Helen Monks Takhar

If asked, who would you say are the type of people most vulnerable to identity theft? The young and transient, whose credit cards find their way to the doormats of long-left flat shares? The elderly and vulnerable, who unwittingly reveal personal information to fraudsters? How about the savvy and entrepreneurial? A new report by Cifas reveals that around 20 per cent of identity fraud victims are company directors, even though they make up less than 9 per cent of the UK’s population. Cifas, a not-for-profit company which works to protect organisations and individuals from financial crime, says this makes company directors one of the most at-risk groups for identity fraud crimes.

Imagine having an immaculate credit record and a secure income, only to be locked out of some of the most competitive mortgage deals. Some older borrowers have been facing just this scenario. 'Many have felt excluded from the mortgage market, as the criteria have tightened and lenders have typically imposed a maximum age of 70 or 75 at the end of the mortgage term. But for older borrowers with good pension income, why shouldn’t they be able to take advantage of today’s super-low interest rates?', asks David Hollingworth, associate director at L&C Mortgages. 'As more of us live and work for longer, it’s likely the need for mortgage borrowing will also be required into later life.

I am an idiot. This is something my recent experience with Amazon has taught me. 'How come we have Amazon Prime?' my husband asked from time to time, 'I get it free,' I told him. 'But I don’t want to find out how exactly, you know, in case they notice and start charging me.' May I refer you back to my original statement. For the avoidance of doubt, one of the world’s biggest companies was not providing me with free benefits out of hidden generosity. As an Amazon Prime member, you are entitled to things like faster deliveries, inclusive movies and Kindle books for £79 a year or £7.99 a month. I used some of the benefits, but they were very much in the ‘nice-to-have’ category, rather than an essential spend.

'I think pre-nups are brilliant,' Catherine Zeta Jones told Vanity Fair back in 2000, shortly after marrying Hollywood royalty Michael Douglas. 'If I were marrying someone of lesser fortune who was 25 years younger, I’d be doing exactly the same thing. Why should Michael be in a position where half of his fortune, which he’s worked bloody hard for, lands in someone else’s lap?' Unfortunately for some brides, grooms and their families, such pragmatism is rare. After all, when you’re in the heat of wedding planning, as many are at this time of year, the thought of it all ending in court is hardly romantic.

It’s an increasingly familiar scenario: grown-up children moving out of rented accommodation and back into the family home as they save for their first property. For some, the idea of coming together under one roof again conjures the return of family movie nights and getting to know your loved ones afresh. For others, it will be a case of making the best of living in a familial and financial pressure cooker.   So, what are the ground rules for parents and grown-up children thrown together again, and what are the best ways parents can accelerate the moving out date?  To live harmoniously, charity Family Lives suggests agreeing upfront that the ‘child’ pays house-keeping or rent.

You know the feeling. Your head is turned by a good-looking broadband and phone deal but, after a while, things change. You belatedly discover the superficially attractive package included some unappealing habits, like the tendency to ‘review pricing from time to time’. And so the honeymoon would seem to be over for Sky Talk customers lured to switch from other providers by once keener call rates. Some existing Sky Talk customers – Sky won’t say how many - have been told their bills are going up by inflation-busting proportions from April. Line rental and calls to UK landlines are both rising by around 9 per cent from £17.40 to £18.99 a month and 11.5p/min to 12.54p/min respectively.

In Oscar-nominated movie Manchester by the Sea, Casey Affleck’s character Lee Chandler is shocked to discover he’s been named in his brother’s will as the guardian of his orphaned 16-year-old nephew Patrick. The boy’s dead father didn’t discuss it beforehand, and Lee has no interest in taking on the mantle of replacement parent. This position is all the clearer for Affleck’s character when the lawyer explains that while the boy’s expenses will be covered from his brother’s estate, Lee will be required to uproot his life and relocate to discharge his guardianship duties, thus setting up the movie’s driving tension and ratcheting up Patrick’s pain.

My mother is a good woman. But on being greeted by a charming golden retriever, a shaking red bucket and the dog’s well-meaning human handler from a local animal charity, a line had been crossed, even for her. Having already put her hand in her pocket for multiple charities in the town centre while Christmas shopping – from the wonderful Salvation Army brass band playing Away in a manger and the granddaughter she sent forth with a few quid, to the ebullient veteran who offered to pack her bags at M&S for a military charity – as a pensioner with no private income, she felt there was nothing more she could reasonably offer. Dodging the dog’s (adorable) gaze, my mother took her guilt with her on the bus back home.