Savings

Most forecasts for the economy are pretty grim: bankruptcies, bad debts, job losses and a massive debt hangover leave little room for optimism. But I’m going to try. I think there is a wodge of money burning a hole in UK consumers’ pockets. And once they can, households will go out and spend it. This wall of money can be seen in the savings ratio — the amount of income that households save. For decades it has wobbled around 10 per cent. But the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that households are now saving an astonishing 30 per cent of their income. It’s never been

What joy it has been to have some cash over the past two months. For gamblers, to be sure, there have been opportunities to take advantage of a volatile stock market (and even more opportunities to get it wrong and lose a packet). But cash is cash – it just sits there holding its value, without having to watch the markets with dread every day. Well, certainly over the short term. But history teaches us a painful lesson in these circumstances: while investing in stock markets is full of sorrows, investing in cash offers few pleasures. It is ordinary savers ultimately who were made to pay for the economic crisis

If you need to self-isolate in the coming days or weeks due to the coronavirus outbreak, you may find yourself running out of ways to keep yourself occupied. In which case, it could be a good opportunity to go through your finances and potentially put some money back in your pocket. Here are some ways to do just that. Go through your bank statements It might not sound particularly thrilling, but you’ll be surprised by what you find if you take the time to read through your bank statements. For instance, do you know exactly how much you spend on food bills, socialising or subscriptions each month? Are you aware

With four cats and two children to feed, I’m not very Fire. But then I am not sure I want to be. ‘Fire’ is the ‘Financial independence, retire early’ movement that has proved popular among burnt-out millennials wanting to quit the corporate rat race.  It began in America with a 1992 book, Your Money or Your Life, which advised followers to live frugally and simply in order to achieve financial independence. One of its biggest proponents is a man dubbed Mr Money Moustache, who describes himself to his 112,000 Twitter followers as a ‘thirtysomething retiree who now writes about how we can all lead a frugal yet badass life of