Analysis Topic: Personal Finance
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Tuesday, February 23, 2016
People's QE: Central Bankers War on Savings / Personal_Finance / War on Cash
By: Sol_Palha
"It is not in the world of ideas that life is lived. Life is lived for better or worse in life, and to a man in life, his life can be no more absurd than it can be the opposite of absurd, whatever that opposite may be." ~ Archibald Macleish
QE for the people was actually proposed by Jeremy Corbyn last year in Britain last year, and it did not sit too well with, central bankers. Mark Carney Governor of the Bank England had the audacity to state that QE for the people would remove "fiscal discipline". Central bankers have been anything but disciplined; they have systematically created every boom and bust cycle for the past 50 plus years. To create a boom cycle, they loosen the cash spigots and vice versa. We are not stating that QE for the people is a good idea, but it's as good as any idea the central bankers have floated over the past 3-5 decades.
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Sunday, February 21, 2016
UEFA Champions League Football 2016 Free Tickets, Easy Win Walkers Crisps Prizes / Personal_Finance / Freebies and Comps
By: Adnaan_Walayat
The UEFA Champions League has Walkers crisps running an easy to win promotion that’s giving away about 50 tickets to UEFA Champions League football matches for 2016 and 40,000 other prizes such as t-shirts, footballs and sharing bowls.
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Tuesday, February 16, 2016
Savers Brace for More Savings Interest Rate Cuts / Personal_Finance / Savings Accounts
By: MoneyFacts
Data from Moneyfacts.co.uk can reveal that rate reductions in the savings market have now outweighed rate rises for four consecutive months, the first time this has happened since daily rate change monitoring began.*
In January, Moneyfacts recorded just 21 savings rate rises, with only one deal posting a significant increase of 0.20%. Disappointingly, rate reductions over the same period completely eclipsed this figure, with the number of rate decreases over the month standing at a staggering 138, with some deals falling by as much as 0.75%.
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Tuesday, February 16, 2016
Creditors: What’s Behind Their Interest in Investing in Your Debt? / Personal_Finance / Debt & Loans
By: Boris_Dzhingarov
According to some definitions, debts are financial obligations defined by law, that must be repaid to a creditor or lender who have invested certain amount of money and have decide to take a risk by borrowing money. In other words, they were fully aware that the loan taker might not be able to pay off the debt. But, it is an interesting fact that even though there is great risk involved in this activity and there are many people who fail to repay the money, the number of lenders and creditors is growing. So, why is this happening?Read full article... Read full article...
Monday, February 15, 2016
UEFA Championship League Easy to Win Walkers Crisps Prizes - Tickets, T-Shirts and Footballs / Personal_Finance / Freebies and Comps
By: Adnaan_Walayat
Walkers crisps are currently running a promotion that’s giving away about 50 tickets to UEFA Champions League football matches for 2016 and also 40,000 other prizes such as t-shirts, footballs and sharing bowls.
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Tuesday, February 09, 2016
How to Save Money by Using a Money Transfer Credit card / Personal_Finance / Credit Cards & Scoring
By: MoneyFacts
The credit card market continues to thrive, which is great news for borrowers looking for low or interest-free deals on purchases and balance transfers. Credit cards designed for money transfers shouldn’t be overlooked either, as they can often be an innovative way of tackling expensive debts, such as bank overdrafts.
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Monday, February 08, 2016
How to Save Money By Growing Your Own Homegrown Tomatoes Indoors From Seeds / Personal_Finance / Money Saving
By: Sami_Walayat
February is the right time of year to get started growing your own vegetables of which given the high shop prices tomatoes should be at the top of ones list. In this comprehensive guide spanning a whole years worth of growing I will show how literally anyone, even a child can easily grow hundreds of tomatoes indoors in a small pot from seed germination, to planting, to hand pollination, to pruning and then enjoying the fruits for a whole years worth of money saving crops of healthy fresh organically home grown tomatoes, good for your financial and physical health as well as delivering a lot of self satisfaction.
Friday, February 05, 2016
How Pension Plans are Responding to Financial Repression / Personal_Finance / Pensions & Retirement
By: Gordon_T_Long
In this 35 minute video, Chief Executive of CREATE-Research, Amin Rajan discusses investing in the age of financial repression as well as key points for risk mitigation with FRA Co-founder Gordon T. Long. CREATE-Research is a a network of prominent researchers undertaking high level advisory assignments for governments, global banks, fund managers, multinational companies and international bodies such as the EU, OECD and ILO. In 1998 Amin was awarded the Aspen Institute's Prize in leadership. It is a subject on which he has done extensive research involving some of today's outstanding business leaders. In two resulting publications, he has developed a close link between leadership and the emerging business models.
Monday, February 01, 2016
Savers Wait for a Miracle as the Savings Market Stagnates / Personal_Finance / Savings Accounts
By: MoneyFacts
The savings market has suffered considerably over the past few years thanks to lending initiatives and a low bank base rate, and the latest research from Moneyfacts.co.uk shows that savings rates have been on a clear downward trajectory as a result.
Since 2011, the average rate on a two-year fixed bond has almost halved, down from 3.20% five years ago to just 1.72% today. A similar pattern can be seen on longer-term bonds, with five-year fixed rates recording a drop from 4.01% to just 2.59% over the same period. Easy access deals have not been left unscathed from poor returns either, with a staggering 75% of the market paying 1% or less.
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Tuesday, January 26, 2016
UK Personal Loan Rates Tumble to Significant Lows / Personal_Finance / Debt & Loans
By: MoneyFacts
Personal loans have seen considerable rate cuts since the start of the year resulting in some of the lowest rates ever seen, Moneyfacts.co.uk records show.
Providers have been competing against each other for a place in the best buys, with Yorkshire and Clydesdale Bank most noticeably slashing rates by as much as 2.0%. Lenders are even cutting rates within days of each other in order to beat their rivals to the top spot.
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Tuesday, January 19, 2016
The International War on Cash / Personal_Finance / War on Cash
By: Casey_Research
By Jeff Thomas
Back in 2008, I began warning of increasing capital controls that we would see in the future, as a component in the decline of Western economies (Western in the broad sense, including Japan, Australia, etc.)
Along the way, it occurred to me that, at some point, governments might collectively attempt to eliminate paper currency in favour of an electronic currency - transferred from party to party solely through licensed banks. Sound farfetched? Well, maybe, but what if the U.S. and EU agreed on an overall plan, then suggested it to other governments? On the face of it, this smacks of conspiracy theory, yet certainly, all governments would benefit from this control and would be likely to get on board. In fact, it might prove to be the only way out of their present economic problems.
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Monday, January 18, 2016
Free Cash Incentives Tempt Bank Current Account Switchers / Personal_Finance / Current Accounts
By: MoneyFacts
Current accounts are renowned for their perks, which can include benefits such as insurance add-ons, but providers are now upping the ante by offering cash bonuses to entice new customers.
Since the launch of the Current Account Switch Guarantee in 2013, Moneyfacts.co.uk has seen a sharp rise in the number of cash incentives being offered with current accounts, with some deals boasting sums of up to £220 a year.
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Tuesday, January 12, 2016
Credit Cards Providers Fresh Battle for Balance Transfer Customers / Personal_Finance / Credit Cards & Scoring
By: MoneyFacts
The start of 2016 has initiated a fresh rate war between credit card providers, who have become embroiled in an intense battle to attract new customers.
Research from Moneyfacts.co.uk reveals that Bank of Scotland, Halifax, Lloyds Bank, TSB, Barclaycard and Tesco Bank have all scrambled to make changes to their balance transfer credit cards since the turn of the year by extending the interest-free terms or reducing the introductory balance transfer fee. Virgin Money also launched a 38-month 0% interest balance transfer deal (with a 2.79% fee) last week.
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Monday, January 11, 2016
Another Poor Year for UK Annuity Rates / Personal_Finance / Pensions & Retirement
By: MoneyFacts
New research from Moneyfacts has revealed that 2015 was another poor year for annuity rates as low gilts, uncertainty created by the new pension freedoms and preparations for Solvency II took their toll.
Annuity rates have more than halved since 1994
The research found that annuity rates in 2015 fell for the second year running, and have now declined in 17 out of the 21 calendar years since Moneyfacts started surveying the annuity market in 1994. During this period the average annual income payable from a standard level without guarantee annuity has fallen by a considerable 56%.
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Monday, January 11, 2016
A brand new year, but the same-old savings rates / Personal_Finance / Savings Accounts
By: MoneyFacts
The start of the New Year has prompted many to resolve to put more aside more money for a rainy day. However, while savers’ intentions are in the right place, Moneyfacts.co.uk’s research shows that few may be encouraged to follow through thanks to less than enticing savings rates.
In fact, the average easy access ISA rate has fallen by 0.19% from two years ago to stand at 1.06% yearly, the lowest level Moneyfacts.co.uk has ever recorded.
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Wednesday, December 30, 2015
U.S. Taxes - How I Beat the IRS / Personal_Finance / Taxes
By: Rodney_Johnson
A month ago I got a love letter from the IRS. Well, it didn’t exactly express emotion, but it definitely made clear they wanted to see me, and soon.I was being audited.
The tax year in question was 2013, and they wanted to focus on K-1’s, basis for stock transactions, charitable contributions, and health insurance payments. I did what anyone would do. I called my accountant.
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Thursday, December 24, 2015
Christmas Eve Online Sales 2015, Boxing Day High Street Sales Full List / Personal_Finance / Shopping
By: Nadeem_Walayat
The Christmas high street sales frenzy is about to reach maximum intensity on Boxing day whilst most major retailers such as Next and PC World / Curry's will start their sales online on Christmas Eve so as to maximise profits from the the army of point and click armchair shoppers. Here is a comprehensive list of sales starting today, Christmas Eve and continuing into the high streets on Boxing day as well as those already well underway.
Wednesday, December 23, 2015
The Big Short Movie Review / Personal_Finance / Reviews
By: James_Quinn
"The truth is like poetry, and most people ***** hate poetry."
The Big Short opens nationwide today. But it happened to have one showing last night at a theater near me. My youngest son and I hopped in the car and went to see it. I loved the book by Michael Lewis. The cast assembled for the movie was top notch, but having the director of Anchorman and Talledaga Nights handle a subject matter like high finance seemed odd.
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Wednesday, December 23, 2015
UK Christmas Sales 2015 High Street and Online Start Dates Full List / Personal_Finance / Shopping
By: Nadeem_Walayat
Britain's shoppers with more cash in their wallets look set to go on a debt fuelled spending binge at the cathedrals of modern Britain, though not quite as jam packed with shoppers as in years past as 2015 also looks like the first year where online shopping could exceed bricks and mortar shopping totals. Nevertheless there is plenty of cash to go around given consumers infected with sales fever hunting for bargains as Christmas has long since morphed into a month long relentless advertising campaign to keep spending all the way into January.
Tuesday, December 22, 2015
UK Savers - Make Sure Your Bank Deposits Are Protected / Personal_Finance / Savings Accounts
By: MoneyFacts
Most banks looking for deposits from UK consumers have a UK banking licence and deposits with them are covered by the UK Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) for up to £85,000 per person (reducing to £75,000 per person from 1 January 2016).
However, European banks are also allowed to operate in the UK under their home country’s regulations. This is called passporting.
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