Archive for January, 2009
Tax returns: Don’t wait until the last minute to file yours
Will Moira Stuart manage to persuade people to get their income tax returns in by the 31 January deadline? According to HM Customs & Revenue, around 3 million people have already filed, but those who fail to heed Moira’s calls will face a £100 fine plus, potentially, additional surcharges.
If you have not registered to file [...]
Personal effects: Is our organic box an unnecessary expense?
Every week a Guardian cash reader submits a question, and it’s up to you to help him or her out - a selection of the best answers will appear in Saturday’s paper.
This week’s question
My husband wants us to give up our organic vegetable box on the grounds it will save us about £10 a week. [...]
House prices: Was Margaret Beckett right to say first-time buyers should act now?
It’s all very well for Margaret Beckett to tell first-time buyers not to wait any longer before buying a house in the hope of further price falls. In an interview with yesterday’s Sunday Times she warned “when the upturn comes, there will probably be a mad rush”.
This mad rush, she explained in a roundabout way, [...]
Mira Katbamna chooses this week’s best stories from the workplace
This week it’s all about the battery human. Cooped up for as long as 12 hours a day, without elbow room and sometimes unable to hear themselves think above the squawking of their colleagues, the battery human is tired of the bog-standard open-plan office. You see, what your average battery human wants is freedom: freedom [...]
Managerial mayhem: Little acts with big consequences
It wasn’t the revelation that Sir Alan Sugar sent his wife a birthday card bearing the message”Best wishes, Alan Sugar”, or even that he thinks it reasonable to quiz female employees about their childcare arrangements that surprised me most about this week’s BBC2 documentary The Real Sir Alan.
That moment came when we were reminded that [...]
Standard Life locks in investors
The insurance company Standard Life has become the latest to delay investors taking cash out of its property funds.
Sales slip at Friends Provident
Insurer Friends Provident says sales fell 11% last year because of the economic slowdown and financial market turmoil.
Empty of pocket, rich in diction: The credit crunched dictionary
Do you remember the days when we were all splurging on bling until we’d maxed out our credit cards? Well, things are very different now the downturn has started to take its toll. This year, credit crunched recessionistas are more likely topics of conversation, according to the people at Collins dictionaries at least.
New expressions to [...]
Bank mortgage approvals down 52%
The number of new mortgages for house buyers approved by the UK’s banks fell last year by 52%.
XL compensation by end of April
Eligible XL customers should have their compensation by the end of April says the Civil Aviation Authority.
