What should you be most frightened of, financially, at the moment? There’s a long, long list out there. The credit bubble in the UK (don’t think about car finance – it really will keep you …
The real reason to worry about Turkey
Category: Blog
The SNP’s clever but nasty politics
Earlier this month the government put in place some relatively minor reforms to the benefits system. These limited the cash benefits in the form of tax credits that parents can claim. You can now only …
Why the state pension should be means tested
We should only pay state pensions to those who need it The Cridland report produced last week ended up rather lost in the news about the attack at Westminster and the looming delivery of Theresa …
An unintended effect of banning cash
I wrote here a few months ago about one of the most worrying things about the possibility of a ban on using cash: we spend much more when we spend with debit and credit cards …
What to do as inflation returns
And it’s back. Numbers out from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) today show that consumer price inflation (CPI) has jumped to 2.3%* with retail price inflation (RPI – the measure we all used to …
How the private sector works to help the public sector spend our money badly
Eight years ago you could buy what is known as a “Scottish Executive” ticket from Edinburgh to London for £199. This sounds expensive, but it was actually a pretty good way to travel. For your …
The chancellor hasn’t finished fiddling yet
Philip Hammond: he’ll be back So much for Philip Hammond’s Budget surprise. His small attempt to bring the tax paid by the self employed in line with that paid by the employed (its all about …
How to fix the fuss over National Insurance contributions
Uber and Deliveroo workers are often self-employed because it suits them The fuss about National Insurance (NI) is getting silly. In his last spring Budget, Philip Hammond announced the beginning of an attempt to equalise …
Pensions tax relief: is it so stupidly incomprehensible on purpose?
George Osborne’s “comically stupid” policy could be deliberate I wrote here last week that if there was one thing I wanted from the Budget it was an end to the nonsense of the taper on …
Top up your pension NOW
Put some money away before it’s too late I’m about to write something I have written many, many times before. But it is just as important now as it has been on every other occasion. …