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 [...]

My husband’s reading a near-future fiction novel about China by Chan Koonchung called The Fat Years. One of the economic policies described in the book is to force savers to spend 25% of their money held in savings accounts. Savers are given vouchers to the value of 25% of their savings, which can only be [...]

There have been headlines in the vein of “relief for UK savers” in various UK personal finance publications this morning, in reponse to the fixed rate accounts on offer from Agribank. Their fixed rates are: 3.35% for 3 years 3.5% for 4 years 3.6% for 5 years My major concern about AgriBank is that your [...]

I’ve already written about my dislike of overhyped celebrations, but with the annual Christmas frenzy beginning to gather pace, I feel another rant going on. I believe that people should be saying no to Christmas pressure. I’m sick of all the tales about people getting into debt to fund Christmas. Forget the rosy picture of [...]

Source: redbookmag.com via Julie on Pinterest It puts you in a difficult position when you lend money to a friend. They may ask you directly for a loan, or you may feel that you should offer to lend them money to help them out. Now I think it’d be better if this situation never happened [...]

In the wake of the success of the Write on Finance Blog Up Leeds, I’ve created the Write on Finance social network for UK personal finance bloggers and writers. I see Write on Finance as a virtual water cooler: a rendezvous for interaction, sharing ideas and devising ways of creating synergy. I’ll be writing articles [...]

I recently wrote about the save or spend dilemma. One of the reasons I gave for not spending our savings was so we could offer our sons financial assistance. I think that waiting until your parents die to inherit any money is not very useful, as you may be in your 60s or over by [...]

Ian Bright, senior economist with ING and writer for their blog eZonomics, tells us about the creation and development of eZonomics, a silver sponsor of the Write on Finance Blog Up Leeds. When and why was eZonomics created? eZonomics launched in October 2009 by ING’s global economics department. We are guided by the bank’s mission [...]

I was intrigued when I first read about the Living Without Money documentary, based on the life of the German woman Heidemarie Schwermer, who has lived without money since 1994. She decided to quit her job, apartment and give away most of her belongings, to take up a life on the road. Although I didn’t [...]

Paul Knott is the author of OUCH!, a book which offers entertaining answers to financial fear, ignorance or confusion  He will be leading a workshop on writing more engaging/accessible content for finance blogs and sites at the Write on Finance Blog Up Leeds 22-23 September 2012. Paul tells us more about his book and blog below: [...]