Spectator money

After a glorious Bank Holiday weekend, there’s depressing news for young people this morning: more than a third of them have debts of almost £3,000 and experience significant concerns about money. A survey of 2,042 people aged 18 to 24, conducted for the Money Advice Trust by YouGov, found that they borrowed using credit cards, overdrafts and loans from family and friends. Just over half said they regularly worried about money, with 32 per cent feeling their debts were a ‘heavy burden’. Women were much more likely to worry about money than men, the survey found. The average debt of £2,989 excludes student loans and mortgages. The average student loan balance is

Some people are being hit with an unexpected tax bill after unlocking their money from a pension pot, according to Citizens Advice. Others are facing reductions in welfare payments owing to the income received by releasing the funds. ‘Pension freedoms’ began in April 2015. Since then, anyone aged 55 and over has been free to withdraw as much as they like from their pension pots, subject to income tax. A report by Citizens Advice looked into the cases of 500 people who have accessed their pension pots. Of those, 9 per cent had unexpected tax issues and 6 per cent found that their benefits were affected. Nearly twice as many people used the money

Investors took £5.7 billion out of UK-based stock market funds and a further £470 million from property funds last month in the wake of Britain’s vote to leave the EU, according to latest market figures. The Guardian reports that statistics from data company Morningstar show that some of the money appears to have been redeployed to other types of UK funds specialising in assets regarded as less risky, such as corporate and government bonds. In other Brexit news, Thisismoney reports that over half of households across the UK are concerned about the potential impact of Britain’s vote to leave the EU on their personal finances and jobs. Nearly 27 per cent of

Women who return to work part-time after having a baby continue to earn less than men for many years afterwards, according to a report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies. The wage gap between men and women becomes steadily wider in the years after babies are born, the IFS says. Women miss out on promotions and accrue less experience than men, which holds back their earning power, it adds. During the subsequent 12 years, the gap grows to 33 per cent of men’s hourly pay rates. A second report from the Chartered Management Institute suggests men are more likely than women to have been promoted into senior roles last year.  Its analysis

Britain’s biggest estate agent expects UK house prices to fall 1 per cent in 2017 before recovering in 2018 because of economic weakness caused by uncertainty following the referendum decision on 23 June. Countrywide says that the Brexit vote will have an impact on the economy generally, which will feed into household incomes and possibly delay decisions to move house. People are also trying their luck more when it comes to negotiating the price of their new homes, as higher stamp duty payments and Brexit mean people feel able to ask for a lower price. Although availability of finance is good, Fionnuala Earley, Countrywide’s chief economist, said we shouldn’t ‘push’ to buy a home while prices

Britain’s obsession with property has propelled the country’s net worth to an estimated £8.8 trillion, an increase of 6 per cent (£493 billion) compared with the end of 2014, The Guardian reports. A surge in house prices in 2015 offset the UK’s decline in savings, the slow recovery of the banking sector and the Government’s growing debt mountain. Overall, house prices increased by 7 per cent in 2015 to add a further £355 billion to the already huge value locked up in Britain’s homes. The Office for National Statistics said in its annual assessment of Britain’s assets and liabilities that the value of dwellings was estimated at £5.5 trillion at

It’s A level results day, the final hurdle for teenagers hoping to fly the coop and go to university next month. But new research suggests that parents with children approaching university years could find their youngsters living at home for years to come. Figures obtained by Aviva reveal that the number of students living with parents while at university rose from 247,965 to 327,390 between academic years 2004/5 and 2014/15, now accounting for around one in five students in higher education. The total number of UK students taking full time and sandwich courses has risen from 1,391,180 to 1,697,150 over the same period. Earlier this year Aviva reported that there could

Banks and accountancy firms that help people to avoid tax face huge fines under proposals set out by the Treasury. A fine of up to 100 per cent of the tax that was avoided – including via off-shore havens – has been suggested in the new rules, published for consultation. Currently those who advise on tax face little risk, while their clients face penalties only if they lose in court. The rules would ‘root out’ tax avoidance at source, the Treasury said. The rules in the consultation document also make it simpler to enforce penalties when avoidance schemes are defeated. ‘These tough new sanctions will make would-be enablers think twice and in turn

Rail fares have increased at double the speed of wages since 2010, research by trade unions suggests. Fares have risen by 25 per cent in the past six years, while average weekly earnings have grown by 12 per cent, analysis by the TUC and the Action for Rail campaign shows. Meanwhile, official figures released this morning show that the UK’s inflation rate, as measured by Consumer Prices Index, rose to 0.6 per cent in July. That compares with a rate of 0.5 per cent in June. Inflation as measured by the Retail Prices Index picked up to 1.9 per cent in July, from the previous month’s rate of 1.6 per cent.