Cancelling the 55% tax on unused pension pots could be a disaster for many older people
In the last Budget, Chancellor George Osborne announced he was freeing up much of the pension market so people could take their money when they wanted – 25% of it tax free and the rest at their income tax rate. Today, at the Conservative Conference, he has said that if over 75s do that and die, and there’s money...
Try the new mobile friendly MoneySavingExpert.com
We’re in the midst of a huge exercise to make the main site more mobile friendly guide by guide (this blog hasn’t been made more mobile friendly yet, so don’t judge the project on this). In fact, what we’re actually doing is making the site responsive. In other words, the page will scale and change depending on...
Ad watch – NatWest’s 0%uch ad is dangerously misleading
The semi-publicly owned bank has funded a huge ad campaign to declare to people the danger of 0% cards. From full page newspaper ads to viral videos, it’s trying to persuade people its stance is in their favour. So I wanted to bash out a quick blog to put that to the test. Its newspaper ad screams...
I’m excited to be involved in a radical financial triage foodbanks programme
A radical experiment is about to start involving the Trussell Trust and I’m delighted to be playing a part. Rather than regurgitating, here is the charity’s press release which tells you all… "FOODBANKS TO LAUNCH RADICAL ‘FINANCIAL TRIAGE’ PROGRAMME" Foodbank charity the Trussell Trust is to launch pilot funded by a 6-figure personal donation from Money Saving...
Going abroad? I need your help….
If I had a euro for each time I’ve been asked a variant of this question by holidaymakers, "I’ve just been to a bank/shop and it’s giving me the choice of paying in euros/dollars or pounds, which should I choose?", I’d err, have a lot of euros. For a detailed answer see my Always pay in euros...
Huge anger over HMRC wanting to raid people’s savings – but why do we already let banks do it?
HMRC has been accused of attempting to overturn the Magna Carta by trying to gain new powers that will allow it to take money from people’s bank accounts without a court order (see HMRC wants to raid accounts). There’s been uproar and outrage from MPs and others on this. I share in this angst. Yet I thought...
How much is a blank worth at Scrabble?
I’ve been getting the spreadsheet out. Over the weekend Mrs MSE and I played a few games (as we do). In the first two she was rather unlucky that I got both blanks each time, which I think probably turned the game in my favour (just). Thus intrigued, I decided to enter nerdvana and calculate the value...
The trick to access every network’s signal from your mobile
Update – Sun 2 Nov 2014. National Roaming plans are likely to progress this week with Culture Secretary Sajid Javid set to make an announcement. It’s likely he’ll propose the big four mobile operators will be forced to share mobile phone masts in rural areas where there is poor coverage so customers’ phones can find the strongest...
How would you describe Lidl? Is it really “poor food for poor people”?
The papers were full of it yesterday on the back of Lidl announcing sales of premium vintage and non-vintage wines such as Châteauneuf-du-Pape. All the messages were on about posh goods next to the usual tat. The phrase that came up time and time again was that "the firm is trying to move away from its poor...
10 changes to make the Green Deal work update – have they listened?
The Green Deal is the Government’s flagship home energy efficiency scheme, sadly and also predictably, it has been a rather huge flop. The concept is great – you get money to improve your home, which you then pay for out of the savings on your energy bills. The problem is the system is far too complex and...
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Recent Blogs
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Martin Lewis: The one thing everyone aged over 66 needs to know
9 August 2022![]()
It is a national tragedy that getting on for a million pensioners, many of whom have been paying into the system for years, are missing out on a critical boost to their income. It's called pension credit, and this year it also means you get an extra £650 to help with energy bills. -
Martin Lewis: Don't shop at Zara before you go to Spain, Greece, France or Italy
11 July 2022![]()
Update 17 July 2017: We tend to think since Brexit that the pound’s weaker than it has been for decades. While somewhat true against the dollar, against the euro it’s only a tad worse now than when I first wrote this in 2014. The logic of this blog stands just as strongly now. On the Spanish-English website...
