This Is Money Show

Is austerity really coming to an end? And are the rich getting richer thanks to the Government? In the This is Money podcast this week, editor Simon Lambert, assistant editor Lee Boyce and host Georgie Frost analyse the 2018 Budget. Money for the NHS, little extras for schools, cash for roads, help for the High Street and the baby rabbit in the hat - pulling the rise in the basic and higher rate tax thresholds to £12,500 and £50,000, respectively, a year earlier than promised. We also talk about what a no Brexit deal means for interest rates?  We heard from the Bank of England this week about the likely impact such a scenario could have on interest rates and how quickly they will go up – or not. Despite sticking this week to 0.75%, the decision came with a few notes of warning – largely that it was based on a 'smooth transition' for Brexit. We talk about the latest in the easy-access savings war in which a small building society trumped Marcus by Goldman Sachs – but only for a short stint. And finally,

As stock market turmoil spreads across the globe, the advice is to keep calm and carry on, folks. In the latest This is Money podcast, editor Simon Lambert and host Georgie Frost discuss what's causing it, how long will it go on for and how concerned we should be. Because we're a positive bunch, we also reveal the shares that have rocketed over the last five years, some by more than 1,000 per cent. Also, we answer a reader query about state pensions - can couples inherit it from each other and how much might they get? Elsewhere, we take a look at the best way to clear your buy-to-let loan and discover how to bag a property bargain. Enjoy.

With this year’s Budget moved to Monday, 29 October, we bring you a pre-Budget special. This is Money editor Simon Lambert, assistant editor Lee Boyce and host Georgie Frost debate the key areas that might feature in Chancellor Philip 'Spreadsheet' Hammond’s tax and spending review. This includes housing, inheritance tax, pensions and a whole host more, as he tries to find £20billion down the back of the Treasury sofa for the promised NHS boost. But this Budget has some extra spice, with both Brexit and a Labour party whose main policy idea seems to be to force another General Election, which it thinks it can win. We discuss what the Government needs to focus on to stamp out the Labour challenge and just how the economy is looking ahead of Brexit. One time Labour donor Lord Sugar is threatening to leave the country if Jeremy Corbyn comes into power, thanks – in large part – to its threat of a barrage of tax rises. How big is the threat from Corbyn and co - and what can you do to protect your family from

This week, This is Money launched another campaign - and we have the private car parking sharks and the DVLA in our sights. We talk about the horrific cases of drivers being fined and penalised we have received from readers and listeners so far, ask how the DVLA is able to sell our details on without permission and what can be done about the menace – along with what we want changed. Elsewhere, editor Simon Lambert, assistant editor Lee Boyce and host Georgie Frost talk about Dave and Marcus. The latter is the Goldman Sachs backed offshoot offering savers 1.5 per cent interest – and has seen 50,000 people sign-up. The former is Dave Fishwick, who has gone on a crowdfunding drive this week to try and raise up to £7million to help get his Burnley Savings and Loans venture a banking licence. We also discuss Isas. We reveal why they are so good, why they should be part of most people's financial planning and how to become an Isa millionaire. Enjoy.

Child benefit and state pension - It’s not the most obvious link. But if you are a parent who is looking after a child instead of working, you need to register for child benefit in order to build up your entitlement in retirement age. Austerity swept away the universal child benefit and those households where one parent earns more than £50,000 have to start giving it back until it is removed altogether above £60,000. Unsurprisingly, many who fall into this bracket simply opt not to take it and see no point in registering. Unfortunately, mums and dads who stopped work to look after children are now finding they’ve missed building up their state pension. It should be easy to fix, but HMRC and the government have been stalling parents affected. That’s why This is Money has started a campaign to get this mess fixed, before it gets any worse. On this week’s podcast, Simon Lambert, Lee Boyce and Georgie Frost discuss how this all happened and why it matters to not just those affected. Also on this week’s show

On Budget day, March 2013, Chancellor George Osborne launched a scheme intended to help first-time buyers but was described at the time by This is Money as a 'very good day for builders'. Help to Buy was seen as just another ploy to prop up the UK housing market by helping first-timers borrow even more money to try to enter the housing market. It came in for flack then and is in the spotlight again, accused of forcing up house prices, benefiting the rich and trapping some people in homes they cannot afford. In this short clip, editor Simon Lambert, explains exactly what it is and whether the disaster waiting to happen from 2013, is happening.

The reports of buy-to-let’s death have been greatly exaggerated. That is the view of one of the few professional residential property fund managers in the UK.  Alan Collett, who runs the Hearthstone fund, believes for the astute investor there is still money to be made from Britain’s homes. You could answer, ‘well, he would say that’, but for those interested in the property market, his reasons are worth listening to. In this week’s podcast, Simon Lambert, Sarah Davidson and Georgie Frost dig into the current state of buy-to-let and whether those without an entire property fund at their disposal can still turn a healthy profit if they think long-term. Also on this week’s show, they discuss where the most homes have been built over the past decade, why Goldman Sachs’ new bank Marcus has got everyone talking thanks to an eye-catching savings rate and whether insurers really do spy on you – including if you’re burgled while Instagramming your holiday. And finally, the new 68 registration plate was launche

As banks went kaput a decade ago, the safety of our savings was thrust into the limelight. Most had never considered that cash in the bank was at risk and knew little about the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. When Icesave blew up a year after the Northern Rock collapse things changed dramatically. We should all be up to speed now, but how safe are your savings? On this week’s podcast, Simon Lambert, Tanya Jefferies and Georgie Frost we look at savings protection but also how you could end up losing money by sticking with cash. Ironically, worries about banks a decade ago triggered a flight to safety and more people stashing money in savings accounts rather than investing. But had people invested as Lehman Brothers collapsed they would have more than doubled their money by now. Taking the risk as the world appeared to be falling apart would have been the right move. Yet, at that point the stock market was already down 20% and fell by that again before it hit the bottom, so how many would have bee

What do you do about the looming inheritance tax threat when you live with elderly parents along with your own child and the home is worth nearly £10million – and you want to continue living there? It sounds like a champagne problem, but IHT does hit ordinary people – including one reader who admits to being relatively cash poor. How can they make sure they aren't turfed out due to inheritance tax? This is Money editor Simon Lambert, assistant editor Lee Boyce and host Georgie Frost discuss the IHT issue. Elsewhere, we discuss the big responsibility of being a trustee with a pot of cash to invest for a younger sibling and why it is never too late to start sorting your pension. With a number of big firms suffering hacks, including British Airways, we discuss what people can do if they are a victim and how to prevent becoming one. And finally, we talk about electric cars as sales continue to rise with the UK pushing for an entirely zero-emissions road network by 2040.

What would you teach a student about money? It’s almost time for a fresh year of students to start university and as they find their feet with new friends and a new way of studying they will also face another challenge – being in charge of their financial life. But we don’t have to send them off ill-equipped to deal with that, a few helpful tips can stop students ending up down to their last few pounds before the clocks even change. And as well as offering guidance, it’s perhaps even more useful to tell students about where you went wrong with money at university, or in your younger life. On this week’s podcast Simon Lambert and Georgie Frost have some helpful advice for students and a few candid tales of the money mistakes they made. Also, on this week’s show, we discuss child trust funds and how the free money dished out to children has often been lost track of but could be a nice little windfall. And we put Help to Buy under the microscope. Asking whether it will be tweaked, ditched, or t

Established banks, challengers, fintech firms and payments providers – they all have one thing in common: none of them are immune to IT problems, glitches, hacks, meltdowns or customer service failures. Yet the momentum towards going cashless shows no signs of slowing down - but is Britain ready for it? In this week's podcast, assistant editor Lee Boyce along with host Georgie Frost talk about the future of payments. Elsewhere, we reveal what went 'wronga' at Wonga and why Lloyds Bank is now recording all product openings in branch. We also discuss the potential Aston Martin float, which could value the firm at £5billion. Lastly, motoring editor Rob Hull talks about two car brands from different ends of the spectrum – Ferrari versus Lada. A 250 GTO sold for a record auction price recently while a Lada could sell for £75,000 – yes, a Lada. Could it be a miracle?

Buying a home, whether it is your first-time or not, can be a daunting experience. From the initial hunt trawling through property websites, to finally getting the keys, it can be an arduous process with plenty of tricky hurdles to overcome. In this housing podcast special, This is Money editor Simon Lambert, assistant editor Lee Boyce and host Georgie Frost talk all things property. We have tips on taking the temperature of the local property market, working out what you can really afford, what to pay, how much to offer, how to do it and what happens next. We also reveal some of our personal experiences and tricks we learnt along the way to help you with the process.

The Government's £11billion scheme to install 53million smart meters in homes and small businesses by the end of 2020 has been plagued by problems. Now it appears there may be more hidden nasties. A wireless tech expert says they have the power to take over customer accounts.  In theory, this means suppliers could cut off a household's electricity or gas without visiting the property, add debt to a meter, remove credit on an account, change the charge levied or turn the meter into a pre-payment device. Authority to use these functions has yet to be granted – but it all sounds a little big brotherish. In this week's podcast Simon Lambert, Lee Boyce and Georgie Frost question, is it time to rethink the smart meter push?  Also on this week's show, we talk secondary tickets after Ticketmaster axed Get Me In and Seatwave, discuss what to do with £10,000 in order to get onto the property ladder and the motivation you need to prevent becoming a CV cliché.

From pubs to hotels and shops to petrol stations, Britain has gone parking mad. Private land owners have been signed up across the country by operators, who stick in automatic numberplate recognition cameras and then dish out tickets to motorists who stop there. We’ve had countless stories of over-zealous fines and this week Lee Boyce revealed how he fought back after he was sent a ticket for stopping briefly at a BP petrol station. What allows all this to happen is the DVLA selling people’s details to car park operators who snap their numberplate. So is it time to fight back against this parking madness? Why has it got so bad? And how do you beat a ticket? In this week’s podcast, Simon Lambert, Lee Boyce, Rachel Rickard Straus and Georgie Frost talk parking tickets. Also, on this week’s show, the banks doing the dirty on savers after the rate rise, how to make your child a pension millionaire and the curious case of Aldi and the food producers accusing it of copying them.

Interest rates have finally risen above 0.5 per cent for the first time in almost a decade. The Bank of England has decided that the UK's economy is healthy enough to finally get above the financial crisis emergency level, but was the hike a wise move or a mistake. Of those in favour, some have been calling for a rate rise for a long time, others believe we must try to get back to normal before recession hits. But those opposed believe even this tiny shift up to a very low base rate level of 0.75 per cent, is a gamble too far from the Monetary Policy Committee's ratesetters. On this week's podcast, Simon Lambert, Lee Boyce and Georgie Frost dive into the rate rise.  Why did the bank hike rates, who will it affect, why do interest rates even move up and down and how did they end up at 0.5 per cent in the first place? Also on this week's show, Lee introduces us to the world of micro-saving, we discuss the case of the financial adviser who suddenly ask for £10,000 more and Simon tries to show h

We’re all going on a summer holiday! Don’t worry, podcast fans, we aren’t really, but we are dedicating this week’s show to the lucky among you who are. We cover all things money from planning your holiday to arriving back home again. We talk through what you need to know to make sure you have the best travel insurance while you’re away, to how to pay for things and withdraw cash while abroad to make your money go the furthest, to car hire tricks and getting compensation if something goes wrong. Seats and tray tables back to the upright position, seatbelts on and notepads at the ready… Enjoy!

Working out what to do with a life-changing sum of money is a nice problem to have but that doesn’t mean it’s not tricky.  We’ve all read the stories of inheritances, lottery wins and other windfalls squandered - and even if you have spent a lifetime building your wealth, whether through investing or business, it would still be all too easy to rattle through the cash. On this week’s podcast, we look at a question from This is Money’s new Wealth Check section on what to do with £1.2million from a business sale: how to spend some enjoying life and invest the rest so that it is not at too much risk but still grows. From there, Simon Lambert, Tanya Jefferies and Georgie Frost dive into what a life-changing sum of money might be, why more people are getting them, and what you might do with it. For those without that luxury, we look at why engaging with your pension investments is being tipped as a way to retire early - and whether a bit less time panic scrolling on social media might buy you the time to do t

In this five minute guide to what you need to think about when writing your will, This is Money editor Simon Lambert explains what he discovered when he wrote his - and the things you need to consider.

How soon will you be driving an electric car? The Government laid out its Road to Zero plan this week, adding some detail to previous announcements on how it wants to drum petrol and diesel cars off our streets. But is there enough in there to show how we will get from electric and hybrid cars currently making up a 2.2 per cent market share to 50 per cent by 2030? From 2040, new cars running only on petrol and diesel won’t be able to be sold and a decade after that we’re all meant to go electric. The crucial question though is what happens in the near future. How long before your next car is electric? Simon Lambert, Lee Boyce and Georgie Frost look at what it will take to tempt us into electric cars, where they will be charged and how long their range needs to be for drivers to take them seriously. They also look at how much a second-hand electric car might cost you. Also on this week’s podcast, Lee reveals a savings trick that could get you a 7 per cent return on £1,000 and we ask whether f

The world of savings could be set for a shake-up when a new player comes to town – Marcus. Marcus is an online challenger bank and an offshoot of investment banking giant Goldman Sachs, and may just put a bit of welcome pressure on rates in the savings market. But that’s not the only change afoot in savings. Virgin Money is launching an account where interest is earned in air miles, best-buy fixed rate deals are at a two-year high and Monzo has seen losses quadruple. There’s a lot going on. On this episode of the This is Money podcast, consumer affairs editor Lee Boyce and assistant editor Rachel Rickard Straus join presenter Georgie Frost to discuss all this and what it means for savers. They also talk through hotel booking websites, their tricks and whether they work for or against holidaymakers. The trio also discuss how much we need to save for retirement, why a raffle to win a Brixton flat has just been extended, and finally… could success in the World Cup really boost the economy?