Welcome to the Money Hospital blog.
Mark,
Joy,
Jeni,
Bill,
Sergey
and others are here to bring you the latest money and personal finance
news, stories and commentary, as well as money savings tips and suggestions.
Feel free to contact us, or...
Official figures show that the gender pay gap has narrowed dramatically over the last 13
years. which sounds like great news if you are a woman working in the UK.
If you lose your job or get sick and your finances go into freefall, what’s your safety net? According to Scottish Provident, a third of Britons have no emergency financial provision at all, and four million more could keep going for less than six months.
We take a look at why putting financial backup in place is so important in uncertain times, and at how you can take a few simple measures to make sure you’re covered if the worst happens.
Answer: When you’re over 55.
It’s an odd concept, isn’t it, but the more ailments and bad health habits you have when you’re about to retire, the larger your income should be in retirement.
Why don’t more people go for enhanced annuities when they retire? We find out what advantages ill-health can bring to those who are on the verge of cashing in their pension pot to buy an income for the rest of their life. And we explain how you can make sure you get the most for your money when you get to retirement.
Would you get fit because your insurance company encouraged you to? More insurance companies are now offering healthy living programmes to their policyholders to persuade them to do just that.
We take a look at some of the programmes that are on offer, and ask: is this the answer? Or are there alternative approaches that might be more effective?
So when you have a luxury to buy, do you: a) put it on the credit card, or b) save up for it?
Frances Coulson, vice-president of insolvency trade body R3, believes the answer should be firmly b). She says “saving, rather than borrowing, to pay for luxuries is the best way to avoid a life dogged by financial problems.”
Today, we take a look at ways of getting off the borrowing track and making saving a habit instead.
The cost of protecting your mortgage payments has shot up as financial uncertainty bites. As claims from home owners who have fallen on hard times increase, the average monthly premium for Mortgage Payment Protection Insurance (MPPI) has increased from £12.66 in August 2008 to £18.78 today, according to Moneysupermarket. But is MPPI really the best [...]
