Money

British kids are set for a pocket money pay rise in 2022 – as their weekly “wage” will go up from an average of £6.97 to £7.58. But it won’t come easy, as 74 percent of parents intending to up their child’s pocket money say this is contingent on the youngster picking up more jobs around the house. A poll of 1,000 parents, with children under 16, found seven in ten give their offspring a small amount of cash. The majority (54 percent) of kids get a weekly payment, with 16 per cent of parents paying out monthly. Nearly three-quarters of children have to work for their pocket money though, taking on chores like vacuuming, making their bed and looking after pets. But 54 percent of parents admitted they don’t always enforce this, and will pay out regardless of tasks being done. The research, commissioned by Barclays, found washing the car was the biggest money spinner, followed by baby-sitting younger siblings and keeping the car clean. Gillean Dooney, … [Read more...] about British kids set for pocket money rise – as average ‘wage’ goes up from £6.97 to £7.58

THE start of a new year is a good time to assess your budget and kick start a new savings habit. If one of your resolutions for 2022 is to get your finances in order, a simple challenge could help you save some cash. There's an option for all budgets, as some of the saving tips just ask you to put away pennies. Others ask you to save larger sums, so make sure you check what you can afford before you kick off. Different schemes will work best for different people depending on their circumstances - the idea is to make saving money more manageable. Some of the challenges advise starting on New Year's Day, but if you've left it until now don't worry. If you start today, you'll only be a few days out and you could easily make up the difference. While it might seem easier to stash small amounts in cash, you should think about whether a savings account would be better suited. Most read in Money SHABBY CHIC EGG-CELENT … [Read more...] about Five money saving challenges to save HUNDREDS of pounds this year including the 1p challenge and 52 week challenge

BRITISH kids are set for a pocket money pay rise in 2022 – as their weekly ‘wage’ will go up from an average of £6.97 to £7.58. But it won’t come easy, as 74 per cent of parents intending to up their child’s pocket money say this is contingent on the youngster picking up more jobs around the house. A poll of 1,000 parents with children under 16 found seven in 10 give their offspring a small amount of cash. The majority (54 per cent) of kids get a weekly payment, with 16 per cent of parents paying out monthly. Nearly three quarters of children have to work for their pocket money though, taking on chores like vacuuming, making their bed and looking after pets. But 54 per cent of parents admitted they don’t always enforce this and will pay out regardless of tasks being done. The research, commissioned by Barclays, found washing the car was the biggest money spinner, followed by baby-sitting younger siblings and keeping the car clean. Gillean Dooney, Head of Families at … [Read more...] about Parents plan to up pocket money for kids – but not for nothing

British children are set for a pocket money pay rise in 2022 – as their weekly “wage” will go up from an average of £6.97 to £7.58. But it won’t come easy, as 74 per cent of parents intending to up their child’s pocket money say this is contingent on the youngster picking up more jobs around the house. A poll of 1,000 parents with children under 16 found seven in 10 give their offspring a small amount of cash. The majority of kids get a weekly payment, with 16 per cent of parents paying out monthly. Nearly three quarters of children have to work for their pocket money though, taking on chores like vacuuming, making their bed and looking after pets . Recommended First-time buyer total ‘topped 400,000 last year for first time since 2006’ What will 2022 bring for the UK housing market? ‘Loyalty penalty’ paid by home and motor insurance customers comes to end But 54 per cent of parents admitted they don’t always enforce … [Read more...] about How much pocket money do UK children receive?

BORROWING money is always risky business, but there are more ways to get interest-free credit than you might think. Here are six potential options if you're looking to borrow without paying any interest. With the recent rise in interest rates , borrowing in the form of credit cards, loans, mortgages and overdrafts is set to become more expensive . Interest can quickly rack up on debt, especially if you're only making minimum repayments, making it harder to clear the money you owe. Taking on debt should never be your first choice - it's always better to save up for anything you want to buy. Borrowing should always be a last resort and typically only used in an emergency. If you do find yourself in need of credit, finding an interest-free option can make repaying your debt less stressful - here are some potential options. Most read in Money LOVE IT DRIP TEASE SOFA SO BAD BILL HELP … [Read more...] about Six ways to borrow money without paying any interest

MILLIONS looking to cut costs after Christmas can save hundreds of pounds a year in minutes – by ditching direct debits for services they never use. A few quick clicks will cancel pointless payments. Unused services include the likes of video streaming such as Amazon Prime, priority supermarket delivery slots, gym memberships, food delivery subscriptions and old insurance policies. If you still use these things occasionally, it often works out cheaper to pay per use rather than monthly. We waste on average £468 by not keeping an eye on our direct debits, a Natwest study found. One customer admitted blowing more than £500 by not cancelling an unused gym membership and phone insurance policy. John told moneysavingexpert. com: “I moved two years ago but still paid my old gym £330 a year. I also had a £10-a-month phone insurance plan, although the phone was too old to be worth the insurance. I’ve now cancelled both.” Moneysavingexpert.com said: “Many waste money on … [Read more...] about Save £1,000 by deleting your unused direct debits with our money MOT

Nationwide Building Society is giving customers affected by an outage earlier this month £60 in compensation. An error on January 4 saw payments delayed into accounts - leaving some customers unable to pay their direct debits as a result. The lender has been hit by at least three technical glitches in the last few weeks, with the first occurring just days before Christmas. But the £60 compensation is only being paid to those affected by the most recent incident who saw their direct debit payments affected on January 4. A number of customers have taken to Twitter to explain how they’ve been compensated by the bank following the technical gaffe. However, some said the payout wasn’t enough to make up for the inconvenience. Nationwide has apologised for the payment glitch ( Image: Getty Images) One person said: “£60 disgusting I've been a customer of yours for over 30 years and that's the way I get treated I missed payments and had to pay fines.” Another … [Read more...] about Nationwide to give £60 to customers hit by payment outage – see who is due money

Today is national divorce day, the point of the calendar when married couples are most likely to start formally splitting up. Divorce can be amicable, but sadly can also be the exact opposite, with entrenched couples falling out even further when they start dividing up their possessions. Items you'd assume would never be argued over are engagement rings . But nothing could be further from the truth - and the law says that, in some situations, people getting divorced do actually have to hand back these rings. One Mirror reader emailed in to ask: "I am getting divorced after a long engagement, and my fiance is asking me to give back my engagement ring. "He says it is a family heirloom and he wants it back in case he gets engaged again. "I'm disgusted he would even ask - he gave it to me as a gift and it's pretty cruel that he's asking for it back so he can give it to some other woman. "Frankly I'm still debating whether I want to keep it at all, but surely the … [Read more...] about Money Talk: ‘Do I legally have to give the engagement ring back if we split up?’

MARTIN Lewis is funding a web chat service to help vulnerable customers cope with the rising energy costs crisis. The money saving guru has donated £100,000 to fuel poverty charity National Energy Action (NEA) to set up the advice service ahead of expected price hikes in April. Martin has warned that bills could rise by as much as 51% without government intervention. The NEA estimates the hikes will leave six million Brits in fuel poverty. Martin says his donation will help ease pressures on NEA hotlines as vulnerable people seek urgent help to cope with massive energy bills. He tweeted: "I vowed to myself to do this after last Thurs show (it’s taken a few days to arrange) when in near tears as the reality dawned that millions will be thrown into fuel poverty. "We can't let that happen. Our vulnerable need protecting as they don't have a financial buffer." Martin is also urging the government to provide more help for vulnerable energy customers, saying that … [Read more...] about Martin Lewis pledges £100k of his own money to help vulnerable customers over fears energy bills will rocket 51%

A quarter of British people say their savings pots shrank in 2016, while just a third found it possible to increase their savings. That’s according to research from Munnypot, which also found that many people feel there is very little point to putting money aside. The situation is even worse for low-income households. New data from the StepChange Debt Charity reveals that 29 per cent of British adults say that in the last 12 months they simply had no spare money with which to make savings, and 45 per cent of people earning less than £20,000 said they were unable to save in any of the last 12 months. It’s a real problem, because the charity has shown that if every household had £1,000 in savings then 50,000 families a year could be protected from problem debt. However, the Munnypot research shows that while the vast majority of people (76 per cent) say they want to save more money each month, the remaining 24 per cent dismiss savings accounts as "pointless" due to record … [Read more...] about ‘Saving money is pointless’