Moira O'Neill

The Government has announced it will scrap the much-criticised 5 per cent penalty fee for those who cash in a Lifetime individual savings account (LISA) during the first year. While it’s good that politicians are listening to criticism of the new product, any extra complexity is always a barrier to consumer understanding. And don’t forget that half of savers in the UK don’t even know what ‘ISA’ stands for*. The LISA - a complex hybrid between a pension and an individual savings account - is due to launch in April, and yet the Government is still making up the rules as it goes along. It could be revolutionary, but the new product has not been properly thought through. What is it?

We all know that we should be switching financial products for a better deal, potentially saving ourselves thousands of pounds a year. But do we have time to do this? Certainly some products are easier and less time-consuming to switch than others. Gocompare.com questioned people who have shopped around for financial products in the last month about their experience. It found that home insurance, car insurance and ISA or savings accounts are the easiest financial products to switch. Mortgages came bottom of the list, after broadband and phones, with only six out of ten saying they found switching their mortgage easy.

You may this weekend have attended one of hundreds of events around the country to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Willliam Shakespeare’s death in 1616. Few writers have ever caught our imagination like the Bard of Avon. Many of you will have studied his plays at secondary school, examining their universal themes of love, revenge, sorrow and comedy. But now personal finance is on the National Curriculum (it forms part of citizenship for 11-16-year-olds), could works such as Romeo and Juliet, Twelfth Night and The Merchant of Venice be used to educate children about managing their money? And can adults aiming to pay off debts and save for the future still learn anything from Shakespeare’s musings on money?