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April 2010
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Consumers may have lost faith in banks and are instead hoarding cash, if the increase in high- denomination bank notes in circulation is anything to go by.
There may be many reasons for people using cash more than previously, not least of which could be a desire not to pile too much debt on their credit cards, to avoid high interest rates which are much higher than those for mortgages. |
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| Find out more here. |
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The downside of us living longer is that our pension plans have to last longer.
For the basic state pension, this is important because of the parlous state of public finances in the wake of the credit crunch and recession. With extended life expectancy and a falling birth rate, the ‘support ratio’ that is the number of people working and paying national insurance contributions compared with the number of people eligible to claim state benefits, such as pensions, is falling.
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| Find out more here. |
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According to recent reports, one lender has seen a big shift towards borrowers seeking tracker mortgages. Why is this ... and is it a good thing?
This is a good time to start off with the usual warning about always seeking individual advice before making any decision about your personal finances, because nothing written in an article like this can possibly apply to everyone.
However, it is worth considering the broad principles, to which individual circumstances can be applied.
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| Find out more here. |
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“Non-working” in this context means not economically active; anyone who thinks looking after children (or older generations, for that matter) is not work, has never done it!
It can be all too easy to focus insurance on what might happen if the principal breadwinner is lost to the family; yet the loss of a carer can be just as financially devastating. Yet if you consider what many carers actually do, it can consist of: part-time paid work, cooking, cleaning, washing, looking after sick children, as well as preparing those who are ‘fit’ for school, games, leisure activities and then getting them there!
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| Find out more here. |
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The regulators are suggesting an end to the system
whereby people could avoid giving lenders evidence of
their earnings by opting for a ‘self-certification’ mortgage.
A self-certification mortgage means that the lender accepts the borrower’s word on how much they earn and thus their ability to repay the mortgage rather than demanding formal evidence of income. This type of mortgage helped those without a regular source of income to buy a home more easily, without having to jump through hoops to do so.
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