Personal Finance Archive

History is on investors' side for the rest of the year.

Along with premature seasonal shop displays, November seems to be the time to dangle 0% interest balance transfer deals in front of indebted card-users.

Websites offering discounts and cashback on a range of purchases from clothes to washing machines have been a lifeline to Scots in the recession.

THE trade body for the consumer credit industry said funds provided by its members grew by 5% year-on-year in September to £5.1 billion.

Experts are calling for an overhaul of the children's savings market only 12 months after the introduction of Junior Isas (Jisas).

The Government-funded Money Advice Service (MAS) came under renewed scrutiny this week as it admitted generating less than 284,000 financial action plans for website visitors in six months, against a full year target of one million.

Nervous savers have been pouring money into National Savings & Investments (NS&I) as economic turmoil and financial scandals have damaged consumer confidence in the high-street banks and building societies.

Many Scots remain loyal to their local bank or building society, choosing to save or borrow with Royal Bank of Scotland or Dunfermline Building Society rather than, say, Santander or Nationwide.

Women in Scotland face a rise in their annual car insurance bill of up to £2000 after a European Court of Justice ruling that forbids insurers taking gender into account when setting premiums.

DAVID Cameron's promise to force energy suppliers to offer all customers their lowest tariff was greeted with scepticism this week, amid worries that such legislation will be either unworkable or will stifle competition in the market.

THE reinvigoration of one of Scotland's oldest investment companies Securities Trust of Scotland (STS), founded in Edinburgh in 1889, has come as a welcome boost for its managers Martin Currie.

We were given a helping hand by a trio of the stock market's most influential players last week as the weight of successive warnings on the global economy from the World Bank and the IMF hit the market.

Over half of Scottish savers and investors say they want at least some of their money invested according to green and ethical criteria, according to a new poll.

VENERABLE Edinburgh investment house Baillie Gifford has as many representatives in The Herald's monthly table of top-performing asset managers working for Scottish houses as its nearest three rivals put together, after the latest figures for the three years to August 31 were tallied by financial publisher Citywire.