Money Box

Money Box Live hits the road and heads to the heart of the City of London for this special programme on investing. We're live at the London Stock Exchange to look at the basics and weigh up the different options. According to the Financial Conduct Authority, about a third of adults had some sort of investment last year, but Chancellor Rachel Reeves wants savers to put more money into investments,...

Cash now accounts for less than 10% of all the retail payments we make. New figures out this week UK Finance, which represents banks and others, show the latest in the long term decline of cash. Just over a year ago new rules from the regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority said banks had to ensure customers had access to their cash and could take their money out in cash, but at the same time t...

More of us than ever before have access to private medical insurance. New data shared with Money Box Live shows that more than 8 million people were covered last year - that's about 5 million adults, plus their families. It's a rise of 4% on the previous year and comes after a series of sharp increases since the pandemic. We find out what's driving the growth, who's buying the policies and hear fr...

The National Association of Head Teachers has written to the Department for Education demanding it take action to address what it describes as the failing Teachers' Pensions Scheme. The union has told Money Box it's shocked at the number of members contacting it for help describing a litany of delays, miscommunication and the failure to carry out even basic services leaving many in financial disar...

Cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin, are a type of digital money that has proliferated in recent years. They are mostly unconnected to governments or central banks. Some people treat them as an investment, some people as a bit of a flutter, and many more people don't yet know anything about them at all. We look at how they work and how the regulatory landscape is changing with the UK's financial regula...

Top lawyers have told Money Box that people across the UK are being misled into paying thousands of pounds for products which they are told will protect the value of their home from inheritance tax or being taken to pay for care home fees. In reality, they say, these schemes do not work and may trigger legal complications and huge financial costs in the future. Usually the products involve setting...

This week on Money Box Live we're looking at a topic that's very difficult but very important. What happens to your finances when the worst happens? How do you plan for your financial future when you've been diagnosed with a life-limiting or terminal illness? It's a question a group of MPs have been asking too. The All Party Parliamentary Group for Hospice and End of Life Care has found that peopl...

New figures reveal that more than a quarter of a million homeowners have temporarily reduced their mortgages payments, or extended their mortgage term, since lenders agreed to offer better support to customers in June 2023 through what was called the Mortgage Charter. There's been a sharp rise in people taking their tax-free lump sum out of their pension over the past year. Since 2015 people over...

About a quarter of a million 18-year-olds in the UK secured a university place this summer and are now preparing to head off to their chosen institution. The numbers increased by about 5% at a time when the costs associated with getting a degree are also rising. There's a patchwork of different funding models across the UK, but for students in England and Wales tuition fees have gone up for the fi...

We look at changes which the Government has announced – and the speculation around those it hasn’t. Pension inheritance rules will change in 2027. It may seem a long time away, but people are making plans now. We hear from some of those pension planners as they try to clear up any confusion around the changes. We also look at speculation around what might be in the Chancellor Rachel Reeves' Autumn...

Being a tenant can be pricey — and it’s only getting pricier. Private rents rose by almost six per cent in the year to July, and while the pace may be slowing, the average UK rent still stands at over £1,300 a month. So what does that mean for the millions of people living in private rented homes? This week on Money Box Live, we're looking at the cost of renting — and what it’s doing to your finan...

Hundreds of former retained firefighters have come forward to claim millions of pounds in missing pension payments after Money Box covered the story earlier this summer. We'd reported how their union, the Fire and Rescue Service Association, had warned thousands of its members risked missing out on the payments very often worth tens of thousands of pounds for each individual. Scammers have been se...

Dragons' Den investor and entrepreneur Deborah Meaden joins Felicity Hannah to look at the money wisdom and advice you wish you'd known when you were starting out. They hear from listeners who say they wish they'd known more about everything, from how to budget to asking for a pay rise. Others regret not understanding the power of compound interest or what to do with a workplace pension after chan...

When will you retire? And will you have enough money to live comfortably? Big questions and this week the government announced two major reviews to study them after concerns that today's workers will be poorer in retirement than their parents. The first is a revived Pension Commission with a wide remit. The second is a review into the state pension age. We'll speak to Pensions UK, which represents...

Every adult has a credit score but you've been telling us the factors affecting it can be mystifying and frustrating. So in this edition of Money Box Live we've been digging into the inbox to answer your questions on credit scores. Whether you’re trying to get a mortgage or loan or just the best rate on a credit card, the information on your file can have a big impact at any stage of life, so what...

For every £1 a man has in his private pension pot a woman has just 42p according to research from pension company Royal London. When it comes to the State Pension, the gap has closed considerably for people retiring today. But women in their 80s are still getting up to 25% less than men. This week on Money Box Live, we're looking at the reasons behind is as well as what can be done to boost saving...

Money Box can exclusively reveal there has been a sharp rise in the number of people applying to have water meters fitted to try to bring their bills down. The data has been shared with this programme by the Consumer Council for Water, the CCW, the which speaks for water consumers in England and Wales. It comes after record April price rises for water with average bills rising more than £120 to ov...

It was a momentous day on Tuesday as the government and regulators announced major changes in the way investments will be sold. What's been proposed and what's the role of the regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority, in that? Inflation rose to 3.6%, this week the highest it has been since January 2024 - what's behind that? And two of the UK's leading end of life charities have told Money Box pe...

Unemployment recently rose to its highest level in almost four years. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the rate went up to 4.6 per cent in the three months to April, up from 4.5 per cent in the three months to March. That's the highest since the Summer of 2021 in which the country was in the depths of the Covid pandemic. So today on Money Box Live we're asking what happens when you lo...

Reform of the state pension, auto-enrolment into company pensions and consolidation of small pensions spread across several providers are proposed this week in a major report on the future of pensions. It says major changes are are necessary to ensure today's workers have an adequate income in retirement. The conclusions come at the end of a two year study by the independent research organisation...

In this special programme Money Box Live has been given exclusive access to a centre working with former prisoners to find out how money works behind bars. There are around 98,000 people serving prison sentences in the UK right now, but how does money work on the inside and why do offenders even need it? Felicity Hannah meets former prisoners working in the centre as they rebuild their lives. They...

Six million people will have £150 knocked off one winter electricity bill this winter. The Government has announced an expansion of the Warm Home Discount scheme which will almost double the number getting it. Who is eligible and how will people get the payment? Money Box has been receiving a steady stream of emails from members of the Teachers' Pension Scheme complaining about how their pensions...

More people are living alone, in fact 3 in 10 households are made up of single adults, according to the latest government figures. Research from the pension specialist Royal London also suggests single people are more likely to be in their overdrafts at the end of the month and have smaller savings and pension pots than married couples. Today, we're looking at the impact of the single supplement,...

Campaigners say more needs to be done to help the parents and carers of tens of thousands of disabled young adults access their own money held in Government backed Child Trust Funds. The Financial Inclusion Commission has told Radio 4's Money Box it wants the Government to officially endorse an informal process that some financial providers are already using to help grant access in days, instead o...

Three quarters of financial firms are already using Artificial Intelligence, according to the Bank of England and the Financial Conduct Authority, with more set to follow in future. Last month a new inquiry by the Treasury Committee began looking into the potential impacts of AI in banking, pensions and other financial services. So what does that all mean for your money? We speak to the experts ab...