Mums Finance

It is a final demand that will come as a shock to most of us  -  we will pay out almost £1million to cover essential bills during our adult lives. Currently we pay an average of £1,541.91 for gas, electricity, telephone, mortgage or rent and food. This equates to £18,502.86 a year, or £962,148.72 between the ages of 18 and 70. According to the price comparison website confused.com, which questioned 3,000 people, the annual figure has risen by £642.12 in the past 12 months, up by some 3.5 per cent.

Given that millions of private sector workers have suffered a pay freeze or reduced income due to a cut in hours, the rises are putting a real squeeze on living standards. Just this week it emerged BT is putting up landline call charges by 10 per cent to counter the effect of customers switching to mobile or internet calls. And despite gas and electricity bills being lower than a year ago, suppliers stand accused of failing to pass on the full benefit of falls in wholesale prices.

Popularity: 5% [?]

Just while there’s a slight lull in the self-righteous screams of a few posturing Americans over the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico in May, shall we at this point remind President Obama and US Attorney General Eric Holder of a little incident called the ‘Bhopal Disaster’ in India back in 1984…?

Maybe this has slipped the minds of a few American executives – but this tragedy in India at the hands of American Gas giant Union Carbide rates as the worst industrial catastrophe of all time. While Obama calls for British heads to roll over the BP oil spill, let’s revisit a few facts that he might do well to consider…

11 people killed in accident on oil rig leased by British company BP, resulting in 4 presidential visits, a $1.6bn clean-up bill and the establishment of a $20bn compensation fund in 2 months.

15,000+ people killed in accident at Indian Bhopal plant owned by American company Union Carbide, resulting in O presidential visits, O clean-up bill and just $470m compensation in 25 years.

Now, shall we say Pot. Kettle. Black…?

Popularity: 15% [?]

Remember the days when you could withdraw the simple amount of £5.00 from an ATM…? and then one day you could not do it anymore. I always found this to be a pain as there were times when I only had £5.00 in my account (yes, it’s been that bad at times…) and it has not helped that many banks and Building Societies now will not even let you withdraw that small account over the counter due to their minimum-withdrawal-in-branch limits. Now cash machines that only dispense the £5.00 notes, regardless of how much money is withdrawn, are to be installed across the UK. The nationwide introduction of small fund-only ATMs comes after support by Bank of England bosses. They want to increase the circulation of the notes so that less crumpled fivers are handed out as change in shops.

On the other hand, while I welcome this re-introduction, charges are likely to be introduced on these smallish withdrawals and there is the possibility of the ATM’s running out of cash faster than usual. I, however, like the idea of the small-change dispenser – ever dashed in a hurry to withdraw some cash to pay for your bus ticket on a Monday morning only to get a £50.00 note pop out…? and then there’s the look on the face of the bus driver…

Popularity: 13% [?]