Listen to our recent radio broadcast on this topic Spring is peak time for home improvements as we try to add space and value to our homes and we are increasingly eschewing DIY in favour of DIFM (Do It For Me). Around 40% of us would rather get in a professional. Retired people spend the most. Younger people are least likely to DIY. But while we are prepared for problems with planning authorities, financing and getting the entire family to agree on what colour to paint the walls, many of us fail to do enough prep when it comes to […]
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Sainbury’s price compari-gone So farewell then Brand Match. Sainsbury’s has announced that from the end of April it is no longer going to compare prices with Asda for customers who buy ten or more items. It says that this is because we shoppers are less likely to buy 10 or more items in the stores. Hmmmmm… Maybe they should look at their research more closely. If we are all filling our baskets and trolleys with only nine items they are in trouble. It could be because the store is also ending its Bogof – buy one get one free – […]
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Whether a stabbing was the best cliffhanger for the domestic abuse storyline on Radio 4’s The Archers is still being hotly debated. But for us at Money Fight Club the screaming and the violence mask a more pernicious and malevolent type of abuse that leaves no bruises but scars its victims in ways that may never heal. Financial abuse Financial abuse can start quite subtly and often masquerade as sensible money management. Sharing the bills and sharing a bank account can make perfect financial sense for couples saving for a home. Cutting up credit cards or curbing independent spending decisions […]
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The final two members of the Big Six energy suppliers, British Gas and EDF, have announced that they will reduce gas prices by… wait for it… a measly 5.1% and 5%, respectively, from next month. The six have all reduced their prices in a narrow range (from 5% to 5.4%), with the first reductions on February 1 and the last ones coming in on March 31. Yet wholesale gas prices fell a whopping 57% last year. The energy giants always say that they buy their gas or oil years ahead of selling it on to us – pre-buying – and […]
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“As a former managing director, in charge of the working lives of hundreds of people, I have been amazed at the ploys used by less outstanding employees to get a pay rise.” Lindsay Cook in the FT Read the full article […]
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Some 50 gas and electricity fixed rate tariffs will have expired in the two months to the end of February 2016. Customers are supposed to be told by their supplier what is their cheapest new tariff. Yeah right… E.on and Age UK As the story breaks today about Age UK allegedly earning millions each year to recommend one of E.on’s less attractive tariffs, it seems – yet again – that suppliers do not want us to save money (or, at least, as much as they want to make money for themselves). What should happen… and does Customers nearing the end […]
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