Insurance and ISAs and gadgets, oh my – a slightly mixed bag of stories from the weekend’s papers

You would be forgiven for thinking that the money sections in the weekend before the budget would have very little else to offer other than predictions of who exactly is going to be hit the hardest when Darling unveils his latest plans on Wednesday. But you would be wrong. Apart from the Sunday Telegraph, which took an in-depth look at the winners and losers of Labour budgets, the nationals offered quite an eclectic mix of stories.

Insurance played a large part this weekend with the Saturday Times leading on the hidden charges companies are using to boost their profits in the downturn. Things as simple as updating your address or adding a named driver can cost you dearly. The Sunday Mirror focused on pet insurance as many owners do not realise how costly it could be for them if their dog injures someone, and the Guardian focused on the insurance options for young drivers. On a slightly different tack, the Mail on Sunday took a look at how the industry penalises older customers.

Many of the papers took this opportunity to have a last minute splurge on ISAs as this will undoubtedly be the last week when tax year end is the main focus as the budget is likely to take up most column inches for the next few weeks.

The Mail on Sunday offered a guide to making the most of your ISA while the Independent on Sunday looked at the different types of investments available. The FT Weekend advised consumers to ‘always read the label’ when choosing their ISA and gave four easy steps to follow when deciding what to go for. The Independent offered something slightly different to think about by looking at the rise of ethical investing through an annual ISA allowance.

And finally – we told you this was an eclectic mix – the Guardian featured a fascinating piece on the futuristic gadgets hailing from Japan – the intelligent toilet is a personal favourite.

And the scores on the boards this week were:

Charity                 2%

Credit cards        16%

Fraud/scams      0%

IFAs                       0%

Insurance            7%

Investment        44%

Mortgages           5%

Pensions             8%

Regulation          2%

Savings                 5%

Tax                        11%

Utilities               0%