Weekly Money: the news stories that we noticed 15 to 19 February

19 February

More new energy deals. Flow Energy has launched a new Connect6 tariff, which it claims is its lowest ever deal. For an Ofgem average user, the yearly cost would be £751, it says.

The independent supplier also offers an Energy for Life concept. “We don’t want customers to feel that they have to switch supplier to continue to get a good deal,” said boss Andrew Beasley.

Meanwhile First Utility is going after those who want to fix for longer. Its First Fixed March 2018 + £120 Reward tariff costs £929 a year at typical usage, which is says is currently the lowest two year deal around. Anyone signing up also gets £120-worth of retail vouchers – making the deal work out at a more attractive £869 a year.

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FirstSave five-year fixed rate bond now pays 3 per cent on its anniversary or 2.96 per cent if you opt for monthly interest. You must save at least £1,000 and can only do so online.

However your cash is locked away for five years. “With no early access to funds, savers must ensure they have enough money elsewhere to cover emergencies,” said Moneyfacts.

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The Chancellor’s proposed cuts to the pension annual allowance would be disastrous for middle aged savers, warned experts at True Potential.

The average pension pot for someone in their mid-50s is £51,000. Even after their state pension is factored in, savers will end up £250,000 short of the amount they need to provide their desired annual income of £23,000 in retirement.

To fill the gap a 55-year old needs to put £900 per month into a pension, matched by their employer, and then retire at 67. But George Osborne could reduce the pensions allowance to £20,000 at next month’s Budget, blocking savers from hitting that goal.

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It’s getting harder to be able to afford to retire forcing more than half of retirees to delay giving up work.

That’s according to the Prudential which reckons that 51 per cent of those who plan to retire in 2016 are either already working past their state pension age or would consider doing so.

Just over a fifth of them say that’s because they can’t afford to give up work while nearly three in 10 fear they will not get enough income from pensions and other savings when they retire.

With expectations that they will be retired for 20 years it’s understandable that worries are growing about being able to have a decent standard of living after work.

Some, however, are worried that retirement will hit them in other ways with just over half wanting to continue working “to keep their mind and body active”.

18 February

Are you one of the two-thirds of people who have never switched their energy supplier? The amount you could save by moving to a different tariff has hit a seven-year high.

It’s not small change, according to uSwitch. The average saving made by those switching tariffs soared to £337 last year. Meanwhile at least 10 per cent of dual fuel customers who switched saved more than £567 in the last three months of 2015.

Moneysupermarket reckons that those who have never switched providers could save £3.3bn collectively by taking matters into their own hands and moving to a better deal. What are you waiting for?

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One in three older folk has been targeted by a pension scammer in the past three months, warns Retirement Advantage. The crooks offer ‘free’ pensions advice or investment opportunities by phone, text or email, but are always bogus,

“There are unscrupulous people preying on certain groups, using increasingly sophisticated and convincing ways of trying to defraud large amounts of cash from people’s pensions,” warned Andrew Tully of Retirement Advantage.

“We all need to be on constant guard: if an opportunity sounds too good to be true, it almost certainly is.”

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The rampant house price inflation we’ve experienced in recent years has led to more people than ever ending up living in a million-pound home. .

But that’s set to triple in the next 14 years, reckons Santander. It forecasts that around one in every 20 homes in the UK will be worth £1m-plus by 2030. In the posh London boroughs of Kensington and Chelsea and Westminster, more than 70 per cent of homes will have a value of at least £1m by then, the report reckons.

17 February

New Which? research published today confirms what many i readers have discovered recently: haggling or switching to a new insurer can cut the cost of home cover.

It reckons homeowners could save £80 a year by challenging their home insurer or shopping around for a better deal. i reader David Thatcher had a similar experience. He said: “Each year I question the quote [his broker] offers and typically secure a reduction. This year it was a £50 discount on an initial quote of £390.”

But that’s not right, he says. “It’s scandalous that insurance companies, like the energy providers, do not always offer the best terms and rely on inertia of customers to maximise profits.” It’s another case of profits first, customers second.

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Investor sentiment has taken a significant hit following the turbulent start to 2016. The latest Lloyds Bank Index suggests sentiment has hit its lowest point in more than two and a half years. But investors should “stay calm” said Lloyds’ Markus Stadlmann.

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Another rise in Insurance Premium Tax would “hit millions of people doing the right thing” warned the Association of British Insurers after fears were raised that George Osborne will make a fresh announcement in the March Budget.

November’s tax rise was the Chancellor’s biggest revenue raiser in the Summer Budget 2015 but it added an extra £100 to the annual cost of essential insurance for many households.

16 February

Save the maximum every year into a tax-free individual savings account and you could become an Isa millionaire in less than 30 years, reckons Fidelity International.

The firm’s analysts say it would take 27 years and nine months to have a million stashed in your account if you invest in a stocks and shares Isa at the start of every tax year which then grows by 5 per cent a year.

The current Isa allowance is £15,240. You can use your 2015/16 allowance until 5 April and then start using your 2016/17 Isa allowance from 6 April.

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Raising a child costs more than the average semi-detached house, reckons insurer LV. Its research suggests the typical cost of raising a child to 21 is £231,843, while the latest Halifax property index showed the average price of a semi-detached house at £219,255.

Like the price of property, the cost of raising a kid varies widely across the country. In London, for instance, it’s more than a quarter of a million at £253,638 while in Yorkshire and the Humber its £40,000 less at £214,559.

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Offset mortgages allow you to link your savings to your loan and can help reduce the debt more quickly and the amount of interest you pay. But the number of deals is shrinking fast.

A year ago there were 370 offset mortgages deals: now there are just 233. “Offset mortgages are yet another casualty of the poor state of the savings market,” said Charlotte Nelson of Moneyfacts.

On top of that, they cost more than the best fixed rates right now. For instance, the lowest two-year fixed rate is 1.15 per cent, some 0.22 per cent less than the lowest two-year offset fixed deal.

15 February

The Ministry of Justice has announced plans to cap the fees charged by claims managers. The firms have taken an estimated £3.5bn in charges since 2011 from consumers they’ve helped while they’ve been accused of fueling speculative claims through aggressive marketing and nuisance calls.

“Some claims management companies charge as much as 40 per cent of the final compensation awarded for very little work,” said Justice Minister Lord Faulks. This has got to stop. We’re acting to make sure people aren’t being taken advantage of by these greedy practices.”

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There have been more gas bill cuts announced, this time by independent suppliers. Ecotricity is cutting charges by 7 per cent while Good Energy is reducing gas bills by 7.2 per cent.

The Big Six energy giants have announced cuts of around 5 per cent. “The 5 per cent reductions that we’ve seen so far just aren’t enough,” said Dale Vince, Ecotricity founder.

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Today’s workers will be forced to work into their late 70s and beyond if they want the same level of pension as their parents’ generation.

The warning comes in a new report published today by Royal London. It reckons you would need to work to 77 to get the sort of pension that many people retiring today enjoy, and to 71 even for a more modest pension. This is even if you save every year from the age of 22.

“Many face a cruel disappointment if they think that current minimum contribution levels will deliver them the sort of retirement they are looking for,” said former Pensions Minister Steve Webb, now director of policy at the insurer. “Without significant increases in contributions, we could be witnessing the death of retirement.”