Sarah Coles
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Inflation squeeze means we're rading savings
Filed under: Financial Crisis, Budgeting & Planning
The household sums just don't add up any more. This crazy inflation, now running at 3.1%, and the massive rise in the cost of things like petrol and food has thrown household budgets completely out of balance.And alarmingly, to make ends meet we are destroying our financial future.
Name the Cameron's baby and make a packet
Filed under: Weird and Wonderful
Yesterday lunchtime David and SamCam had an unexpected highlight of their Cornish summer holiday, the arrival of a baby girl.Sam had been having contractions, so they drove over to the hospital for a check-up yesterday morning, and by noon their daughter had been welcomed to the world. At the moment she hasn't been given a name. However Dave has told reporters: "I think we will have to have something Cornish somewhere." The bookmakers immediately opened books on possible names, so what are the names in the frame, and what are the odds?
Bank boffin warns of return to recession
Filed under: Financial Crisis
One member of the Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee has warned that there remains a serious risk of a return to recession.Martin Weale, the new boy on the committee, has admitted it remains a serious danger, but just how likely is this return to recession, and why?
One in ten will work till they die
Filed under: Retirement
When do you plan to retire? 65? 70? Never?A new survey has revealed that one in ten people think they'll have to work until they die, up from one in 100 two years ago. So what can we do about this desperate outlook?
Bank of mum and dad opens in retirement
Filed under: Retirement, Families
You'd be forgiven for thinking that after a lifetime of looking after everyone else - and opening your wallet at the first signs of distress - you could retire for a bit of a break from it all.You've done enough. Now is the time to put your feet up and look after yourself. Except there is a worrying new trend, for adult kids to tap their parents for cash even after they have retired.
Hopeless kids cost a fortune - and our sanity
Filed under: House and Home, Families
Anyone with kids under the age of 35, brace yourself for some bad news: they are never going to stop asking for your help. A new survey has found they are incapable of the basic skills required to get through every-day life, and still call on their mum and dad for help.So how did we end up with a useless generation, and how much is it costing us?
£1.09 billion lost to disability fraud and errors
Filed under: Elections 2010, Emergency Budget
The new government is doing a good job of looking very frugal, with its public transport and hair shirts, but can this bunch of politicians really turn the tide, or is it impossible to change the nature of a massive bureaucracy that has been founded on a culture of waste?The latest revelation is that over the last six years, the government wasted £1.09 billion on disability living allowances through fraud and mistakes. But how can this be allowed to happen, and how can it be stopped?
Tesco to open first drive thru supermarket
Filed under: Weird and Wonderful
Just how lazy have we become? Of course supermarket shopping is a chore the traditional way, with a trolley foll of thawing and squashed food, and a couple of demanding kids throwing a wobbly if they're not allowed to buy comics, a DVD and half a tonne of chocolate, but surely we have conquered this with existing solutions.So you just want a few things? Walk the 50 metres to your nearest convenience supermarket. So you can't be bothered leaving the house? Do an online shop. But apparently even these options are too stressful for some, so Tesco has come up with an option for the even lazier shopper.
Interest rates could rise to 8%. Should you fix?
Filed under: Mortgages
Most of us have got used to interest rates at 0.5% after 17 months. The money we used to spend on the mortgage is now allocated elsewhere, and we're horribly exposed in the event that interest rates rise sharply.So it's particularly worrying that one think tank has suggested massive rate rises may be on the cards.
New credit cards spark reckless debts
Filed under: Credit Cards
It's a long time since anyone could have been accused of throwing money at us, but after a new study, there are concerns that the banks are tempting us in with recklessly designed credit cards, which are structured in such a way that they are far more likely to build up problem debts.So what are the claims, and do they hold any water?
