This is Money Podcast

State pension goes above £10,000 - but has something got to give?

The state pension is getting a boost this week, meaning many pensioners will see their payments go above £200 per week or £10,000 per year for the first time. The Government has also recently announced that it is delaying a decision on hiking up the state pension age to 68 until after the next election – perhaps influenced by protests across the channel. Pension commentators said move would be 'incredibly unpopular', and likely 'political suicide'. Governments don’t like to upset retirees becaus...

Can you beat the April bill hikes - and is it time we ditched the tax traps?

Just when you thought the cost of living crisis was meant to be on its way out another round of bill hikes are hitting. From council tax to mobile bills, seemingly every organisation wants another piece of your bank account - and some of the rises are even higher than inflation. Is there anything you can do about it? Could a bit of switching, planning and another round of cutting back on energy usage, shave some money off? And is there light at the end of the tunnel? On this podcast, Georgie Fro...

Should we worry about the banks... and why raise interest rates now?

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water... A banking crisis has seemingly emerged out of nowhere, in a system that we've been told is stable, well capitalised and far from its parlous state when the credit crunch and financial crisis struck. So, what is going on and why did both the Federal Reserve in the US and the Bank of England see fit to raise interest rates this week? On this week's podcast Georgie Frost and Simon Lambert talk interest rates: whether we have hit the base ...

The Budget verdict: Pensions, childcare, energy bills and dodging recession

Jeremy Hunt had a spring in his step this week as he delivered his Budget. It was a considerably different air to the gloomy warning of trouble ahead in his November Autumn Statement. The headline act was a major shake-up of pension saving rules, removing restrictions that limit the amount that can go in without tax penalties. The lifetime allowance was abolished rather than raised, the annual allowance got a big bump, and rules to stop pension recycling were eased. Was this a bung for the rich ...

Can you trust the state pension system as more blunders emerge?

You'd like to imagine that when it came to the state pension, you'd be dealing with a more robust system than the ones that deliver the average customer service nightmare. Savers could be forgive for questioning whether that was the case after a string of recent blunders. First we had the underpaid women's state pensions scandal, now we have the pension top-ups system creaking at the seams, at the same time as it turns out there may be a serious problem with the records of those who have receive...

Are we on the verge of a house price crash?

How to make the most of saving and investing into an Isa

There's not long left until the end of the tax year - and that means it is time to sort your Isa if you haven't already. This year's Isa allowance runs out as the tax year ticks over on 6 April and it pays to get everything you can into the tax-free shelter for savings and investments. But what are the important things you need to know, the tips for making the most of your Isa - and why does it matter more this year than it has done before. On this Isa saving and investing special podcast, Georg...

Would you dispute an inheritance if you thought it was unfair?

Where there's a will, there's often a grumble... and potentially a full on dispute. The amount of money involved in inheritances derived from even modest homes these days can be life changing and when someone feels they have been unfairly cut out or not given their dues, arguments can ensue. There's been a sharp rise in inheritance disputes, but why are they occurring, what can you do to protect your legacy and would you argue if you thought you'd been treated unfairly? That's up for discussion ...

Why is food inflation so high and when will it stop?

Inflation is theoretically running out of steam but there's one essential that's still going up in price rapidly: food. Even as energy prices and other recent highly inflationary items slow a bit, the cost of food seems to show no let up - with reports reporting inflation-busting rises. What is going on here? How much have food prices risen, why have they gone up so much, are supermarkets or brand-name makers profiteering, and will costs ever come back down? Georgie Frost, Angharad Carrick and S...

Could this be the peak for interest rates - and what will it mean for you?

Are we nearly there yet? The Bank of England hiked interest rates again this week, adding 0.5 per cent to take base rate to 4 per cent. That’s a level that it was almost unthinkable we’d reach so quickly a year ago, but rates have gone up hard and fast. The questions now are will base rate stall and when will it come back down again? But while the Bank of England has sent rates up like a rocket, it’s forecast show that they will only fall like a feather. On this week’s podcast, Georgie Frost, Ta...

Will the Government raise state pension age to 68 sooner than planned - and what should those about to retire do about it?

Those aged between 43 and 54 may have been concerned by rumours this week that the Government is planning to increase the state pension age to 68 much sooner than planned . Officially, the rise to 68 is set to happen between 2044 and 2046, but ministers allegedly want to bring forward the change to 2035 with the policy being floated for inclusion in the March Budget. It comes as warnings have been sounded that those retiring in future decades generations will face a gap between the income that p...

Could an Isa tax raid really cap savings at £100,000? Plus Bank of Dave's Dave Fishwick on his Netflix hit

An astonishing idea for an Isa tax raid was outlined by the Resolution Foundation this week, with the proposal that tax-free savings and investments should be capped at £100,000. No more aspiring to be an Isa millionaire, it would be £100k and out under this plan. It said that the nominal money out toward not taxing Isa interest, gains and dividends should instead go in the direction of encouraging those without savings to build up a pot. Is that a good idea, would it be a fairer way of doing th...

Will you be able to afford the retirement you want?

What do you picture in retirement? Is it an early exit from the rat race to travel the world, a gradual step back and a bit of golf, or working until state pension age and then spending some time treating the grandchildren? We will all have a different image in our heads of what our retirement years might look like, but whatever that is it is important to think about another question: could you afford to do those things? While most of us will be saving into a pension, we often have little idea h...

Will 2023 be a better year for our finances... or worse?

The New Year has arrived and with it promises of inflation falling and a ray of hope on energy bills. But even if Rishi Sunak halves inflation, as he claims he will, it would still be running at 5 per cent and his promise to get Britain back to growth may prove harder than the simple maths that sees inflation slow. Meanwhile, a slowdown in the rise of the cost of living doesn't mean things will get cheaper and the better energy price forecasts will still see costs at more than double what they w...

The big financial events of 2022 and what happens next?

Tumultous is a word that doesn't really do 2022 justice. Most people were looking forward to a year of calm as the Covid pandemic faded, but instead got turmoil and the cost of living crisis. In the UK, we mixed the global unrest dealt by Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the inflation spike, with our own dose of political instability. A year in which you get through three Prime Ministers and four Chancellors is no ordinary one and the mini-Budget chaos led to the UK's own little self-inflicted f...

Would you be tempted to 'unretire' after quitting work early? The mystery of Britain's missing workers

First we had the great resignation and now we may be seeing a new trend emerge 'unretirement'. Amid the turmoil of the pandemic, Britain's economy threw up the puzzle of a dramatic rise in economic inactivity - as about 565,000 people dropped out of the workforce to a position where they were neither working or looking for work. These missing workers aren't claiming unemployment benefits but are somehow getting by under their own steam. The phenonomen is great enough that the ONS and Bank of Eng...

When will interest rates stop rising? Plus, energy-saving tips to help you afford the heating

The Bank of England has hiked base rate from 0.1 per cent to 3.5 per cent in the space of 12 months, a move that would have been considered unthinkable not so long ago. But with inflation looking as if it has peaked, the economy probably already in recession, households and businesses feeling the squeeze, have we nearly reached the end of the rate hikes? When the mini-Budget chaos struck there was a belief that the Bank may have to go as high as 5.5 to 6 per cent with interest rates, now expecta...

Could house prices really fall 20% and how bad would that be?

The mortgage crunch has stalled the pandemic property boom and sent house prices down, but could they fall 20 per cent? The risk of a severe house price downturn of that magnitude was flagged by Rightmove founder and property market veteran Harry Hill. Hill’s CV includes setting up property giant Rightmove and selling estate agency group Countrywide for £1billion a year before the 2008 banking crisis. Hill told the The Mail on Sunday and This is Money: 'My view on the housing market is that it's...

Do you need to worry about tax on your savings and investments?

Many people have not had to worry about paying tax on their savings and investments for some time. The advent of the £1,000 personal savings allowance combined with savings rates near record lows meant basic rate taxpayers would need big cash pots to incur 20 per cent tax on their interest. Meanwhile, even higher rate taxpayers with their lower £500 personal savings allowance needed reasonably large cash pots to pay 40 per cent tax on their interest. Many investors also didn't need to worry too ...

Have savings and mortgage rates already peaked?

Savings and mortgage rates rocketed after what must now always be known as the 'ill-fated mini-Budget', but even as the Bank of England continues to raise rates have they already peaked. The top fixed rate savings deals have edged down from their highest levels - a five-year fix can no longer be had above 5 per cent, for example, while the best two year fix is at 4.75 per cent. So, if you want to lock into a good savings deal, should you grab one now? Or did rates simply race ahead of the Bank o...

What does Jeremy Hunt's tax raid budget mean for you?

‘Jeremy Hunt’s mini-Budget was like the tax part of the Corbyn manifesto with none of the benefits of the extra spending.’ That was This is Money editor Simon Lambert’s verdict on the Chancellor’s tax-hiking spree that painted a miserable picture of the years ahead, hit higher earners, and hammered small investors. In a blizzard of hikes – through threshold drops and stealth tax freezes – Hunt worked his way through a painful Autumn Statement, where good news was thin on the ground. The silver l...

The everything tax raid: Will the threat of higher taxes backfire?

‘If they could tax the air you breathe they’d do it.’ That age-old moan about taxes going up has sprung to mind over the past week, as rumours about pretty much any tax you can think of being hiked were spread about. So many kites were flown about potential tax rises that even taxing selling your own home and bringing back the 50p rate were floated as potential Autumn Statement ideas troubling Jeremy Hunt and Rishi Sunak’s minds. If all this came to pass it would surely become known as ‘the ever...

What do rapid rate rises mean for you - and is this the right move?

Have we come down too hard on buy-to-let? Plus, Rishi the PM vs Rishi the Chancellor

The tense situation between tenants and landlords is escalating: the former have seen rents spiral but the latter have faced a big jump in costs jump too. Meanwhile regulation has become a bugbear between the two sides, is there not enough of it or too much? What can be done to improve things in the rental market and have we come down too hard on buy-to-let? That’s the question asked on this week’s podcast, as Georgie Frost, Helen Crane and Simon Lambert debate the problems in the rental market....

Is the UK economy heading for stability or just more trouble?

There's a new Chancellor in town and he means business. Serious business. After Kwasi Kwarteng tried to spread some joy to get growth going with tax cuts for all, Jeremy Hunt and the fun police have stepped in to stop the markets freaking out. The fallout from Kwarteng's ill-fated mini-budget has now claimed his Chancellorship and Liz Truss's Premiership - with Britain achieving the rare feat of losing two Prime Ministers in less than four months. But with Hunt's stern reversal of the tax cuts i...

The Wave founder Nick Hounsfield interview: How I built my £27m surfing lake dream from £500 in the bank

If you were asked to name a world-class place to surf, a field near Bristol isn’t the first location that would spring to mind. But this slice of the English countryside is home to The Wave, an artificial surfing lake that is one of just a handful in the world to use cutting edge technology and was the first of its kind. The Wave is the fruit of the ambitions of Nick Hounsfield, a pioneering British entrepreneur who wanted to build a unique business that had a positive social impact, with improv...

What you need to know about gilts and why markets freaked out so much it toppled the Chancellor

When gilts hit the headlines it’s a clear sign that trouble has not only been brewing but has been unleashed. Government bond yields only tend to break through into the mainstream when things aren’t going well and they have been firmly in the spotlight since Kwasi Kwarteng’s ill-fated mini-budget. But what is a gilt, why does its yield matter, what’s that got to do with prices and why do we worry about such things? On this podcast, Georgie Frost, Lee Boyce and Simon Lambert, take a step back fro...

How bad will the mortgage chaos get and will it sink house prices??

Rocketing rates have sent the average two and five-year fixed rate mortgage through the 6 per cent barrier. This is a level that would have been considered unthinkable a year ago, when there were 50 mortgage deals on the market at below 1 per cent. The Bank of England belatedly playing catching up with inflation has sent base rate from 0.1 per cent last December to 2.25 per cent now - and with inflation far from tamed and the US Federal Reserve going in all guns blazing on monetary policy, rates...

Did the UK stage its own mini-financial crisis... and who was responsible?

As markets went haywire and the Bank of England staged a bond market intervention earlier this week, it felt like a mini-financial crisis had been triggered. It has been an incredibly turbulent week for the UK economy as the Bank of England stepped in to protect pension funds, the pound hit a record low against the dollar before rebounding and lenders pulled mortgage deals to re-price them at far higher rates. So, is the UK economy in crisis… again? How much is the Chancellor's 'mini' Budget to ...

In brief: Why is the pound falling and why are UK borrowing costs spiking?

In this excerpt from the This is Money podcast, Simon Lambert and Georgie Frost discuss why the mini-Budget has combined with last week's interest rates decision to send the pound tumbling and UK government borrowing costs spiking. Find the This is Money podcast's full look at the mini-Budget and what it means for you here