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?

In an article on the BBC news site Knight reiterates the recent findings of the Bank of England’s Trends in Lending report, whose agents across the UK have reported that demand for loans from SME’s remains weak.

Despite UK banks lending as much as £500m to small businesses there are calls from some SME’s and their representatives to make more funds available.

Knight insists that adequate funds are available and that banks are committed to lend to viable businesses, after all the core business of the bank is to make a return for its customers by lending money to sound borrowers.

The report also suggests that similar to personal debt, many companies are attempting to pay off their debts rather than saddle themselves with more.

The crux of the article is that banks are prepared to offer finance at any level providing that the borrower is viable and can demonstrate the means to repay the money.

Historically in the UK  many small businesses have borrowed beyond their means and once saddled with an overdraft facility have simply attempted to increase the borrowing year on year.

This works ok in a normal or booming business climate, but during the financial crisis banks have had to become more aware of their own failings. Constantly increasing business debt to companies that do not have the facilities to reduce the burden is no longer seen as viable business to bankers and rightly so.

It is up to business owners to ensure that they have are viable and not bogged down in debt already before approaching the bank for increased finance.

More so than for many years, business borrowers will need a robust and sustainable plan for repayment of any monies lent to them, before the bank manager is likely to be interested in lending.

The Forum of Private Business claims that business owners are finding it more difficult than ever to access finance and indeed many report that they have had overdraft facilities cut, or withdrawn altogether.

In a separate survey the Federation of Small Businesses found that 25% of its respondents are unhappy with the support they are getting from traditional lenders.

Whatever way you look at it the traditional lenders that were rescued from the financial crisis by the previous government are still refusing to play ball with many small business account holders.

This is not always the fault of the banks of course as many SMEs are primarily sales orientated and will take an order at any cost, even when knowing that they may face a long wait for payment from the customer.

For these businesses collecting outstanding accounts is a secondary consideration that will never receive the same attention as obtaining an order.

There are of course other options to conventional banks when looking to finance the growth of a business and among these are Factoring and Invoice Discounting. Companies offering these services operate only in the business sector and should therefore understand your needs better than some of the more traditional lenders.

Factoring and Invoice Discounting are quite often considered to be same thing, this is not actually true and the basic differences are explained here.

Factoring is a process whereby a business sells its outstanding sales invoices or accounts receivable to a third party (Factor) at a discount, in return for immediate payment. This is a continuous process that ensures a regular cash input into the business each month and reduces the need to chase bad debts.

The Factoring company is then responsible for collection of outstanding accounts by providing a full sales invoice administration coupled with credit control and debt collection service, enabling the business owners to concentrate fully on growing the business.

Alternatively, an Invoice Discounting Company will lend your business money using the sales ledger as collateral, releasing immediate cash against sales on a regular basis.

The business owners retain full control of the sales ledger and remain responsible for the collection of outstanding accounts.

This article is intended as a very basic guide to Factoring and Invoice Discounting versus conventional banking in the UK for SME Businesses. Services in this sector are tailored to suit individual companies and anyone looking for alternative funding for their business should seek advice from the experts in this field.

Britain’s first new high street banking group since the 19th century will open its doors on Thursday promising a return to traditional banking practises from its ultra modern premises.

The flagship branch is the first of twelve planned openings across Greater London during the next two years, with premises in Borehamwood and Fulham Broadway already being fitted out in readiness for October launches.

Despite the promise of traditional banking values, Metro Bank opening hours are straight out of the 21st century and the branches will open at 8am until late and also at weekends.

John Wriglesworth, Moneyexpert and Immediate Financial, comments:

“Metro Bank’s launch is excellent news for the retail financial services sector as well as ordinary consumers.    People will be given more choice on the high street and we should see additional competitive deals which will spur other banks and building societies into offering similar – and potentially even better – products.   The banking sector – which has been shaken over the last couple of years – will also take heart from a new entrant with ambitious plans for the future.”

Almost two million of the counterfeit coins were returned to the Royal Mint during this last financial year, double the number destroyed in the previous year.

In the first three months of this financial year 187,000 fake coins have already been taken out of circulation.

That is a staggering statistic and bearing in mind that once accepted in good faith the fake coins are rendered worthless, it is good reason to be more careful when checking the change given when making any purchases.

Attempting to pass on a coin that you have identified as a counterfeit is an offence and could lead to prosecution. Experts consider that as many as 30 million counterfeit one pound coins exist in the UK today.

Help identifying fakes:

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 results of the survey published in this months Great British Life magazine make interesting reading particularly to anyone who is considering putting their property on the market in what is still considered to be a buyers market in the UK.

The report says that based on the average house price, as reported by the Land Registry, adding an extra bedroom could increase the value of the average property by just over £14,500 while a loft conversion would increase the property value by £11,757.

Other improvements are shown in value order:

Extra Bathroom              £10,101

New Kitchen                     £ 9,605

Central Heating               £ 8,942

Off Street Parking           £ 8,611

New Bathroom                £ 8,445

Conservatory                  £ 8,280

Double Glazing                £ 6,955

Conservative Decor      £ 6,127

Landscape Garden         £ 5,961

Insulation                        £ 3,809

Wooden Flooring           £ 3,312

Alarm System                  £ 2,650

Movewithus add that the most common factors that devalue a home for potential purchasers are;

Structural Damage, Extreme Mess, Damp, Poor or Personalised Decor,  Strong and Unpleasant Odours and an Overgrown Garden.

So if you are wanting to sell your property quickly get rid of the fancy coloured walls and choose a neutral colour scheme through the house, if the outside has been overlooked for sometime there are always decent gardeners and landscapers available.

There are also four tips from movewithus to add value to your house for less than £100:

Clean it, Hide all the clutter, Freshen up the paintwork & Tidy up the garden.

While it was not unexpected many have been left reeling at the severity of the austere measures announced by George Osborne, wondering what the next few years have in store for debt laden Britain.

Far from seeing a light at the end of the tunnel as many had hoped coming into the election, the government has laid out the finances of the country clearly for all to see and it is not a pretty picture.

For the general public the future may look bleak, many of us are already struggling to make ends meet and further cutbacks in the household budget will obviously prolong the pain, but generally being British we are prepared to face up to things and move forward.

Tightening an already strict budget is nigh on impossible and we are often being asked for advice and tips for money making or saving opportunities.

There is no easy answer, get rich quick schemes as we already know exist only for those selling the scheme and often the only alternative course of action is to resort to selling off unwanted household items at boot fairs  or on ebay or to sell unwanted gold and jewellery to a specialist.

If you have the time and some available finance it is possible to make decent money from buying other peoples unwanted items and selling them via the internet or through boot fairs and the like.

However this may involve having to register yourself as self employed and your earnings would then be subject to UK taxes and National Insurance contributions.

The next few years will undoubtedly take their toll, we may have to work harder or longer hours to survive unscathed and now is the time to prepare ourselves for the journey.

Of course in the current financial climate many of us will be looking at the many and varied ways of keeping the kids happy and occupied while keeping an eye on the family budget.

Prior to the school holidays starting is a great time to make sure that you are getting the most out of your bank and anyone who hasn’t switched to a high interest savings account should consider doing so now to start enjoying  the benefits.

Many of the most popular overseas holiday destinations no longer represent good value for money, so consider a stay at home holiday in the UK or for best savings treat the children to special days out.

Most children simply appreciate having their parents to themselves for days out, where the attention is totally on them and parents will also feel great for creating quality time with their family.

Younger children in particular love the reward of working and playing with their parents and the summer holidays is a great time to spend creative time with them.

Keep them occupied while also teaching them how to make things like simple papier-mache plates or greetings cards, things that cost nothing but will be rewarding for both you and your children.

Look out for ideas in magazines and on the internet and try to always be one step ahead so that you don’t have to hear that all too popular comment, “Mummy I’m Bored!’ during the school break.

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.