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By Mark Lewin Staff Writer
Friday, 17 July 2009
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Previous Money News Roundups
See our other recent Money News Roundups and other related news stories:
Money News Roundup (10 JUL 09)
The week in money with Julia Kukiewicz: find out why Barclays objects to changes to PPI, how a fine for E.ON has mades no change for consumers and why Brits are in denial over savings.
Money News Roundup (03 JUL 09)
The week in money with Julia Kukiewicz: find out what a credit card crackdown actually involves, who thinks energy bills aren't high enough and why everyone’s paying off their mortgage.
Money News Roundup (26 JUN 09)
The week in money with Julia Kukiewicz: find out why Brits could soon be getting £5000 a year energy bills, how credit card spending is shrinking and why lottery money is going unspent by charities.
Money News Roundup (19 JUN 09)
Find out why credit card holders have been left with Egg on their faces, how young women risk bankruptcy and who would engage in some Hitchcock-inspired fraud in this week's money news round up. By Julia Kukiewicz.
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£1 million in household bills, 90% tax for bonuses, roaming call cuts and how babies can help find lost wallets in this week's money news.
Average Household Pays Over £1 million in Bills
According to a recent study by insurance quote comparison site Confused.com, the average household spends £18,144 annually on rent, bills and other essentials. That equates to almost £1 million during a typical lifetime.
Not surprisingly, the biggest single cost for most households is the rent or mortgage payment at an average of £6,182 a year. A further £1,167 goes out on fuel and water bills and nearly £1,500 a year on insurance.
This highlights the importance of shopping around for the best deals, says Confused.com. Makes you wonder if you're paying too much for essentials doesn't it?
Fat Cats Still Look Forward to Huge Payouts - But at 90% Tax?
Despite having been instrumental in causing the current recession, it looks like the fat cats and city whizzkids can look forward to receiving another massive bonus this year, unless the Chancellor gets his way.
Wall Street giant Goldman Sachs is expected to pay an average of almost £400,000 in salary and bonuses to each of its 5,500 London-based staff, funded by $6.2 bn in tax received from US citizens in 2008.
Other bankers can also expect to get whopping bonus cheques this year, at the same sort of level they received in 2007 - a boom year for the banks.
MPs have accused the City of burying their heads in the sand and acting as if the financial crisis never happened.
Alistair Darling has proposed a 90% 'uber-tax' on bonuses in excess of 15% of salary. Calling most of these bonuses 'unjustified', he said: "No lessons seem to have been learned. The public feel quite rightly frustrated and let down."
EC Cuts Down on Mobile Calling Charges Abroad
If you've been travelling abroad this month, you may well have received a very welcome text from your mobile phone operator. As a result of the recently introduced price caps from the European Commission, many have abolished the roaming charge - the fee you are charged to move between different networks on the continent.
Under the new EU-imposed rules, operators cannot charge more than 43 cents (37p) per minute for calls made within the EU. Receiving a call has been capped at 19 cents and will fall even further to 11 cents in July 2011 and each text message can cost no more than 11 cents to send.
However, the new rules disguise the fact that all operators charge differently. Make sure you read the small print before using your mobile abroad.
Keep A Baby in Your Wallet ... And Keep Your Wallet!
To increase your chances of having a lost wallet or purse returned, ditch that photo of your wife or dog that you keep in your wallet and substitute a picture of a baby instead. Even if it's not your own!
In an unusual experiment last year, hundreds of wallets were dropped in the streets of Edinburgh. Some of them had one of four photos inside: a cute puppy, a happy family, a sweet-looking elderly couple or a laughing baby.
Incredibly, nearly half of all the wallets were returned. But what really surprised researchers was that 90% of all those found with a baby picture inside were handed in, compared to just 15% with no picture at all.
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