Spectator money

With the national and international news dominated by the resignation of the Italian Prime Minister, personal finance has an obsession of its own: Christmas. Only a few days into December and the festive news is coming thick and fast. Today the BBC reports that ‘debt concerns at Christmas can be alleviated by seeking advice well before the bills come in’. It cites the Money Advice Trust, which runs the National Debtline service. According to the charity, less than a third of people have a Christmas budget. It added that a third would borrow to meet the cost of Christmas. Meanwhile, new research from user experience agency Sigma has uncovered the tricks

One of the worst habits of the trillion-pound general insurance industry will be brought to an end in April next year. Even to a cynic, the willingness of many large general insurers to prey on the blind faith of loyal customers is thoroughly distasteful. Each year, they write with their renewal notices, thanking us for our business and saying there is no need to do anything if the policy still meets our needs. ‘This is an automatic renewal,’ they say. ‘We look forward to providing another 12 months of cover.’ How convenient, thinks the time-poor customer, trusting that the insurer which looks his home and car will have his best interests

Anyone can get rich. All you need is a positive mindset and a few quid to hand over to a self-styled ‘guru’ who will teach you the secret to financial freedom. And who better to instruct you than billionaire Donald Trump? Well, that’s what a bunch of wannabe millionaires in the US thought anyway. They paid up to $35,000 (£28,000) for courses at Trump University (entry requirements: cheque book) where Trump’s ‘hand-picked’ instructors would reveal the ‘secrets’ of real estate (or the property market as we call it in the UK). When the secrets failed to materialise, three lawsuits alleged that Trump University defrauded students by using misleading marketing practices

The Prudential seems shocked to find that many couples aren’t entirely honest with each other when it comes to their finances. The deceptions uncovered were manifold: there were secret squirrel savings accounts, undisclosed credit card debt and personal loans (and occasionally mortgages)-  as well as a general lack of truthfulness about how much each earned. The research found that a surprising one in six said their partner did not know what their salary was. Not surprisingly, in most cases they thought take-home pay was significantly less that it actually was. In total, the Prudential reckons couples today have ‘millions of pounds’ in money secrets. This make a good headline figure,

If you’re not familiar with the term, then ‘salary sacrifice’ is a bit of a puzzler. Just what is your boss expecting you to sacrifice? A chunk of your wages? A goat in the car park at lunchtime? Put simply, salary sacrifice arrangements enable employees to give up salary in return for benefits-in-kind that are often subject to more favourable tax treatment than their wage packet. They’re a nice little earner for staff and employers as they essentially permit a bypassing of National Insurance (NI) payments. So, employers allow their workers to take a so-called ‘pay cut’ and that money is funnelled into a pension or another benefit such as childcare or

Cyber Monday. It’s an odd phrase, more likely to conjure apocalyptic visions of a Terminator-style machine invasion than a frenzied day of online shopping. Like Black Friday, Cyber Monday is relatively new to these shores. In just a few short years, it’s become part of the year’s busiest spending weekend, with both days book-ending a four-day shopping spree. This year it looks like Cyber Monday will overtake Black Friday in terms of sales as people shift towards online spending. Experts predict that UK shoppers will increase spending by a fifth to £1.9 billion today. Amid all this hype, however, is the very real prospect that falling for retailers’ hyperbole surrounding the

There was one nugget in Philip Hammond’s first – and last – Autumn Statement that was met with almost universal approval: a crackdown on pension scams and cold-callers. ‘About time too’ seemed to be the general response, including from two former pensions ministers. I certainly wouldn’t disagree with this sentiment. Pension Life, a group that helps fraud victims recover losses, estimates that people have lost a staggering £1.7 billion in pension scams in the past six years. Action is well overdue. But before we get too carried away it’s worth noting that all we have at present are words, not action. The Chancellor hasn’t introduced any ‘ban’ on cold-callers yet.

While there were plenty of people-pleasers in yesterday’s Autumn Statement, it’s safe to say that insurance companies were not happy. Yes, there will be a crackdown on fraudulent whiplash claims, and yes, there is another freeze on fuel duty (all good news for insurers and their customers). But these aren’t the issues clogging my inbox this morning. Insurance Premium Tax (IPT), that’s what’s got them all going. This is the crux of the matter: the former Chancellor George Osborne announced an increase in IPT from 6 per cent to 9.5 per cent in the Summer Budget in July 2015 which came into effect in November of the same year. The

If there’s one thing sure to get estate agents’ knickers in a twist, it’s a threat to their income. And so the news that Philip Hammond will use the Autumn Statement to announce a ban on letting fees has sparked a tirade of protestations and a bumper crop of press releases lamenting their lot. But letting agent fees have been a thorn in the side of renters for some time. Young people in particular complain that charges, such as £420 to change the name on a tenancy agreement and £330 to set up a tenancy, hamper their efforts to save for house deposit. But it’s not just the young who

Location, location, location is the estate agent’s mantra when asked to define what makes a property hot – or not. But these days where your house sits on the digital highway can also prove crucial to luring prospective buyers. It’s no secret that the rollout of super-fast broadband and mobile connectivity in the UK has been beset by delays – the goalposts set by successive governments have been moved several times over the years, due to various (buffering?) issues. But does being able to binge at will on the HD version of the latest TV series, or having the ability to do your entire grocery shop on a 300Mbps connection,

It’s known colloquially as the death tax, and for good reason. Inheritance tax – the bane of modern life – dates back to 1894 when the Government introduced estate duty (a tax on the capital value of land) in a bid to raise money to pay off a multi-million pound deficit. Its 21st century incarnation includes a tax on property, money and other assets of someone who has passed away. The thing about inheritance tax (IHT) is this: no one really understands it, and the complexity is not helped by the Government’s constant tinkering around the edges. Put simply, everyone has a tax-free allowance, known as the ‘nil rate band’. The tax-free threshold