Martin’s Blog…

UPDATE 2 Nov 2007. Now also read the Teen Cash Class Guide, a 40 page PDF all about teaching yourself or your kids about money.

I’m just heading back from a hard, but really enjoyable days filming. I’m doing a ‘Teen Cash Class’ for ITV1 Tonight. I’ve spent the day at St. Simon Stock School in Maidstone with a class of year 10s (15 year olds) with one day to turn them into Money Saving Experts. It was quite nerve racking for me, I’ve never taught a class before, so I had to hope my usual presentation style translated well to teaching. The real joy of it was that the class was so attentive and they sucked up the info like sponges - far more than any of the adult classes I’ve done on different subjects for Tonight before.

The highlight for me was explaining how debts work and how credit card companies target us to get our money. Showing them minimum repayments, long term interest rates and then a challenge to find the best credit card over lunch. It was a joy to come back and see them studying the nitty gritty of the credit card leaflets; how many people have actually sat down and compared cards, terms and offers. If everyone had, we’d be a much less indebted nation.

I’m not going to give too much away; as it’s unfair on the programme makers. Yet I think (it depends on how it looks in edit) it’s going to be a great watch (on July 13).

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The computer games industry is now bigger than the cinema. Whether you’ve got a Playstation, Wii or X-box, buy a game and it will easily set you back £20 - £40. If you consider the thousands of hours that go into creating a top game, and the hundreds of hours that you play it for - then it’s not too bad (especially if you buy it as cheaply as possible either via top online shopping or trade-ins from the high street. Yet there’s a glaring problem with buying games….

NAFF GAMES COST JUST AS MUCH AS GOOD ONES

While you can read the reviews, most gamers like to actually try it themselves, and many rush straight to the front of the queue to buy the latest must-have release. Yet at £40 a pop, this isn’t cheap, especially if after an hour you realise the disc is best used as a drinks coaster. So my strategy is simple, rent the game before you buy.

While you may be sitting there going “well that’s obvious, it doesn’t need a Money Saving Expert” - what I really want to do is prove the impact of this strategy with a few calculations.

Suppose you want “Grand Theft Auto: MoneySaving City” for the PS3:

• Rental price: £4 for 2 nights from Cubebeater
• Cheapest price to buy: £35

Two stats we can draw from this:

• You’d have to play it for over 16 nights before it’s worth buying
• If you rent then buy it adds just over 10% to the purchase price.

The most important of these is the second one, as we can thus see the additional cost of trying before you buy.

“It only takes one-in-eight games to be naff for this strategy to be worth it!”

If you always adopted this strategy, even if only one in eight games wasn’t worth buying, you’ve actually saved cash. Now think how many games in your collection you’ve quickly got fed up of, bored of, or decided what you were playing was better and resorted to it. Plus the other additional benefit of renting, is if you really like it, you can then take a little time to find the game as cheaply as possible on the internet (see the Top Shopbots article for how to do that quickly).

Trade in old, unplayed games

Some may argue this isn’t such a problem because they trade in any old games they don’t play anymore. If you’ve a full cupboard of unused games, do trade them in or eBay them. Yet trading-in in general doesn’t solve the conundrum. Remember the moment you buy a game from a shop (whether online or offline) and open that packaging its value has just diminished. Take it back as a trade in a week later and you’d be lucky to get a half of the value you paid for it. So again, the try before you buy strategy is worth it - but here at perhaps a one-in-four rather than one-in-eight ratio.

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I have discovered this week that I have a very poor sense of humour. For the new Travel Money Maximiser, in the press release about it, the site article and this week’s email (which I’m going through as we speak), I have included the sentence:

“So whether you want to eat out in colons in Costa Rica, use ringgits for phone calls from Malaysia or do whatever you like with you dong in Vietnam….”

And every time I read it, even at the 20th reading, I still laugh. So not only am I laughing at a poor gag, but I’m laughing repeatedly at my own joke… ah the shame.

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Well it’s not quite “I liked it so much, I bought the company” but in my own small way I’m very happy with the new Cheap Travel Money tool we’ve launched today. The problem with travel money has always been that there are a myriad of charges which confuse the actual rate. Many people think “commission free” makes it cheap. It doesn’t. All it means is you don’t pay a fee, but it’s likely you’ll get a worse exchange rate.

In the past when I’ve been interviewed on it, I always told people to ask lots of providers, ‘How many euros/dollars/yen will you give me, after all fees, for my pounds?’ and go with the one that offered the most. Yet this solution lacks charm, and creates legwork, and I got so fed up with this I decided to build a web tool that just does it automatically! And after much work (thanks to the techies) I think we’ve cracked it.

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A couple of weeks ago an e-mail came through from the Cabinet office at Number 10, asking if they could talk to me. Intrigued, as you would be, I said yes. Once on the phone it turned out there was an independent review of the “The Power of Information” being carried out, primarily looking at improving e-democracy and how Government should be interacting in the modern age.

This week the review’s been published and it’s a hefty tome. I’m very proud that MoneySavingExpert.com is oft cited and held up as a model of how to reach people and allow interaction and info and held up as a remarkable new body. You can delve into the full report yourself here. The Power of Information

Some of the main bits mentioning the site (there are many):

Remarkable New Bodies:

“Amid this explosion of user-generated sites there is much that is of little or no relevance to government: online chat about bands, films, socialising and so forth is rightly considered none of the public sector’s business. But there are sites that clearly relate directly to major government agendas and that are highly popular. MoneySavingExpert, for example, is a site dedicated to helping people save money and get better deals on all sorts of goods and services.

“Its forum has 180,000 members and millions of visitors each month: easily on the scale of friendly societies or trade unions. One of the principal catalysts for this review was the need to find out how government should learn to live in a world that contains such remarkable new bodies.”

Box 18: MoneySavingExpert (www.Moneysavingexpert.com)
MoneySavingExpert is a journalistic consumer finance website set up by specialized broadcaster/journalist Martin Lewis, to show people how to save money on financial services and other consumer products. The site reports over 2.5 million unique users each month, with 1.3 million people receiving the weekly email. The site has a very popular forum which has over a million readers a month and 180,000 members. One of the site’s many campaigns involves helping consumers to campaign against bank overcharging. Since November 2006, over 3.3 million template letters been downloaded to this end, with thousands sharing tips and reporting successes.”

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I’m sitting on the floor of the luggage lounge at Heathrow at 11.45pm, having just caused a casual revolt. Having landed late over an hour ago, no-one’s luggage for my plane, or any other BA plane has arrived. Half an hour ago we were told something to the tune of “sorry, as the plane landed late there’s not enough BA staff to unload the luggage and it’s delayed.” What wasn’t mentioned to the growing, over-heating crowd, was when it was likely to arrive.

At this point I walked over to get in the BA luggage desk queue, and after 20 minutes (only three customers, but they’re not quick)I asked when it’d finally arrive, and could I have a complaint form. At that point I heard the man next to me explaining the delay meant he’d missed his last train, and did he now have to pay a £60 cab fare? He was told if he sent his receipt in, the policy was to reimburse, if he noted it down on a complaint form.

Seeing a chance to teach BA a lesson about good customer service, and keeping customers informed I returned to the main area where the luggage indicator screen was. Now 200 - 300 were standing waiting, so I decided to announce, in my loudest voice… “excuse me everyone, as they’re not telling us anything, I’ll tell you. They’ve told me it’ll be around another 10 to 15 minutes. Also it’s worth knowing that BA has a policy that if you miss you last transport home it will reimburse you, so I suggest you go get a claim form.”

I got a small ripple of acclamation and large queue formed at the BA desk - around 50 people. It was at this point my cover was blown as someone started explaining to everyone else that “he’s the Money Saving Expert off the TV, this is what he does” and I had a rather nice comment thrown to me: “nice to see you practice what you preach.”

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I’m 34,000 feet up, zipping back from Malaga, or actually Fuengirola, and I’m shattered. I was there filming for a GM-TV Holiday MoneySaving special which I’m doing for a week, in a fortnight. Having arrived after lunch yesterday, we had to make a five different films in a very short space of time, leaving me, the producer and the crew punch drunk with tiredness. Luckily, I think the result will be worth it (I won’t see it ’til it goes out though, so you never know).

There’s a lot more to filming in 30 degree heat than you may think, so I thought it may be fun to run you through some of the practical issues you mightn’t have realised need dealing with:

Sweaty, sweaty, sweaty shirt - but don’t want patches. We weren’t filming each film consecutively, but shooting bits of one, then the other and mixing them all up. This locked me into wearing the same clothes for the whole time; by late in the afternoon I was tired, very sweaty, sticky and looked dischevelled; but guess what the very last clip we filmed was? Yep, the opening shot of the whole week at the airport - with me trying to pretend to look fresh and energised!

Dripping like a kebab on a skewer. You’re not supposed to sweat on TV, even a forehead shine puts people off what you’re saying as they concentrate on the glimmer. In the studio your make-up is done for you; but out on the road filming some male presenters/reporters wear it while others don’t. My first make-up artist at Simply Money TV, years ago, explained the rules to me; male make-up mustn’t look like you’ve got make up on, just that you’re clean and with good skin. She bought me my first ‘on the road’ make-up and taught me what to do…. it’s not much, just a little “tinted moisturiser” and a dab of powder if needed. Yet in Spain, worried I’d drip like a kebab on a skewer, before hand I asked the MSG’s advice, and she lent me her special ’studio strength powder’ which is extra thick and strong to cope with the lights. So I layered it on over the course of day to keep the drips away; by the end of filming, it was caked on thick and felt horrid - more slap than itchy and scratchy.

Ouch my eyes. Almost all the shots were outdoors in the scorching sun. The problem is the lighting requires the cameraman stands with the sun behind him and you look at it. My problem? I simply couldn’t keep my eyes open without the burning sunlight speedily forcing them into a tight squint (try it yourself next time you’re on holiday - see if you can keep your eyes open). It became such a problem I had to break the cardinal rule of telly and wear sun-glasses during pieces to camera (you should always see the whites of a presenters eyes), but I had no choice, it was that or gurn.

All in all though it was a great trip and I love the GM-TV Money Saving Expert soap box they got for me to stand on and flog my wares. My only slight worry is we were doing it in empty areas, to keep the noise levels down (even a scooter driving passed stops filming, because if the viewer can’t see the source of the noise, its weird to hear it; filming near roads can often result in many takes), so there I am, often preaching to no-one. At one point an English couple did stop to watch; so the cameraman quickly grabbed a view of me preaching on my box to just two —> a right billy no mates.

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There are certain moments in your life when you realise your own true nature. I did LK today this morning and the big star of the show was Jon Bon Jovi. He played, and then was interviewed with his sun glasses on; the epitome of cool. He was chilled, reflective and within his comfort zone. Then there was me, carrying a laptop, headset and explaining how Skype worked and how to save money on international calls; cool factor about zero. Still, it could be worse, lifestyle commentator Nick Ede was there blowing up a large black beach ball as a suggested gift for a WAG wedding, as Bon Jovi walked past giving the funniest looks.

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I arrived home on Friday evening to see a flurry of pizza delivery leaflets on the mat. As is common of their type, all included deals like “buy one medium pizza, get the second half price” or “special sale on giant pizzas”. As my mind’s always worked mathematically I couldn’t help working out which the best value deals was on each leaflet; for example are two 8″ pizzas costing £11 better value than one 12″ pizza costing £10.

It’s only school maths that’s needed to do it, so I thought I’d share it here (in case you’ve forgotten). The area of a circle is πr2 and from this we can deduce a simple rule: Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve started doing a regular half-hour slot on Radio 1 as part of Jo Whiley’s show. It’s a fab new venture as it’s a whole new generation and audience to get the MoneySaving message across to.

Yet the difference in the set-up between that and my regular Radio 2 hour on Vine is the studio arrangements. Jeremy and I sit opposite each other, which promotes a tone of cerebral matey banter. Yet walk in the Radio 1 studio and Jo is standing up. The first time I did it they offered me a seat, and it felt bizarre sitting, looking up at the presenter - so I said I’d stand. At that point a button is pressed and the desk electronically lifts upward to the right height. Standing up then promotes a slightly different psychology, it adds a certain frenetic pace to the show; more in keeping with Radio 1 (though I know many’d say the last thing I need is encouragement to speed up!)

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The MSG had a page in the Express today called “Stay chic on the cheap” all about how to be thrifty, but keep up with the Hollywood stars she interviews. It was quite a strange one to know she was writing, as it of course crosses over into my territory, so we decided I wouldn’t see it before it was published - as that’s the best way.

And there it was into today, with a gorgeous picture (well I would say that wouldn’t I), and some cool tips. I especially liked her cut-down designer notes on how Bourjois is made by Chanel; and L’Oreal is developed by the same people as Lancôme. This web-link should take you to it. Though it’s a different picture and the one in the paper looks much, much, much nicer, as here some, ut hmm, strange man’s ear is ruining it.

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There’s a wonderful site called Way back machine which allows you to see the history of lots of sites on the net. I thought it’d be interesting to take a look at the prior incarnations of MoneySavingExpert.com now there’s a new site, so you can see how it’s changed.

Unfortunately, it only goes up to 2006, so you can’t quite see what it looked like just before the current makeover, but the one prior to that is pretty close.

1. My homepage - pre-site in July 2002 View it
2. The original incarnation of the main site. Feb 2003 View it
3. Some tweaks made to the main site. August 2005 View it
4. Getting nearer to the old site version. May 2006 View it

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It’s been a huge day; overnight we created the new look site. Then there was a lot to do this morning; it’s not until it’s up and running that you really see what needs doing. Then came Bank Charges, the BBC is reporting 20 cases may be struck out in Hull County Court. Two of those involved have already posted on the forum, so I organised getting a draft response for them and seeing if we can get legal help (see Hull CC bank charges post in forum). I won’t mention the interviews I had scheduled, the columns I need to write, and new articles for the site to do. Stress…. I should co-co. Anyway, on to my thoughts about the new site.

First thoughts on the new site

Well I love it. I think it’s crisper and more clear. I know some in the Forum find the colour change and shift of a menu bar from left to right a big jump, but my hope is it’s just a getting used to newness thing. The stats on the new site (for webbies info we use Google Analytics) usage are really interesting, compared to equivalent traffic prior friday….

The Good News

1. Number of pages per visitor up by 30%
2. Bounce rate dropped by 25% (ie people who only come to one page)
3. Section page use up by 30% (ie the tabs at the top)

This is quite staggering. I think it’s down to the fact that newcomers can find their way around much more easily and the navigation is more intuitive. Also the use of Google to power the main site search is making things a lot easier to find. The change above really is enormous, people are using the site a lot more once they get here.

The Bad News

4.. Number of people joining the e-mail dropped by 35%

For me this really is bad news. The weekly email allows me to tell people when they need to act quick to save money, so I can reach them rather than them having to come to the site. It’s always been the site’s life-blood - so this drop is huge. At first I couldn’t understand why - after all, the content of the tip is now a much bigger part of the site. Then I looked at it and realised.

In the past you’d hardly been able to read what the tips were, now it’s much more obvious, and more people are clicking to the tip itself. Yet in the tip we’d forgotten to include a box so you can join the e-mail, add that to the lack of warning page on the front of the site and in articles and you’ve got an explaination. In many ways the tip has now become content on the site, which makes it less obvious that it needs joining. As this is the most important service the site offers and the best way to keep it up to date, we’ve hastily done some changes today.

The old warning bar has come back and there are now e-mail boxes to join in the actual tip text itself.

The No Change

5. Forum use… unchanged

This is as expected really. While the forums have undergone a cosmetic change, they still operate in the same way. There’s a little more space than there used to be (I know many regulars don’t feel it, but I got my ruler out, the Forum starts higher up and is exactly the same width) - so you wouldn’t really expect much to change.

Hope this little note on the changes is interesting.

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By now you may’ve seen the what’s it all about video (below) on the new look homepage. The video’s been around about 18 months, but now I’ve increased its prominence as it seems a really good way to explain the attitude of the site (eagle eyed viewers will note that at the end it’s the old website that’s pictured, although that’s being changed soon.

So what’s the secret? Well, when I filmed it, it wasn’t actually for MoneySavingExpert.com at all. A TV company came to me to discuss making a show, we came up with a concept and they wanted to make a video to show in the pitch to the commissioners. So they arranged permission to film at the shopping centre in Shepherds Bush that’s near MSE Towers. I went across and they said “tell us about MoneySaving and what it means” - I did it in one long 2 minute piece to which the reply was “great lets split it into four shots”.

So I redid it split into four, the result of which is what you see now. At the end I finished by saying “it’s Consumer Guerilla” - the name of the proposed programme. Once in the edit suite I thought it was a nice little video for just a few minutes of filming work and cheekily asked if they’d mind if I voiced over the end with “it’s MoneySavingExpert.com” in case the programme wasn’t commissioned, as the vid fit the site so well.

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