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“The [Child Trust Fund] scheme has been closed to new entrants for over 12 years. In this time HMRC has been focusing resources on evaluating and improving existing schemes. We will continue to keep the need to evaluate old schemes under review.” So said Andrew Griffith MP, Economic Secretary to HM Treasury in reply to a parliamentary question from John Ashworth MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. But this is not an 'old scheme' — there is currently over £1.7 billion sitting in mature accounts belonging to over 900,000 mainly low-income young adults throughout the UK who don't know anything about their good fortune! Their Child Trust Fund harvest is seeing too little action at present: but it's not too late to get it sorted, and the current focus from the National Audit Office and Public Accounts Committee will certainly help. Background music: 'Hopeful Freedom' by Asher Fulero

What do you wish you knew when you were just starting out investing? Jason Moser discusses Roblox sharing its last batch of monthly metrics, why the company still has a "glass half-full valuation", and thoughts for a relatively new investor with decades of investing ahead. And at 17 minutes in, Asit Sharma talks with Bill Burns, CEO of Zebra Technologies, about the business of barcodes and robots in fulfillment centers. Companies discussed: RBLX, ZBRA. Host - Chris Hill; Guests - Jason Moser, Asit Sharma, Bill Burns

Adam Cox is joined by Kevin Brown, from Scottish Friendly, to discuss new research which reveals parents’ ability to put money away for their children. They look how sensible it is to give children a Junior ISA as part of their Christmas financial gift, and how Junior ISA's can teach children about investing. https://www.scottishfriendly.co.uk/

Adam Cox is joined by Lynn Grimes, Director of Student Recruitment at Birkbeck, University of London, to discuss new research revealing the changing attitudes towards higher education. She explains the shift towards 'flexible learning, and why students today have different priorities than their predecessors. www.bbk.ac.uk

Adam Cox is joined by Professor Martin Stringer, Pro Vice Chancellor of Education at Swansea University, to discuss new research revealing the public's understanding of higher education, and attitudes towards universities. Martin explains why so many people are still unsure of the clearing process, and provides advice to students, and parents of students, going to university in September. https://www.swansea.ac.uk/

Helping young people to achieve their potential as an individual is a key objective for those who believe in a more egalitarian form of capitalism. So in this episode, we focus on some initiatives which will help us move in that direction in the years ahead. Included in this programme is an excerpt from the epilogue of Antoine de Sainte Exupery's 'Wind, Sand and Stars'. Background music is 'Solar Power', by Ashley Shadow.

Adam Cox is joined by TJ Supreme, CEO of the TuKo app, to discuss how TuKo aims to bring every on-demand service into one easy to use application, and what the inspiration behind the company was. They delve into how the older generation may benefit from an app such as this, and how it can protect users from “cowboy” tradespeople.

More than five years since pension freedom arrived a solution to take the pain out of investing in retirement is being lined up. Before pension freedom many savers were locked into buying an annuity with their personal pensions or defined contribution work schemes – and a lot of them felt they were getting a raw deal. That’s meant that keeping a pension invested and drawing on it as you choose in retirement has proved a very popular option. It is also a very tricky one to navigate – but now some simple help is at hand, so will it crack the conundrum of pension freedom without the pain? Tumbling annuity rates, an industry that failed to make sure people shopped around and the gamble on life expectancy that meant if you died early then you and your family would lose out, made annuities hugely unpopular. So, Chancellor George Osborne came up with a big bang approach that meant nobody had to if they didn’t want to anymore. The problem is that many people had simply opted for a ‘pay money into my pension while working and not think about it’ approach and so had no real idea how to invest for retirement. Now the industry has come up with a solution that involves savers being offered four ready-made investment deals when they first dip into their pension pots, if they do so without financial advice. On this week’s podcast George Frost, Tanya Jefferies and Simon Lambert, discuss whether this is the answer that savers need. They also look at the tsunami of pension and investment scams, what people can do to protect themselves and ask whether it’s the FCA or Google and the social media companies that should be doing more to crack down on it. Simon outlines his theory on why just as we are about to be able to get out and enjoy ourselves again, some big ticket inflation might hit. And the team look at another Santander 123 account rate cut – is it time for customers to finally give up, or is it a deal still worth having?

Adam Cox is joined by Christine Gouldthorp from PriceRunner, to discuss new research findings that show how older consumers lack trust and confidence in online retailers. They look at why more older people are shopping online, despite the worries and concerns that they have, and what consumers should look out for to ensure they are staying safe when shopping online.

Tamara Gillan takes a look back at some of her favourite episodes and top tips from guests in 2020.