Poll

Poll Started 26 April 2010: Should we starve the jobless back to work? Lord Jones, former head of business institute the CBI (and for a while an independent Labour minister), recently said we should ‘starve the jobless back to work’ by making benefits not pay in a discussion about the young unemployed. Yet others say that’s both against human rights, and if there aren’t the jobs we'll simply see more crime if benefits are cut. What would you say is roughly the right benefit to give an able single person seeking work? We'll assume rent is £50/week to reduce regional variance. (Vote based on the overall level of benefit for all payments including rent/mortgage and living)

Poll Started 22 April 2010: Is it fair for Ryanair to pay compensation? Ryanair’s boss was mooting while it will give flight refunds, the EU regulations of covering people’s food and accommodation for days of volcano delays are absurd for it (though it will follow them). His argument is it’s ridiculous that people only bought super-cheap £20ish tickets, yet the airline should then have to pay out £100s in hotel bills. Which of these is closer to your opinion?

Are you focused on short term or long term cash? Suppose you were offered the following choice (with a rock solid government-backed guarantee that provided you’re still alive you’ll get the cash).

We’re going to put the key consumer finance questions to the leaders of the five big parties (Lab, Lib Dem, Plaid, SNP, Tory). To help us decide on the questions please vote for the most important issues for you.

With the advent of phone and internet banking and ATMs, people need venture in their bank less and less. When did you last go in to your bank? (excluding to use a cash machine). Pick the highest up the list that applies.

Poll started 30 March 2010 Soon every employee must pay into a pension - will you opt out? From 2012, every employee in the UK will AUTOMATICALLY contribute 1% (rising to 4%) of salary to a private pension via their payroll and employers and tax benefits will match it. Find out more in Martin’s Not got a pension? You will in two years blog. Pros: You’ll have a pension & it’s effectively a payrise as your employer has to put cash in Cons: Less in your paypacket. Your take home pay will be reduced due to the contribution. Which is closest to your view (be as honest as possible)

Poll Started 22 March 2010: Who do you support in the BA strike? Nothing is ever black or white, but if you had to side one way over the latest BA strike – where would it be (see the BA statements and the Union statements)? Which of these deliberately stark options is nearest your view?

Poll Started 15 March 2010: How much pocket money do you give your kids? Please select the answer that’s closest to your view, depending on your kids' age and how you operate pocket money. How much weekly pocket money do your kids get on average? (If you’ve kids in both age brackets please just vote for one of them)

Annual UK house rises of around 4.5% have been reported for the last year, though figures for last month show a slight dip. So it's time for our regular poll to ask you where you think they’ll go next. What do you think’ll happen to UK house prices over the next 12 months?

From September 2011, personal finance education will become a compulsory part of Personal, Social, Health Education (PSHE), itself part of the national curriculum (see Martin’s a nation educated into debt, but never about debt editorial comment for more).