Everything from lavish holidays to premium pension plans was aimed at this group of people and many were happy to oblige by passing on some of their hard earned but ‘disposable’ cash.

Those that could and were inclined to, piled their money into pensions to protect their future lifestyle – and then came Black Wednesday and everything started to go pear shaped.

The financial crisis has made things even worse and a report from insurance company Aviva published today suggests that many of us are going to fall seriously short when it comes to retirement.

The over 55s are in the news for all the wrong reasons this time around as the financial crisis and all of the baggage it br¡ngs with it, including unemployment begin to take their toll on this once affluent age group.

The report reveals some devastating facts for the over 55’s in the UK, the Aviva Real Retirement Report shows that a quarter of that group are forced to dip into savings that would previously have been reserved for retirement income, to pay for unexpected expenses.

With banks offering very little worthwhile return on savings, the over 55s are most concerned about the cost of living above most other things, and over 60% are concerned over how they will pay unexpected expenses of £500 or more.

The report finds that over half have made no provision for such expenses and not surprisingly only 6% have made provision for long term care, 9% for private medical care and 23% for home maintenance.

Longer life expectancy a decade ago seemed like a good thing, but these days faced with thirty years of poverty until death doesn’t look so great.

From personal experience paying into a private pension during the 1980/1990’s proved to be  a complete and utter waste of time despite the promise of a better life in the future. Black Wednesday saw to it that the fund was rendered practically worthless, at least was worth less than the hard earned cash that had been put into it.

Following advise from my IFA I continued to make payments into seperate pensions for a couple of years during which time the fund never increased a penny. The payments were stopped and the pension frozen.

Many others are certainly in the same position, the pension market has hardly bucked the trend since. The current economic situation generally means that we are at least worse off than a few years ago and in a lot of cases out of work with little chance of employment because of age discrimination.

If you are 55 now there is another decade to face before the official retirement age in the UK, regardless of the losses they have heaped upon us over the previous ten years you can be sure that pension providers and banks alike will be urging us to take out more business with them to provide for the retirement years.

Is there an alternative?

Typically these households have come off fixed term discounted mortgage deals which were available two or more years ago.  Lenders SVRs, currently averaging [5.04%] are now well above current best buy deals and could benefit from switching to a better deal.

However in the present environment the most competitive deals are only available for loans that have low LTV ratios, typically less than 85% (meaning over 15% in equity). Those coming off special deals on to SVR, but with LTVs remaining above 85%, will be unlikely to remortgage to a more attractive rate.

The good news is that 75% of the current 2.3 million SVR mortgage payers are ‘free to move.’ These 1.7 million (21% of the total UK mortgage market) who have LTVs below 85% have over £116 billion mortgage assets and are free to move to more competitive rates that could collectively save them up to £1.8 billion a year interest payments.

There is also good news for first time buyers who will enter the market as it is starting to open up and incredibly there are deals available where as little as 10% deposit can secure a mortgage at a reasonable rate.

The bad news however is that 440,000 mortgage payers are on SVRs with LTVs above 85% (357,000 are above 90% LTV).  These mortgage borrowers, with loans totalling over £68 billion, are currently unlikely to obtain the best buy new deals due to lack of equity.

There is an easy way to find out how much you could save by switching providers, simply check out Yorkshire’s 3 Minute Mortgage Check. Eight out of ten users have found that they are able to make savings by switching their mortgage provider.

Tom Girling, Mortgage Product Manager at Yorkshire Building Society says;

“A record number of mortgage customers are currently stuck in ‘mortgage limbo’ on SVR rates that are generally far higher than best buy deals. Our analysis shows that the vast majority could make significant savings by switching to a better rate mortgage and with 80% having at least 15% equity in their home, they are free to switch lender right now.”

The European Central Bank will offer funds on Wednesday to banks looking to repay loans later this week. The euro has been under pressure since earlier this year when questions were asked about high government borrowing and markets are tense going into the end of the long term refinancing programme.

The pound was also boosted by comments from the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee member Andrew Sentance who made noises on Monday about raising UK interest rates to counter inflation.

The pound stood at 1.2327 against the euro this morning, getting close to the pre-crisis average.

It is the sixth increase in eight months in Australia and the indications are that it will remain at 4.5% for the foreseeable future, having risen from 3% in October 2009.

Australia is one of the few developed nations that have survived the credit crisis virtually intact, thanks mainly to the rich natural reserves and commodities that make up the countries strong mining industry.

The mining sector has in turn been helped by rising commodity prices and strong demand from developing economies including China.

The growth in the economy in Australia has led to the increase in interest rates as a measure to curb the increase in house prices in the country, property has increased by 20% over the last 12 months.

It is fair to say that plenty have had their fingers burned by the financial crisis through no fault of their own and cannot afford to take the risk of investment under current circumstances.

There are some areas of investment however that have profitted from the financial crisis, precious metals like gold for instance have rocketed in price, leading to a 21st century gold rush where every high street now appears to have a gold ‘expert’ ready to pay cash for your gold jewellery.

Inevitably the ‘gold rush‘ has brought out the worst in some unscrupulous people who are treating the business as they would any other scam that is fashionable at the time, and using outlets to rip off their clients.

But as an investment, if gold is doing well, how about other precious metals such as golds poorer cousin silver?

On the face of it, silver should make a good investment. Demand for silver has outstripped supply every year since 1990 and in the last two years supply has fallen significantly short.

Demand for silver in industry continues to grow, a staggering 44% of all silver produced each year is used in the technologies market alone, a huge growth market itself. But it does not stop there, silver is used in the production of many household goods and is essential to industries worldwide.

In the US the government is currently buying silver futures to replenish an empty stockpile of the commodity and many investors are seeing it as a safe bet, as industrial uses for the product grow along with the scarcity of silver.

It is an argument that is currently raging in financial circles following statistics revealed by MoneyFacts this week after conducting a comparison of interest rates currently on offer from the UK’s biggest lenders.

Basing their research on a two-year, fixed-rate deal for someone able to put down a 25 per cent deposit on a home, MoneyFacts found that Cheltenham & Gloucester, part of the Lloyds Banking Group, charges 4.57% compared to a UK average of 4.19%.

Northern Rock which has 100% Government backing came in second place offering their services at 4.37%, and in third place was the Halifax, another Lloyds lender charging 4.27%.

The only Government supported lender that came out of the poll smelling of roses was the Royal Bank of Scotland, where the average rate for a two year fixed mortgage is shown as being 3.84%.

The lenders involved made a case for themselves by explaining that they each offer a wide variety of mortgages that offer substantial discounts to lenders meeting certain criteria.

But should these banks be seen as being more competitive in a market that almost caused their downfall, the argument is that having taken the tax payers backing the banks priority is to build up their balance sheets in order to repay the funding and show that they can stand on their own two feet.

The argument goes on.

Licuro.com is a totally independent market place designed to bring together, on the one hand, UK savers looking for the highest interest rates for their time deposits and on the other hand banks and financial institutions looking to access alternative sources of funding and gain new customers.

A time deposit is an amount of money that you deposit in a deposit taker for an agreed period of time. For this the deposit taker pays you a certain time deposit interest rate. Licuro provides you with a quick and accurate overview of where you receive the best interest rate.

For instance, if you have say £50,000 to invest for three months, you can put your funds up for auction and recieve interest rate bids from some of the UK and Denmark’s most competetive financial institutions. With just a few clicks you will be able to find the best interest rate in the market for your deposit.

Since July, Licuro.com has processed over £20 million in the UK and two sister sites will be launched in Luxembourg and Belgium in February 2010 with Germany to follow in March 2010.  It is expected that these new sites will see a rapid increase in traffic over the next 12 months.  The original site in Denmark, mybanker.biz, founded in 2002, has processed the equivalent £1.4 billion in the last twelve months.

John Norden, CEO of Licuro.com in the UK and founder of mybanker.biz inDenmark says:

“We are delighted to see Licuro gaining momentum in the UK. We’ve a proven model in Denmark, which has translated very well to the UK although it is still very early days, and with the roll out elsewhere in Europe UK will in the long run give savers the option of depositing with banks in other European countries, with the obvious foreign exchange advantages.

From the savers’ perspective, Licuro is the site to go to if you have, say, £25,000 to invest (although the minimum accepted, which is set by deposit takers themselves, is currently £12,000 with no maximum). We offer savers a totally transparent way of depositing their money at an interest rate that is pushed up by the competition created by the several building societies, each with their own distinct liquidity requirements, bidding for their cash online in real-time.”

The report says that more customers in the UK are making inroads into their mortgage debt, with many households keeping repayments at the same level as they were before the interest rate cuts, allowing them to make a substantial overpayment without affecting their monthly budget.

The news is confirmed by most of the UK’s leading lenders, with the Lloyds banking group saying that customers making overpayments has doubled on last year, with a surprising monthly average of £350.

The Lloyds banking group includes the Halifax, Cheltenham & Gloucester and Birmingham Midshires Building Societies as well as Lloyds TSB and Bank of Scotland.

Barclays said that the number of home owners making overpayments on mortgages with them had risen three fold on last year, but the average overpayment was smaller.

The Bank of England released data last week that suggested that the UK public are also making an exerted effort to clear unsecured loans, confirming that a record amount had been paid off  by households in October.

More older generation home owners who have paid off their mortgages but have a low income are looking to capitalise on the equity in their homes, with interest in the many equity release schemes growing in recent months.

If you are thinking of releasing the equity in your own home, you can first check with an equity release calculator to see the benefits and pitfalls.

The research revealed that while 31% of adults are worried about how they will get through Christmas financially, only 15% have made an effort to spread the cost throughout the year.

Credit cards (14%) and savings (10%) will be used to fund festivities for some this year, but 71% say that they will use ‘money available at the time’ to purchase their share of the nations estimated £11bn Christmas spend.

Money.co.uk warn that reliance on paying at the last minute could see many families stretched to their financial limit, as current trends show that each household will spend an estimated £500 on food and presents, even though the average disposable income stands at £164 per week.

As a result many households will start the New Year feeling the pinch more than usual and face a grim start to 2010 with a long wait for pay day.

Here are some tips from Money.co.uk that could help you enjoy this Christmas and not have to worry too much about finances:

1. Take control of your finances: Have a look at your finances and work out what you have coming in and going out over the next three months.
2. Set a sensible Budget: From that work out what budget you need to allocate.  Be realistic, don’t set a budget you can’t stick to and plan for any last minute unexpected items.
3. Shop Around: The key to success at Christmas is being canny and keeping an eye out for the best deals.  Some sales are already on, so start ticking off those presents now by picking up a sales bargain.
4. Be card smart: If you’re planning to pay for Christmas on a credit card this year, there are some sensible measures you can take to reduce the pain later:

• Cashback Credit Cards: most cashback credit cards pay between 0.5% and 5% of any purchases you make, e.g. if you spend £500 on your credit card over the course of a month you get £25 cashback at the same rate.  These cards tend to suit people who can pay their balance off in full each month as interest rates may be higher than standard credit cards.
• 0% Purchase Credit Cards: Some providers offer 0% on purchases as an introductory offer. For example, Tesco is currently offering 0% on all purchases for 12 months.  As an added bonus you’ll also earn Clubcard points as you spend, which will help when January comes.  However, it is important that these cards are not used simply to delay a problem for a year.  The balance should be paid off before the interest free period expires, either through monthly payments, or by regularly putting money aside in an interest bearing account so the card balance can be cleared in one go before interest is charged.

And finally a list of do’s and dont’s:

• Don’t be tempted by store cards, which often charge very high interest
• Don’t be tempted to get a loan to pay for the additional expense of Christmas. Be realistic about what you can afford.
• Do agree a present budget with friends and family, so everyone is clear what to spend and there is no pressure to spend more than anyone can afford.
• Do start thinking about next year, by looking into regular saver accounts that can offer a really attractive rate of interest.

highest rates guaranteed!

The British Bankers Association have denied claims from consumer groups that the UK’s high street banks are ‘profiteering’ from charging high interest rates on personal finance, despite the obvious evidence that interest rates on personal loans are at a seven year high, while the base rate is at an all time record low.

Consumer groups say that even borrowers with impeccable credit history were being forced to pay through the nose for their loans because of lack of competition on the high street and the banks attitude of ‘punishing the good for the sins of the bad’ in a bid to boost profits.

Despite banks being able to borrow at just above the Bank of England base rate, average interest charges on their loan products represent the highest in seven years in some cases.

Perversely it is the high street banks that were bailed out by the taxpayer that are creaming the biggest profits, with financial website Moneyfacts saying that the highest rate on a £1,000 loan over one year  is the 23.9% offering from Lloyds TSB.

The best loan rates on offer currently are from the banking arms of supermarket chains Tesco and Sainsbury, with an average rate of around eight per cent interest.

Vera Cotrell from consumer group Which?, said:

“Borrowers are paying the price for other people defaulting and for banks not doing credit assessments properly. No other company could get away with saying, ‘Right, we’re going to charge you a lot more for this product now because of our losses.’ Banks are certainly taking advantage of the loss of competition in the market. You could probably call it profiteering.”