Press Headlines

Glen_Clark

JuicyJesus wrote: »

In my personal view, relying on income from a cash ISA's interest at a time of historic low interest rates is foolish anyway.

What of those whose working life is over, and their only assets is a few £k in a cash ISA. Are they all foolish?

jimjames

Glen_Clark wrote: »

What of those whose working life is over, and their only assets is a few £k in a cash ISA. Are they all foolish?

If you've only got a few £k in a cash ISA then whether the interest rate is 2.35%, 2.5% or even 10% is pretty irrelevant as it isn't going to make a real difference to your standard of living.

2.5% of £3k is £75 pa
10% of £3k is £300pa

Ifts

jimjames wrote: »

The detail: "Halifax has cut its cash Isa from 2.5 per cent to 2.35 per cent"

Thats just one of the cuts to that cash Isa rate in recent months.

From the article you are referring to:

Halifax has chopped its rate four times in just five months. Its Isa Saver now pays 2.35 per cent tax-free, following its latest cut to new savers, down from three per cent in May — a drop of 22 per cent.

LardyCake

dunstonh wrote: »

... Do people who work in other areas see the media manipulate information in the same way when covering their areas of knowledge/employment?

Yes, but, in most cases, I put it down to laziness & ignorance rather than deliberate manipulation. I does open your eyes when you see/hear media reports etc on areas where you have some expertise.

grey_gym_sock

i'd say it's mostly the combination of journalists writing about topics of which they have no background knowledge, with cost-cutting by media companies so that journalists have no time to fact-check.

manipulation comes into it, partly for the practical reason that regurgitating a press release is a very quick way to write an article when you're expected to come up with copy in a ridiculously short time. PR companies exploit this.

there's also pressures from advertisers. newspapers get much more revenue from adverts than from the cover price. their real business isn't selling newspapers to readers, it's selling readers to advertisers.

there's also control by owners. at least offline, media ownership has been getting more concentrated in a smaller number of very big companies.

atush

dunstonh wrote: »

Newspapers and headlines.... don't get me started.

Out of interest, I see a load a BS posted about financial services in the papers. Usually it is scaremongering, inaccurate or taking of information but presenting it in a rather dodgy way. Or even an article written by an advertiser/sponsor which effectively promotes their product whilst slagging off others.

Do people who work in other areas see the media manipulate information in the same way when covering their areas of knowledge/employment?

I worked in science, so worked for years on things that either pan out or not. Media are only interested in the strange, the titilating, or if there is a cure for something.

My boss was accused by another scientist of 'stealing' his research but didn't (i was in a position to know) but the media never comes back an appologises after unless you have the money to sue them.

I remember a Sunday times report years ago of the theoretical 'invisible car' when a substance was found that bent light making things appear to be not there. And then a week or so ago, we see a news video of a car driving down the road with the first prototype of such a thing. That is interesting to me.

I think the problem with finance reporting is, that usually people find it really boring. So they sensationalize to get more readers.

They also assume everyone has the IQ of a slug.

amblondon

atush wrote: »

They also assume everyone has the IQ of a slug.

Problem is...a lot of people do

*takes cover*

gadgetmind

Glen_Clark wrote: »

What of those whose working life is over, and their only assets is a few £k in a cash ISA. Are they all foolish?

Sounds pretty silly to me!

Glen_Clark

jimjames wrote: »

If you've only got a few £k in a cash ISA then whether the interest rate is 2.35%, 2.5% or even 10% is pretty irrelevant as it isn't going to make a real difference to your standard of living.

2.5% of £3k is £75 pa
10% of £3k is £300pa

OK I should have said a few hundred £k in cash accounts.
Maybe someone who doesn't have a public sector pension, and was too smart to waste money in a private pension.

dunstonh

Maybe someone who doesn't have a public sector pension, and was too smart to waste money in a private pension.

Someone that thinks they were too smart to waste money in a pension and use cash savings clearly isnt smart.

Whilst pensions are not the perfect answer for all your money, they do serve a purpose and will provide the highest income of all the conventional options on a like for like contributions. That is ignoring the shortfall risk and inflation risk that someone using cash for long term is likely to experience. Cash ISA has its place and pensions have their place. 100% into either is foolish. It also ignores the other options like S&S ISA which are frequently more suitable.