Are you a mover, a flipper, or a forever-homeowner? The tribes driving the property market
Are you a mover, a flipper or a forever-homeowner?   Among its many surprises, the coronavirus pandemic has delivered a property boom.    In pretty much the exact opposite of what all the experts thought was going to happen the property market has hit fever pitch over the past year and a bit, with more people moving and house prices soaring.   But amid all the fuss, which property tribe a...
46m Sep 03, 2021
46m
Is there a way to boost YOUR state pension and how easy is it to now retire abroad?
When it comes to state pensions, there has been plenty of talk in recent weeks about the triple lock and what could mean next month when it comes to an uplift. However, more than 2million receive less than £100 a week in state pension payments – is there a way to boost it? Tanya Jefferies, Lee Boyce and Georgie Frost discuss and reveal the common reasons why you might not receive the full sta...
49m Aug 29, 2021
49m
Could you fall victim to a parcel scam?
As Britain's streets are filled with drivers whizzing deliveries around, there's a new top scam in town. Parcel and package delivery scams are the most common type of 'smishing' text messages, a report said this week. Fraudsters are sneaking into people's text messages, pretending to be couriers that missed you while you were out, or need to arrange or rearrange a delivery. Click the link and...
49m Aug 20, 2021
49m
How low will mortgage rates go?
How low will mortgage rates go? The lowest two-year fixed rate has been cut to 0.83 per cent and five-year fixed rates are available at 0.99 per cent. That’s cheap money – and while these super low rates are only reserved for those with the biggest deposits, it’s clear that the mortgage price war is back on. The question is will rates keep falling and get cheaper still?  Some experts say bel...
55m Aug 16, 2021
55m
Are your energy bills about to soar? Latest on the Ofgem price cap and how to beat imminent rises
From October, millions of households can expect to pay even more on their energy bills.  Ofgem is raising the energy price cap for the second time in a year, due to rising wholesale costs. The cap is now at a record high and it means those who are on a standard variable tariff, or a prepayment meter, could be facing hundreds of pounds added to their annual bills. Lee Boyce, Grace Gausden and...
51m Aug 06, 2021
51m
Home eco-improvements are being pushed by the Government – but do the sums stack up?
Ministers want us to ditch gas boilers and line our houses with insulation to save the planet, but do the sums add up for cash-strapped homeowners? Simon Lambert, Lee Boyce and Georgie Frost take a look at the Government's aims, if green measures in your home can pay for themselves in the long-run and what it could take to pull Energy Performance Certificate ratings for homes higher. Simon ta...
51m Jul 30, 2021
51m
With new plans to tackle bogus ratings online: How much can you trust reviews?
The Government is planning a major crackdown on fake reviews. Under proposals, it will become illegal to pay someone to write, or host, bogus online ratings. How much weight should we put behind buying decisions when it comes to reviews and ratings, and what exactly are the plans to prevent this kind of consumer manipulation? This week, Simon Lambert, Lee Boyce and Georgie Frost discuss this,...
51m Jul 23, 2021
51m
What's the link between rocketing car hire prices and inflation?
Just when you thought that you could book to go back in the water.  As if sorting a holiday, ensuring the country you want to go to is okay for long enough to get there, or dodging quarantine roulette wasn't enough, now car hire inflation is biting. In a sign of the inflationary times, the cost of renting a car has rocketed to about three times the price of last year and it's being blamed on ...
43m Jul 16, 2021
43m
Should the triple lock give an 8% state pension rise?
The triple lock has always been a hot potato but things have stepped up another gear as it could deliver a bumper 8 per cent state pension increase due to a statistical quirk. The state pension pledge means that payouts rise by the greatest of inflation, wage growth or 2.5 per cent. Yet, wage growth numbers are being skewed this year because the Covid crash a year ago saw millions put on furl...
49m Jul 10, 2021
49m
Underpaid state pension scandal update alongside the future of pensions and green bonds
Yet more people caught up in the underpaid state pension scandal have been unearthed by This is Money – and tragically, in the two cases we highlight this week, they weren't alive to see justice. Two bereaved daughters received sums of £42,000 and £71,000 because their mothers were underpaid state pension for more than a decade before dying in their 90s. The payouts are all thanks to the intr...
52m Jul 02, 2021
52m
How much do you need for a comfortable retirement? (TiM podcast excerpt)
How big a pension pot do you need to save for a comfortable retirement? Pension and investing editor, Tanya Jefferies, discusses research that puts a figure on what people need to retire on, in this excerpt from the This is Money podcast. Alongside host Georgie Frost, she talks about Which? research into pension savings and how people can build the pot they need. Also, This is Money's assist...
9m Jun 30, 2021
9m
The stamp duty race to avoid a double false economy
Home buyers are engaged in a last minute race to beat the stamp duty deadline – with some facing a potential double false economy. House prices have bounced over the past year meaning that the £15,000 maximum saving of a year ago would now come on a property that potentially costs £50,000 more. That has led to claims of a false economy, but it would be doubly so for any buyer who then missed ...
53m Jun 25, 2021
53m
Would you invest in sneakers or the new space race?
Sneaker investing – those in the know don’t call them trainers, apparently – has become a big thing in recent years and as values have risen, so has the volume of fakes. It’s not just knock-offs aping standard sneakers anymore, some of the counterfeiters are dabbling in shoes that could go on to be worth thousands of pounds. Can anything be done, does it matter and what’s the attraction if in...
52m Jun 18, 2021
52m
Is loyalty starting to pay for savers and customers?
Does loyalty pay or is it just a bizarre concept we have allowed businesses to convince us might exist while they take advantage? As banks and building societies hint at better rates for those who have stuck by them and insurers find themselves forced at regulatory gunpoint to at least not sting existing customers, this week’s podcast looks at the loyalty reward and penalty. At what point doe...
51m Jun 11, 2021
51m
Could the 18-year property cycle really predict the next house price crash?
Another week, another house price index stating record growth. This time it was the turn of Nationwide, which said prices had risen 10.9 per cent in the year to April, reaching a new high of £242,832 - up by £23,930 compared with 12 months earlier. Most experts say this is down to people's changing lifestyles during the pandemic and the incentive provided by the Government's stamp duty holida...
39m Jun 04, 2021
39m
Could the 18-year property cycle really predict the next house price crash?
Another week, another house price index stating record growth. This time it was the turn of Nationwide, which said prices had risen 10.9 per cent in the year to April, reaching a new high of £242,832 - up by £23,930 compared with 12 months earlier. Most experts say this is down to people's changing lifestyles during the pandemic and the incentive provided by the Government's stamp duty holida...
39m Jun 04, 2021
39m
Are you a Premium Bond winner or loser?
Have Premium Bonds turned you into a savings winner, or are you one of the losers who have been missing out on prizes for years? On this week’s podcast we dive into Britain’s beloved savings lottery, looking at who holds the most Premium Bonds, who wins and who doesn’t. NS&I revealed exclusively to This is Money this week that an astonishing 43 per cent of bonds are held by just 4.3 per cent ...
44m May 28, 2021
44m
Is a little bit of inflation really such a bad thing?
The UK’s official inflation figure more than doubled to 1.5 per cent in April, it emerged this week, as the stronger than expected recovery continued to push up the cost of living. Meanwhile, as we discussed on last week’s podcast, a wave of demand is meeting a shortage of supply for some items, sparking fears of an inflationary spike. But while this is bad news for the pound in your pocket –...
52m May 22, 2021
52m
Holidays abroad are back on but would you book one?
Holidays abroad are back on… or are they? The much-heralded green list proved to be something of a damp squib, with the only popular British holiday destination on there being Portugal. There was no place for Greece, France, Spain, Italy, the US, or other regular stars in the list of Britons’ favourite travel spots. Some rushed to book trips to Portugal, but travel giant Tui reported this wee...
48m May 15, 2021
48m
Build up a cash pot then buy and sell your way to profits: Never Go Broke/This is Money special
This week saw the launch of new book - Never Go Broke: How To Make Money Out Of Just About Anything, co-written by This is Money personal finance editor Lee Boyce. In this podcast special, Lee is joined from Los Angeles by his co-author, Storage Hunters TV star Jesse McClure, to explain all to Georgie Frost and Simon Lambert. Jesse and lee discuss how they met, how the book was created, and t...
55m May 07, 2021
55m
Are you itching to spend after lockdown or planning to save?
Are you itching to spend or planning to save? Lockdown savers are forecast by the Office of Budget Responsibility to have stashed away £180billion by the middle of this year.   That collective cash pile has been built up by those who have been fortunate enough not to see their finances hit by the pandemic, but have seen their outgoings drop substantially.   We’ve already seen some big spend...
48m Apr 30, 2021
48m
Are 95% mortgages to prop up the property market wise?
Life is tough for first-time buyers. House prices were already expensive before the coronavirus lockdowns and defying all logic a mini-boom has sent the average house price up £20,000 further over the past year. At the same time mortgage lenders have indulged in a flight to safety, canning the vast majority of 95 per cent loan-to-value mortgages and bumping up the gap between rates on 90 per c...
57m Apr 24, 2021
57m
Was the Coinbase listing bitcoin and crypto's coming of age?
Was the blockbuster Coinbase stock market listing a coming of age for bitcoin and cryptocurrency or a top of the bubble moment? The world’s leading crypto exchange platform listed on the US stock market this week and at one point hit a hefty $100billion valuation, before slipping back to $60billion. That’s still a very big number, especially for a business that made $322million last year. Bu...
50m Apr 16, 2021
50m
Is working from home here to stay and how do you make a career leap?
On Monday, we take a step towards normality – you can get your hair cut, have a beer outside at the pub and visit a clothes shop. But what about the future of the office? Will we ever go back full-time, or is a hybrid model more likely – and if you're tempted by a shed office, what should you look out for? On this week's podcast, Lee Boyce and Georgie Frost discuss the future of work and the ...
47m Apr 09, 2021
47m
What's behind the rising tide of financial scams?
Financial scams are on the rise. The coronavirus lockdowns have seen a fresh burst of investment cons with fraudsters impersonating legitimate companies to steal tens of thousands of pounds. Unwitting savers are being lured into fake savings and investments, such as fixed term bonds or share schemes, and transferring large sums to fall victim to clone fraud. What’s behind this burst of crime ...
50m Apr 05, 2021
50m
Hot or not? How to spot if you’re in a buyer’s or seller’s market
The headlines are telling you the property market is running hot, that the stamp duty holiday extension is stoking the fires, and buyers are ignoring the economic slump to pile in. There’s just one problem: your home is on the market and you aren’t even getting any offers. Perhaps you are in a property coldspot. As property watchers will tell you, the house price index-driven view of a nation...
51m Mar 27, 2021
51m
How to save or invest in an Isa and why it's worth doing
What’s the point in an Isa? This is a regular grumble as savings rates are now so low that earning 1 per cent would be a big deal. But wouldn’t you rather have all of a small amount instead of a small amount minus tax? And if you are investing, an Isa makes a lot of sense – embracing your gains and dividends in a nice tax-free wrapper. On this week’s podcast, Georgie Frost, Lee Boyce and Sim...
48m Mar 19, 2021
48m
Is the UK primed to bounce back - and what next for Scottish Mortgage?
Is the economy primed to bounce back? That might sound like a strange question when you’ve just had the news that UK GDP fell by 2.9 per cent in one month, but January’s lockdown slump was nowhere near as deep as expected. It seems that despite a tough lockdown being imposed, shops and big chunks of the economy being shut and schools being closed, the UK has adapted to restrictions better tha...
50m Mar 12, 2021
50m
The 'escape velocity' Budget and the £3bn underpaid state pension victory
The Budget this week was notable for two things: Firstly, The Chancellor decided to delay settling the coronavirus bill to another day and, secondly, the true scale of the women's underpaid state pension scandal was laid bare at £3billion. The collossal short-changing of married women on their state pensions was uncovered by This is Money columnist Steve Webb and journalist Tanya Jefferies jus...
55m Mar 06, 2021
55m
Should the stamp duty holiday be made permanent?
Rumours are swirling ahead of the Budget that Rishi Sunak will extend the stamp duty holiday by three months? The idea is that this would help stop the collapse of chain after chain as buyers pull out, renegotiate or have to find more money if they miss the deadline. The excuse being given is that conveyancing delays are holding up sales. But wouldn't a three-month delay just kick the can do...
50m Feb 28, 2021
50m
What happens next to the property market and house prices?
Since the stamp duty holiday came in last summer, there has been a property market mini-boom despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Is it losing puff yet and if not, when is it going to run out of steam and will we see the tax holiday extended? The typical home added £20,000 of value in 2020 according to the Office for National Statistics, while prices of detached homes are growing far qui...
1hr Feb 19, 2021
1hr
We dodged a double-dip recession, so what next?
The double dip recession is off.  The GDP figures are in for the final three months of 2020 and the UK economy grew by 1%, according to the ONS, despite widespread expectations that it would shrink again. This means that even if the latest – and hopefully last – lockdown shrinks the economy in the first quarter of 2021 then we will avoid the dreaded double-dip – as you need two consecutive qu...
52m Feb 12, 2021
52m
Will you own up to your investing mistakes?
Mistakes. We all make them, but whether we will admit them freely often depends on what they are and how we made them. Investing mistakes can be among those that are tough to swallow and own up to. Often the easiest thing is to brush them under the carpet and try not to think about it too much. But looking at where we went wrong and learning from it is an important part of long-term investing...
1hr Feb 05, 2021
1hr
Should the GameStop frenzy be halted to protect investors - or allowed to run its course?
‘It’ll end in tears.’ How many times did you hear your parents sound that warning - and how often did you actually pay attention? The army of traders playing with fire in the GameStop stock market frenzy this week have had their warning from a plenty of those who supposedly know best. But it’s fun, they feel a common sense of purpose, they’re giving the big boys a bloody nose, and for now the...
44m Jan 29, 2021
44m
Should you cash in bitcoin profits or wait for the moon?
In case you hadn’t noticed, bitcoin went on bit of a tear recently. And as the price of the leading cryptocurrency soared again, so did the number of stories written about it. Bitcoin is an interesting tale, a welcome diversion in a Covid-bound world, and the circus around cryptocurrency is the gift that keeps on giving for journalists. But the vast majority of those column inches focus on tw...
45m Jan 22, 2021
45m
Is this the answer to pension freedom without the pain?
More than five years since pension freedom arrived a solution to take the pain out of investing in retirement is being lined up. Before pension freedom many savers were locked into buying an annuity with their personal pensions or defined contribution work schemes – and a lot of them felt they were getting a raw deal. That’s meant that keeping a pension invested and drawing on it as you choos...
47m Jan 17, 2021
47m
Are investors right to buy British for better times after lockdown and Brexit?
Happy new year, happy new lockdown. 2021 has seen off 2020, but schools and large chunks of the economy have shut down again and people have been ordered to stay at home, as across the UK the nations adopt their own version of lockdown.  It’s probably been the gloomiest start to a year for as long as many can remember and a tough winter for people, businesses and the economy lies ahead. So w...
55m Jan 08, 2021
55m
The look back at 2020 and Zoom Christmas taste test episode
Making predictions can be a mug’s game and never has that proved more true than for any made at the start of 2020. It’s been an astonishing year, when the lives and freedoms we took for granted were dramatically disrupted – and one where ordering people to stay at home triggered the biggest economic crash in the UK since the Great Frost of 1709. While looking forward to what might happen in 2...
59m Dec 24, 2020
59m
Is buy now, pay later bad news or savvy spending?
Is buy now, pay later the demon it’s made out to be?  Klarna, Laybuy and the rest of the delayed spending crew are coming in for lots of scrutiny at the moment.  Shoppers love them and shops pay them, but there are concerns on over-spending and the cost of not meeting payments. Yet, surely spreading the cost of a purchase interest-free is a sensible financial move? On this week’s podcast, G...
51m Dec 18, 2020
51m
Would a 'wealth tax' work in Britain and could it help pay off the huge coronavirus debt?
This week, a new in-depth report from the Wealth Tax Commission recommended a one-off 'wealth tax' on the richest households rather than hiking taxes for the masses. It comes as the national debt has spiralled this year as the Government spent more than £280billion tackling the pandemic and its financial fallout, with Chancellor Rishi Sunak claiming the 'economic emergency' has only just begun...
59m Dec 11, 2020
59m
How bad is the Christmas crisis on the High St?
December had barely begun when two of Britain's biggest High Street names collapsed. Sir Philip Green's Arcadia, the group that contains Topshop and Miss Selfridge, fell first - followed swiftly by Debenhams. Bonmarché, owned by retail tycoon Philip Day, then also slumped into administration. So how bad is the crisis on the High Street, if these stores couldn't even make it through the Christma...
54m Dec 05, 2020
54m
Is there still time to go bargain hunting for investments?
'Be greedy when others are fearful.' Warren Buffett's investment adage was tested this year when the coronavirus crash hit and sent stock markets tumbling in late February and early March. But as nations went into lockdown, economies nosedived and draconian measures surpassing most seen in living memory were introduced, it was hard for most investors to get up too much of an appetite, however ...
50m Nov 27, 2020
50m
Is Britain ready for electric cars? We talk driving, charging and buying
For better or worse the internal combustion engined car has shaped economies and the way we live over the past century. Now Britain has been told that new petrol and diesel engine cars will not be allowed to be sold in just nine years’ time. But the car itself isn’t going anywhere – just the way it is propelled and hybrids will still be allowed – so how much difference will the 2030 ban on ne...
54m Nov 20, 2020
54m
Will the vaccine value rally continue for investors?
There have been some clear winners and losers in the rebound from the stock market crash as coronavirus and lockdown hit. Tech stars, companies with a  strong digital presence and those who have seen business increase as a result of lockdown – from B&Q-owner Kingfisher, to cycle and motoring store Halfords, and takeaway deliverer Just Eat - have been the only game in town. But, as news of the...
49m Nov 15, 2020
49m
How bad will Lockdown 2 be for the economy?
When lockdown arrived in March it sunk the UK economy.  The message was clear: Stay home.  And people did just that; there was a dramatic shift to either working from home or shutting down businesses entirely.  For a couple of weeks pretty much the only place you could go was the supermarket, followed a little while later by the opportunity to head to B&Q to queue for an hour and try to do a...
52m Nov 07, 2020
52m
Is this the end of 'free' banking and who is winning the current account switching battle?
Murmurs from HSBC HQ this week warned that an overhaul of its business model could leave customers paying a monthly fee for their current accounts. This week, Simon Lambert, Lee Boyce and Georgie Frost ask whether this is really a possibility, if banking actually is free anyway and what happens next. We also look at who is winning the battle of current account switchers and whether people are...
49m Oct 30, 2020
49m
Has the V-shaped recovery turned into a double-dip?
Has the V-shaped recovery been put on hold?   Lockdowns across Britain’s major cities, the tier system and more businesses being forced to close their doors or operate far below usual business levels means the direction of travel has shifted dramatically from the summer’s optimistic reopening of the economy.   It's likely that the UK will emerge from recession with growth over this quarter,...
39m Oct 24, 2020
39m
Should British investors worry about the US election?
While the world worries about coronavirus, there is another decade-defining event going on – the US election. Will Donald Trump win a second term as US President and have the world dance to his tune for four more years, or will Joe Biden take charge – and what on earth would that mean for people? There is less than a month to go until the US election and under normal circumstances you would e...
47m Oct 16, 2020
47m
Is Boris's 95% mortgage idea a wise move?
The cornerstone of the Prime Minister's Conservative Party speech this week was turning Generation Rent into Generation Buy with state-backed 95% mortgages. The idea is that this will help first-time buyers frozen out by the need for big deposits - and combining it with long-term fixed rates will reduce risk? But is this a good idea or a bad plan? Is more help just what first-time buyers cou...
52m Oct 10, 2020
52m
Can we keep our lockdown savings habit?
Lockdown Britain has produced a nation of savers, ONS figures showed this week, with people salting away almost 30% of their disposable income on average. But for those hoping that we might finally have got the savings habit, there’s a catch. Those figures cover April to June, a three-month period when most shops were shut, along with pubs, restaurants, hotels and B&Bs, and going on holiday w...
52m Oct 02, 2020
52m