Helping you keep your finances healthy!

Seven money resolutions for the next three months. They make the most of seasonal opportunities to save.
And they prevent us from simply switching off after the summer, condemning ourselves to another year of paying over the odds for things like energy, insurance, debts, etc.

It had never occurred to me before, but something dawned on me when reading about Bernard Madoff’s colossal fraud: the way UK pensions and illegal ‘Ponzi’ investment schemes work is eerily similar. Are you happy about that? And, since all such investment schemes eventually collapse, will we ‘late entrants’ be ripped off?

I’ve had an individual savings account or more commonly known as a cash ISA since 2001. I got it just 18 months after they were introduced by the former Government back in April 1999. They’re a great way to save tax free and now roughly one in three adults hold an ISA savings account. I’ve always made sure I invest the full allowance for the year which currently is £5,100 per annum.

Ever wondered what it’s like to own your own island?
They’re pricey, celebrities love them, but according to the man who has sold over 2,000 of them to the rich and sometimes famous, you’ve a good chance of ending up with a mosquito-ridden nightmare.

How do you feel about the new Chancellor putting an end to Child Trust Funds?
 
One of the most generous handouts introduced by the last Government, the Child Trust Fund payments that kick-started over one million children’s investments for the future are due to be withdrawn.
 
The funds won’t be cut off immediately: if you’re expecting a child before August 1, you’ll still get the full amount, and if baby is due between August and December, you’ll get a reduced payment of between £50 and £100. But for new parents whose child is born after August 1: get ready for life without the £250 head start.
 
So how else will you be able to invest for your children now?

We all seem to suffer constantly with bad connections, whether it’s our debit or credit cards not working, our phones, computer networks or even televisions.
 
Faced with those technical diversities what would you do though?
 
Would you go on the roof to try and fix the connection? Rod Hull, Emu’s right hand man, tried that and it didn’t get him many laughs.
 
Much the same can be said for trying to sort out your own finances when things go wrong.
 
Yet research from Unbiased.co.uk reveals that while the majority of us are more than happy to seek outside advice when it comes to, say, getting our hair cut or having the electrics in our house rewired, we’re not too keen on having someone tell us how to sort out our finances.
 
That all seems a bit crazy to me. Let’s look at some facts…