Throughout the economic downturn the Government’s top priority, understandably, has been to protect struggling borrowers. It’s now been three years with the Bank of England Base Rate at 0.5% and, whilst borrowers have enjoyed the reprieve, savers have seen their pots erode as inflation has consistently outstripped the best savings rates. So what can be…

So you’ve got a pension, an ISA, life insurance, income protection, critical illness cover…it seems all your financial bases are covered. For many, however, there is a good chance that one often forgotten and potentially expensive gap remains unplugged. One in four people currently aged 65 will need long-term care at some point in their…

From 1 November, parents will be able to put money into a Junior ISA for their child. The scheme excludes all those children who have a Child Trust Fund – or CTF (if your child was born between September 2002 and January 2011 they will have a CTF). Junior ISAs have launched with less of…

Cash ISAscan be a great place to keep your savings, but are banks and building societies pricing them fairly? Baroness Stowell, a Conservative peer in the House of Lords, thinks some of them are not. Her argument is this: the tax relief on ISA relief is for the benefit of you and me – not…

Since last year’s emergency budget there has been somewhat of a chasm if you’ve wanted to put some tax-free cash aside for your child to access in young adulthood (you’ve still been able to pay into a pension for your child tax efficiently, but of course, under current rules, they can’t access this until they…