Share Sounds. from This is Money presented by Georgie Frost related to Property & Mortgages - Best Deals

Child benefit and state pension - It’s not the most obvious link. But if you are a parent who is looking after a child instead of working, you need to register for child benefit in order to build up your entitlement in retirement age. Austerity swept away the universal child benefit and those households where one parent earns more than £50,000 have to start giving it back until it is removed altogether above £60,000. Unsurprisingly, many who fall into this bracket simply opt not to take it and see no point in registering. Unfortunately, mums and dads who stopped work to look after children are now finding they’ve missed building up their state pension. It should be easy to fix, but HMRC and the government have been stalling parents affected. That’s why This is Money has started a campaign to get this mess fixed, before it gets any worse. On this week’s podcast, Simon Lambert, Lee Boyce and Georgie Frost discuss how this all happened and why it matters to not just those affected. And finally, can you really have a weekend away in Europe, flights and a decent hotel for £57? Yes you can, thanks to a very clever new website we tracked down.

As banks went kaput a decade ago, the safety of our savings was thrust into the limelight. Most had never considered that cash in the bank was at risk and knew little about the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. When Icesave blew up a year after the Northern Rock collapse things changed dramatically. We should all be up to speed now, but how safe are your savings? On this week’s podcast, Simon Lambert, Tanya Jefferies and Georgie Frost we look at savings protection but also how you could end up losing money by sticking with cash. Ironically, worries about banks a decade ago triggered a flight to safety and more people stashing money in savings accounts rather than investing. But had people invested as Lehman Brothers collapsed they would have more than doubled their money by now. Taking the risk as the world appeared to be falling apart would have been the right move. Yet, at that point the stock market was already down 20% and fell by that again before it hit the bottom, so how many would have been brave enough? Also on this week’s show, we discuss how easy it might be to hit the £1million pension lifetime allowance sand whether your car might fail its next MOT.

Georgie Frost and the This Is Money team present a housing special which explains everything you need to know about buying property!

Welcome to the This is Money and Share Radio podcast, brought to you in partnership with NS&I. This week we ask just how high the FTSE could go in 2017. With the New Year bull run still in full swing is now the time to invest or could the current record be too good to be true? Meanwhile the FTSE might be rising but the pound continues to slump to its lowest levels since the 2008 crisis. Good news for exporters at least whilst even Mark Carney’s admitting Brexit won’t be quite as bad for the country. So just where does all this leave the devaluing pound in your pocket? To find out Georgie Frost is joined by Editor Simon Lambert and Personal Finance Editor Rachel Rickard Straus. Also on this week’s agenda they look at the latest retail figures, Halifax’s statistics on first time buyers and the new powers allowing the tax man to spy on your online activity. This is Money is presented by Georgie Frost in partnership with NS&I.

Welcome to the This is Money and Share Radio podcast, brought to you in partnership with NS&I. This week we’re getting festive with our annual Christmas taste test. Four retailers will be competing on cost and quality as we sample a full range of festive fare. Will last year’s champion Lidl hold its top place? Or will it fall victim to a resurgent Tesco? Also on trial this week we’ll have the upmarket option, Waitrose, and a mystery wildcard. Georgie Frost is joined by taste testers Editor Simon Lambert, Consumer Affairs editor Lee Boyce and special guest Development Editor Rich Browning. It’s not all eating though and as we delve into the financial stories of the day we’ll be serving up a starter of inflation forecasts, digging into a main course of mortgages and for pudding we’ll be rounding things off with a look at how the supermarkets have fared this year. This is Money is presented by Georgie Frost in partnership with NS&I.

Welcome to the This is Money and Share Radio podcast, brought to you in partnership with NS&I. Are we seeing the end of an era for ultra cheap mortgages? HSBC is withdrawing its record low 0.99% deal which could usher in a new wave of price hikes. It’s not just mortgages undergoing price hikes though. Rail fares are set to rise 2.3% whilst growing commuter dissatisfaction with poor service has prompted Transport Secretary Chris Grayling to devise a new plan for better management. In the end though train times might be the last of our problems as we hear about one financial expert predicting major financial Armageddon just around the corner. Could we be in for the worst crisis yet? And what can people do to prepare? Gold is being tipped as a favourite but certainly not spread betting which is currently undergoing a crackdown. Georgie Frost is joined by Personal Finance Editor Rachel Rickard Straus and Consumer Affairs Editor Lee Boyce to find out more about this potential money meltdown. Also this week we take a look at Money Mail’s annual Wooden Spoon Awards and see which of Britain’s shambolic businesses have made it onto the shortlist.

It's time for This is Money! Once again, the guys from the award-winning finance website join Georgie in the studio to run down the hottest money stories of the week. On this show, editor Simon Lambert and consumer affairs Lee Boyce are in to discuss the return of the no-deposit mortgages, the 5 biggest threats to your pensions, and finally, Leicester City for the win! Lee gloats on the clubs surprise victory, while a slightly more prosaic Simon breaks down the ridiculous odds placed on the teams chances - half as likely as seeing Elvis! This is Money is presented in partnership with NS&I.