Broadband vs phone
I don’t normally write about technical issues. Though I can use computer technology, it all goes over my head and I don’t have a clue how it all works. I’ve come across an interesting problem while setting up my home office, though – wireless interference. I was originally with BT as my ISP for broadband, [...]
Comparing savings rates
One of the more highlighted features of the financial crisis is that savings rates have plummeted on savings accounts. Anyone who has diligently saved over the past few years now faces being punished by existing low interest rates for savers. However, now that the threat of financial collapse is receding, savers are reportedly worrying less [...]
Adverse economic conditions continue to build up
This spring’s green shoots are being increasing shown to have misplaced optimism, with economic conditions continuing to worsen within the UK – GDP continues to fall, and expectations of a recovery for next year remain muted. While it’s easy to just look at the UK in isolation, there are a couple of major economic pointers [...]
No, the recession is not nearly over
A lot of interesting stories coming up today, showing the continuing turmoil in the financial world. First up, Edmund Conway claims the recession is over, which is about as optimistic as you can get. Much of this unfounded optimism seems focused on the fact that the property market has seen a positive bounce over this [...]
Car insurers see big rise in fraud
As the economic crisis continues to unroll, one of the minor news items to emerge from this is the increasing problem of insurance fraud. The trouble is, this also affects everybody because policy premiums are simply increased to pay for the costs of fraud. We’ve already seen reported in the news that police are now [...]
Is vehicle tracking ready to go private?
There are a number of well known ways in which you can reduce your premiums on your car insurance. Simple obvious ones include having an alarm system, steering lock, and other immobilisation devices fitted. Others include parking off the road in your garage, or having advanced driving training. Fairly common sense stuff. Interesting enough, though, [...]
Why the Bank of England rate cut is wrong
This week’s move by the Bank of England to cut the interest rate to an all time low of 1% is a bad move for all of us, especially those trying to save money. It is an unfortunate double whammy, because while the tax payer is subsidising the banking system via RBS and Lloyds especially [...]
Cheap insurance is not always the best
An easy trap for consumers to fall into is to buy on price, rather than quality. The result is the familiar sayings: “You get what you pay for” “Buy cheap buy twice” Unfortunately, the insurance industry is little different as those companies who offer the cheapest quotes often do so by cutting quality of service [...]
OECD says worse to come for America
The BBC gives quite long and extensive coverage on a report from the OECD on the economic challenges facing the USA, and it is not pretty: US faces deep problems, OECD says The OECD paints a grim picture of the challenges facing the incoming Obama administration, which takes office on 20 January. It says that [...]
Should Woolworths have been saved?
It’s a sad day indeed when a towering high street brand such as Woolworths goes into administration. The problem was not a declining business model as much as the inability of the company to service its debts. When the government has done everything it can to infuse a huge amount of money into UK banks, [...]