A Personal Perspective Articles: News, Guides & Advice

Falling prices are good news in the short term, but it's down to us to spend our way out of recession....

Tax cuts are all the rage, but they can either be a short term sticking plaster (followed by a hefty bill) or the beginning of a concerted effort to balance an inherently unfair system. I know which I’d prefer...

The sleek shall inherit the earth. Obama's landslide owed as much to style as substance, but what does a new America mean for us (and our wallets)?

Can supermarket cashiers selling expensive credit cards be a good idea?

Until recently, 'retro' was all about fashion and music as flares and disco made unlikely comebacks. But now we’re all looking back to the future...

With inflation at a sixteen year high, when will we see the full benefit of plummeting oil prices?

Part-nationalisation of British banks is an economic necessity for all, so why the long face?

Is sensationalist reporting and apocalyptic political rhetoric helpful?

The light at the end of the tunnel turns out to be a Lehman Brothers shaped train.

Don't shed too many tears for Lehman Brothers and their ilk, but do look at the bigger picture...

With recession seemingly inevitable it's time to reign in the spending. But what is the nation doing to tighten its belt?

Stamp-duty concession won’t make a blind bit of difference to home sales and it won’t help Brown either.

Tax on energy profits would raise much needed money, but complications show that control of a basic necessity is now firmly out of our hands.

The rising price of food and caution at the checkouts has forced the supermarkets to resort to ingenious methods to persuade us to keep spending.

So-called packaged current accounts are all the rage but paying for things twice has never been a good idea.

It now seems we are all going to be even poorer in our dotage than we might have imagined, so that telegram from the queen might turn out to be cold comfort - literally.

Savings rates are at their highest level for seven years, so if you have some extra cash, save it for the rainy days to come.

The banks won't have to pay back 'unfair' charges for at least another six months after the FSA gave into their delaying tactics. Money talks, as ever.

The government and the ABI have struck a deal to ensure that most of us will be able to buy home insurance, even if our homes are at ‘significant risk’ of flooding. All well and good, but what's the catch?

When someone says "We should all waste less food" it’s very hard to disagree. Really, there is no excuse for chucking out one third of all the food we buy is there?

There are two ways to deal with a leaking bucket. You can either keep topping it up, or fix the hole…

Energy prices set to rise 40%. Maybe we should make an effort to save the planet after all…

“This two year fixed mortgage seemed like a good idea two years ago…”