Financial news

• 'Burning Man for the 1%': the desert party for the tech elite, with Eric Schmidt in a top hat

  02-05-2016 22:41
  
  Further Future is the tech-centric, unapologetically luxurious alternative to Burning Man, complete with personal assistants, spa treatments and fine diningA red Ferrari with the top down swerved past on the winding dirt road, heading to what looked like a small Mars encampment. Helicopters landed on the side of the road and greeters darted across. At a farmers’ market with overflowing baskets full of raspberries, watermelons, and focaccia, I asked for a mango, and the farmer started cutti
  
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• Has the global economic growth malaise become the 'new normal'?

  02-05-2016 12:31
  
  Structural reforms are needed to bolster growth but their upfront costs further strengthen opponents of changeThe International Monetary Fund and others have recently revised down their forecasts for global growth – yet again. Little wonder: the world economy has few bright spots – and even those are dimming rapidly.Among advanced economies, the US has experienced two quarters of growth averaging 1%. Further monetary easing has boosted a cyclical recovery in the eurozone, though pote
  
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• Would a rent cap work for tenants facing £1,000-a-month rises?

  02-05-2016 08:00
  
  The precarious nature of renting is a growing concern – but how best to improve the market and limit rising costs divides opinion. Harriet Meyer reportsHayley Miller was initially shocked when she received a letter to say the rent on her London flat was to increase by £1,000 a month. But this soon turned to resignation when she accepted that the unaffordable hike would mean she had to move to another flat – her eighth move in eight years.“The contract was coming up for re
  
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• Too many tweets during work hours make my boss a twit – but how to tell him?

  02-05-2016 08:00
  
  I know every detail of his personal life from his online messages, as we don’t engage with him much at work Twice a week we publish problems that will feature in a forthcoming Dear Jeremy advice column in the Saturday Guardian so that readers can offer their own advice and suggestions. We then print the best of your comments alongside Jeremy’s own insights. Here is the latest dilemma – what are your thoughts?I work as part of a five-strong close-knit design team for a large med
  
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• There’s no comfort in this sorry tale of Argos customer service

  02-05-2016 08:00
  
  Every time it delivers the wrong mattress, which is a worse deal than the one we orderedWe purchased a Silentnight Harding Pocket Comfort king size mattress in the Argos sale in early January. It was reduced from £799.99 to £284.99. However, a Silentnight Mirapocket 800 was delivered. It is not available on the Argos website – but from Homebase at £339.99 so clearly a lesser alternative.We eventually spoke with the manager at Argos who apologised and arranged for collecti
  
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• Piggy bank raiders: half of parents dip into children's savings

  02-05-2016 01:01
  
  Survey finds parents use their children’s cash for expenses ranging from household bills to the ‘tooth fairy’Nearly half of parents admit to being “piggy bank raiders” who occasionally dip into their children’s cash to cover costs such as parking, takeaways, taxis, school trips and paying the window cleaner.Some 46% of parents of children aged between four and 16 years old said they have taken money from their child’s savings, a survey by Nationwide Buil
  
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• Elmbridge again comes top for income tax contributions

  02-05-2016 01:01
  
  Area in Surrey known as ‘Beverley Hills of Britain’ paid almost 3.7 times UK averageElmbridge in Surrey has been as the closest thing Britain has to Beverley Hills after residents once again paid on average the highest levels of income tax in the UK.Research by UHY Hacker Young, found the average income tax payment in Elmbridge, which includes the wealthy towns of Esher, Walton-on-Thames, Cobham and Weybridge, increased to £17,800 in 2014, the latest figures available, up 5% fr
  
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