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1). Lifestyle Banking – Living For Pay Day For some people it comes mid-month, for others at month’s end. Occasionally it comes right at the start of the month – just in time for you to watch those figures plummet. And what am I talking about? Pay day. Lifestyle banking is the term for a new breed of loan, and it’s an appropriate moniker – as our lifestyles have sp... 2). UK Consumers Regaining Control Of Runaway Levels Of Personal Debt The UK in recent years has seen a massive growth in the levels of personal debt and thanks to increases in secured loans corresponding to a strengthening of the housing market; it does not appear to be slowing down. Recent figures from Creditaction show that since the end of 1993, when debt levels were around the £400bn level, they have now risen t... 3). Diamonds Are Forever In October 2005, Egg asked the Social Issues Research Centre to investigate the trends that would define the “Noughties”. They found that many people thought of the period as the “Decade of Fear”, due to the immense media coverage of 9/11, the tsunami and the War on Terror. As a result, people are increasingly likely to stay at home, to indulge the... 4). Adverse Credit Boom Prompts Questions Over the last year, there’s been a flurry of product launches, as lenders pile into this nascent market. Some of the new entrants in 2005 included the Bristol & West, Victoria Mortgages and Beacon Homeloans, while investment banks Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley are in the process of setting out their stalls. And the trend looks set to continue du... 5). With Credit Cards Hitting Hardest, UK Consumers Tax Themselves With Penalty Charges On Personal Finance Options A rise in costs for users of any financial service usually results in public outcry, why is it then that so many of those same consumers allow penalty fees and charges to accrue on their credit cards, when the problem could so easily be avoided? The financial groups Defaqto and MoneyExpert have released a report in which the startling ... 6). UK Consumers Start Clawing Their Way Out Of The Financial Debt Pit Another year ended, and another round of UK debt statistics. CreditAction has just announced the latest summing up of the personal debt situation in the UK. Their figures show that the end of 2005 has seen the total level of personal debt rise to an astounding £1,158bn, an increase of £100bn compared with the same time last year, and ... 7). Navigating Insurance For Students And Searching Out The Right Financial Solution For UK Parents Students are often portrayed as being lazy, indolent, or, perhaps most damningly of all: scruffy. But today’s students are often more active and involved than their parents, and they demand the rewards that come with this behaviour. Valuable pieces of equipment are de rigueur in many of the UK’s student halls; parents having lavished attention upon... 8). Football Fans Can Get To See All Of The Games This Year The ever-increasing season ticket prices means a lot of fans struggle to watch all of their team’s matches. With the price of even just a championship season ticket being around £400 most fans can struggle to foot the bill, even if their team isn’t in the expensive premiership. This will mean that football’s best fans wont be able to support their ... 9). How To Find Cheap Mobile Phone Deals With such a competitive marketplace offering so many variations on the same theme and the market becoming cost led how does the consumer find the best cheap mobile phone deal? The seemingly ubiquitous mobile phone has become an indispensable item. A market which was almost niche as little as 10 years ago is quickly heading for saturati... 10). Are Toys For Men Or For Boys? With so many new “toys” around nowadays it’s hard to figure the aim of the toy market. My 9 year old son Jack got a visit from Santa recently. Santa was very good to Jack – he got him an IPod and a PSP – the exact same as I got. I grew up playing games and totally love the PSP – it’s like the toy I dreamed of when I was younger, and no... 11). Debt Management For The Normal Joe In today’s money orientated society it is hard to pursue your life’s need and desires without that big salary that we all wish we could earn. On a normal monthly salary it’s usually just manageable to feed and clothe the family and pay the bills. So when a minor crisis such as a non-serious car crash, or the washing machine breaking down can be tur... 12). How To Choose The Right Phone And Keep Up With The Times I've been in need of a new phone for a while - my phone is like a brick that I carry around in my handbag. I've seen a lot of good phones that my friends and workmates have, but I really didn’t know which phone would be the best for me. I want my phone to look cool and respectable, so that my friends and guys think it's cool, but I also want a phon... 13). Shopping For Small Business Services Should you be in the early stages of a business start-up then there are elements to your personal business banking service which you should be looking for – and if you haven’t yet set up an account now is the time to take a deep breath and go shopping! It’s a competitive market, and it’s often hard to be sure which services you should ... 14). Judging The Hidden Costs Of Credit Cards Recent reports from CreditAction and the National Debtline appear to show that UK consumers are becoming more financially aware and are looking to reduce their levels of personal debt which have spiraled seemingly out of control over the past few years. Despite the industry wide introduction last year of the "honesty box" in all credi... 15). Debit Card Stats Outline Payday Loan Flexibility Research from Apacs released earlier this week provided the news that debit card purchases have, for the first time in history, outstripped cash spending in terms of the amount of money splashed out – underlining the flexibility which people today appreciate when it comes to making everyday buys. The figures showed that in 2005 people ... 16). Reform Aimed At Personal Finance And UK Savings The Pensions Policy Institute (PPI) has issued a report which supports the Pension Commission's recent demand for reform in the structure of the basic state pension. In fact the report goes further than simply backing the report, it calls for reforms to be implemented more rapidly than the Commission has recommended. Essentially, the r... 17). UK Employees See Return On Long Working Hours The UK workforce has hit the headlines a number of times in recent years for working behaviour - short lunches and regular overtime being two major issues - but it seems that the rewards for such behaviour is starting to trickle down to the UK employees from the employers. Government statistics recently released (http://www.statistics.... 18). Frankfurt Is The First World Cup Venue For England, How Will You Be Getting There? It’s the end of another four year wait – the World Cup has rolled around again and this time we’re off to Germany. On Saturday the 10th of July in Frankfurt, at 3.00pm, England will kick off against Paraguay in the FIFA World Cup group B and now is the time to ask yourself: where will you be? Frankfurt has a 48000 seat capacity stadium... 19). Mobile Phone Shops Offer The Best Deals Online In light of the high street outlets offering better deals than the networks, exactly where should we be looking for the best mobile phone deals? As soon as something closes in your High Street or shopping centre you can be almost certain that a few short weeks later it will reopen as a mobile phone shop. Such is the proliferation of mo... 20). Turn Marathon Misery Into Triathlon Success Now the dust has - just - settled on the streets of the London Marathon let's spare a thought for all those non-runners. Even before the race start, competition was keen with over 50,000 disappointed applicants unable to take part and the situation is no different across all the World Marathon Majors. But if you're still serious about ... 21). Comparison Sites Attributing To A Higher Level Of Online Sales What is the attraction and value of these for users and what are retailers and service providers finding them a useful tool as they strive for online sales? The online retail sector for products and services has been buoyant for a number of years and the level of resource and funding that major retailers dedicate to the online market s... 22). A Cornish Walk - Pentire Point And Rumps Point There’s nothing that quite compares to a bracing winter walk. During summer, the sea might be more enticing, you can stop off for numerous ice creams en route and meander in shorts and t-shirt as the sun warms your skin; but at the same time, it’s hot, clammy, you’re often jostling for position on the busy coast path, and parking at the start of th... 23). Mortgage And UK Housing Markets Experience Fluctuations Mortgage lenders and property agencies have just released their latest figures for the UK housing market displaying some conflicting results but the overall mood from analysts appears to be one of optimism for improvements in housing market activity. Property prices are on the rise again according to the latest survey by the Rightmove ... 24). Keeping Up With The Latest Mobile Phones Can Prove Difficult Even as recently as the mid 1990’s the majority of people seemed to function just fine without owning a mobile phone. The world continued to turn, people kept up with one another and generally nobody gave a second thought to being contactable 24-7 wherever you happened to be. How things change. A decade on and on-demand communication ...