Fuel poverty is a term we hear bandied about a lot. It’s a major issue – one that the previous government set out to eliminate by 2016. But instead of solving the problem, it looks like three times as many of us will be in fuel poverty by 2016. The failure is due to ineffective [...]

Perhaps it’s because I work in financial services. Maybe it’s because I can’t abide not getting the best deal. But I think it’s absolutely bonkers that more people don’t try to get the best income they can in retirement. I mean, why wouldn’t you shop around? You’re not penalised for doing so and it’s a [...]

Flicking through the TV channels you’re hard pressed not to see an advert from a no-win no-fee law firm. Whether you’ve slipped on a badly mopped floor or have put your back out carrying wood that was too heavy – where there’s blame there’s a claim! No-win no-fee firms have also turned their hand to [...]

‘Sometimes it’s hard to be a woman’ goes the song – I wouldn’t know first hand, of course, but that is what I have been reliably informed (and not just by Tammy Wynette!). Well, it seems there may be some truth behind the lyrics. Recent research by Prudential has revealed men retiring in 2011 can [...]

Would having early access to your pension pot encourage you to save more for your retirement? Is that, really, why we as a nation don’t save enough into our pensions? The Department for Work and Pensions estimates that seven million working age people are not putting enough aside for their retirement. It has been suggested [...]

So the end of the annuity is nigh. We’ll all be shunning the annuity providers and instead taking money out of our pension pots as and when we want to… …actually, let’s not be too hasty. Image: All these pension changes really get my goat… The Government’s decision to give retirees a greater say over [...]