Moneyblog

At the height of the Ebola epidemic in West Africa, the dead and dying lined the streets, locals too scared to remove the bodies or aid the stricken for fear of contracting the virus. Entire communities were wiped out as aid organisations came under fire for lacking a sense of urgency in the face of this humanitarian crisis. Meanwhile, in the comfort and safety of London, the individual in charge of a leading international charity responding to the crisis was telling the readers of a luxury magazine about his ideal weekend in the capital. This person revealed a fondness for Mediterranean food at fashionably authentic little eateries, exotic cocktails at

Community share schemes are becoming an important weapon in the long-standing fight to save our communities. Numbers of local pubs, shops and schools continue to decline as they have for many years. But the rapidly increasing use of community share schemes to save such assets is striking a new, positive note among the usual stream of negative stories about communities. To give an indication, the number of community share scheme offerings in 2015 was 200, which is more than double the number of initial public offerings on the alternative investment market, albeit that the sums involved would usually be much smaller. At this time of decentralisation – when so many

It is more than half a century since Jessica Mitford published her landmark work of investigative journalism, The American Way of Death. But her exposé of the specific and often nefarious ways the funeral industry had made the average service more expensive remain pertinent today. Back in 1963, Mitford, one of the celebrated aristocratic Mitford sisters, reflected on the mortuary’s talent for re-branding — bury became inter, coffins became caskets, morgues became preparation rooms. This, she argued, sanitised the funeral business and allowed those in the trade to hike up prices. An updated version of Mitford’s book was published in 1998, two years after her own death, and is still widely available and widely read. Perhaps it’s no surprise

The housing crisis is often seen from the perspective of younger homebuyers when the lack of affordable housing is a problem that affects all ages. It’s why the government-backed Older People’s Shared Ownership Scheme (OPSO), specifically designed to help people aged 55 and over, can be such a lifeline for an age group often overlooked when it comes to housing needs. Yet, is OPSO everything it appears to be? What is the Older People’s Shared Ownership Scheme? Part of the government’s Help to Buy initiative, OPSO is a part-rent/part-buy scheme that allows homebuyers to purchase a percentage of a new home instead of paying the full property price. It’s aimed

How much do you know about your spouse? Hair colour, date of birth, where they grew up, what they do for a living…how much they earn, perhaps? Not so much that last one, according to a number of respondents to a popular thread on Mumsnet last week. The proportion of respondents who do not know how much their husbands and partners earn was surprisingly high. ‘I have a rough idea,’ said one. ‘We keep our finances separate. As long as he pays his share of the bills, it doesn’t matter,’ said another. Really? Prudential, the insurer, found that 12 per cent of Brits do not tell their partners what they earn. Such

Millions of us will be tuning in to The Archers this week to see if Helen is found guilty of the attempted murder of her abusive husband, Rob Titchener. For more than a year his bullying and controlling behaviour has made for compulsive, if unsettling, listening for many regular fans like myself. It is interesting that this storyline has also shone a light on issues of financial control, and the part it plays in many cases of domestic abuse. Two years ago, Citizens Advice published one of the first reports into this phenomenon. At the time it said that this form of control and abuse remained ‘relatively hidden’ and was

Ah, the time-honoured tradition of pulling a sickie. It’s as old as employment itself and us Brits have forged a reputation for making the most of it. Everyone’s done it, right? That early morning call to your boss, the feeble ‘I can’t make it in today’, the creeping sensation of guilt quickly quashed by the sofa, a duvet and trash TV. Yeah, you’ve done it. But are sickness rates really that high? According to XpertHR, sickness absence is an average of 2.8 per cent of working time each year, or 6.5 days. This costs employers an average of £16 billion. Historically, it’s the public sector which has suffered from higher rates of sickness absence, compared

I have no recollection of my first day at school. I was four-years-old so it’s not surprising that I can’t dredge up the memory. I do recall, however, refusing to return to nursery after being scared witless by Father Christmas. Back then (late 1970s), kids were dropped off at a new school and expected to get on with it. Today it’s markedly different. Ahead of my four-year-old niece’s foray into education, she has visited the school at least twice and had a couple of home visits from her teachers. Luxury! But there were still tears this morning, from daughter and mum. And I’ll be fretting all day, desperate to know how

It’s a month since the Bank of England cut the base rate to 0.25 per cent, the lowest level in more than 300 years. As expected, this has dealt a severe blow to savers while the mortgage market continues to thrive. Savings The Bank of England’s decision to drop the base rate has officially fuelled the fire of rate cuts across the savings market, resulting in August becoming the worst month of the year for reductions. There were a devastating 354 cuts made, compared to just three rate rises. This means that for every rate rise during the month there were 118 cuts. Worse still, some providers’ reductions were over five

If a pal turned to you for financial help, would you lend a hand? If you have the cash it’s hard to say no, but for the sake of your future friendship that may not be such a good idea. Money can be the root of all sorts of relationship evils. It’s the cause of many families or friends fracturing and so any planned financial arrangements need to be treated with extreme caution. Research published today by StepChange debt charity shows one in three people who owe money to loved ones reporting negative effects caused by their financial problems. One in 20 says borrowing from a friend actually led to

Pensions advice allowance. It’s not the sexiest of phrases but, if all goes to the Government’s plan, this new proposal could help millions of pensioners. So, what’s it all about? Well, it goes back to George Osborne’s final Budget earlier this year. At the time, he said that the existing tax exemption for employer arranged advice would increase from £150 to £500. Yesterday the Treasury published a consultation document setting out plans for something else: a new pensions advice allowance. Under the proposals, consumers aged under 55 would be able to take £500 tax-free from their defined contribution pension to redeem against the cost of advice. According to Money Marketing

We Brits love a good anniversary – and a round number. This year we’re celebrating, among other things, the bicentenary of Charlotte Brontë’s birth and the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death. It’s also been 350 years since the Great Fire of London, the devastating blaze which burned for four days and in the process wiped out more than 13,500 homes and 87 churches in the capital. Its destruction was such that it is credited with creating the modern property insurance industry and, in turn, the fire service. Thanks to the plethora of insurance plans on offer in the 21st century, we’re no longer reduced to burying cheese in the back garden in the

‘I’m not loaded, I’m just ordinary,’ protested a wealthy friend of mine, when another chum teased him about his money. ‘Oh yes,’ his tormentor responded wryly, ‘you’re one of those ordinary millionaires, not one of the rich ones.’ It made me smile, and it also made me think. Many of us, like my well-cushioned chum, have a skewed notion of how well off we really are. Most of us probably think we are normal, typical, ordinary, average – but often have little idea what average actually is. When we see headlines about FTSE 100 chief executives earning millions, it makes those of us languishing well below that bracket feel a

Pensions: about as easy to understand as the theory of relativity. Successive governments have pledged to simplify and clarify the UK pensions system. Each one has failed. If anything, the financial ins and outs of our retirement have become ever more complex. Now the powers that be have made changes to the state pension. If, as is likely, the new rules pass people by, many risk missing out altogether. So, what’s happening? In a nutshell, ministers have increased the number of years of national insurance contributions needed to qualify for a full state pension. From April this year, individuals are required to have 35 years of national insurance payments under their

There’s nothing like the issue of the gender wage gap to get people going. Research published yesterday by the Institute of Fiscal Studies revealed that women earn 18 per cent less than men on average. The IFS also found that the gap widens after women have children, raising the prospect that mothers are missing out on pay rises and promotions. According to the Institute, the pay differential widens consistently for 12 years after a first child is born, by which point women receive 33 per cent less pay an hour than men. Although the IFS points out that is partly because women who return to work often do so in a part-time

When I was a child a woman visited our home every Friday night. My mother gave her money fresh from my father’s pay packet and the woman, smiling, wrote in small neat handwriting in a little book. This was how my parents bought their modest terrace home in Leeds, West Yorkshire. They never had the income or acumen to get a mortgage. They bought their home in a private arrangement from well-off sisters, one of whom was this kindly woman calling for their dues. My parents were hand-to-mouth poor, but they felt better off than people in council houses living under the Town Hall diktat. At least they could paint

As if things weren’t bad enough for savers, the months ahead are looking bleaker than ever. The repercussions of the EU referendum sent the markets into chaos and in turn led the Bank of England to drop the bank base rate to 0.25 per cent, the lowest level in more than 300 years. So where is the good news in all of this? I’ll break it to you now – there isn’t going to be any for quite some time. Savers were doomed to poor rates well before the Bank of England stepped in. But the decision gave providers an excuse to slash savings rates even further. So far this August we