Households are being pushed into having smart meters fitted by energy giants trying to meet their own targets.But despite delivering accurate billing many are unhappy at having the meters fitted. So what's the problem with them?Lee Boyce, Georgie Frost and Simon Lambert, discuss smart meters on this excerpt from the This is Money podcast. Follow us on Instagram @dmgnewmedia. Follow us on TikTok @dmgnewmedia Follow us on X @dmgnewmedia Email us hello@dmgmedia.co.uk Text us 020 7938 6000. Hosts: G...
Oct 11, 2017•2 min
Forget coughing fits, pranksters and tumbling letters for a minute. Along with a car crash speech for Theresa May, the Tory party conference also brought a few policies that might make a difference to our financial lives.Student fees, housebuilding and an energy price cap all came up on the agenda.But was this just tinkering around the edges, or a solid plan to improve three highly controversial areas?Last week, the This is Money Podcast asked what Labour would do to the UK economy and your fina...
Oct 06, 2017•47 min
In this excerpt from the This is Money Podcast, Simon Lambert, Rob Hull and Georgie Frost discuss how new car buyers can get the best deal from the car scrappage schemes being offered by dealers. The This is Money Podcast brings you everything you need to know about money each week, in partnership with NS&I Follow us on Instagram @dmgnewmedia. Follow us on TikTok @dmgnewmedia Follow us on X @dmgnewmedia Email us hello@dmgmedia.co.uk Text us 020 7938 6000. Hosts: Georgie Frost, Simon Lambert,...
Oct 04, 2017•6 min
Labour didn’t win the last General Election but leader Jeremy Corbyn believes it could do next time. In case that comes around anytime soon, the party this week laid out some plans at its conference. Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell also revealed that the leadership would be doing war game planning should a Labour victory cause a run on the pound or a stock market slump. Depending on your point of view, this may sound amusing, scary or exciting. But what does it actually mean and should we be wo...
Sep 29, 2017•49 min
This week the team ask the million dollar question: are interest rates really about to rise before the end of 2017?Are house buyers in property 'paradise' after a recent index showed a fall in monthly house asking prices - and should homeowners fix their mortgages for the long term?Brexit has thrown up many potential problems and could private expat pensions be one of them?And note mania is back - last week saw the new polymer £10 note launched. We tell you what serial numbers to look out for to...
Sep 22, 2017•40 min
This is Money has had a string of questions from readers looking to give their cash to children or grandchildren but who also wish to protect it from being squandered or lost in a relationship break-up.Whether the money is for a house deposit or to avoid inheritance tax, or for any other reason, it’s a major modern concern - especially as the sums involved can be tens or hundreds of thousands of pounds.On this week’s This is Money podcast, Simon Lambert, Rachel Rickard Straus and Georgie Frost d...
Sep 14, 2017•45 min
Car scrappage schemes are back. After waiting in vain for the government to launch an official scrappage scheme to get dirty diesels off the road, car makers have taken matters into their own hands. But is this an altruistic move to help replace more polluting cars with greener ones, or are they just trying to flog more cars? These new scrappage schemes have coincided with falling sales of new cars, so you could be forgiven for being cynical, which if we’re going to be honest is exactly what Thi...
Sep 08, 2017•47 min
Hasta La Vista PPI! Arnold Schwarzenegger has been drafted in as a last-ditch attempt to get the millions of us who still haven't claimed compensation for mis-sold PPI to do so. In this episode of the podcast, top financial broadcaster Georgie Frost join Lee Boyce and Rachel Rickard Straus of the This is Money team to talk about Arnie's new PPI advertisement campaign and more. They have a good old chat about the big money stories from the past week and what it all means for you. We've all heard ...
Sep 01, 2017•54 min
Ten years ago last week the greatest game of hide and seek was about to come to an end. Banks had been lending money to people who had no way of ever paying it back to buy houses they would never be able to afford. But rather than writing off the debts, they packaged them up into complex investments, pretended they were safe and selling them to investors who had no idea of what they were buying. The bad stuff was carefully hidden among a few quality loans and everyone was happy – for a while. It...
Aug 18, 2017•30 min
Are banks doing everything that they can to track down fraudsters who con you into transferring them money? They repeatedly tell us that they are, but one man says that’s not true. He got scammed, took matters into his own hands and got £20,000 back. How did Gideon Roseman do it? He used his experience as a barrister to follow the money. So, if he can, why don’t we see more banks doing that? This is Money’s fraud expert Lee Boyce, who has won thousands of pounds back for readers, discusses wheth...
Aug 11, 2017•51 min
Will a diesel and petrol car ban even work? If you believe the Government, in 23 years’ time new diesel and petrol cars will be banned. From 2040 the future is electric. But as these controversial plans were rolled out this week, the first question on many people’s lips was: where’s all that electricity going to come from? Simon Lambert, Lee Boyce and Georgie Frost discuss the prospects for electric cars now that we’re all going to have to learn to drive in near silence. They answer all the ques...
Jul 28, 2017•53 min
The state pension age will rise once more, it emerged this week - with those in their 40s set to lose out. But is it fair to continue to raise the state pension age in line with life expectancy, especially for those who cannot work through their 60s? Georgie Frost, Simon Lambert and Rachel Rickard Straus discuss how we handle the thorny and expensive issue of the state pensions. Also on this week’s show: The end of sneaky card charges Tips to avoid the car hire company rip-offs Attempts to solve...
Jul 21, 2017•49 min
Mumblings of potential big house price falls have emerged again recently to delight the crashists.The 40% number was even mentioned - and that's not happened in a while.The property market is clearly slowing down - and prices are falling in London - but is all this talk of a crash overdone?After a report emerged from an LSE professor a fortnight ago, This is Money readers have been reliving the old house price crash article dream - and the debate in the comments has been as heated as ever.So wha...
Jul 14, 2017•58 min
If you pop into the bookies and bung a quid on Elvis Presley still being alive – he died in 1977 - and he shows up as the support act to his heir apparent Ed Sheeran at Wembley Stadium next year, you’ll win £2,000. Put that pound into a top paying savings account over the same period and you’ll earn just over 1p. This is why stupid savings gimmicks are becoming a thing. It works like this. The provider, bank, building society or app, pays a derisory interest rate but offers a 300% boost to your ...
Jul 11, 2017•27 min
Nurses have had their pay cut every year for the last five years. Students are coming out of our universities with the highest level of debt in the West – higher on average than the USA. Rents are totally out of control. What then are the prospects for our youngsters and for our public sector workers? Is austerity really going to end? It’s complicated and there’s only one person who can explain this in simple, understandable English - Simon Lambert, who, with Georgie Frost and Lee Boyce, get to ...
Jul 07, 2017•46 min
What do you mean you’ve never seen The Big Short? It was nominated for five Oscars, won one and features Brad Pitt, Christian Bale and the part-time stripper with five houses and a condo. Watch it. Now! It’s all true. It’s about the financial crisis and it might all be about to kick off again. The Bank of England this week issued its Financial Stability Report and it’s terrifying. We’re in debt again folks. Last time it was houses and condominiums, this time it’s cars and credit cards, house pri...
Jun 30, 2017•51 min
‘If you've ever wondered how you get triangles from a cow,’ sang British music legends Half Man Half Biscuit, ‘you need butter milk and cheese and an equilateral chain saw. ‘ It’s obvious when you know the answer! But what about the stuff you think you know the answers to… but do you? Really? The Big Money Questions. That’s the name of our fortnightly video presentation with Rachel Rickard Straus and a host of exceptional guests from the worlds of economics, business, the City and the bookshelve...
Jun 23, 2017•19 min
Wherever your heart lies in the debate about Britain’s role in the world, your head cannot escape the fact that we import a lot of what we consume. From the oil and gas that heats our homes and powers our cars to the hops that add flavour to our pints of beer. And that’s fine when you have a strong currency. Thing is, for roughly a year ours has been devalued by about 20% and it affects the price of just about everything. Prices are going up – the official inflation figures released this week sh...
Jun 16, 2017•49 min
It was meant to be an election about Brexit but it turned into one about new young voters and what they wanted. They wanted change.What they got was a minority Government, a coalition between the Conservatives and Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party (DUP). But there are five more years until the next election and anyone 14, 15, 16, and 17 years old now will be able to vote in the next one. As well as some 13 year olds. They’re now part of the discussion like never before. Simon Lambert,...
Jun 09, 2017•52 min
Would you pay more tax for better health, housing, communications, green spaces, roads, social care, railways, education, defence? Or not? The consensus seems to be that we would if only people felt they could trust the people who spend it on our behalf. It’s a complex and fascinating issue for a country living way beyond its fiscal means - allow Georgie Frost, Simon Lambert and Rachel Rickard Straus to explain. Also on the show… A regular minimum payment to all men, women and children in Britai...
Jun 02, 2017•23 min
A row that erupted over the Tory manifesto social care plans led to accusations of a dementia tax and a swift U-turn.Voters had previously been told they would get a cap on costs, but instead they got a floor of £100,000 to which their wealth could be whittled down to.The issue highlighted a problem we have in planning our finances - trust.Do you trust the framework that the Government puts in place on social care, pensions, investing and saving to still be there in years to come?That was reflec...
May 26, 2017•49 min
The manifestos are out, but which political party would you trust with the UK economy?We look at Labour's plan to hike taxes, the Tories' plan to ditch the triple lock and the Lib Dem's plan to make a bit of cash on the side from selling weed.This week we finally got the triple whammy of what our three main political parties will do, so would any of these plans work and what do people think about them?Simon Lambert, Adrian Lowery and Georgie Frost delve into the details in the latest This is Mon...
May 19, 2017•55 min
In part two of this week’s podcast, Georgie Frost, Rich Browning and Simon Lambert discuss the inevitability of another global financial meltdown and how we’re going to fix it this time round. Meanwhile, what’s in store in Europe now a former investment banker, Emmanual Macron, is president of France and looking to reinvigorate the European project? Perhaps this an opportunity for investors to make a quick buck or euro away from the uncertainty of the outcome of any Brexit negotiations. Is putti...
May 17, 2017•20 min
The property data is out and it’s not looking good. House prices fell for the first time in five years. Homes are going for less than asking prices. Yet in some areas you need 17 times your salary to buy a place. Where’s it all going to end? Perhaps moving into tiny mobile sheds on trailers or a boat is the only answer. Or will prices start to tumble? Simon Lambert takes one of his legendary forensic looks behind the figures, joined by Rich Browning and Georgie Frost for a fun debate into the do...
May 12, 2017•41 min
Shoppers have enjoyed cheap prices off the back of a supermarket price war, but alarm bells were sounded in Sainsbury’s results this week, showing how cost inflation is squeezing its profits. How long is it before supermarkets give up trying to cushion the blow for households and price rises hit? Simon Lambert, Lee Boyce and Georgie Frost look at what next for our shopping bills and how the big supermarkets are doing, in this week’s This is Money podcast. But how much do we really care about tho...
May 05, 2017•53 min
The pensions triple lock means that state pensions rise by wages, inflation or 2.5% - whichever is greatest. This promise has raised pensioner incomes but stands accused of being too expensive and has become an election hot potato. Should it be ditched? Simon Lambert, Rachel Rickard Straus and Georgie Frost discuss it on this excerpt from the This is Money podcast. Follow us on Instagram @dmgnewmedia. Follow us on TikTok @dmgnewmedia Follow us on X @dmgnewmedia Email us hello@dmgmedia.co.uk Text...
May 03, 2017•12 min
Plans to massively hike probate fees have been dropped, but was this due to the General Election or the government trying to distance itself from a move that saw a huge backlash? Simon Lambert, Rachel Rickard Straus and Georgie Frost discuss it on this excerpt from the This is Money podcast. Follow us on Instagram @dmgnewmedia. Follow us on TikTok @dmgnewmedia Follow us on X @dmgnewmedia Email us hello@dmgmedia.co.uk Text us 020 7938 6000. Hosts: Georgie Frost, Simon Lambert, Lee Boyce, Helen Cr...
May 03, 2017•6 min
The result of the election on June 8 will determine the financial outcome of Britain possibly more than any other in recent memory. So sit down and listen to Simon Lambert, Georgie Frost and Rachel Rickard Straus explain in simple terms what is at stake. On the agenda: Pension triple lock – if you’ve never really understood this, you will now Energy price cap – that old thing. The only thing left for Theresa May to do to turn into Ed Miliband is to eat a bacon butty badly. Who will fix the housi...
Apr 28, 2017•50 min
Brexit this, Brexit that but what about the other stuff we need to worry about. Britain soon gets to vote in another election and inevitably the campaigns surrounding it will be about Brexit. Before you get bombarded with those, this week’s This is Money podcast looks at why Theresa May has even called another election and what that decision means for the economy, the pound and investors? Yet this election should not just be about Brexit, there are other things to consider too. This is Money’s S...
Apr 21, 2017•53 min
The price of all sorts is going up this week - from stamps to council tax. This is Money's Rachel Rickard Straus and Lee Boyce play the lucky dip of price hikes - which involves a stop watch, chocolate eggs... and quick explanations of how bills are set to rise. Then it's on to debt - credit card, car... you name it. Is it a worry? Is it a big worry? What's going to happen next? (Spoiler alert - they think it's a worry.)The Lifetime Isa - Lisa - has just launched, so that's next on the agenda. P...
Apr 07, 2017•55 min
