This Is Money Show

Premium Bonds are probably Britain’s best loving savings product but are they worth holding? The savings lottery delivers 100% government-backed protection, a theoretical 1% return – dependent on luck – and relatively easy access to your cash. But a new report this week highlighted just how unlikely people are to win big prizes. In fact, unless you have a sizeable amount in bonds, you should expect a long wait for anything over £25. But does the study stack up? What about all the readers telling us they’ve won lots? And does it matter that you’d have to wait ages to win £50 or more – or are those uninspiring regular £25 prizes a much more useful source of returns? On this week’s podcast Georgie Frost, Adrian Lowery and Simon Lambert dig into Premium Bonds, looking at the odds, the study on big prizes, what our readers have told us, and also how many people hold. Plus, interest rate rise chatter has stepped up a gear this week. Is a hike really imminent? Also under discussion are the energy s

With inflation on the rise, homeowners nearing the end of their mortgage deal could be tempted to lock in for longer – especially with murmurs of a base rate rise. It comes as rates continue to fall, even on tracker deals. What are the pros and cons on a two, five and even a 10 year fix, and does the flexibility of a tracker mean it could be a worthy option to consider? Lee Boyce, Helen Crane and Georgie Frost discuss what those remortgaging and home buyers need to consider when getting a new home loan. And landlords haven't been left behind in the mortgage battle either. There is now a sub-1 per cent buy-to-let mortgage rate – and sticking with the property theme, yet another huge monthly bump for prices. Elsewhere, should you sell old Premium Bonds to buy a new set for 'better luck' and just how much have lockdown savers poured into the NS&I product? Lastly, how about a career change as an… HGV driver? We look at what salaries are on offer and how to train as a lorry driver.

Savings rates are on the rise but even if you do find a best buy, don't get complacent because inflation is running hot too. On this podcast, Lee Boyce, Georgie Frost and Simon Lambert look at why savings rates are rising, whether interest rates will follow suit and quitehow long it might be before we get back to a normal situation of a savings account consistently beating inflation. Simon discusses whether attack may be the best form of defence in the form of stock market investing - and why the 'just buy bitcoin' comments shouldn't be entitely heeded. Plus, could you or would you want to live off grid? What would it entail? And would it actually save money?

The week began with an energy crunch, as households woke up to the problems sending gas prices spiralling - and the impact that could have on their bills. It ended with a needless rush on petrol, as people were told there was no need to panic buy fuel… and some promptly panic bought it. The petrol issue we’re told is to do with a shortage of HGV drivers to deliver fuel, the gas problem is unfortunately far more complex. The immediate impact for households is that some are finding their energy supplier has gone bust and they are being transferred elsewhere, others are discovering they can’t switch, and many are staring down the barrel of a potential big imminent price cap rise followed by another next spring. In this podcast episode, This is Money’s energy and consumer correspondent Grace Gausden explains what’s happening and Georgie Frost and Simon Lambert discuss the implications with her. In the second part of the podcast, Tanya Jefferies joins to talk about the National Audit Office report i

The cost of living jumped by the largest amount on record to hit 3.2 per cent in August – is it set to run out of control and prompt the Bank of England to raise interest rates? Meanwhile, a gloomy report has lead some economists to talk about stagflation once more. What is it, is it a threat and does it matter? This week, Simon Lambert, Lee Boyce and Georgie Frost discuss the 'flations' and what it could mean for the coming months, and the pandemic recovery. Alongside this, there are supply chain problems and staff shortages. Can we expect higher prices in shops and is Britain set for a hiring boom? It's not just shops that are suffering, soaring costs and tradesmen shortages are leaving families doing home improvements themselves - or stuck with half-finished renovations. And we go inside the pocket sized houses aimed at first time buyers in London. We left the cat at home: there wasn't enough room to swing it…

If you’re going to break one manifesto promise, then why not break two? Why not distract from telling pensioners they can’t have their potential 8.8 per cent triple lock state pension rise by hiking taxes for everyone. That appeared to be the theory this week, as two pledges to not raise taxes and keep the triple lock went out the window. Boris Johnson has been bold enough to be the Prime Minister who finally tries to fix Britain’s social care problems, with a 1.25 per cent national insurance rise and then new tax to pay for this and getting the NHS to play catch-up after the pandemic. Coupled with a corresponding 1.25 per cent NI rise for employers, this amounts to a 2.5% hit to people’s pay. Will that be enough to sort the problem, does the cash risk just being swallowed up by the NHS, and are our social care problems just about funding? Along with those questions, why was the triple lock turned double for a year, was this a close shave for its existence and could there have been a better

Are you a mover, a flipper or a forever-homeowner? Among its many surprises, the coronavirus pandemic has delivered a property boom.  In pretty much the exact opposite of what all the experts thought was going to happen the property market has hit fever pitch over the past year and a bit, with more people moving and house prices soaring. But amid all the fuss, which property tribe are you in?  Are you a mover – for whom the grass always looks a bit greener, perhaps in a house with extra space, more bedrooms, a bigger garden, or with a slice of the country life or even a prime location in the city?  Or would you choose to be a flipper, happy to buy and sell regularly to try to make some money and climb the ladder quicker – maybe doing places up and turning ugly ducklings into swans as you go along?  Or is your chief desire to be a forever-homeowner, the kind of person who wants to either stay put where you are forever, or find the one place you can do that and then stop moving. On this week’s podcast, G

When it comes to state pensions, there has been plenty of talk in recent weeks about the triple lock and what could mean next month when it comes to an uplift. However, more than 2million receive less than £100 a week in state pension payments – is there a way to boost it? Tanya Jefferies, Lee Boyce and Georgie Frost discuss and reveal the common reasons why you might not receive the full state pension. Sticking with the pension theme, we talk through a case of an ex-Judge who faced a hefty 'advice' fee when he made a decision on a drawdown pot. Spain is still the top choice for those planning to retire overseas – but has the pandemic and Brexit put more people off a life in the sun? Lee reveals why it is now time to be chasing savings rates again and his tips for making sure a challenger bank you've never heard of is a good spot for your cash. 

As Britain's streets are filled with drivers whizzing deliveries around, there's a new top scam in town. Parcel and package delivery scams are the most common type of 'smishing' text messages, a report said this week. Fraudsters are sneaking into people's text messages, pretending to be couriers that missed you while you were out, or need to arrange or rearrange a delivery. Click the link and you could end up being scammed. This is being enabled by the wave of online deliveries in the pandemic, as online shopping stepped up a number of gears, and the somewhat chaotic way some drivers are delivering those parcels: who doesn't recognise the 'leave it on the doorstep and run away tactic'? On this week's podcast, Lee Boyce, Georgie Frost and Simon Lambert look at what uou can do to avoid falling victim, what are the risks if you do, and can we do anything about the rise in fraud? Also on this week's podcast, its squeaky bum time for the triple lock. Wages are officially up 8.8 per cent and the reference mont

How low will mortgage rates go? The lowest two-year fixed rate has been cut to 0.83 per cent and five-year fixed rates are available at 0.99 per cent. That’s cheap money – and while these super low rates are only reserved for those with the biggest deposits, it’s clear that the mortgage price war is back on. The question is will rates keep falling and get cheaper still?  Some experts say believe they won’t and this is the floor but others suggest they could come even down all the way to 0.5 per cent. On this week’s podcast, Georgie Frost, Helen Crane and Simon Lambert look at what’s driving mortgage rates down and the house prices up and whether it’s ever worth jumping ship to a potentially cheaper deal from an existing home loan? Also on this week’s show, are you a property snooper, spying on friends, relatives and colleagues’ house prices and homes? Plus, how to avoid getting too emotionally attached to your investments and is it worth tracking down DIY investing platforms and apps that of

From October, millions of households can expect to pay even more on their energy bills.  Ofgem is raising the energy price cap for the second time in a year, due to rising wholesale costs. The cap is now at a record high and it means those who are on a standard variable tariff, or a prepayment meter, could be facing hundreds of pounds added to their annual bills. Lee Boyce, Grace Gausden and Georgie Frost take a look at the price cap, what it means and how to potentially beat it. When it comes to future technology, will we soon see the death of the landline to be replaced by phone calls over wi-fi? Additionally, with growing numbers of households – especially rural ones – turning to satellite broadband, we explain how it works and the potential costs. When it comes to current accounts, we tend to stay loyal. But those who have switched, Starling Bank and Virgin Money have been the most popular destinations. It's a tale of two different switching mentalities – those who want branches and bribe

Ministers want us to ditch gas boilers and line our houses with insulation to save the planet, but do the sums add up for cash-strapped homeowners? Simon Lambert, Lee Boyce and Georgie Frost take a look at the Government's aims, if green measures in your home can pay for themselves in the long-run and what it could take to pull Energy Performance Certificate ratings for homes higher. Simon takes aim at London's low emission zone expansion - it's less than three months away and riddled with inconsistencies. It will leave at least 300,000 residents with older cars facing a fee of £12.50 each time they get behind the wheel – and these schemes could be coming to a town or city near you. Value and quality are in, income and momentum are out… we explain the latest investing trends - and bust some jargon too. Tesco closes all its current accounts - so where next for their nearly a quarter of a million customers? Is Barclays a good option? You can now earn Avios points and get a free upgrade once a ye

The Government is planning a major crackdown on fake reviews. Under proposals, it will become illegal to pay someone to write, or host, bogus online ratings. How much weight should we put behind buying decisions when it comes to reviews and ratings, and what exactly are the plans to prevent this kind of consumer manipulation? This week, Simon Lambert, Lee Boyce and Georgie Frost discuss this, along with the others measures the Government is planning, including on subscription traps and Christmas savings clubs, and how it'll be enforced. How much are you saving? You might think a lack of a rainy day pot is solely an issue for those on low incomes, but you'd be wrong. A quarter of Britain's wealthiest households do not have one - why is this the case? That comes as fixed-rate deals nudge higher, but Lee warns listeners not to get too excited. Are you paying for too much mobile phone data? And would you take part in a home swap in order to save on your summer holiday?

Just when you thought that you could book to go back in the water.  As if sorting a holiday, ensuring the country you want to go to is okay for long enough to get there, or dodging quarantine roulette wasn't enough, now car hire inflation is biting. In a sign of the inflationary times, the cost of renting a car has rocketed to about three times the price of last year and it's being blamed on the semiconductor shortage. How can a lack of computer chips drive up costs so substantially at the car hire desk?  And what on earth has this got to do with the price of a bag of crisps? On this week's podcast, Georgie Frost, Grace Gausden and Simon Lambert look at holidays and inflation and the points where supply and demand are intersecting to create very odd scenarios, plus Simon expands on his crisp-based inflation explanation. Also on this week's podcast, Grace investigates unpaid Dartford Crossing charges that spiralled into a £3,000 bill and Simon looks at what happens if you want to give your house to your

The triple lock has always been a hot potato but things have stepped up another gear as it could deliver a bumper 8 per cent state pension increase due to a statistical quirk. The state pension pledge means that payouts rise by the greatest of inflation, wage growth or 2.5 per cent. Yet, wage growth numbers are being skewed this year because the Covid crash a year ago saw millions put on furlough on a maximum of 80 per cent of earnings, workers suffer temporary pay cuts, and many lose their jobs. Job cuts disproportionately hit the low paid and continue to do so, taking them out of the figures and bumping up the average wage, workers coming back from furlough are seeing pay go back up to their full amount, and short-term pay cuts have been reversed. All this makes average wage growth look artificially high, despite many public and private sector workers suffering pay freezes or negligible rises. The Office for Budget Responsibility forecast that distortion could lead to an 8 per cent wage growt

Yet more people caught up in the underpaid state pension scandal have been unearthed by This is Money – and tragically, in the two cases we highlight this week, they weren't alive to see justice. Two bereaved daughters received sums of £42,000 and £71,000 because their mothers were underpaid state pension for more than a decade before dying in their 90s. The payouts are all thanks to the intrepid work of investment and pensions editor Tanya Jefferies and our pensions agony uncle Sir Steve Webb. They join deputy editor Lee Boyce and Georgie Frost to talk about these latest cases, and what it means in terms of inheritance tax and care fees – could you, a family member or friend have been caught up in the scandal? We also talk about pensions in more details – do you know what yours is invested in and what it's worth? It will matter even more than usual if the Chancellor gets his way and taps into our retirement pots and parcel it out to fast-growing businesses, transport projects, real estate and

How big a pension pot do you need to save for a comfortable retirement? Pension and investing editor, Tanya Jefferies, discusses research that puts a figure on what people need to retire on, in this excerpt from the This is Money podcast. Alongside host Georgie Frost, she talks about Which? research into pension savings and how people can build the pot they need. Also, This is Money's assistant personal finance editor Helen Crane looks at whether you should prioritise getting on the property ladder ahead of a pension or pay equal attention to both. And the team look at how younger workers can build the retirement savings they will need.

Home buyers are engaged in a last minute race to beat the stamp duty deadline – with some facing a potential double false economy. House prices have bounced over the past year meaning that the £15,000 maximum saving of a year ago would now come on a property that potentially costs £50,000 more. That has led to claims of a false economy, but it would be doubly so for any buyer who then missed the deadline too and ended up with an extra £12,500 tax bill as they only get the tapered bit of the stamp duty holiday not the whole thing. On this week’s podcast, Georgie Frost, Lee Boyce and Simon Lambert look at the last minute stamp duty rush and what might happen next to the property market, with Simon outlining that it’s not just a tax cut driving the pandemic boom. At the other end of the property ladder, the team look at how to make sure you don’t end up paying off a mortgage in retirement and what you can do if you are approaching your pension years or in them with a home loan still to clear. It’s

Sneaker investing – those in the know don’t call them trainers, apparently – has become a big thing in recent years and as values have risen, so has the volume of fakes. It’s not just knock-offs aping standard sneakers anymore, some of the counterfeiters are dabbling in shoes that could go on to be worth thousands of pounds. Can anything be done, does it matter and what’s the attraction if investing in sneakers anyway? This is Money’s Grace Gausden went behind the curtain with eBay, which has its own crack team of fake sneaker spotters, to find out more and tells podcast listeners all about it here. Alongside, Georgie Frost and Simon Lambert, Grace discusses the tests that can spot a fake and why eBay is cracking down. Meanwhile, Simon looks at the comparisons between sneaker investing and other more established alternatives, such as art, wine and classic cars and, of course, the new kid on the block, crypto. Also, on this week’s show the team discuss the courses for those who haven’t driven in years and the

Does loyalty pay or is it just a bizarre concept we have allowed businesses to convince us might exist while they take advantage? As banks and building societies hint at better rates for those who have stuck by them and insurers find themselves forced at regulatory gunpoint to at least not sting existing customers, this week’s podcast looks at the loyalty reward and penalty. At what point does the corporate idea of loyalty rewards meet the reality of whether it’s worth sticking with the same provider? Georgie Frost, Lee Boyce and Simon Lambert discuss loyalty, its rewards and its drawbacks on this week’s podcast. Plus, Britcoin, a new idea for the Bank of Mum and Dad and beach huts… are they a cheap property goldmine?