This radical reform will leave women who have taken career breaks usually to raise a family as the biggest winners as the Government press ahead to introduce a flat rate retirement payment worth £140 per week for everyone. By ending means-testing for pension top-ups, ministers also hope to encourage people to save for their retirement, [...]

A record 15 people entered insolvency every hour in 2010, as the total number of people filing for bankruptcies, IVAs and Debt Relief Orders reached around 135,000 – up from 2009’s high of 134,132 –said in a report by a leading insolvency practitioner.

Scottish Power is the most recent company to announce a price rise. Their consumers will see gas prices go up by 2pc and electricity prices by 8.9pc wef 25 November 2010. British Gas is already increasing its prices by 7pc on 10th December, while Scottish & Southern Energy have planned to raise gas prices by 9pc on 1st December.

The Government intends to abolish, by 1 October 2011, the Default Retirement Age (DRA) of 65 contained in the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006 and has published a consultation document on how it proposes to achieve its aim

With base rates so low, the deals being offered by the banks mean that savers putting money away now are in fact making a loss, because few, if any saving accounts, give a better rate than inflation.

Savers who lost money in the Equitable Life pension company should start receiving compensation payments in the middle of 2011, the government has announced.

Inflation-linked savings certificates cut by NS&I Savings products linked to the inflation rate have been withdrawn from the market by National Savings and Investments after proving too popular.

Equity release is clearly a useful tool to ease financial pressures in later life, but anyone considering it as an option should first seek good quality information and advice, why not read our other article, Equity Release – A Good Option?

‘If a client has already let their 75th birthday pass then the best they can hope for is that the new rules in April allow them to take a lump sum”

ISA transfers to speed up from January 2011, creating £14.5bn in interest for the 17.5 million ISA savers in Britain.