This is Money Podcast

Follow us on Instagram @dmgnewmedia. Follow us on TikTok @dmgnewmedia Follow us on X @dmgnewmedia Email us hello@dmgmedia.co.uk Text us  020 7938 6000. Hosts: Georgie Frost, Simon Lambert, Lee Boyce, Helen Crane Producer: Georgie Frost Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Boris Johnson finally came unstuck this week and resigned as Prime Minister after one scandal too many caught up with him. Whatever you thought of the PM - and he certainly has the ability to divide a room almost as well as he can entertain it - there is no doubt that this ushers in another bout of 'what next?' instability for Britain. The economy is struggling, an inflation crisis is in full swin...

In recent times, private parking firms have come under scrutiny from motoring organisations, the Government… and This is Money. Many motorists will have received a dreaded charge in the post and in some cases, unjustifiably so. If that’s you, it’s time to fight back. This week Georgie Frost, Simon Lambert and Lee Boyce take a look at whether private parking firms are playing fair. It comes as Lee...

A mortgage stress test designed to stop borrowers overstretching themselves will be scrapped, it was revealed this week. The mortgage industry has long bemoaned this supposedly unrealistic test that makes lenders check if borrowers can afford their repayments at a level higher than the fix or tracker deal they may be taking, their lender's standard variable rate plus 3 per cent. Yet, isn't a bit o...

Base rate has gone from 0.1 per cent to 1.25 per cent in the space of six months, in a flurry of rate rising that would have been considered unthinkable a year ago. Yet, as the Bank of England delivered another 0.25 percentage point raise, voices were raised in some corners to demand why it hadn't gone further. Why not a 0.5 per cent jump or even a 0.75 per cent one, as the Fed had delivered in th...

Women have already been hit by a huge state pension blunder in recent years, but now it seems the DWP is messing up again. After This is Money's Steve Webb and Tanya Jefferies exposed a £1billion women's state pension scandal, which emerged from a reader question sent in to his column, you'd think the Government would be keeping on top of payments. But it has turned out that more women appear to b...

Just when you thought it was safe to go back on holiday... Britain descended into holiday chaos this week, as airlines cancelled hundreds of flights, airports struggled to cope and even Eurostar ended up with a day of disruption. For those who suffered at the hands of airline chaos, it was a harsh and unfair experience - with many of those travellers taking their first post-Covid trip abroad and o...

Sudden Wealth Syndrome. It's a thing apparently and something that many of us probably wouldn't mind suffering from. That's the term used to describe those who suddenly - and perhaps unexpectedly - come into a very large sum of money. And doing so brings plenty of benefits but also its own problems. Over the past week, we have heard about the couple who won £184million on the Euromillions, but wha...

Inflation continues to surge, the Bank of England says there is little it can do to stall it but is raising rates any way, and at the same time is warning of a potential recession looming. It seems safe to say this isn’t the Covid recovery year that many people were hoping for: the longed-for bout of calm and optimism has turned out to be a cost of living crisis instead. So, with inflation now at...

The pandemic house price boom caught almost everyone by surprise and has continued to run for longer that most expected, but is it now about to end. Rising interest rates and the cost of living crunch are putting a serious squeeze on how much buyers can borrow - and that means they can't keep paying ever higher prices for homes. Meanwhile, stories are emerging of banks and building societies getti...

More than 40 years after Margaret Thatcher introduced Right to Buy, the current Prime Minister is considering plans to revamp the scheme. Could it unleash a home buying revolution and help give a much needed boost to the Government, or is it a bad idea rehashing an old scheme? This week, Simon Lambert, Lee Boyce and Georgie Frost discuss the plans, how it could work and why it may be unleashed in...

Is there any point trying to save when inflation is so high? Interest rates are rising and savers can now get a far better return than a year ago, but compare those rates to inflation and they are losing even more money. So why bother? That's the question that Georgie Frost and Simon Lambert tackle on this week's podcast. From what the best rates are and where you can get them, to why you should a...

Much bigger energy bills are on their way to households for and a warning was sounded this week that there is much worse to come. Energy bosses told MPs that 40 per cent of households could end up in fuel poverty and raised the prospect of a ‘truly horrific’ winter, with the price cap tipped to rise another 30 per cent or more in October just as the heating goes back on. Energy firms are not respo...

For many homeowners it's been the case for some years that each time they remortgage, their rate comes down. But with the Bank of England liftng base rate three times in a matter of months, inflation soaring to 7 per cent, and banks and building societies hiking mortgage rates, that is no longer the case. It must be said that mortgage rates are still low by historic standards, but whereas borrower...

This week has seen a number of changes to our personal finances in the wake of energy bill and council tax rises, along with a number of key utilities such as broadband and mobile contracts. It also marks the start of a new tax year and with it a National Insurance rise, a meagre state pension hike and the start of new 'no fault' divorce system. Georgie Frost, Lee Boyce and Helen Crane run through...

It's the time of year when we are urged to put our money into an Isa or pension, but faced with the choice which should you pick? After all, most of us don't have the £52,000 needed to max out both (£20,000 into an Isa and £32,000 into a pension plus the £8,000 tax relief added). So, we must make a decision: take the upfront tax relief of a pension and that lovely boost to the money you pay in, bu...

Investing in the stock market has been proven over time to be the best way to grow your wealth and doing so in an Isa can turbo-charge those returns. There’s no tax to pay on investment profits or dividends and that means the magic of compounding can work that bit harder – and when you draw on your investment Isa in future the money is tax-free. But what are the essential things you need to know a...

Why would you cut tax and raise the same tax at the same time? That’s been the slightly baffled response from many people to Rishi Sunak’s Spring Statement. Effectively, the Chancellor both cut and raised National Insurance – lifting the threshold it is paid at but ignoring calls to 'spike the hike' and ploughing ahead with the 1.25 per cent being added to rates. Bizarrely, the tax rate goes up in...

It's a hat trick. After all those years of waiting in vain for a rate rise after the financial crisis, now the Bank of England has the wind in its sails and has raised rates three times since December. The shift up in the base rate to 0.75 per cent hardly takes rates into the stratosphere but moving from 0.1 per cent to here in four months stands at serious odds with the lower for longer mantra th...

Do you harbour ambitions of investing your way to a £1million Isa pot – and what would you do with it if you got there? The lure of financial independence has only gotten stronger for many through the Covid pandemic years and a cool million in tax-free savings sounds like a decent way to achieve it. So, it’s no surprise that the idea of becoming an Isa millionaire features regularly in the persona...

House prices have soared in the pandemic boom – with the average home an astonishing £44,000 more expensive at £260,000, according to Nationwide. But mortgage rates are rising, the cost of living crunch is hitting hard, and the idea of a post pandemic Roaring Twenties seems very distant right now, so is a reckoning for Britain’s property market on the way. On this week’s podcast, Georgie Frost, Le...

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has created a tragic situation that goes far beyond worries about our finances but it will have an impact on them. The ins and outs of the conflict are not something that This is Money is qualified to comment on, but the financial impact of events is something that readers and listeners come to us to learn about. On this podcast, Georgie Frost, Tanya Jefferies and Simo...

A free 'midlife MOT' course has been launched aimed at people who want to do a stock take of their current finances, career and health. This is an idea championed by the finance industry and government. But is it any good? Investments and pensions editor Tanya Jefferies undertook the course by finance giant Legal & General and the Open University and tells Georgie Frost and Lee Boyce of her ex...

Where do you stand on smart meters? This seemingly common sense technological advance in how we are billed for energy has proved hugely divisive. From concerns over security and surveillance, to a mistrust of energy companies, and a botched and sometimes accused of bullying rollout, smart meters have not proved the popular success it was hoped they would be. Now things have stepped up a gear, as a...

Thursday marked a big day for the pound in our pocket. First of all, it was announced the energy price cap was to rise 54 per cent. Georgie Frost, Lee Boyce and Helen Crane take a look at what that means, what support has been made available and what happens next. Hot on the heels of that bombshell we had another rate rise from the Bank of England - piling pressure on borrowers. What will it mean...