Monday, January 31st, 2011 at 5:27 pm
The price of Brent Crude oil reached over $100 today for the first time since the peak prices reached in the summer of 2008. There are concerns about what is happening in Egypt and the risk that it might affect oil tankers travelling through the Suez Canal.
The likelyhood of problems with the Suez canal seem unlikely but there has been a steady rise in the price of oil over recent months and that is a serious concern. The steady price rise of oil has been blamed on rising demand as economies around the world begin to recover from the economic downturn and that should concern everyone.
If we have these price rises while consumers are subdued and ecomies are stuttering along just imagine what could happen to the price of oil if, and when, world demand starts to seriously pick itself up. The price of oil could double and that would bring problems to everyone as prices and inflation rapidly rise.
There is not much we as individuals can do to avoid these increased costs we may face in the future and the best thing we can do is to reduce our current spending and debts so our financial situation is as strong as we can make it so we can cope with whatever hppens in the world.
Saturday, October 30th, 2010 at 8:51 am
Money is to life in modern society what blood is to your body. It is an essential part of modern life and if you run out life, as we know it would come to a stop. Managing your money is a skill and a talent we all need to learn and a basic understanding of money and maths is essential to stay ahead of the financial game.
Most of us are only vaguely aware of how close we are to financial ruin. We earn our salaries and pay our bills with little or nothing left to spare. We carelessly go through life thinking everything is ok but if you are in that situation and you are one of the half million public sector workers who are expected to lose your job due to the cutbacks in public spending you could find the world looks a very different place in a few months time.
Managing your money and balancing your personal financial book is crucial if you want any sort of security in your life. Losing your job in the current climate where jobs are scarce could leave your savings wiped out in no time at all and leave you and your family struggling to survive.
Getting control of your spending and resisting unimportant and unnecessary purchases is the first step in building your financial security. If you have any credit card debts get them paid off as a priority.
Paying out interest is a waste of money. The money saved by not having interest to pay could be building a financial nest egg that might protect you and your family from financial disaster in the future.
Plan for the worst and whatever happens will be easier and if nothing goes wrong you will be well prepared and able to enjoy a very comfortable retirement without the financial worries so many people have to live with every day.
Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010 at 1:43 pm
Tesco have been trialing a system that changes the accepted way of operating a buy-one-get-one-free offer (BOGOF).
We all enjoy getting something for nothing and for those of us who need to count the pennies an offer where you can buy one item and get another free is very appealing, not least because it can help families make their household budget go further.
One of the problems with this type of special offer has been that by the time you get around to using your free item it may be past its sell by date. So, in a response to this problem Tesco have been running a trial which changes the usual way these deals operate. Instead of having to take both products at the same time you will be given a voucher that entitles you to get your free item the next week when you visit the store.
The trial was to run for two weeks in selected stores and customers choosing pineapple, melon, salad and lettuce offers are able to claim their free product the following week.
Tesco say they will await the results of the trial to see what customer feedback they get but I would expect to see that customers would like this a lot. It would maintain customer loyalty for the individual store since you are more likely to return to the store the following week to get your free product rather than visit the rival stores. Another big benefit of such a scheme is that far less foods will be thrown away unused because it has gone over the sell-by date. So, everybody wins.
It will be interesting to see what develops but it sounds like a great scheme and I would hope this will be rolled out nationally very soon.
