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Factual: Money

The latest news from the world of personal finance

The latest news from the world of personal finance plus advice for those trying to make the most of their money.

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Money Box: 26/02/2011

26/02/2011

BBC Radio 4 - Money Box, 26/02/2011

News and advice on safeguarding and improving your personal finances.

Does your investment adviser really understand your risk tolerance? Index-linked savings are back; and, what cover do you have when your travel plans are affected by civil unrest?

On a scale of one to 10, how much risk would you take with your money? Hard, isn't it? Whatever answer you give is probably fairly meaningless. And the Financial Services Authority says financial advisers do not always accurately interpret what you say about your risk appetite anyway. It says that a failure to properly understand the level of risk a customer can stomach is responsible for more than half the unsuitable advice people are given. Money Box hears from Steffan Huck, a professor of economics and expert in attitudes to financial risk at University College London; Helen White, acting director of life and savings at the ABI; and chartered financial planner, Derek Capelin.

Index-linked savings are back. Three products are on offer. But - with a five-year fixed term - are they really as tempting a prospect as they might at first seem? Paul Lewis speaks to Louise Holmes from Moneyfacts.

If you have cancelled travel plans to a country where civil unrest has broken out, will your costs be covered by your insurance policy? Or will your airline refund your ticket? Or your travel agent? Money Box's Ben Carter finds out what your options are, and talks to Rochelle Turner, head of research at Which? Holiday.

Three of the big four High Street banks have now told us how much money they made - or lost - in 2010. 
And it is becoming clear that although bits of their business continue to to lose money, one aspect of their work remains profitable - retail banking. The stuff of High Street banks that we all do - current accounts, savings, loans, mortgages, credit cards, and insurance. Every one of the major banks made money from its retail operations right through the credit crisis. And all three of the big banks made a lot more from us in 2010 than in 2009. Lloyds which reported on Friday, made more than 4 billion pounds profit on its retail operations - double the overall profit made by the bank as a whole. Paul Lewis discusses this with banking analyst Ralph Silva from SRN.

Producer: Ruth Alexander.

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26/02/2011

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