Pensions and savings both reign over this week’s money sections
Two weeks ago, pensions and savings stories each took a 12 per cent stake of the midweek money section. Jumping five points to 17 per cent, both topics also shared the top spot on last Wednesday’s scoreboard. With such a hold on the money sections, it wasn’t too much of a shock to discover that pensions and savings have once again leapt 5 points to score 22 per cent apiece on today’s tally.
Looking at the collection of savings stories on offer, Harvey Jones (@dailyexpressuk) in The Express discussed the virtues of providing your child with the gift of a savings account. Many young savers accounts offer piggybanks as free gifts, which is apparently a great way to teach the next generation the true value of saving for the future. Also in The Express, Esther Shaw (@EstherShaw79) advised savers of the need to find the right account to beat inflation. Findings from Moneyfacts show that in order for customers to continue the “purchasing power” of their savings, a basic-rate taxpayer needs an account which pays 4.13 per cent.
The other top score this week was of course pensions. The changes to annuity rules continued to be a hot topic, but a couple of other pensions stories also caught our eye. As James Coney (@jimconey) and Liz Phillips reported in The Daily Mail, pensioners will need to make their returns stretch further as they suffer most from the rising levels of inflation. Research from Aviva has found that most British pensioners struggle with their mortgages and credit card debt. James Salmon looked at the shocking tactics used by some employers to avoid providing staff with final salary pension schemes they are entitled to, leading to some employees bullied into losing up to £440,000 in lost income.
The rest of the scores this week were:
Charity 0%
Credit cards 16%
Fraud/scams 0%
IFAs 0%
Insurance 10%
Investment 5%
Mortgages 5%
Pensions 22%
Regulation 5%
Savings 22%
Tax 10%
Utilities 5%