Struggling to find an affordable foreign family holiday as inflation ticks up, wages stagnate and the pound remains weak? How about a house swap, says Jo Thornhill on Thisismoney.co.uk. Through a website such as Lovehomeswap.com (annual membership fee £99), you can view houses to swap in 80 countries. With the Olympics coming up, lots of families will be looking for houses in London; meanwhile, you get to escape for a fraction of the price of a standard holiday.
• NS&I has dealt a blow to savers. With the inflation rate ticking back up to 3.5% in March it has announced that it is “highly unlikely” to bring back its tax-free, inflation-linked certificates anytime soon. The next best bet for savers is to crack on and use this year’s Isa allowance of £5,640. Cheshire Building Society offers an instant access rate of 3.5% including a 2.5% bonus.
• Homeowners thinking of installing solar panels should check with their mortgage provider first, warns Leah Miller in The Times. Some contracts with panel providers require the owner to lease out their roof space for 25 years and this may breach the terms of a mortgage deal. In a worse-case scenario where panels have already been fitted and a mortgage company refuses to agree, the homeowner may have to pay to have them removed and could even end up unable to sell the property.
• Pensioners relying on defined contribution schemes are in for a nasty shock, says Teresa Hunter in The Sunday Times. Sliding investment returns and annuity rates plus slashed employer contributions could leave many retirees on less than a quarter of their pre-retirement income. Indeed, as Tom McPhail at Hargreaves Lansdowne puts it, “millions of people are sleepwalking towards an extremely disappointing old age”. Our advice? Anyone approaching retirement should shop around for their annuity as rates vary. Meanwhile, the rest of us should save in an Isa – the maximum annual contribution is £11,280 – for the best combination of tax breaks and flexibility. Either way, unless you have been saving very hard, don’t reckon on retiring much before your mid to late 60s.
• Price comparison site uSwitch reports that only the taxman makes more mistakes than our utility companies when it comes to charging the right amount. Seven out of ten customers are on the wrong tariff and are paying too much for gas and electricity. The solution? Give regular meter readings yourself and review your utilities tariff every year.
• Finally, don’t be tempted into a high-risk product thinking it’s a safe home for your cash. In the first two months of the year £1.3bn “was poured into complex investments”, says Sam Dunn on Thisismoney.co.uk. These products are stockmarket-linked and sport titles such as ‘Capital Protected Fund’. Commissions tend to be high (3% is typical) yet returns can be zero if the underlying index drops. Cautious investors should steer well clear.