Do you ever wonder about money? I don’t mean wondering where your money is going to come from or whether you will have enough of it to last to the end of the month. I mean where does money itself come from and where does it get it’s value from.

In ancient times coins had a real precious metal value. It’s value was the metal it was made from and the stamp or image on it was just evidence that it was the official size and weight. People did cut little slivers off of the edge of coins to slowly build up enough to be worth selling which is why the milled edges became common on coins so that you could see if pieces had been removed from the edge and you would know it wasn’t worth the full official value.

When the Romans were busy rampaging throughout Europe the gold and silver they captured was returned to Rome and turned into coins which could then be used to pay their soldiers and continue their rampaging. When the Spanish were shipping boatloads of gold back from South America they had so much gold that it caused problems for their economy. We don’t do that sort of thing anymore but what exactly is your £10 note worth, or you 20 Dollar bill or your 50 Euro note? You could change it for other smaller value notes or coins perhaps. You could use it to start a fire or maybe add it to your wormery as I’m sure the worms would enjoy nibbling their way through it. You could, of course, go and spend it but then why would anyone accept it has value Read the rest of this entry

Money Magic: Seven Simple Steps to True Financial Freedom (Quick Reads)

The Bank of England has announced that the rate is to remain at 5.25% for the moment. No doubt many will be relieved to hear that though many analysts suggest that it may increase again later. The last rate increase was an increase of 0.25 percentage points to 5.25% on 11 January 2007.

Money Magic: Seven Simple Steps to True Financial Freedom (Quick Reads)

A report in the Telegraph sounds alarm bells at the state of household finances. Analysts are reported to be concerned that savings are starting to fall as people are increasingly borrow against the value of their homes to fund consumer spending.
Mortgage Equity Withdrawal figures hit a two year high in the final quarter of 2006. £14 Billion was borrowed against people’s homes. It would seem likely that this is helping to fund the continuing consumer spending boom and would partly explain why the christmas shopping period was as healthy as it was but further increases in the Bank Rate are expected, possibly as soon as this Thursday. This may well leave these borrowers repaying rather more than they had planned for.

Money Magic: Seven Simple Steps to True Financial Freedom (Quick Reads)