Helping you keep your finances healthy!

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.

The British appetite for payday loans is rising, according to new figures. Four times as many of these loans are being taken out now than in 2006, say the new Consumer Focus figures. But what lies behind the growth of interest in these pricey loans? We take a look at the reasons people take out payday loans as well as ways you can reconfigure your finances to avoid using expensive short-term borrowing options.

…about the economy, about your job, about your finances?
 
We ask, because according to a new survey from Nielsen and the British Retail Consortium, we’re not feeling as confident as we were. UK consumer confidence, it says, fell for the first time in a year over the last three months.
 
So what are we feeling unconfident about? Jobs, money and debt. Some 39% of those who responded to the survey said the state of the economy was their first or second biggest concern. Then 19% are worried about debt, 16% about job security and 16% about increasing fuel prices. Rising utility bills is the main concern for 15%.
 
So if you’re one of the worriers, I’ve got five ways to boost your financial confidence…

Are young people more likely to save than their parents? That’s the suggestion of a surprising piece of research from Lloyds TSB. Far from the assumptions that Generation Y are too busy spending to save, this survey finds that today’s teenagers are actually more savvy savers than their babyboomer elders.
 
Are your children more likely to save than you? If so, who or what is teaching them the habit?

Saving has arguably been much underrated in years gone by. Instead of learning to put the pennies away, today’s generations have become well-versed in how to move debt around from credit card to credit card, finding cheap debt after cheap debt. Just imagine if that much ingenuity had gone instead into finding ways to save. [...]

UK savers are set to find a new champion this week with the launch of a new campaign, Save our Savers. The group aims to represent the 24 million regular savers that it says hold more than £3.7 trillion in their collective savings, and to “force policymakers to recognise the vital importance of saving and [...]