I spent some time looking online for buildings insurance quotations for our son’s flat in Glasgow. I didn’t go for the cheapest price, but what I thought was the most comprehensive cover. I initially thought I’d found a good price which included accidental damage, home emergency and legal cover, with an excess of £100, for [...]

I’ve been doing a lot of research into personal pension charges, so I decided to look at charges on the National Employment Savings Trust (NEST). There’s an 0.3% annual management charge (AMC). I was surprised to learn that there’s also an 1.8% contribution charge (CC). That means for every £100 paid into your NEST pension [...]

I wasn’t overly impressed by the Barclaycard Freedom Rewards Card. I thought the rewards were pretty meagre.  However, as I knew I had some large bills looming, I decided to apply for a Barclaycard Freedom Rewards Card, in order to get the £30 worth of shopping vouchers on offer to new customers who spent at [...]

I’m glad that we acted fast in opening Cash ISA accounts at the start of the new tax year earlier this month. I though that the rates weren’t great on the 6 April, but we plumped to put our annual allowances of £5,760 into a Halifax ISA Saver Fixed Account which was paying 3%. When I [...]

I’d love to see a radical overhaul and simplification of UK personal pensions, which are currently far too complex and weighted toward the interests of the financial services industry and higher rate taxpayers. I’ll be able to access my stakeholder pension next year. I couldn’t believe that I won’t have the option of a taking [...]

Interest rates on savings accounts seem to be falling on a daily basis. The bonus rate period on our Santander eSaver, currently paying 3.2%, expires in June and our Halifax Reward Saver, currently paying 2.5%, expires in August. I’m also aware that the 3% variable rate being paid on balances between £3,000-£20,000 in the Santander [...]

I was drawn into starting a personal pension for two reasons. I’m self employed, so it’s the only pension option open to me and I’d get 20% tax relief on my pension contributions (as I’m a basic rate taxpayer). Getting that 20% boost makes a personal pension sound like a no brainer. Annual charges on [...]

I’m searching for the best fixed rate Cash ISA savings account. The new tax year began on 6 April 2013 and the annual Cash ISA limit is now £5,760 per person. I can’t even find Cash ISA paying a rate of interest that is equal to the rate of inflation; RPI currently stands at 3.2%. [...]

There’s so much negative press about payday loans. I’m not a fan of them. However, if the payday loans business is booming, there is clearly a demand for their services. There’s a lot of talk about more regulation of payday loans companies, but the alternative of loan sharks could be worse. I can see the [...]

With the introduction of auto-enrolment of UK employees into the National Employment Savings Trust (NEST) and my own predicament of trying to plan retirement with a stakeholder pension, I’ve been thinking many people with defined contribution pensions (stakeholder, personal or NEST pensions) deserve to have some minimum payment guarantee for their pensions. Employees with a [...]