Money

It is common to think that financial planning is just for later in life, but this isn't the case. The current economic turbulence is an all-too-real reminder of the importance of preparing for the future, whatever your circumstances. Financial planning experts we have spoken to emphasise that it is never too early to start financial planning. And the good news is you may already be doing it.

Today sees many students with a fizz of anticipation and anxiousness as they open their results. Some will be off to university. Official statistics suggest the average student starting now will graduate with £45,800 of debt, including student loans. For that reason, I started investing a monthly amount for daughter weeks after she was born.

For the last few years my wife and I have been on a mission to visit every city in Ireland. The last trip on our itinerary was to Cork in March 2020, but this was cancelled due to Covid. I took a voucher for the flights, which cost £303, from Aer Lingus so I could rebook when travel was allowed again. But in the meantime, the airline has cancelled its route from Manchester, where I live, to Cork. I'm unlikely to travel anywhere else before the voucher expires, and I'd prefer to have the money back so I can go to Cork with another airline. But Aer Lingus says that as I originally accepted a voucher, I can't now get a refund. I appealed this decision, but it was turned down.

Texas-based hypercar maker Hennessey has created the most expensive hair dryer on the planet. It has unveiled its Venom F5 Roadster, a convertible two-seater that will cost £2.5million ($3million) a piece and be capable of speeds in excess of 300mph. Not only is it set to become the fastest roadster on the planet, it will also be the most powerful, with the twin-turbo 6.6-litre V8 engine packing a jaw-dropping 1,817bhp.

The state pension could soar to nearly £10,900 a year if the next Tory Chancellor honours the triple lock pledge and increases payouts in line with predicted sky-high inflation.The Bank of England has forecast the headline rate will top 13% this autumn - though even at the current 10.1% inflation rate pensioners could see their payments hiked to £10,600, a boost of nearly £1,000 a year.

Mortgage rates have been going up due to the rising base rate, amid a backdrop of soaring energy bills and food prices - and borrowers are keen to understand how much further they might go. Part of the answer may lie in the ongoing Conservative leadership campaign being played out in the background, as some say that the tax cuts proposed by Liz Truss would lead to a base rate as high as 7%. We take a look at the impact future rate rises could have on mortgages and the property market.

Sales of electric cars have been booming in recent years but restricted production of new models looks set to derail the nation's switch to plug-in vehicles, according to a new report. Drivers wanting to make the switch to an electric vehicle are now facing long delays for cars to arrive, in some cases up to two years from the point of ordering, research by electric car experts Electrifying.com has revealed. We've listed 34 of the most popular new models and how long you might have to wait to get your hands on one if you ordered from a dealership today.

A survey of 2,000 people who want to move in the next five years found that 22 per cent want a bungalow as their future home. It was closely followed by 18 per cent who would like their future home to be a new build and 16 per cent who would like it to be a cottage. The survey by estate agents Strutt & Parker used a combination of registered buyers, sellers and tenants. It found that garages were the most sought-after storage facility, with 29 per cent of people claiming that it was the 'most needed' storage in their future home.

Merlin Entertainments, which owns Madame Tussauds, where the wax figures of Harry and Meghan (pictured) are among those on display. faces court proceedings due to a dispute over debt with the FTSE 100 credit company. A winding up petition sees unpaid creditors take legal action against the company owing them funds. A spokesman for Merlin branded Experian's actions 'wholly inappropriate' and said the company will apply to have the petition thrown out.

Official figures confirmed that annual price growth hit a record 8.9pc in the eurozone but was even higher when including EU countries outside the single currency area. They came a day after UK data showed inflation above 10% for the first time in four decades. Inflation has been spurred on by Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine, which has pushed up energy prices, and is still going up in Britain and Europe.

Should I pay more money into my Lisa for the next 13 years or continue to pay more into my private pension with a hope that the money compounds over time? I will be paying 20% tax on the back end with this income so wondering if the less volatile Lisa option would be more beneficial?

The car in question is a 1986 2.8 Injection Special, which cost £11,000 when new but has recently changed hands for almost seven times that original price. Invoices sold with the car show that its one owner, Albert Clarkson, a retired gas engineer from Canvey Island, paid a discounted price of £7,698. That means he has sold it for more than nine times what he paid almost four decades ago. Using This is Money's historic inflation calculator, the £7,698 Albert paid in 1986 translates to £24,880 in today's money, meaning a healthy inflation-adjusted profit of 185%.

The boss of Octopus Energy has been forced to explain why its customers' energy bills are going up, even though the power supplied is '100% renewable'. Recent forecasts have predicted that Ofgem's price cap could peak at £4,266 a year in 2023, and along with virtually all other energy companies, Octopus - the UK's fourth largest supplier - is raising the cost of its tariffs. But with the current energy crisis caused by the rising cost of wholesale gas, Octopus customers took to Twitter to ask why their bills were going up, as the power they get is labelled 100% 'green'.

Savers are seeing their cash pots eroded, as not a single standard account manages to pay an inflation-beating rate, This is Money's research reveals. Each month This is Money will publish figures from the analysts Savings Champion which reveal how many current savings deals beat the latest available inflation reading from the Office for National Statistics. Coupled with our independent best buy tables, this should give savers all the information they need to find the hardest-working home for their cash.

Spirent has a strong balance sheet and a policy of rewarding shareholders with decent dividends. These are declared in dollars but paid to UK shareholders in sterling, with 7.6 cents (6.22p) expected for this year and 8.48 cents for next. Technology needs to be tested before, during and after it comes to market. Spirent is a leader in the testing industry, the business is growing faster than ever and chief executive Eric Updyke is confident that he can increase sales to $1billion in the next few years, even if economic conditions deteriorate. At £2.76, the shares are a buy.

This week, Georgie Frost and Lee Boyce are joined by a special guest: James Blower, AKA The Savings Guru, who gives his take on where savings rates are heading next. With the lesser known challengers paying the best rates, how do you know they're any good? And should you fix now or wait?

Right Said Fred star Richard Fairbrass reckons he's made more than £10 million from the 1991 hit I'm Too Sexy. The 68-year-old singer also tells Donna Ferguson he and his brother Fred lost out on making the same amount of money by trusting people they should not have done. Richard lives in a £1.3 million apartment in Windsor, Berkshire, with the other half of the band, his brother Fred. Right Said Fred's new single, Godsend, is available to stream on Spotify and Richard and Fred's autobiography, We're Still Too Sexy, is published this Thursday.

Choosing the right DIY platform is crucial but a wealth of choice and a variety of charges can leave investors scratching their heads. We pick some of the best. We pick some of the best. We also highlight why investing in an Isa makes sense, as it should protect your hopefully growing investments from tax forever.