Parenthood, passwords and easy money
Welcome to this weeks instalment of news from the world of financial services #ICYMI
Bitcoin: when forgetting your login costs £20,000
‘How to buy Bitcoin’ was the second most googled ‘How to’ in the UK in 2017. Last year the value of the bitcoin leapt from below £1,000 to nearly £20,000. The lust of this decentralised, unregulated currency lured many. Unfortunately the only way to access your ‘digital wallet’ is with a long complicated password — Vice speak to some of the unfortunate souls who forgot their password (its estimated that a quarter of all bitcoin is lost thanks to forgetful investors).
Millennials: expectation vs. reality
The Millennial Money Survey (a study of 4,000 UK adults aged 18–35) has found that for the two thirds of those surveyed who hope to achieve ‘traditional’ life goals like buying a property and getting married will not be financially secure enough to do so. This is the most squeezed generation financially, and the research has shown that without pivotal changes in long-term saving habits, this could negatively impact every area of their lives.
How does the richest man in the world manage his assets?
Jean Paul Getty — perhaps better known as the ‘world’s first billionaire’ — again shot to prominence as the subject of a biopic directed by Ridley Scott. This week, the Telegraph looks at Getty’s investment advice and assesses the claims in his 1965 book How To Be Rich. Would you give investors the same advice Getty does? Read here to find out…
A study by the Royal Society of Arts (RSA) last month found that at least 70% of the UK’s working population are “chronically broke”. The government’s manifesto last year committed to a 6-week breathing space for people struggling with debt, but campaigners want to extend this to a year. How would you build a raft for someone drowning in debt?
Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, the founder of easyJet, is launching a financial services company named (imaginatively) easyMoney. He leads the launch with an Isa paying 4.05%. Will this intervention boost the amount of people investing in Isas? The hope is that the easyIsa will attract investors who are tired of poor interest rates with cash Isas, but don’t want to take a risk on stocks and shares Isas.
