Savings

Jeremy Clarkson is right: Pensions don’t attract ‘hot chicks at nightclubs’. But just wait til they see the size of my ISA…

Being a ‘rate tart’ and moving your money to follow the best interest rates may sound nerdy, but it substantially boosts returns.

ISA allowances are to increase with inflation from 2010, says UK Chancellor Alistair Darling. Not before time.

Your emergency fund should be in easily accessible cash. Also, under no circumstances is a half-price trip to the Maldives an emergency.

I have now seen a third debt go ‘bad’ at Zopa, the peer-to-peer lender. This time it was in the A market, which is supposedly pretty safe.

First-time buyers under 35 who are saving a cash deposit for a house might want to haul over to Abbey’s website, pronto. The bank has a new product called the Abbey 5% ‘Home Saver’ Account that at a glance looks ideal for any saver who qualifies. It certainly beats the UK government’s approach to helping [...]

A quick update on Zopa, the UK-based peer-to-peer lender that has been proving its worth for both lenders and borrowers during the credit crunch. As I wrote last month, interest rates had been rising for Zopa lenders, but the spike up in bad debt that I feared might have occurred due to the credit crunch [...]

Back in March 2008, I asked if rising interest rates at Zopa, the British peer-to-peer lender, were an opportunity for cash-rich savers or an accident waiting to happen: In the A*, 24-month market, I seem to be in the zone with an interest rate of 10.5%, which Zopa estimates will give me 9.5% after bad [...]

(Image: rednuht) During a bear market in shares (like the bear market we’re in as I type), investors flee the scene like lemmings leaping off the Titanic. One effect of such pessimism is widening discounts on investment trusts. When nobody wants to buy them, big, venerable investment trusts can easily trade at 10% discounts to [...]

Just when peer-to-peer bank Zopa was getting interesting again thanks to higher rates, it’s somewhat annoyingly announced plans to limit the kinds of loans you can make with your savings. The new regime will see one, two and four-year loan terms scrapped, with only 36 or 60 month loans being offered to borrowers. This means [...]

A quick update to my post of last week discussing Zopa rates rising because of the credit crisis. Rates have now come down – my main lending offer to A* customers is now out of the ‘Zone of Possible Agreement’ (ZOPA), which in English means people can get such better rates from other Zopa lenders [...]

I’ve just been checking out my Zopa savings account, where I’ve noticed interest rates are going up. I only ever lend to A and A* borrowers (people with great or better than great credit records) and the rate Zopa is quoting me as competitive is much higher than usual. In fact, in the A*, 24-month [...]

We can’t wish away the credit crisis. However sensible you or I have been with our investments, borrowing and spending, we can’t wind back the clock and stop bankers throwing money at poor people who’ll never be able to pay it back, and who are often now paying a far higher price – repossession, dislocation, [...]

The safest place to hold your money in the short-term is in cash. Sounds obvious, but cash is money. Shares, property, bonds, gold and pension funds are all assets whose value constantly fluctuates according to the whims of their markets. You can only be certain what such assets are worth when you come to sell [...]