This is Money Podcast

In part one of two This is Money podcast specials, we tackle savings. When savings are mentioned, the first thought that springs to mind for many is: rates are low, what's the point? In the latest This is Money podcast, assistant editor Lee Boyce and host Georgie Frost are joined by James Blower, the Savings Guru to explain why savings are important. James has inside knowledge of the industry, having helped a number of challenger banks set up their savings business. We talk about what the point of saving is and what you need to consider at different stages - and ages - of your life. How do you save for your children, what about Isas, does higher risk equal higher reward and how do you save for a house? We also talk about why the Financial Services Compensation Scheme is important and whether saving in cash over investing is ever a worthwhile exercise. James takes us behind the scenes at how rates are set and reveals why he believes better deals are on the horizon for savers. Furthermore, we call to action those who have left money languishing in poor paying accounts to help drive the banks and building societies to offer us better deals. Join us next week for part two when editor Simon Lambert tackles everything you need to know about investing.

Inflation is within a whisker of its long-term target of two per cent – does that mean an interest rate rise off the table in 2019? Assistant editor Lee Boyce and host Georgie Frost talk about the latest inflation figures in the This is Money podcast – including why it has fallen, where it is heading next and what it means for savers.  Savings rates are up, with nearly 100 accounts now matching or beating inflation. Lee explains a nifty trick on how to beat inflation with a one year fixed-rate savings account and boost the rate even further. We also discuss the House of Lords report which let rip over RPI and CPI, and why it matters to the pound in your pocket.  Meanwhile, we reveal why it is important to not penny pinch on your travel insurance and how the zero per cent beer market is booming – and it's not just because of 'dry January'. This week, we don't have one, not two, but three coin stories for your enjoyment. How euro coins rattling around in your home could be worth a pretty penny and why 50p coins have had a moment in the sun.  Enjoy.

Just how bad was Christmas for Britain’s shops? Retailers sounded the alarm early when advent brought a string of warnings about a terrible November, but this week we started to find out what the crucial festive period really brought. A rush of results arrived, as everyone from the big supermarkets to M&S, Debenhams and John Lewis updated on Christmas sales. The bar had been set low, but it turned out to be not quite so bad as thought – with a few winners and a bunch of losers who escaped the drubbing feared. On this week’s podcast, This is Money’s retail expert Emily Hardy, joins Simon Lambert and Georgie Frost to sift through the figures and look at who did well and who didn’t. The team also look at the crucial question of whether retailers with decent sales will turn those into profit, or whether getting items off the shelves at a discount cost them dear? Also on the agenda is what’s causing the malaise. Is it the internet, a lack of quality, or simply Britain hitting peak stuff? Simon has a theory based on sales, Amazon, people buying presents later and being a bit more discerning. Away from the high street, we also discuss how to get a new job in 2019 and find out about the man whose expensive £4,000 wasted romantic trip after a break-up spurred him on to create Transfer Travel - the ‘eBay for unwanted holidays’.

Happy New NHS? Among last year's big stories was the 70th anniversary of our beloved health service and whether we are prepared to pay for it through higher taxes. Our campaign to out the rogue, sometimes criminal, private car park operatives began with a vengeance and will continue long into 2019. Editor Simon Lambert and host Georgie Frost also explain how to avoid losing your home because of inheritance tax. And are you ready to ditch your fossil-fueled car for an electric one yet? This story will run and run. Unlike the Range Rover Sport, which was judged to be the least reliable used car to buy last year. It's all part of our look back - and forward - over the big stories and campaigns of 2018. Enjoy.,

Happy Christmas and welcome to the last This is Money podcast of 2018. Today, we cover the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future. For the ghost of Christmas past, we look at what has gone wrong for high street retailers and if that is spilling over to online firms. Ghost of Christmas present… or presents, we give five reasons why you should think twice about giving gift cards this festive period. And for the ghost of Christmas future, how you can give friends and family a gift that will last through 2019 - avoiding the loyalty penalty. As part of our campaign, we reveal the companies stiffing customers and what you can do to combat the problem. Elsewhere, assistant editor Lee Boyce takes the reigns for the infamous This is Money Christmas taste test – with editor Simon Lambert and host Georgie Frost tucking into mince pies, crisps and more, then having to guess whether it is from a posh supermarket, or budget one. And like post-Brexit Britain, there are no Brussel(s) in sight. Georgie also throws a bonus fiendish Christmas quiz into the mix – how many can you get right? Thanks for listening in 2018 - we hope you enjoy the podcast as much as we do making it. See you next year!

Nobody can escape the Brexit bedlam that has been playing out before our eyes, especially in the last week. In between backstops, trade deals, Norway, contempt of parliament, no-confidence, withdrawing withdrawal votes… what is really going on?  Editor Simon Lambert, assistant editor Lee Boyce and host Georgie Frost discuss Brexit in the latest This is Money podcast. Are we going to leave? Should we really have a second referendum and can you do anything to Brexit-proof your cash? We talk it all through in our Brexit special. Outside the Brexit bubble, we look into those DNA self-testing kits being plugged by a number of firms as the perfect Christmas gift – could you get more than you bargained for?  Simon reveals the best and worst performing funds of 2018 so far, in Top of the Pops fashion and Lee runs down the clever apps from challengers looking to encourage the savings habit.

It might not be on the top of your to-do list when you have a child, but investing and saving for them to build a tidy nest egg for when they reach adulthood is best done sooner rather than later. In the latest This is Money podcast, editor Simon Lambert, assistant editor (and new parent) Lee Boyce alongside host Georgie Frost look at the best ways to save for your children. We discuss investment options, Junior Isas, a pension and other ways, and why 'the hardest step is the first, but it is also the most powerful'. Lee has a target of a £50,000 pot to build up for his new daughter ahead of her 18th birthday in 2036 – and discusses how he plans to achieve this, with a little help from Einstein's eighth wonder of the world, compounding. Elsewhere, we talk about how invest for your own retirement and Fidelity's 'Power of Seven' matrix, as it looks like the pensions dashboard is finally moving ahead. We talk about the collapse of online estate agent Emoov and the future of the industry with the Bank of England's latest Brexit predictions suggesting property values could fall 30 per cent in the worst case scenario. Finally, we reveal the latest British Gas rip off and whether could we have found the answer to expensive boiler replacements.

Inheritance tax is a conundrum. Just 5 per cent of estates currently incur it but it’s been voted Britain’s most unfair major tax. Even with the number of people hit by it expected to double, it seems we just don’t like the concept. It’s no wonder then that the Chancellor commissioned a report into it from the Office of Tax Simplification, but no one forecast that to be as damning about the system as it was. It’s complicated, more than ten times as many bereaved families have to fill in forms as pay it, and it turns out the very rich pay proportionally less than those directly below them. Does that make inheritance tax ripe for a change and how could it be adjusted? Simon Lambert and Georgie Frost discuss that on this week’s podcast. Also, on the show they discuss why tenants are still waiting for a fees ban, whether the latest move to curb private parking tickets goes far enough and the least reliable cars you can buy second hand. And finally, we’ve all heard the one about how airlines might use your browsing history to hike flight costs, but have you heard about error fares that can get you somewhere for a fraction of the normal price? And more to the point are both these true. We bust five flight booking myths. Enjoy.

Hello, I’m Simon Lambert, the editor of This is Money, and I’d like to introduce you to our new podcast the Investing Show. It is not replacing the weekly This is Money podcast that you know and love. But it is the new podcast of our popular video show that helps you to make more of your money, through smarter investing. Every fortnight we invite fund managers and professional investors to explain how they invest and tell us about the companies and parts of the world that they think will deliver the best returns in the future. It’s an opportunity to get under the skin of the investment world and find out how the people who run tens of millions of pounds of investors’ money really work and think. We wanted to give our regular podcast readers a chance to listen to this new show, so we are publishing it here in the This is Money podcast feed as a one-off. On this week's show, we speak to the ever entertaining Tom Becket, chief investment officer at Psigma Investment Management, and get his views on whether US shares and the Faang stocks are overvalued, where the world's best investment opportunities lie and if the UK stock market is cheap enough to go fishing in yet. Please give it a listen and if you like it look out the next show - or even better subscribe - in our new Investing Show channel at your podcast provider, or at www.thisismoney.co.uk/investingshow

A year ago bitcoin could do no wrong – now it has slumped to 79 per cent below its peak. So what went wrong for the much vaunted cryptocurrency? The mania of a year ago gave way to a bust after Christmas and apart from a few short-lived rallies bitcoin has been mainly on the slide since. That’s not to say it has no use - the cryptocurrency and underlying technology are fascinating - but just because something has some value does not mean it can’t end up in a bubble. On this week’s podcast, Simon Lambert, Georgie Frost and Myron Jobson look at what went wrong for bitcoin and the other cryptocurrencies and what we can learn from the boom and bust. Also on this week’s show, they look at some more durable investments, companies that have paid a rising dividend for a decade or longer – and how some have seen big rises in their share price. The potential return of 100 per cent mortgages and the sudden flurry of better savings rates are also on the agenda. And finally, Simon talks us through the 2,100 road trip he took with his family to test out VW’s California campervan – and whether swapping your family car for a van that’s ready for adventure could ever be a smart move?