Spectator money

Statistics. Like so many things in life, it’s easy to bend facts and figures to support an argument or make a point. Brexit exemplified that and then some. And so it is with pensions data. Following this morning’s publication of the first full year of pension freedom information, the headlines varied from paper to paper and website to website. ‘Some taking too much from pension pots’ said the BBC. ‘Retirees prove more prudent than expected after pension freedoms’ reported The Guardian. ‘Insurers warn that some people may be plundering pension pots too soon, raising concern money will run out’. That last one was from Thisismoney, part of the Daily Mail

We are fast approaching a time when massive tracts of this fine country of ours (greenfield, brownfield, urban, rural) will be bank-free zones. Villages and towns stripped of their last bank. Goodbye pub, goodbye convenience store and now goodbye bank. Yes, ultimately goodbye community. Last week’s disappointing report from the Competition and Markets Authority on how to breathe fire into the static current account market will do little to arrest this decline in the bank branch. Its authors seem besotted with the digital age, prattling on about a future dominated by digital banking and open competition. It’s as if the bank branch was already a thing of the past. Over

How I long for a detached house with a drive – and, more importantly, no neighbours. My current abode is a three-bed semi with no off-street parking. It’s a free parking street but before you think I’m boasting, it’s also close to three primary schools, has a corner shop and most of the residents seem to be building loft extensions. Taken together, it adds up to pretty painful parking. It gets even worse when one of the tank-driving neighbours is home as he frequently takes up two spaces, which is particularly vexing when I’ve got a boot full of heavy groceries and there are no spaces near the house. Then

A post from a friend pops up on my Facebook page. ‘It’s August 9th and the winter tights are on.’ I feel her pain. Last weekend I bought logs and smokeless fuel, and I don’t mean for the barbecue. Yesterday I went shopping wearing a cardigan, a coat and armed with an umbrella. For the love of god, where is our summer? I appreciate that living in the North of England means I’m less likely to spend June and July slathered in sun cream in the back garden but come on! This is getting beyond a joke. Thankfully, it seems that my pal and I are not the only ones reaching

The country is divided in many ways. High up on this list of divisions, perhaps even in the top five, is the one between people who have bought the property they live in, and those who rent it. This gap is wider and growing at a faster rate than you would guess. The average deposit saved to buy a house is now £33,000, according to Halifax, compared with just under £18,000 nine years ago. ONS figures put average rent rises at around 2.5 per cent a year. Mortgage repayments, thanks to lower interest rates, are low and heading down – especially if you are an equity-rich, older homeowner. The average

When I was a cub reporter, writing for the paper of record at a time when the economy was booming and weekly personal finance pages numbered more than two dozen, the phrase ‘hardy perennial’ was bandied about on a regular basis. Like the plants which reappear year after year, in this context ‘hardy perennial’ referred to the type of money article sure to appeal to readers, focusing on a topic which never went out of fashion. So, pieces on the challenges facing first-time buyers, guides to buying an annuity, that sort of thing. It’s more than 15 years since I last heard that expression. Nevertheless, it’s as relevant today as

Borrowers rejoice, savers despair. The decision by the Bank of England to cut interest rates to a record low of 0.25 per cent dominated the financial news yesterday. The last time rates were cut, back in March 2009, the world was in the grip of the financial crisis. Ah, life was different then. Leicester City were languishing in League One, Labour’s John McDonnell had been suspended from Parliament after picking up the House of Commons mace, and the Bank was pumping tens of billions of pounds into the economy as well as buying government bonds and corporate debt. Today McDonnell is Shadow Chancellor and Leicester City are about to start the new football

I recently returned home from a fortnight’s holiday only to fight to get my front door open. Not because the emptied bins had been left on the doorstep yet again, or because I’d left a key in the lock. No. Instead, a sea of junk mail had flooded my hall, jamming the door as I tried to get in. The worst offenders were local take-aways and restaurants. I counted eight Domino’s pizza menus alone, which given how long I was away means the chain must be clocking up flyer drops at a rate of at least one every two days. These were accompanied by countless broadband, TV, phone, clothing and homeware

Some years back, when I announced my decision to return to Manchester, I became the butt of a few jokes from my London pals. They mostly consisted of the usual clichés concerning whippets, flat caps and black puddings. There was also mention of ‘it’s grim up North’ and the weather. I’ll give them that last one. There’s no getting around it: it rains here. Where I live, on the border of Greater Manchester and Lancashire in the shadow of the Pennines, rainfall is such that I am constantly battling slugs and leaky gutters. Last year the floodwaters enveloped my small town. The cricket ground and the football club were completely inundated,

Finance firms love taking football fans for suckers. The latest is Virgin Money which has this week launched a Manchester United savings bond. It pays just 1.25 per cent for 12 months which is roughly two-thirds the interest you could get at the current best buy account. So far, so rubbish. But it has a neat gimmick designed to reel in optimistic fans. If Manchester United win the title next season, the interest rate paid doubles to 2.5 per cent. Sound attractive? It’s meant to. But in reality it’s a total con. And it’s just the latest in a long line of football-related finance deals that take fans for mugs.