Householders taking part in a trial of a government initiative to improve energy efficiency say the measures failed to reduce their bills. The ‘green deal’ scheme, where householders can take out loans of up to £10,000 to improve energy efficiency in the home, will be offered to 14 million homes by the Government next year. Continue reading “Trial of solar panels leaves half of households unimpressed” »
Millions of pensioners are having their weekly income wiped out by basic bills, without a single penny to spare, research revealed yesterday. A typical couple receives a weekly income of £207.15 – but will spend £207.24 on food, fuel, housing and transport, it said. This is before they have spent any money on the long list of other costs, such as a new pair of shoes, a holiday or a present for a grandchild. Continue reading “Pensioners are ‘left penniless’ as their income is wiped out by basic bills” »
The newly retired are now more likely to be jetting off on exotic “gap years” than students seeking a year out before starting university or fining their first job, according to new research. A recent survey found that a quarter of over-55s were now planning to take a gap year within the next two years. This compares with just 19pc of students.
Continue reading “Over-55s take more gap years than students” »
Consumer Focus has issued a super-complaint to the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) about the amount consumers pay for their holiday money. British holidaymakers are spending a billion pounds a year on exchanging money to spend abroad and are “losing out in a big way”, a watchdog will warn today. Continue reading “British travellers ‘paying too much’ for their foreign currency” »
Britain lost £35bn in uncollected taxes last year – the equivalent of 7.9pc of the annual revenue, the Treasury has admitted. The so-called ‘tax gap’, which is the difference between the amount of tax due and the total collected, was reduced from 8.1pc of revenues from the year before but critics argue that the figure is still too high. Continue reading “Britain ‘lost’ £35bn in uncollected taxes last year” »
A recent survey undertaken by pension and annuities website PensionCalculator.org has suggested that 80% of workers are not saving enough into their pension plans, even though they do not believe a state pension is sufficient to live on.
Of the 500 people who took the online poll, 83% said that they either did not know whether their pension savings would be enough or that they knew it would not be enough. The same people also said they did not think they could rely on a state pension to support themselves. Continue reading “Private Pension: Workers Not Saving Enough” »
New research conducted by Halifax shows that buying a house is cheaper than renting. The research states that the average cost for a first-time buyer for a two-bedroom flat is around 567 pounds, 110 pounds lower than the typical rent on an equivalent space. Continue reading “Mortgages: Buying is Cheaper than Renting” »
Martin Weale, an expert at the Bank of England, has predicted that millions of workers will be forced to rely on their children’s money to live after they retire. Weale said that Britain has had “a long history of not saving enough” and that at the moment the situation is worse than ever. He urged workers to start saving more for their pensions fast.
“Eventually, people and particularly old people will be disappointed by their living standards”, he said. “It is quite likely that this will create pressures to transfer resources from young people to old people, reducing the consumption of the former to support the latter”. Continue reading “Retirement: Millions Will Be Forced To Rely On Children” »
Many families are resorting to spending savings put away for school fees or university costs because of increasing living costs and day to day expenses, according to several recent studies. More than half of parents who answered the survey said that they had used money saved for their children’s private school fees to pay for their escalating living costs. Average private school fees and costs amount to more than £500 a month. Continue reading “Inflation: Parents Dipping Into Kids Funds” »
More than 30,000 home owners across the country will soon be told by banks to spend less on luxury expenses such as drinking, cable television, and mobile phones or risk losing their home when interest rates rise. Continue reading “Banks Target High-Risk Customers” »
