New Year’s resolution – get your finances in place by following these simple tips

Here we are in the New Year and again, we have a resolution to sort our finances out, once and for all. With the whole of Europe on an austerity drive, personal financial planning has never been more important, so below are 5 tips from Money Vista that will help you get your finances in order for 2012.

1. Forward plan to save each month

It can be daunting working out if or how much you can save every month, so you may need some help. There are various online tools that can assist you with your financial planning. This savings calculator, lets you explore how much your savings may be worth in future or, alternatively, how to reach a savings target.

2. Get that debt down to a minimum

As simple as it sounds, the first step in getting your debt down is not to require any new debt. Make it an absolute resolution not to take out any more loans and stop paying for things with credit. Cut up those credit cards immediately. Do not cancel your credit cards but if you ask, you can sometimes get a better deal. Try to get as close to a 0% rate as possible.

3. Have a financial clear out

Have you lost track of how many direct debits and standing orders are coming out of your account? It appears most of us have and the average person has 6 coming out at various points in the month. In some instances you may be paying for things you really don’t need, so make a point of reviewing each of these payments and cancel the ones that no longer benefit your life.

4. Protect your assets

There are many things to consider when protecting yourself in the future. Have you made a will? Do you stand to be hit by inheritance tax? Do you think you will need medical cover in the future? Do you think your family will? If any of these issues affect you, it is worth seeking financial advice. Money Vista is an online service worth contacting for help and advice on protecting your assets.

5. Think about retirement

Old age is something that none of us want to think about but unfortunately it’s inevitable. Life expectancy is rising, meaning we are going to live longer. Retirement planning is definitely something worth considering, knowing that you are better protected in the future.

Tags: place, medical cover, austerity drive, debt, rate, forward plan, service, planning

Are you covered for bonfire night?

Homeowners are being advised to make sure that they check their home insurance policies and plans before the festivities of Bonfire Night, as they need to make sure that they have the right level of cover for their needs and to ensure that they have adequate cover in place in the event of accidents or injuries. Many people do not even think about the fact that they may not have adequate cover in place and therefore any incidents that take place could end up costing them a fortune.

Whilst households may have insurance cover in place there is a chance that certain things are not covered on their policies, and this is what officials are urging households to check before Bonfire Night comes around. For example, if you are having fireworks and a bonfire in your garden your insurance cover may not offer any public liability protection in the event that someone is inured or worse on your property, which would effectively be your responsibility.

Officials have said that every year thousands of people are injured at bonfires and fireworks parties and households that do not have the right level of protection in place could find themselves in very hot water in the event of an injury occurring on their property. A quick phone call or just checking your policy could enable you to determine whether you have the right level of cover in place and if not you can upgrade your cover before November 5^th.

One home insurance expert said: “For those hosting a fireworks party at home, it is essential to ensure your home insurance policy is up to date and that you have adequate personal liability cover. In the event of an accident such as someone getting burnt on the bonfire, you could find yourself liable for any injury or damage if you are not covered by insurance.”

Tags: bonfires, date, phone, public liability protection, place, home insurance, adequate cover, chance

England fans need to sort out travel cover

A huge number of lucky England football fans will be looking forward to jetting off to South Africa over the coming weeks to enjoy the excitement of the World Cup, which kicks off in June. Many will already have sorted out their hotels, travel money, flights, and even itineraries.

However, many excited England fans may have forgotten about one very important element of their travel arrangements in the form of their travel insurance cover. With the possibility of things going wrong even before the trip has started, as well as the risk of something happening whilst they are away, World Cup ticket holders are being advised to ensure that they get their travel insurance sorted out sooner rather than later.

High Street retail giant Marks & Spencer, which also deals with financial products including insurance, has said that travellers heading off to South Africa for the football should ensure that they prioritise on getting travel insurance cover if they do not have any in place already.

Officials from M&S said that some travellers may find that they have to make a claim on their cover before they have even travelled, and with people having paid out huge sums of money for their trip to see the football those that do not have cover in place could end up losing out big time.

One insurance industry official said: “People get really excited about trips like this, and they spend aged getting their flights and hotels sorted out. However, many overlook the fact that they need travel insurance cover or tend to leave it till the last minute, and this can cause a real problem if a claim has to be made prior to travel.”

Tags: the World Cup, insurance cover, Insurance, place, travel insurance, form

Firms will have to stop forcing pensioners to retire

In his recent pre-election budget speech the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling, indicated that the Labour party was looking at scrapping the default retirement age, which would mean that firms would have to stop forcing pensioners to retire at the legal retirement age of sixty five.

At present firms can use their discretion with regards to retirement of workers that reach this age, but whilst they can allow them to continue working they can also refuse to allow them to continue to work should they wish to do so.

Under new reforms, should they go ahead, firms would have to allow workers to continue working if they want to. Alistair Darling indicated in his budget speech that the Labour party would either scrap the default retirement age or would increase the retirement age. He also indicated that the party was looking at giving older workers more rights with regards to being able to get more flexible working hours and conditions from their employers.

A number of campaign groups and charities have said that having the current retirement age in place is discrimination, as it means that older workers that feel perfectly capable of continuing to work could be forced to retire by employers simply because of their age, regardless of their abilities, health, and other factors. However, some believe that the plans will cause concern for some businesses who do not want to be stuck with older workers that refuse to retire.

In his budget speech Alistair Darling stated: ‘To enable people who want to work longer, we are consulting on reform of employers’ right to make people retire at 65. We are looking at options which include scrapping the default retirement age, raising it or giving employees stronger rights.’

Tags: place, Ed Miliband, chancellor of the exchequer, retirement, Alistair Darling, Social Issues, speech alistair darling, pensioners

Mortgage arrears up by 30 percent

Over the past year the level of mortgage arrears amongst homeowners in the UK has increased by around 30 percent according to recent reports, and this is despite the fact that the UK base interest rate has been at its lowest level in the history of the Bank of England since April of this year. Read more

Tags: average, mortgage repayments, place, current climate, variety, mortgage arrears, Mortgage loan, situation

Safety Concerns About Internet Banking

How safe do you feel when doing your banking online? Most people are confident in the security measures the banks have in place, but in spite of the cases of online fraud almost doubled in 2008 and experts expect this percentage to rise in the coming years. Read more

Tags: place, extra steps, keylogging, safety, online fraud, internet banking, halifax

Interest rates on hold again

Earlier this month saw the September Monetary Policy Committee meeting took place, and following the monthly meting the Bank of England has announced that the UK base interest rate is to be kept on hold for yet another month, staying at its all time low level of just 0.5 percent. Read more

Tags: bank of england, place, interest rates, monetary, easing, quantitative easing, hike, mortgage rates

An early exit for cheque guarantee cards

It has been revealed that cheque guarantee cards in the UK are set to disappear from the system earlier than expected, with come customers from Abbey losing their cheque guarantee facility on debit cards from as early as next month. Read more

Tags: cheques, instance, alternative measures, place, cheque guarantee cards

Card fraud rife despite Chip and Pin

A few years ago the nation was introduced to Chip and Pin technology which was a new type of technology that had been designed to increase security for plastic card users and to cut down on the rising level of card fraud that was being seen across the country. Read more

Tags: credit card fraud, something, chip and pin, place, fraud

Northern Rock benefits from HBOS takeover

This time last year Northern Rock was fast becoming known as one of the first major victims of the global credit crunch in the UK, with rumours that it was on the verge of collapse and savers rushing to withdraw billions of pounds in savings within a few days. The bank became the victim of the first run on a British bank in nearly one hundred and fifty years. Earlier this year Northern Rock was nationalised as a result of the problems that it had experienced. Read more

Tags: northern rock, hbos, billions, government, government owned bank, immediate fears, place, lloyds tsb

Top of the polls for Nationwide

In a recent poll carried out by moneysupermarket.com a building society has beaten all of the big banks, pipping them to the post with the number one spot as most trusted bank or building society amongst UK consumers. The big name banks have always claimed to be the most trustworthy and reliable, but the poll has shown that the highest percentage of people actually have more trust in a building society. The Nationwide scooped the number one spot on the poll, and its excellent service and reliability levels were highlighted. Read more

Tags: uk consumers, spot, poll, building society, bank, place, halifax

Regional gas pricing warning from Which?

The need for gas customers to look out for and switch to the best deals is becoming ever sharper, with suppliers indicating their willingness to adopt regional pricing policies.

In January, npower began charging different tariffs in different parts of the country, reportedly to reflect the varying costs of transporting gas.

ScottishPower and Scottish and Southern Energy already have similar schemes, and British Gas has refused to rule the idea out.

Siobhan Parker of Switch with Which? warned: “The adoption of regional gas prices by some suppliers further emphasises price variations around the country. npower has announced an average gas increase of 12.8 per cent, but customers living in regions such as London and the East Midlands are being hit with a much bigger price rise of 23.8 per cent.

“People must vote with their feet and seek out the best deal to combat the effects of what is ultimately a postcode lottery.”

This is not to say that some parts of the country are simply more expensive than others – yet.

Figures from Which? show that Yorkshire is the most expensive region, on average, for npower customers, while Wales is the priciest place to live for ScottishPower customers.

Tags: customer, different parts, best deal, southern energy, show, place, Siobhan Parker, adoption

Travel insurance ‘particularly important’ for gap year students

Buying travel insurance can become “particularly important” when taking part in a learning holiday on a gap year, one financial expert has claimed.

STA Travel said that ensuring that the appropriate cover is in place can ensure a traveller is well protected against the unexpected.

A spokesperson for the firm said that learning holidays can be life changing but the initial costs quite high.

“It is imperative that the passenger covers themselves against potential costs if they were forced to cancel due to circumstances outside their control,” she added.

Insurance can help protect a traveller from the expenses of having to return to home in the event of an illness of accident occurring.

STA Travel also said that some sports such as kite-surfing can be dangerous so it is important for a traveller to make sure they are covered for any activity they take part in.

Up to 25 per cent of young travellers travel uninsured or underinsured, putting their parents’ homes and financial security at risk.

Tags: sports, year one, illness, Gap, place, potential costs, security, financial security

Insurance can play ‘important role’ in protecting finances

Insurance can play an important role in helping consumer meet their financial commitments, one expert has claimed.

The Association of British Insurers (ABI) has said that taking out insurance can significantly improve a situation when household experiences financial difficulties due to unemployment, illness or loss of life.

Nick Starling, the ABI’s Director of General Insurance and Health said: “It is important when people are taking out a loan or a mortgage that they think about how they would meet repayments should they fall ill or become unemployed.”

Statistics show that 23 per cent of people will be jobless at one stage in their lives while more than one in three could be out of work for more than a year.

The most vulnerable groups who have no insurance or coping strategies in place include single income families, single parent families, larger families and single women aged between 18 and 35.

Meanwhile, earlier in the month the ABI has made a commitment to ensure claims are assessed fairly and paid “without fuss”.

Tags: Insurance, director, commitment, Association, place

Extra home insurance needed during Christmas

Consumers need to make sure they have adequate home insurance cover to protect them from theft as well as damage during the festive period, warns Bradford and Bingley.

With 76,000 homes the target of unwelcome intruders, the bank has said that shoppers need to ensure they have enough insurance cover taken out to protect Christmas gifts.

Dave Foyle, head of general insurance at Bradford and Bingley, said: “With so much money and effort invested in the Christmas period, people should make sure that they don’t overlook the necessity of protecting their home and its contents from unwanted visitors.”

He added that by making sure adequate home insurance cover is in place consumers can make the most of the “fun time” which is Christmas.

The Deloitte Christmas Retail Survey for 2007 revealed that consumers were set to spend seven per cent more on Christmas this year, with the total average spending now at £706 compared with £662 in 2006.

The total predicted spend for this Christmas is £33.6 billion.

Tags: extra, home insurance, christmas, unwelcome intruders, fun time, place

Divorcing couples need a ‘clean, simple solution’

Couples going through a divorce should list their combined assets and agree on how to split them to ease problems and conflict, say leading financial advisers.

Lowland Financial said couples should look for the most straightforward way of splitting assets in order to “find a clean, simple solution”.

Graeme Mitchell, managing director of Lowland Financial, said: “An awful lot depends on how they [people] react – often what you find is when people first part, they say: ‘We’re going to try to deal with this amicably’. Then as time goes on they get more and more bitter and twisted.”

He said that couples should start by listing all their assets which were already in place, then those which were accumulated while they were together.

According to the most recent government statistics, the UK’s divorce rate was 12.2 divorces per 1,000 marriages in 2006 following two consecutive years of falls.

The divorce rate is now at its lowest level since 1984.

Tags: Lowland, lot, place, couples, law

Employers must help staff with finances

Employers should play a bigger part in helping their workers deal with debt, a panel of experts has claimed.

Businesses should provide their staff with clear, impartial financial advice and help them to get into the habit of planning their finances, it was argued.

Stress caused by financial worries costs British businesses £9.6 billion a year in absenteeism, delegates at a roundtable discussion hosted by insurance giant AXA.

The event was in aid of My Budget Day, an AXA-sponsored event aimed at encouraging businesses to help their employees keep control of their money.

Richard Lambert, director general of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), told the meeting: “It’s clear that industry needs to take responsibility for the wellbeing of their employees. There are a lot of companies out there that are considering how they might offer generic financial advice to their employees, and there are parallels with what companies are doing to raise general education levels as well as the fitness of their employees. It all improves morale.”

Another delegate, acting Liberal Democrat leader Vince Cable warned that any advice provided must be impartial.

“We also need to ensure that there are safeguards in place to prevent financial services companies from selling their own products to their employees,” he stressed.

An experiment AXA ran last year found that households given access to independent financial advice, on the whole, ended the year better off than those left to their own devices.

Tags: event, richard lambert, place, control, aid, safeguards, AXA-sponsored, Vince Cable

Homeowners ‘losing millions’ to gazumping

UK property buyers are losing up to £290 million each year through today’s ruthless house buying tactics, new figures have claimed.

Some 73 per cent homebuyers believe that gazumping, where sellers pull out after the buyer has forked out financially on particulars such as surveys, searches and lawyer’s fees, should be made illegal, a survey by Fool.co.uk has found.

The personal finance website’s study also revealed that 28 per cent of gazumping victims were left “seriously out of pocket”, while 11 per cent of homebuyers believe it is a necessary evil in the task of finding an ideal property.

Fool.co.uk has advised consumers to avoid the phenomena by taking measures such as getting their finances in place early, establishing a bond with the seller, and keeping the seller’s estate agent informed at all times about the progress of the purchase.

“While competition can often draw out the best price for a product, it can also bring out the worst in people,” the website’s head of personal finance David Kuo said.

However, a recent Building Societies Association report found that 71 per cent of current homebuyers accept that property prices could fall this year.

Tags: gazumping, necessary evil, study also revealed that, survey, study, fool, place

UK’s top banks revealed

Nationwide has been ranked as the best bank for customer service, according to a new survey.

The banks scored 742 points out of 1,000 while second place went to Royal Bank of Scotland with 689.

Alliance & Leicester (667), HSBC (660) and Halifax and NatWest (659 each) followed next in the list, compiled by JD Power for its 2007 UK retail banking customer satisfaction study.

Recommendations by family members outstripped the performance of offers and the latest mobile and internet banking services, according to the study’s fundings.

Caspar Tearle at JD Power and Associates said: “Despite growing public scrutiny of banks for overcharging practices and account fees, it’s interesting to note that nearly 75 per cent of customers would still recommend their bank to others.”

Figures showed that 45 per cent of these customers had recommended their bank in the past 12 months, he added.

A recent This is Money poll revealed that 65 per cent of respondents said that they were happy with their bank.

Tags: best bank, bank, power, Money poll, place, new survey

Cold snap may cause chaos

If you have already put away your winter coat for the year you may find yourself caught short as the Met Office warns that a cold snap is fast approaching.

Freezing temperatures, wind and snow are expected and, aside from having to get our coats out again, we are being warned that our homes may suffer with the weather.

Halifax is warning that we may suffer damage to our homes as the temperature changes, particularly with burst water pipes causing problems.

The cold can lead to water inside exposed pipes freezing and expanding, leading to cracks which will leak water once the ice thaws.

“A sudden unseasonal drop in temperature can wreak havoc on people’s homes and gardens if they are unprepared for it,” warned Vicky Emmott from Halifax Home Insurance.

“Water from a burst pipe in a loft space can very quickly cause damage to plaster ceilings, walls, kitchen units, electrical wiring and decoration.”

We are being advised to get a home insurance policy so that we are covered in the event of a disaster and Ms Emmott also has some handy tips to prevent the worst happening in the first place.

She says that we should insulate any exposed pipes, ensure loft insulation is placed above water tanks and leave the loft open if going away.

Tags: weather, year, people's homes, halifax, Physics, space, vicky, place

Making Sure You Get The Cheapest Pet Insurance Available

With recent changes in veterinary treatment and technology, it is now very possible to incur veterinary bills in the thousands of pounds. If, therefore, you are thinking of taking out pet insurance to cover and illness or accident that your pet may suffer, this may not only be one of the wisest decisions you make on behalf of your pet, but could also be one of the most financially astute decisions you make. Read more

Tags: health insurance, age, pet insurance providers, place, something, The, main types, cheapest pet insurance

ID theft avoidance guide

Millions of Britons are leaving themselves open to identity theft because they are failing to face up to the reality of the problem.

That is according to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), which says that all of us need to change our behaviour if we want to protect our finances from con artists.

The ICO has published a guide to help us avoid becoming a victim and it comes on the back of the release of some alarming data.

CIFAS, the UK fraud protection unit, has revealed that the number of ID theft cases rose by 19.91 per cent between 2005 and 2006, while one-in-five Brits think they may have already been targeted.

It is possible for thieves to pretend to be another person by stealing items such as bank documents and credit card statements. This information can then be used to open bank accounts and take out loans in their victim’s name.

“We are living in an age where protecting your personal information has never been so important,” said David Smith, from the ICO.

“Almost every day we give out our personal details which can leave us open to identity theft, unwanted marketing and a loss of privacy.”

The ICO guide tells us to keep all personal documents safe and ensure that mail is redirected when moving home. It also says to make sure your home computer is secure before going online and to never give out secret passwords or pin numbers.

We should also check our credit card and bank statements regularly to see if any unfamiliar transactions have taken place and the most important piece of advice is to shred all unwanted personal documents.

Tags: david smith, identity, ID theft cases, United Kingdom, office, place, fraud protection unit, name