Spectator money

‘I don’t get excited when I hear EITC. Do you?’ This is a line from the late, lamented West Wing. The acronym EITC refers to Earned Income Tax Credit, a refundable tax credit for low to moderate-income working people. One of the characters, Charlie, is trying to fight for it, only to be told by Annabeth that this won’t be easy because it doesn’t have a catchy name like ‘Marriage Penalty’ or ‘Death Tax’. She’s right. Who would understand EITC, let alone get behind it? It’s the same on this side of the pond. Financial phrases like AER (Annual Equivalent Rate), DB (Defined Benefit) and OEICs (Open-Ended Investment Companies) don’t exactly roll off the tongue,

The Government has announced it will scrap the much-criticised 5 per cent penalty fee for those who cash in a Lifetime individual savings account (LISA) during the first year. While it’s good that politicians are listening to criticism of the new product, any extra complexity is always a barrier to consumer understanding. And don’t forget that half of savers in the UK don’t even know what ‘ISA’ stands for*. The LISA – a complex hybrid between a pension and an individual savings account – is due to launch in April, and yet the Government is still making up the rules as it goes along. It could be revolutionary, but the new

It’s not long now until Christmas Day, that cherished time of year when we don our elasticated pants, break the seal on the Quality Street and prepare to eat until we pass out. It’s the one day of the calendar when diets, healthy eating and all thoughts of exercise are banished, to be replaced by cries of ‘just one more helping’, ‘where’s the remote’, and, let’s face it, sheer gluttony. It’s a special time. Like most things, however, this abandonment comes at a cost, and I don’t just mean the suffusion of self-loathing on Boxing Day. There’s a financial price to be paid come New Year, and that takes the

Last week the Joseph Rowntree Foundation released a report, Monitoring Poverty and Social Exclusion 2016, which revealed that more than seven million people in the UK are living in poverty, despite being part of a working family. Among the identifiable factors behind these figures were the rising costs of private renting, stagnating wages and cuts to benefits, with Helen Barnard, head of analysis at the foundation saying that ‘the economy is not working for low-income families’. As a financial education charity, we would offer another important factor – stubbornly low levels of financial literacy, which affect families from across every social stratum. The effects of this are all around us,

If conspiracy theorists turned their attention to the economy rather than, I don’t know, aliens or Hillary Clinton, surely it would not take long for them to notice the peculiar rise in the tax take from VAT. VAT sounds innocuous enough, perhaps because no one really knows why it is there or what ‘Value Added’ actually means. But it’s not really innocuous. To a government that makes much of its supposed generosity on income tax through, for example, increasing personal allowances, VAT is becoming the back door money spinner du jour. VAT has all the hallmarks of a brilliantly unfair tax. Unlike income tax, it is often invisible or well

We Brits are a macabre bunch, more prone to thinking about glass half empty than glass half full. ‘Expect the worst and you won’t be disappointed,’ could be our national mantra. A landmark study published today by the London School of Economics reveals the key to human happiness – and it’s not pots of money. Researchers say that most human misery can be attributed to failed relationships and physical and mental illness. All told, economic factors are not, er, factors in our well-being. That doesn’t stop us obsessing about cash, though. Nor does it prevent us from dwelling on inescapable financial outlays, such as paying for funerals, both for ourselves and

Time moves on so quickly and now here we are again – it’s the month when many people are focused on their Christmas shopping. So what better time for shoppers to brush up on their rights, be wary of scammers and consider the best credit card deals to make their cash go a little further. Know your rights on returns There may have been some impulse buys on Black Friday – and anyone can change their mind. So it’s good to know that shoppers will have around 30 days to return an item for a refund or store credit. It’s important to check the returns policy of the store at the point of

Unless you work from home or are blessed with an understanding employer who offers flexible hours, waiting in for a delivery can feel like a sojourn to the seventh circle of hell. ‘Your delivery slot is 8am to 10am,’ intones the recorded voice. But you don’t believe a word of it. In fact, you know they’re lying, much in the same way you know the taxi driver isn’t ‘just around the corner’. No, he’s five miles away and has yet to break into third gear. So it comes as little surprise to learn that people whose delivery is late, turns up broken or doesn’t arrive at all spend on average

Just over a year ago I believed that new challenger banks were on the edge of glory, about to kick off an era of better and fairer banking for everybody. In an article for ResPublica I wrote: ‘When real colour is injected into the financial services industry, consumers will be better served and ultimately empowered to engage.’ New challenger banks were meant to deliver this colour, and to better serve customers. Alas, I wrong. New banks are simply not delivering better banking. These new challenger banks are important because they’ve been held up as the white knights of banking. The story goes something like this: more competition will force bloated

As predicted, shoppers worked themselves into a frenzy during November’s Black Friday, new figures reveal. But this year it was internet sales that soared. According to the British Retail Consortium, a record one in four pounds was spent online during Black Friday. The Telegraph reports that ‘online sales of non-food items, which includes homewares and clothing, represented 27.6 per cent of all total non-food sales in the UK during November, against 25.3 per cent the year before.’ All told, about £1.23 billion was spent online on Black Friday alone, according to retail analysts at IMRG, while 64 per cent of purchases were made on mobile devices, according to data from ChannelAdvisor. Bank

In another world, I would sit down at the beginning of December with a notepad and pen and make a really organised Christmas shopping list. What I actually do is commence the proceedings by searching every drawer in the house for forgotten gift vouchers. I usually start with the children’s rooms. My son and daughter, despite being brought up to count every penny, hardly ever use these things. My daughter’s school probably thinks it is setting her off on a lifetime of worthy pursuits with a £5 voucher for WH Smith awarded for good work over the year. She, however, shoves the thing in with her socks and promptly forgets