The advice comes after research from Bright Grey revealed that a third of people in the UK are either spending more than they earn, or are just about managing to break even every month.

However, as financial problems tend to point to long-term issues, Think Money has advised people to see if they can identify any areas in their finances that could be improved, by looking back to what shape their finances were in 12 months ago.

A spokesperson for the company said: “Ask yourself some questions. Have your finances, generally speaking, improved? Got worse? Remained largely the same? Depending on what shape your finances are in now, compared with 12 months ago, you could take various approaches to dealing with them.”

Some people may find they could really benefit from a new approach to debt management – such as setting up Direct Debits to make sure their repayments leave their account on time – or putting savings aside for a financial ’safety net’.

How a yearly review of your finances could help is a post from: The Thrifty Scot

There are loads of different options available for those that want to go abroad on their holidays these days, and this means that you can enjoy increased flexibility and the chance to make big savings on the overall cost of your holiday. In fact, it is surprising just how much you can save on the cost of a holiday with a little research and time invested. Below are five tips that could help you to save on the cost of your 2012 holiday:

Consider booking separately: In the past most people went for package holidays when going abroad, but the Internet has made it far easier for consumers to take control and book their holidays in the way that they want rather than relying on a travel agent to do it all for them. You may find that it is cheaper to book your flight and hotel separately rather than going for a package deal, so make sure that you compare the prices of both so that you can get the best prices possible.

Book a hotel and flight together: many people use holiday sites such as Expedia and Last Minute to book their holidays these days, and you will find that if you book a hotel and flight together it can work out considerably cheaper than booking just the flight or just the hotel through the sites. Whilst this is not strictly a package holiday, which usually includes transfers and car hire as well as meals in some cases, it is a tailor made bundle that can allow you to benefit from savings that the travel sites can offer.

Compare, compare, compare: The power of the Internet can make it far easier to make savings these days, and this is something that consumers should take advantage of. Whether you are booking a flight, a hotel, or a package deal make sure that you compare prices from a range of sites, including price comparison sites, so that you can get the most affordable price without compromising on the quality of your hotel or holiday package.

Don’t assume no frills airlines are cheapest: With many low cost airlines now touting what look to be amazing headline prices a huge number of us may be tempted to go directly to their sites to make bookings. However, most no frills airlines charge a range of hidden fees, which can really bump the cost of the flight up. You may find that ultimately you are better off booking with a standard airline that has special offers rather than a so called low cost airline that keeps adding on charges for basic things such as checking in a bag.

Use your credit card to book: It is important to remember that as a result of the recession many airlines and holiday companies have gone bust, and because of problems with consumer protection laws for holidaymakers the consumer is not always protected. Make sure that you use your credit card to make your booking, as under the Consumer Credit Act you have more protection and a greater chance of getting compensated should something go wrong if you use a credit card.

Five tips to get the best holiday deal is a post from: The Thrifty Scot

One of the best ways to make sure you stay in control of your finances is to set yourself a budget. Take a look at where you are currently spending your money – you’ll probably notice the areas where you could cut back. Then, plan how much you can afford to spend each month, and how it should be distributed. Many people find it easier to withdraw cash, so that they can keep better track of their spending than they would when paying by card.

Review your current bank cards and accounts to ensure that you are using those which are best suited to your individual situation. By using sites like lovemoney.com and, of course, thriftyscot.co.uk, you can compare a variety of banking offers quickly and conveniently. You might find that you would be better off by switching from the accounts are cards which you are currently using, to others which are better able to accommodate your typical spending habits.

If you have existing debts, then you should make sure that repaying these loans is your priority, before you begin saving. It is also a good idea to avoid offers which allow you to defer payment for an set amount of time. Instead, avoid racking up future debts by paying for the majority of your purchases outright. If you’re used to certain luxuries, whether it be dining in expensive restaurants or taking extravagant holidays, then it is worth thinking about where you might be prepared to cut back. You may even find it easier to place the savings which you make in a separate savings account.

Managing Your Money is a post from: The Thrifty Scot

Offset mortgages are not the most common way to borrow money to purchase a property but in the current economic climate, the advantages they offer make them worth consideration.

An offset mortgage is a loan which links your savings to your mortgage account, ‘offsetting’ the amount you have stashed away against the amount you borrow and only charging you interest on the difference.

For example, if you had a mortgage of £100,000 and savings of £20,000 you would only have to pay interest on £80,000 of borrowing. A good mortgage calculator would be able to show you the impact of this if you know the interest rate on your borrowing.

Offsetting money is not the same as putting down a bigger deposit on a mortgage because the savings remain accessible to the individual at all times and can be either added to or withdrawn whenever they choose.

The savings account must be held with the same bank that is providing the offset mortgage, but can still be run as two separate accounts.

More than one account can be used to offset against a mortgage; some lenders operate a maximum limit whereas others allow borrowers to use as many accounts as they wish to offset.

Any savings used will not earn interest, because the money is being used to prevent interest being added to the mortgage account.

Whilst this may sound like a major drawback, in the current economy this is not the disadvantage that it may initially seem to be.

Using a mortgage calculator, it is possible to demonstrate how much financially better off most people would be by offsetting savings compared to earning interest right now.

With the Bank of England holding the base rate at 0.5% and expected to do so for some time, rates on savings accounts remain pitifully low making it impossible to earn a decent return.

Any gain that is made is subject to tax, making it very difficult to earn a substantial profit at the moment.

By using the savings to prevent interest being accrued on a mortgage, the interest being saved is far greater than could potentially be earned and even better, it is interest saved not earned and there is no tax liability.

Undoubtedly one of the biggest benefits of an offset mortgage is flexibility and there is plenty of scope for borrowers to either increase the amount of interest they pay by withdrawing savings, or reduce it by increasing the amount they are offsetting.

Any borrower who increases the amount of money they have saved will benefit immediately as interest rates on offset mortgages are calculated on a daily basis. A mortgage calculator will be able to show the impact of a greater amount of savings.

Individuals who have little savings will find they are unfortunately not able to benefit from the advantages that an offset mortgage provides, but anyone with a significant amount of money set aside, or with plans to create a nest egg, may find that it is worth taking a more creative approach to borrowing money to buy their home.

Offset mortgages explained is a post from: The Thrifty Scot

Figures were released by the Council of Mortgage Lenders, which also revealed that compared to the second quarter of the year mortgage lending across the whole of the UK increased by 16 percent. The third quarter saw mortgage lending increase across the board, with increases to first time buyers, those remortgaging and home movers.

Whilst first time buyers have experienced a lot of difficulty when it comes to getting mortgage finance, with lenders demanding higher deposits and being more stringent with their lending criteria, mortgages to first time buyers in the third quarter are said to have increased by 7 percent, reflecting an increase of 4600 and up by 10 percent in terms of value compared to the second quarter.

Scotland also saw a very small improvement in terms of lending criteria, with first time buyers taking out loans for 80 percent of the value of the home compared to 79 percent for the previous quarter.

An official from the Council of Mortgage Lenders stated: “The mortgage market in Scotland is currently stable albeit at a low level. We anticipate growth is likely to remain slow going forward, although welcome developments, such as smaller deposits, have emerged and a Scottish mortgage indemnity scheme for new build properties is being introduced. The uncertain economic outlook and low levels of consumer confidence will likely result in a continuing constrained mortgage market in Scotland as in the UK in general.”

Scottish mortgage lending increases in third quarter is a post from: The Thrifty Scot

Without segmentation you can often feel like you are in the dark with only a one-size-fits-all strategy that may not be aimed at attracting the best consumer for your business. Segmentation is particularly effective when undertaking direct marketing; including mail shots, SMS campaigns and direct email marketing. To get the maximum value from your campaign you must maximise sales, and to do this you must target consumers with the products they want to buy. Segmentation will enable you to send out targeted campaigns that advertise your highest priced products to those customers that spend the most, or save you money by mailing a catalogue out every 2 months instead of 1 to the people that buy less frequently. Not only can segmentation increase your return, but it can also ensure that efforts and budget are not going to waste.

The key to effective segmentation is to decide how and why you want to segment your customers. This will often vary between businesses as it depends on your product offerings and how you operate. There are many different objectives for segmentation, but you must first decide on what you want the segmentation to do for you. These objectives can include developing new products, developing new marketing strategies, targeting new prospects or keeping the one’s you’ve got.

So what information should you use? Segmentation is performed with certain variables in mind – demographic, geographic, psychographic and behavioural values.

• Demographic variables represent certain attributes of customers, including age, sex, job type, income, marital, family size etc.
• Geographic segmentation group’s customers according to classifications of their area, such as post code, post sector, district, area or country. Geographic location can have a high impact on the popularity of products and often requires very different messages.
• Psychographic and behavioural segmentation goes further, classifying consumers by lifestyle, personality and values.

Perhaps the best place to start, however, is with by analysing a customer’s past purchase history. This includes products purchased, frequency and their response to marketing campaigns. If you are not collecting this data then you must start now, as the insight will prove invaluable for your marketing. Encourage users to sign up or enter their details on purchase, whether it is online to receive a newsletter or an in-store form that offers the customer discount on their next purchase. From this point data providers can then append a host of other insights to your customer data which can then be used to segment them further.

Segmentation can be hard and requires a lot of skill to get it right. If your strategy is implemented incorrectly then segmentation can have a far more negative effect on your results than not doing it at all. However, if designed well, then you can see tremendous returns when compared to a compromised single message.

Are you talking to the wrong consumer? Without customer segmentation, you might be is a post from: The Thrifty Scot

The fact is, nearly two-thirds of the UK population now shops for their life insurance online, with the aid of price comparison websites, and in the current tight financial climate the low life insurance quotes offered by such sites can be tempting. Moreover, by aggregating information from across the vastness of the internet, comparison sites can claim to offer a wider range of choice than your high street broker. But while this may be true, this decision isn’t always quite so straight forward, and you shouldn’t rule out the more traditional broker route as getting the ‘cheapest option’ isn’t always the right decision for your insurance needs.

When it comes to life and illness cover, it’s important that your policy is tailored to suit your requirements. Say for example, you have history of serious illness in your family you might want critical illness cover to provide financial security towards treatment and recovery. Not all life insurance policies will cover you for these eventualities, and because online price comparison sites compare quotes based on set parameters, they might not take this into consideration. An insurance broker will be able to take these specific needs into account when finding you the best quote. Plus, while online comparison sites do offer a broad range of choice, your average broker will have a big selection of trusted insurance providers to choose from.

Likewise, insurance brokers might be better placed to find specialist insurance for instances that are difficult to insure. Some providers might be less inclined to offer good premiums if you have a history of ill health for example, or likewise, if you want to get mortgage life insurance, which will pay out to your mortgage provider, securing your investment on your death, it might be hard to find the right cover to suit your home. In this instance, an insurance broker might be better placed to find you the best deal, and their personal approach means they can enter into a conversation with the providers that a faceless website will not.

That’s not to say price comparison sites don’t have their plus points. For young people, who are used to managing their personal and private lives online, they offer a quick and easy route to finding the best life insurance. And in a saturated market can help you narrow down your choices. What can prove sensible is to use the online sites to give you a few choices, and then go to a broker to discuss them in finer detail, bringing you the best of both worlds.

The most important issue here is trust. If you’re uncomfortable with the online world, the friendly face of the high street insurance broker can provide an opportunity to talk through your needs and worries. But if you’re happy online, it’s important that you make sure you read through any small print before you make your final decision. Both brokers and the biggest price comparison sites should be subject to rigorous checks by the relevant independent authority, but make sure you have your eye on the ball to ensure you make the best decision for you and your family.

Life and Illness Cover – Price Comparison Versus Insurance Brokers? is a post from: The Thrifty Scot

Officials from HSBC said that although not all of these homeowners were in negative equity as such, many were in a situation where they did not have enough equity in their homes to pay a 10 percent deposit on a new mortgage or home, pay stamp duty and deal with other moving costs.

First time buyers are said to have been affected particularly badly. Figures show that in 2007 the average deposit put down by first time buyers was 10 percent and with the average property price at that time being £160,000 this gave equity of £16,000. However, with prices since then having plummeted most of this equity has been wiped out, leaving first timers high and dry. There have also been regional variations that affect the level of negative equity that homeowners have found themselves in, as prices is some areas have tumbled far more quickly than in others.

An HSBC official said: “These findings highlight the fact that first-time buyers can no longer rely on rising house prices to provide them with the deposit they need for their second purchase. They need to save or make overpayments on their existing mortgage if they want to move up the housing ladder.”

Hundreds of thousands of homes in negative equity is a post from: The Thrifty Scot

According to one recent report Brits have now resorted to using some of their most treasured possessions in order to try and secure a loan in the difficult climate, with an increasingly diverse range of things being used to secure finance according to reports. One online lender said that some of the items that consumers had used in order to secure finance included two Ivor Novello awards, Beatles memorabilia, a Henry Moore sculpture, an 18^th century bible and even a tank! People are digging all sorts of valuables out of their homes in order to get the money that they need.

The consumers who used these items in order to get a loan managed to enjoy varying levels of finance. Whilst the bible only managed to secure a loan of £200 for the borrower, the Beatles memorabilia secured £32,500, the tank £10,000, and the Henry Moore Sculpture £50,000. The two Ivor Novello music awards secured £2500.

One finance official said: “It is fascinating to see the wide variety of customers and assets coming to us at the moment. People are undoubtedly being hit by these tough economic times and are looking at different ways to raise the money to help them pay for those unexpected financial situations. Many people are realising that they have some very interesting and valuable personal items sitting in their homes or in storage.”

Brits using all sorts to secure their loans is a post from: The Thrifty Scot

The research was carried out by British Insurance and showed that around 59 percent or seventeen million workers were worried about the security of their jobs. This reflects an increase of around 7 percent compared to last year. However, fewer workers now have any protection in place to ensure their financial security in the event that they do lose their jobs, with 20 percent of workers having insurance cover last year but only 14 percent having cover this year.

For the other 86 percent of respondents other measures are being considered in case of job losses, such as using any savings, getting into debt to make ends meet, borrowing off friends and family, or hoping for a lottery win – the latter of which is the most worrying of them all.

An official from British Insurance said: “Although we’re told the UK is coming out of a recession, this confidence is clearly not shared by the majority of workers. And with economists predicting that the economy will stagnate over 2012 or suffer a deep recession if the eurozone situation deteriorates, it’s advisable to have a plan to replace any future lost income without dipping into savings or falling into debt.”

Many hoping to sort out finances with lottery win is a post from: The Thrifty Scot