Share Sounds. presented by Georgie Frost related to Economics

Wages are up, but inflation is — the same. What does it all mean for mortgage rates, the state pension, benefits and the economy generally? One thing we know won’t be affected by the latest figure is income tax bands. Just how much is the big freeze – AKA fiscal drag - going to cost us? That’s on the agenda for Simon Lambert, Lee Boyce and Georgie Frost this week as the latest CPI reading stuck at 6.7%. At the start of the year, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak set the target to halve inflation by the end of 2023. And it was looking promising. But this latest inflation figures might have thrown a bit of spanner into the works. What’s going on at Royal Mail? Some households say they are only receiving their post once a week. Hospital appointment letters, birthday cards, parcels and important bills have all gone missing in delays caused by a staffing crisis. In Brighton, households say they’re receiving mail as infrequently as just once a fortnight. Picking an estate agent to sell your home is so important. A good agent will make finding your buyer seem like a breeze. Choose the wrong one and it can cause untold stress, drag the whole process out and you could end up being forced to reduce your asking price and ultimately sell for less. So how do you pick a good ‘un? And just what is gazundering – and why is it back with a vengeance? The new Tesla Model 3 arrives on our fair shores in January - but how much will it cost and is it any good? If it proves to be out of your budget range what about Citroen's new e-C3, set to start from around £17,000. And — range anxiety is real: so would you take an EV on a continental road trip? Paul Barker, motoring journalist of decades, gave it a go and diarised it for you.

Every child could receive a pot of £1,000 at birth to be channelled into long-term investments in UK growth under proposals to give the young a leg up and revive a ‘stagnant’ economy. The idea of a ‘New Generation Trust’ is part of a package of reforms that could add £225billion to the economy, says a report by the City of London Corporation. A £1,000 payment to all newborn children would need to be invested - and it is claimed this could provide long-term capital for UK PLC. It revives memories of the Child Trust Fund scheme launched by Gordon Brown two decades ago, and later scrapped by George Osborne – and that hasn’t exactly been a roaring success. Lee Boyce, Simon Lambert and Georgie Frost discuss the merits of the idea – and why whether this happens or not parents should start building a pot for children as early as possible. It’s been another exciting week for savings – Santander has a new best buy easy-access deal, Moneybox has launched a top cash Isa and First Direct is offering five prizes of £12,500 for those who switch current account – including a £175 bonus for doing so. Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey has been speaking in front of MPs at the Treasury Select Committee about base rate – are we close to the peak? House prices saw their biggest slump since 2009 according to Halifax, with the average home falls £14,000 in a year – chiming with similar data from Nationwide. And finally, electric cars are slumping in value – many models have lost 30% or more in a year. Is now the time to buy, and what on earth is going on?

Inflation falling, wages rising, mortgage rates fall back a bit and fixed savings rates seem to be peaking at 6% - all without a recession (yet)! Is the oasis in sight, or is this a mirage? Georgie Frost, Simon Lambert and Helen Crane review the prospects looking forward. Also, Rishi Sunak vows to keep the 'triple lock' on pensions, but can we afford it?

The Bank of England’s bumper 0.5% rate hike this week was the 13th rise in a row. After sitting on their hands for more than a decade, ratesetters have been shaken out of their slumbers by an inflation storm. By historic standards 5% is not high for interest rates, but unfortunately for borrowers we also started from a historic low and have gone from 0.1% to here in just 18 months. The belated headlong rush into raising rates is also the exact opposite of what the Bank of England spent years assuring homeowners would happen: the party line used to be ‘gradual and limited’. The Bank is hiking rates to try to crush inflation but at the same time this affects a much smaller slice of homeowners than it once did and rapid rise in mortgage costs is crushing a generation of homeowners. So, was another rate rise a wise move? How bad is the pain for borrowers? Is this not a patch on the '80s, or just as bad? Has the Bank of England even given its rate rises long enough to take effect? On this rate rise special podcast, Georgie Frost, Lee Boyce and Simon Lambert tackle all that and more.

Universal basic income is a controversial idea and not just because it's money for nothing. Paying everyone a set amount every month as a baseline level of income has intrigued economists and central bank geeks for years. Supporters say it has the power to improve physical and mental health and the economy and society, but critics say it's the start of a slippery slope to state dependency and control. A new proposed trial for 30 people in the UK to get £1,600 a month has put the topic back on the agenda. So — is universal basic income a good or bad idea? Georgie Frost, Lee Boyce and Simon Lambert discuss it on this episode. Also — why aren't our energy bills lower if wholesale prices have plummeted? What can you do if you are caught in the mortgage storm? And finally, which UK shares have done best and worst so far this year?

And there it was, another interest rate hike. Another quarter point move up seems almost commonplace now, but cast your mind back to the era after the financial crisis and we had to wait nearly ten years for the base rate to climb above its 0.5% 'emergency level'. It cut first and then base rate got all the way to the heady heights of 0.75%, before it was cut again when Covid hit. Yet, less than 18 months since the Bank of England started raising rates in December 2021, base rate has rocketed from 0.1% to 4.5%. The rate itself is still relatively low in historic terms, but the magnitude of the rise is not. So, are the Bank's ratesetters right to keep voting for hikes, has the full pain been felt yet, and why would you do this when all the forecasts suggest inflation is soon to nosedive? Georgie Frost, Tanya Jefferies and Simon Lambert discuss the latest rate rise and how high interest rates will go. Plus, is the return of the 100% mortgage absolute madness, a helping hand for trapped renters, or something in the middle of all that? Why people should claim pension credit or help their friends or relatives? And finally, not only will it lack the crisp one-liners of Succession, but an inheritance drama is not something you want to get into, so how can people avoid one?

Jeremy Hunt had a spring in his step this week as he delivered his Budget. It was a considerably different air to the gloomy warning of trouble ahead in his November Autumn Statement. The headline act was a major shake-up of pension saving rules, removing restrictions that limit the amount that can go in without tax penalties. The lifetime allowance was abolished rather than raised, the annual allowance got a big bump, and rules to stop pension recycling were eased. Was this a bung for the rich shovelling cash into their pension - and doctors - or a move that will help many more young professional savers aspiring to a decent retirement, who may not realise the lifetime limit could be hit? Georgie Frost, Helen Crane and Simon Lambert delve into the Budget and joining them to explain the pensions element is a special guest, This is Money's retirement columnist and ex-pensions minister Steve Webb. Also in the Budget was news on the economy, a ray of hope on energy bills, and a big expansion of free childcare... but it won't come in for some time. The team look at all those elements and more. And finally, as the Budget claimed the headlines something else was rumbling on: a mini-banking crisis sparked by the Sillicon Valley Bank collapse. What is going on there and should we be worried?

The New Year has arrived and with it promises of inflation falling and a ray of hope on energy bills. But even if Rishi Sunak halves inflation, as he claims he will, it would still be running at 5% and his promise to get Britain back to growth may prove harder than the simple maths that sees inflation slow. Meanwhile, a slowdown in the rise of the cost of living doesn't mean things will get cheaper and the better energy price forecasts will still see costs at more than double what they were a year ago. So, will 2023 prove better or tougher for our finances? Georgie Frost, Helen Crane and Simon Lambert delve into the prospects for the year ahead. Plus, what is on the cards for the property market, for pensions and savers and why is Divorce Day tipped to be even bigger this year? And finally, the year is going to better financially for at least one person: the lucky January £1million Premium Bond winner who bagged the jackpot with less than £5,000 saved. Is it time we all stuck more in Premium Bonds, as the prize find is boosted?

‘If they could tax the air you breathe they’d do it.’ That age-old moan about taxes going up has sprung to mind over the past week, as rumours about pretty much any tax you can think of being hiked were spread about. So many kites were flown about potential tax rises that even taxing selling your own home and bringing back the 50p rate were floated as potential Autumn Statement ideas troubling Jeremy Hunt and Rishi Sunak’s minds. If all this came to pass it would surely become known as ‘the everything tax raid’. But will it come to pass? Probably not. You get the sense this is a massive exercise in softening up the nation, so that when some but not all taxes go up on Thursday, people breathe a sigh of relief. Yet could this bout of not-officially-encouraged-but-definitely-not-discouraged speculation do lasting harm to the economy? Simon Lambert argues that case, when he says with sentiment already heavily depressed going into a recession, striking the financial fear of God into the population might not be the best move. Simon, Georgie Frost and Tanya Jefferies discuss the tax hikes that have been rumoured and how likely they are to happen: one gets a minus two in five chance of occurring but others seem more likely. Also, will Hunt stage a raid on pension, either via tax relief or the triple lock? Plus, the story of how Tanya helped a podcast listener win back money after paying over the odds for her mother’s care home. And finally — if among all this gloom you’ve still got room to save, should you save or invest the money, or overpay your mortgage?

Interest rates rise by the highest amount for decades: what does it mean for your money? But despite rising rates, are savers losing out and what can you do about it? Plus 'stealth' taxes — are they more palatable? And gas prices fall, but does it mean lower energy costs? And finally — should you invest in a BTT? Georgie Frost and Simon Lambert help to steer you through the money maze.