Money Management

Short-Term Savings Accounts –

It is a very good idea to keep at least a little bit of money in a savings account, especially one which you can easily access when you need it, just in case of an emergency or the need for a sudden expenditure.

Reasons that you might benefit from opening a short term savings account over a long term account:

- You may need to spend money quickly or even urgently for a variety of reasons including to fix up your home, repair your vehicle, and so on.

- You might need to help a family member or friend out during a personal emergency.

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The most important key to the effective management of money involves time. The more time that you are capable of investing in the management of your affairs, the greater the return will be as a result of your investment. The earlier that you begin to manage your money, the more effective you will be when it comes to accomplishing your goals. There are too many people who try to go about managing money when it is too late in their life, and managing the money you have left is not as effective as managing your money as it comes in. In essence, there are four different questions that need to be answered by any money management programme that you participate in.

- What financial goals do you have?
- How soon do you want to achieve your financial goals?
- What funds do you already have available?
- What risks are you willing to make in order to reach these targets?

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It seems almost inevitable that Thursday’s meeting of the Bank of England committee will sanction a further quarter percent rise in the UK base rate. Recent comments by some members of the committee have led many to believe that a move upwards is almost certain, a view further strengthened by recent news confirming that property prices have risen again, and inflation is still fairly strong.

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While we continue to see headlines of a rise in property prices and the government keep telling us that things have never been better, it seems that all is not well underneath the surface. Recent figures from the authorities have shown that the UK savings rate to income ratio is at the lowest for some 47 years. Currently the UK population are only placing 2.1% of their income into savings, a very similar situation to the start of the 1987 property crash!

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While there have been many developments in the area of internet communication, few have the potential to have such an enormous impact as Skype - the prominent VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) telephone service provider.

For those unaware of VoIP, this is a system which works over your existing internet connection allowing you to phone both fellow Skype users as well as traditional landline user. The system has been on the way for at least 20 years, although it is just recently that sufficient data transfer speeds became available (at affordable prices) and voice data quality improved. Technology has also been introduced which allows Skype users to enter the landline network and call landline members - this is done via a system of audio to digital switches which allow the data to be converted, sent via the internet, then converted back at the receiving end.

So how can Skype save you money?

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The Inland Revenue have announced that anyone with an offshore bank account will need to declare account details within the next two weeks, or face possible fines. Even though any accounts which are declared will be subject to the repayment of back taxes, there will be fines and other charges if the Inland Revenue need to investigate themselves.

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