Financial news

• 'It’s precarious being an artist – you have lean and hectic years'

  20-10-2018 13:21 via theguardian.com
  John McKenna on how he makes ends meet – and why he chose sculpture over accountancy Occasionally I wonder whether I chose the wrong path in life. If I’d put the same amount of work into an office job or a trade instead of sculpting I may have been much better off financially, but probably not spiritually.I was one of five children of immigrant Irish parents and grew up hand-to-mouth, for my mother died when I was 10 and my father had to bring us up on his clerk’s salary. My pa
  
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• £7m crowdfunding bid for Orkney tidal energy turbine launches

  20-10-2018 13:21 via theguardian.com
  Scheme launched by ethical investment platform Abundance offers 12% interestA “green” investment that pays 12% interest and involves putting your money into a major tidal energy project was launched this week.But that high rate indicates this is a great deal riskier than putting your money into a high street savings account, with no compensation if things go wrong. So this is not one for the risk-averse. Continue reading...
  
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• Shopping malls' desperate decline comes to prime minister’s doorstep

  20-10-2018 10:00 via theguardian.com
  Nicholsons in Theresa May’s constituency is just one of hundreds suffering from the UK’s high street malaiseWith its deserted tables and recycled office furniture, the Ping Pong Parlour in Maidenhead’s struggling Nicholsons shopping centre is not fooling anyone.The desperate attempt to fill what used to be Argos is evidence of the losing battle fought by private equity investors who have surrendered the keys after the mall’s declining fortunes left them unable to meet hug
  
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• NatWest, is it right to evict a woman on housing benefit? | Patrick Collinson

  20-10-2018 09:56 via theguardian.com
  The tenant is a vulnerable older woman who has always paid her rent on timeThere are no arrears on Helena McAleer’s buy-to-let mortgage on a flat in Belfast. The tenant, a vulnerable older woman, has for more than two years always paid the £400-a-month rent on time. The money comes from housing benefit from the Northern Ireland Housing Executive. But when Helena approached her mortgage company, NatWest, for some additional borrowing, she was staggered to be told it would only be poss
  
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• 'Everyone I know buys vintage': the Depop sellers shaking up fashion

  20-10-2018 09:00 via theguardian.com
  The fast-growing social media app combines Instagram-style image creation with digital market bargainingCaitlin Young is one of millions of teenagers and 20-somethings who are shaking up the fashion industry by digging out their parents’ cast-offs, raiding charity shops and scanning boot sales to build mini businesses online.Young picks up 1990s and “Y2K” early 2000s “vintage” gear from charity shops and jumble sales and then styles or customises them for her 22,500
  
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• Pensions: could you claim part of a £19bn cash mountain?

  20-10-2018 08:00 via theguardian.com
  People lose track of pensions when they change jobs or home – but it’s not hard to find themIs there an old pension plan out there with your name on it? A new study this week estimated there are more than £19bn of lost and forgotten pension pots waiting to be reunited with their owners, many of them worth thousands of pounds.This is typically money that people paid into a former employer’s pension scheme and then forgot about, or lost track of. The good news is, locating
  
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• How do Deliveroo and Uber workers cope with precarious pay?

  20-10-2018 08:00 via theguardian.com
  We talk to those who work in the gig economy about how they manage their financesHow do people cope when they don’t know how much they will earn from one month to the next? A report this week found that three-quarters of all workers do not receive the same pay packet from one month to the next – with the problem most acute for low-paid workers in the gig economy or on zero-hours contracts.The Resolution Foundation found that for those on the lowest annual incomes, the average monthly
  
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• Christmas travel: move fast to snap up cheap tickets

  20-10-2018 08:00 via theguardian.com
  If you have festive plans, act now, before all the best train fares and flights are snapped upThis year, Saturday 22 December looks set to be the big travel weekend ahead of a Tuesday Christmas day – and if you’ve got any sense you won’t leave your travel arrangements to the last minute because if you do, you’ll face train fares that would make even Santa think twice.The train operators are supposed to offer the cheapest advance fares 12 weeks before departure but this re
  
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• Can you buy decent running shoes for £50 or less?

  20-10-2018 08:00 via theguardian.com
  We’re doing the Couch to 5K app, and a friend has told us to get £120 Asics shoesEvery week a Guardian Money reader submits a question, and it’s up to you to help him or her out – a selection of the best answers will appear in next Saturday’s paper.My partner and I are into week five of the Couch to 5K NHS running app, and we’re loving it. The only problem is we now think we need some proper running shoes. A friend told us to buy £120 Asics, but we can&r
  
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• Facebook fake review factories uncovered by Which? investigation

  20-10-2018 01:01 via theguardian.com
  Firms paying refunds to buyers who write five-star reviews on Amazon, consumer group saysFake review factories that run on Facebook and manufacture misleading five-star reviews that are then posted on Amazon have been uncovered by investigators from Which?The consumer group said two large Facebook groups – Amazon Deals Group and Amazon UK Reviewers – were behind the unscrupulous practice, along with smaller groups. Together they may have up to 87,000 members potentially engaged in wr
  
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