Kids earn millions from odd jobs

Odd jobs done by kids are making them a staggering £700 million a year, new figures claim.

Chores, errands and favours are proving a boom area for young people, with one in four 11 to 18-year-olds benefiting from payment for helping out.

The survey has been carried out by Abbey Banking, and while it was found that more girls are in on the act than boys (30 per cent compared to 24 per cent), boys are making more out of it on average.

As in the wider world of work, boys seem to be at a distinct advantage, earning £55 per month compared to girls’ £38.

Head of Abbey Banking Steve Shore said: “The research shows that British kids are making the most of earning opportunities like New Year’s Eve and as a result, the ‘odd job’ economy is thriving.

“As well as giving kids a boost to their pocket money, this is a great way for parents to show their children the value of money and teach valuable financial lessons.”

Babysitting was by a long stretch the most common form of paid work, with car washing in a distant second place.

Tags: car, New Year's Day, car washing, British kids, new figures

Youngsters buying to let

The buy-to-let (BTL) market in the UK is beginning to be dominated by people aged between 26 and 35 years.

It has traditionally been a market for older people but new figures from Mortgage Trust show that the youngsters are catching up.

Around 26 per cent of new investors who own one property are aged between 26 and 35, while the same age group also makes up 16 per cent of BTL investors with up to three properties.

This rise in numbers appears to be a fairly recent phenomenon, with the number of 26 to 35-year olds with up to three BTL properties rising from 14 per cent in the last six months alone.

“Traditionally buy-to-let has been perceived as something for the more mature investor,” commented John Heron, managing director of Mortgage Trust.

“However, recently we have been witnessing an increase in the number of younger professionals choosing to make a considered and long term investment in property.

“We are seeing a new generation of young people who are preparing for the future by making long term financial plans. New landlords are looking at an investment that will see them safe for the long term – possibly even into retirement,” he added.

As many younger people struggle to put money into a pension scheme, investing in property and then renting it out is a great way to ensure financial security for the future.

Tags: new figures, increase, future, Business Finance, investment, long term investment

Online banking fraud rises

More of us are falling victim to online banking fraud, with new figures showing a huge increase within the last 12 months.

Apacs, the UK payments association, says there was a 44 per cent rise in cases of online fraud between 2005 and 2006.

The organisation does reveal that credit card fraud has fallen by 47 per cent in the same period but is concerned that fraud over the net has grown from £23.2 million in 2005 to £33.5 million in 2006.

“Chip and pin has had a hugely positive effect on fraud losses over the counter in UK shops and stores, but we are seeing more fraud on transactions that do not use chip and pin, such as over the internet and phone, by mail order and abroad in countries that have not yet fully upgraded to chip and pin,” commented Sandra Quinn, director of communications at Apacs.

Card and banking fraudsters have developed to keep up with the new security initiatives that are being introduced.

Although chip and pin has had a huge impact on protecting card holders, fraudsters now use technology that copies information from the card’s magnetic strip and create a new card which can be used in countries that do not have chip and pin.

People are being warned to be extremely careful with their cards by ensuring that they do not use an ATM which they think may have been tampered with. The message is: “If in doubt, keep it out”.

Tags: new figures, Lebanese loop, increase, chip, falling victim, Technology Internet, online

Card spending increases

New figures show that we spent a record amount of money on our cards over the Christmas period.

The UK payments association Apacs says that plastic card spending reached £31 billion during December, representing 250 transactions per second.

In all, 669 million plastic card transactions were made, signalling a six per cent increase on the same period in 2005 and highlighting how we are becoming increasingly reliant on card payments.

Despite the positive figures, Apacs has revealed that the vast majority of transactions (63 per cent) involved debit cards, while we spent less on our credit cards.

“The trend that we have seen over recent years of cards replacing cash and cheques on the high street continued this Christmas,” said Sandra Quinn from Apacs.

“Our figures show that cardholders are becoming more responsible in the way that they borrow and are clearly focusing on repayments, with the majority of spending being done by debit rather than credit cards.”

Credit card transactions fell from 205 million in December 2005, to 197 million in 2006.

In total, the amount of money spent on credit cards was just £11.4 billion in 2006, down from the £11.5 billion recorded in 2005.

Tags: Payment systems, Technology, new figures, cheques, december, plastic card transactions, card spending, credit