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Money Box: How to stop investing in Russia

05/03/2022

How to stop investing in Russia

BBC Radio 4 - Money Box, How to stop investing in Russia

Disinvesting in Russia, funeral plan concerns, energy standing charges and an £8,000 bill.

How to ensure you're not investing in Russia. Tens of thousands of people's funeral plan payments are at risk. Energy standing charge rises. And overturning an £8,000 fuel bill.

As Russian military forces continue bombarding Ukrainian cities and civilians, are your investments supporting the Kremlin's regime? International companies have been pulling out of Russian investment, and pension funds and investment firms say they are reducing holdings in Russian companies. But what can ordinary investors do? Are you aware that a tracker fund or an investment bond might help support Russian firms? We hear from Lucy Coutts, Investment Director at JM Finn Wealth Management.

For 1.7 million people across the UK, funeral plans offer peace of mind that when the inevitable happens their loved ones will be spared having to pay for a funeral. But there is big change on the way for the industry and those customers. By this summer all firms in the sector must be authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority, to raise standards in the industry. But an indirect consequence of this is that tens of thousands of customers could lose out. Money Box reporter Dan Whitworth has been investigating. We also hear from Matt Brewis, Director of Insurance at the Financial Conduct Authority, and from James Daley of Fairer Finance.

Many listeners have been getting in touch to ask about rises in the standing charge in their energy bills. We hear from Helen Barnard, Associate Director at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

And Money Box has won back more than £8,000 for a listener who received a huge - and incorrect - fuel bill from Ecotricity. The company founder, Dale Vince, explains what went wrong and what he thinks is going wrong with the wider energy sector - and how to fix it.

Presenter: Paul Lewis
Producer: Paul Waters
Reporter: Dan Whitworth
Researcher: Ben Henderson
Editor: Emma Rippon

(Photo credit: Anghi / Getty Images)

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