Simon Read

If a pal turned to you for financial help, would you lend a hand? If you have the cash it’s hard to say no, but for the sake of your future friendship that may not be such a good idea. Money can be the root of all sorts of relationship evils. It’s the cause of many families or friends fracturing and so any planned financial arrangements need to be treated with extreme caution. Research published today by StepChange debt charity shows one in three people who owe money to loved ones reporting negative effects caused by their financial problems. One in 20 says borrowing from a friend actually led to a relationship break-up. It’s a growing problem, according to the charity.

Finance firms love taking football fans for suckers. The latest is Virgin Money which has this week launched a Manchester United savings bond. It pays just 1.25 per cent for 12 months which is roughly two-thirds the interest you could get at the current best buy account. So far, so rubbish. But it has a neat gimmick designed to reel in optimistic fans. If Manchester United win the title next season, the interest rate paid doubles to 2.5 per cent. Sound attractive? It’s meant to. But in reality it’s a total con. And it’s just the latest in a long line of football-related finance deals that take fans for mugs. What’s the problem? If you saved, say, £2,000 into the bond, you’d earn £25.

When you drift into debt, it’s not easy to get out of it. Many end up in financial trouble for years because, instead of confronting their problems, they meander on paying a little bit back here and there. For many it becomes a way of life. I interviewed a lot of different people about their finances for a television programme this year and one of the first questions I asked was 'what debt do you have?'. I was staggered by the number who said they didn’t have any debt and later admitted they owed a couple of thousand on credit cards. It wasn’t that they were lying or even trying to ignore the debt. It was simply that it had become such a regular part of their lives – often for many, many years – that they didn’t think of it as debt any longer.

Are women sleepwalking into a retirement nightmare? That’s the suggestion behind new research published by investment group Fidelity. It revealed that while women’s average retirement income is likely to be around £5,000 less than men, almost twice as many women have no idea about their pension pot or its payout. It’s not the first time similar worrying research has been published. Last year Scottish Widows reported that women save 38 per cent less than men and that the gap that has been getting wider in recent years. More worryingly, 21 per cent of women have no pension savings at all, compared with just 9 per cent of men, reckoned Prudential.

Savers were hit with a double whammy of bad news last week. On Tuesday it was revealed that inflation had climbed to 0.5 per cent. Then on Thursday, to little surprise, the Bank of England kept interest rates on hold yet again. They’ve remained frozen at record low levels for more than seven years now. With the average deposit account paying just 0.4 per cent last year according to The Money Charity, it means if you’re not a savvy saver who constantly chases the best deals, you’re almost certainly losing money. That’s because inflation is eroding your nest egg more than the interest is helping it to grow. Is that fair?