Fancy a “free holiday home” or perhaps a few “foolproof investments” to pep up your portfolio in 2006?” Well look no further. Have property sales firm Assetz got a deal for you. You can, they …
How to avoid financial misery
Category: Personal Finance
What you should do with your Child Trust Fund voucher
I am not sure I entirely approve of the child trust fund (CTF), despite Gordon Brown’s extra dollop of cash for them in the budget. It’s not the principle of the thing -there’s nothing wrong …
How to find the best-paying savings accounts
It is more than a month since the Bank of England raised the base rate by a quarter of a percentage point to 4.75%, but most big banks are yet to pass on the rise …
What does your credit file say about you?
Most of us give the matter little thought, but these days, whether you are applying for a mortgage, a personal loan, or just a store card, you will be leaving what’s known as a ‘footprint’ …
Students: do your sums before term starts
As the excitement following the latest crop of ‘A’ level results subsides, parents and students will be facing the financial realities of university education. Last week, NatWest released figures, based on a major survey of …
How carousel fraud is putting the VAT system in a spin
It’s a sophisticated kind of cross-border VAT fraud, which involves both tax evasion and the straightforward theft of money from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC). In its simplest form, a fraudster obtains a VAT registration …
Byers woos voters with call for ‘death tax’ ban
Former transport secretary Stephen Byers has enlivened a quiet week by calling for the abolition of inheritance tax. His article in The Sunday Telegraph lambasted the “tax on death”, which was introduced in 1694, as …
Can you rely on your home as a pension?
For many of the ‘asset rich, cash poor’ generation of older homeowners, unlocking some of the value tied up in property is increasingly seen as a legitimate means of supporting their years in retirement. “Many …
The scandalous behavior of US mutual funds
What is this scandal about? The allegation is that the US mutual fund industry – the equivalent of the UK unit trust industry – has been creaming off huge profits at the expense of the …
Gas bills are rising – but there’s light at the end of the tunnel
Gas and electricity prices have been in the media spotlight once more, with Centrica’s British Gas announcing tariff increases for the second time this year and most of its competitors seem likely to follow its …