I’ve called this episode a mixed bag, because that’s what it is.
All will become clear, I hope, in the next few minutes, so please listen on as I cover a variety of things – this episode is going to be a bit more like an extended aftershow than a regular Friday edition – so lots of talking about what we’ve been up to here at Informed Choice and some plans for the future too.
There’s also a roundup of the latest personal finance news.
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Personal finance news
-With March marking the release of the first of the year’s two vehicle registration plates, it’s one of the busiest months for car insurance renewals. Despite insurance premiums reaching record levels in the last year, new research highlights that drivers are wasting an estimated £1.3bn by allowing their insurance cover to automatically renew without checking for a better deal.
-New research from Direct Line Life Insurance has found more than 2.2 million parents weren’t present for their birth of one of their children. One in eight male parents in the UK missed the birth of their child.
-The 20th century growth story of each generation enjoying a higher income than the one before has ground to a halt in nearly all advanced economies in the 21st century. This is according to a new report from the Resolution Foundation.
-A new report by mutual insurer Royal London is offering a potential solution to the vexed issue of how to pay for long-term care. The paper, ‘Is it time for the care pension?’, calls on the government to introduce policy changes which would enable the creation of a new at-retirement product which would combine existing income drawdown arrangements with insurance against future care costs.
-New analysis from the independent Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) shows how nearly 600 additional low-cost rented homes need to be built every week in order to fix the broken housing market and help low incomes families escape poverty.
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Useful links
–BBC Radio 4 Money Box from Saturday 17th February
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