This is Money Podcast

As banks went kaput a decade ago, the safety of our savings was thrust into the limelight. Most had never considered that cash in the bank was at risk and knew little about the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. When Icesave blew up a year after the Northern Rock collapse things changed dramatically. We should all be up to speed now, but how safe are your savings? On this week’s podcast, Simon Lambert, Tanya Jefferies and Georgie Frost we look at savings protection but also how you could end up losing money by sticking with cash. Ironically, worries about banks a decade ago triggered a flight to safety and more people stashing money in savings accounts rather than investing. But had people invested as Lehman Brothers collapsed they would have more than doubled their money by now. Taking the risk as the world appeared to be falling apart would have been the right move. Yet, at that point the stock market was already down 20% and fell by that again before it hit the bottom, so how many would have been brave enough? Also on this week’s show, we discuss how easy it might be to hit the £1million pension lifetime allowance sand whether your car might fail its next MOT.

What do you do about the looming inheritance tax threat when you live with elderly parents along with your own child and the home is worth nearly £10million – and you want to continue living there? It sounds like a champagne problem, but IHT does hit ordinary people – including one reader who admits to being relatively cash poor. How can they make sure they aren't turfed out due to inheritance tax? This is Money editor Simon Lambert, assistant editor Lee Boyce and host Georgie Frost discuss the IHT issue. Elsewhere, we discuss the big responsibility of being a trustee with a pot of cash to invest for a younger sibling and why it is never too late to start sorting your pension. With a number of big firms suffering hacks, including British Airways, we discuss what people can do if they are a victim and how to prevent becoming one. And finally, we talk about electric cars as sales continue to rise with the UK pushing for an entirely zero-emissions road network by 2040.

What would you teach a student about money? It’s almost time for a fresh year of students to start university and as they find their feet with new friends and a new way of studying they will also face another challenge – being in charge of their financial life. But we don’t have to send them off ill-equipped to deal with that, a few helpful tips can stop students ending up down to their last few pounds before the clocks even change. And as well as offering guidance, it’s perhaps even more useful to tell students about where you went wrong with money at university, or in your younger life. On this week’s podcast Simon Lambert and Georgie Frost have some helpful advice for students and a few candid tales of the money mistakes they made. Also, on this week’s show, we discuss child trust funds and how the free money dished out to children has often been lost track of but could be a nice little windfall. And we put Help to Buy under the microscope. Asking whether it will be tweaked, ditched, or the new build property market is so hooked on this subsidy that we can’t get rid of it?

Established banks, challengers, fintech firms and payments providers – they all have one thing in common: none of them are immune to IT problems, glitches, hacks, meltdowns or customer service failures. Yet the momentum towards going cashless shows no signs of slowing down - but is Britain ready for it? In this week's podcast, assistant editor Lee Boyce along with host Georgie Frost talk about the future of payments. Elsewhere, we reveal what went 'wronga' at Wonga and why Lloyds Bank is now recording all product openings in branch. We also discuss the potential Aston Martin float, which could value the firm at £5billion. Lastly, motoring editor Rob Hull talks about two car brands from different ends of the spectrum – Ferrari versus Lada. A 250 GTO sold for a record auction price recently while a Lada could sell for £75,000 – yes, a Lada. Could it be a miracle?

Buying a home, whether it is your first-time or not, can be a daunting experience. From the initial hunt trawling through property websites, to finally getting the keys, it can be an arduous process with plenty of tricky hurdles to overcome. In this housing podcast special, This is Money editor Simon Lambert, assistant editor Lee Boyce and host Georgie Frost talk all things property. We have tips on taking the temperature of the local property market, working out what you can really afford, what to pay, how much to offer, how to do it and what happens next. We also reveal some of our personal experiences and tricks we learnt along the way to help you with the process.

The Government's £11billion scheme to install 53million smart meters in homes and small businesses by the end of 2020 has been plagued by problems. Now it appears there may be more hidden nasties. A wireless tech expert says they have the power to take over customer accounts.  In theory, this means suppliers could cut off a household's electricity or gas without visiting the property, add debt to a meter, remove credit on an account, change the charge levied or turn the meter into a pre-payment device. Authority to use these functions has yet to be granted – but it all sounds a little big brotherish. In this week's podcast Simon Lambert, Lee Boyce and Georgie Frost question, is it time to rethink the smart meter push?  Also on this week's show, we talk secondary tickets after Ticketmaster axed Get Me In and Seatwave, discuss what to do with £10,000 in order to get onto the property ladder and the motivation you need to prevent becoming a CV cliché.

From pubs to hotels and shops to petrol stations, Britain has gone parking mad. Private land owners have been signed up across the country by operators, who stick in automatic numberplate recognition cameras and then dish out tickets to motorists who stop there. We’ve had countless stories of over-zealous fines and this week Lee Boyce revealed how he fought back after he was sent a ticket for stopping briefly at a BP petrol station. What allows all this to happen is the DVLA selling people’s details to car park operators who snap their numberplate. So is it time to fight back against this parking madness? Why has it got so bad? And how do you beat a ticket? In this week’s podcast, Simon Lambert, Lee Boyce, Rachel Rickard Straus and Georgie Frost talk parking tickets. Also, on this week’s show, the banks doing the dirty on savers after the rate rise, how to make your child a pension millionaire and the curious case of Aldi and the food producers accusing it of copying them.

Interest rates have finally risen above 0.5 per cent for the first time in almost a decade. The Bank of England has decided that the UK's economy is healthy enough to finally get above the financial crisis emergency level, but was the hike a wise move or a mistake. Of those in favour, some have been calling for a rate rise for a long time, others believe we must try to get back to normal before recession hits. But those opposed believe even this tiny shift up to a very low base rate level of 0.75 per cent, is a gamble too far from the Monetary Policy Committee's ratesetters. On this week's podcast, Simon Lambert, Lee Boyce and Georgie Frost dive into the rate rise.  Why did the bank hike rates, who will it affect, why do interest rates even move up and down and how did they end up at 0.5 per cent in the first place? Also on this week's show, Lee introduces us to the world of micro-saving, we discuss the case of the financial adviser who suddenly ask for £10,000 more and Simon tries to show he is down with the kids who are making money by selling on Depop.

We’re all going on a summer holiday! Don’t worry, podcast fans, we aren’t really, but we are dedicating this week’s show to the lucky among you who are. We cover all things money from planning your holiday to arriving back home again. We talk through what you need to know to make sure you have the best travel insurance while you’re away, to how to pay for things and withdraw cash while abroad to make your money go the furthest, to car hire tricks and getting compensation if something goes wrong. Seats and tray tables back to the upright position, seatbelts on and notepads at the ready… Enjoy!

Working out what to do with a life-changing sum of money is a nice problem to have but that doesn’t mean it’s not tricky.  We’ve all read the stories of inheritances, lottery wins and other windfalls squandered - and even if you have spent a lifetime building your wealth, whether through investing or business, it would still be all too easy to rattle through the cash. On this week’s podcast, we look at a question from This is Money’s new Wealth Check section on what to do with £1.2million from a business sale: how to spend some enjoying life and invest the rest so that it is not at too much risk but still grows. From there, Simon Lambert, Tanya Jefferies and Georgie Frost dive into what a life-changing sum of money might be, why more people are getting them, and what you might do with it. For those without that luxury, we look at why engaging with your pension investments is being tipped as a way to retire early - and whether a bit less time panic scrolling on social media might buy you the time to do that. Also on this week’s podcast agenda are the cheap wills that could cost your family a fortune, the used electric cars rising in value – with the Renault Zoe up 30% in a year - and the annoying text messages that could replace Verified by Visa.