, shortly after marrying Hollywood royalty Michael Douglas. ‘If I were marrying someone of lesser fortune who was 25 years younger, I’d be doing exactly the same thing. Why should Michael be in a position where half of his fortune, which he’s worked bloody hard for, lands in someone else’s lap?’ Unfortunately for some brides, grooms and their families, such pragmatism is rare. After all, when you’re in the heat of wedding planning, as many are at this time of year, the thought of it all ending in court is hardly romantic. Yet it’s clear there’s a

Milestone birthdays have a tendency to get the mind racing. When I turned 40, I had a bit of a wobble. I remembered my mum’s 40th and now here I was, the same age, and all I had to show for it was a middle-aged paunch and a geriatric cat. Or so I thought, anyway. This week my dad celebrates his 70th. He’s lucky in that he still has his health, still works (his choice) and still enjoys a (relatively) active life. And he owns his own home. That last one, though. What if, god forbid, he needs social care at some point in the future? How will we pay for

There are many things that beggar belief. The enduring popularity of Mrs Brown’s Boys for one. A continued appetite for the songs of James Blunt. And the appointment of George Osborne as editor of the London Evening Standard. That last one is particularly hard to fathom. But then so is some other news out this morning: a typical home now costs more than seven times income. And I’m not talking about your luxury pads or property in the most desirable enclaves of the capital. According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the typical property now costs 7.6 times average annual earnings of employees in England and Wales. This is

U-turn, flip-flop, whatever you want to call it, there’s no getting away from the fact that Philip Hammond’s policy reversal on National Insurance is hugely embarrassing both for him and the government. Just one week after the Chancellor reneged on a manifesto promise not to raise taxes, he bowed to pressure and announced that the hike in National Insurance Contributions (NICs) for the self-employed would not go ahead. According to The Telegraph, Theresa May told Hammond that ‘we are reversing this – I don’t care how bad it is for you’. The news comes as welcome relief for millions of self-employed who were facing an increase in Class 4 NICs.

Savers cashing in their pension pots has led to the government raking in almost twice the tax it estimated the new pensions freedoms would generate. Experts expected that people withdrawing cash from their pensions would spread the withdrawals – but savers have taken bigger amounts in one go, leading to more cash in the Treasury’s coffers. Since April 2015 pension savers have had much more freedom about what they do with their defined contribution pension savings. From the age of 55 they can take the money as cash, buy an annuity, use income drawdown, or combine two or more of the options. Savers can withdraw 25 per cent of their