Money

You might be surprised to learn that children's money habits are formed at an incredibly young age. In fact, research by the University of Cambridge has found that many children form the money habits that can stay with them a lifetime by the age of seven!

These habits can include how they value money, make spending decisions, and whether they are more likely to be savers or spenders when they reach adulthood.

There are a several conversation topics that are likely to cause our sensibilities to be strained. Some are probably best discussed in private and, if we want to avoid an argument whilst having dinner with friends, politics and religion are usually out of bounds.

After two years of restrictions, foreign travel has opened up again and many of us will be hoping for an overseas holiday this year. Whether your idea of a summer break is hiking in the alps, camping in the Dordogne, visiting cities, or the sun, sea, and sand of the Mediterranean, going abroad on holiday is an exciting prospect which many of us look forward to for months in advance.

Experts believe that our lifetime relationship with money is mainly formed when we are children. It’s not simply a case of whether our parents had enough money when we were growing up, or not. It’s more a case of how they dealt with money matters, if money was discussed, and whether money caused stress beyond the fact that few families ever have as much money as they would like.

4. Choose the right time

As with many things in life, timing can be everything when it comes to asking for a pay rise. Don’t try to have a conversation with your manager in the middle of a busy office, at the end of another meeting or just because you are both in the kitchen making a coffee!

In an ideal world, our employers will always value the work we do and pay us what we are worth. That doesn’t always happen though. For many people, the pandemic has increased the likelihood of them feeling undervalued and underpaid, as working from home has made them less visible to their line managers, roles have changed, and greater demand is put on us in order to help our employers navigate what has been an economically challenging period.

When it comes to creating a better financial future, we know it’s important to have an emergency fund which is easily accessible (see “Building an Emergency Fund”). For this reason, people will often save money in a bank account which ensures your money doesn’t decrease in value and you can usually access it if you need it. However, with interest rates being low it does mean that there is a risk your money doesn’t grow quickly enough in a bank account to keep pace with the increased cost of living.

How your identity can be stolen?

Traditionally, criminals needed physical information to steal someone’s identity. They got this by:

• Stealing a purse/wallet/bag.
• Rummaging through a bin for documents.
• “Skimming” a bank or credit card at a cash machine or card terminal.
• Stealing post.

However, because we now live in a digitally connected world, physical access to documents and information is no longer essential for a criminal to steal someone’s identity. Technology means they can get what they need via:

Protecting Your Identity

Identity Theft and Identity Fraud are the fastest growing crimes in Europe and the US with around 1 in 10 of us falling victim to these crimes each year. Criminals are using increasingly sophisticated and convincing methods to separate us from our hard-earned cash, and the money they are stealing is also helping fund terrorism and the illegal drugs trade.

So, what can you do to avoid becoming a victim of Identity Theft and Identity Fraud?