Totally wrong info just given on the Money show

Rich1976

Agree his programme is very repetitive and the way he rushes through everything to fit in with the adverts is just annoying . When it is something important such as pensions rushing through everything like that just makes the subject more confusing . 

It was even worse when his show was half an hour . 

The guests are never given much time to talk either .

zagfles

Cobbler_tone said:

'Common folk' find his stuff engaging and highly beneficial. A lot of people operate from a very low level of financial knowledge. e.g. I can imagine many didn't even know the importance of paying a credit card off "IN FULL" before maybe some other debts. Many others never switch energy providers and how many of our parents have always been with BT?
I think they can be forgiven for misrepresenting the previous years allowances on pensions and I doubt the vast majority of viewers are operating in that world, or rushed off in an attempt to take erroneous action. Anyone in that world will be a little more savvy and coming to places like here and the internet to get detailed information.

Maybe his team who monitor the discussions will feedback and he will issue a correction on the next episode.

There was no need to even mention AA carry forwards, it won't affect 99% of the population. What he did say will have caused confusion, as the strong implication was that someone on £20k can carry forwards from previous years and contribute more than earnings (and yes theoretically it's legal but rarely a good idea, and most providers don't allow it). 

He could have just said that pension contributions are limited to earnings, with additional restrictions on high earners who want to make big contributions. 

artyboy

zagfles said:

Cobbler_tone said:

'Common folk' find his stuff engaging and highly beneficial. A lot of people operate from a very low level of financial knowledge. e.g. I can imagine many didn't even know the importance of paying a credit card off "IN FULL" before maybe some other debts. Many others never switch energy providers and how many of our parents have always been with BT?
I think they can be forgiven for misrepresenting the previous years allowances on pensions and I doubt the vast majority of viewers are operating in that world, or rushed off in an attempt to take erroneous action. Anyone in that world will be a little more savvy and coming to places like here and the internet to get detailed information.

Maybe his team who monitor the discussions will feedback and he will issue a correction on the next episode.

There was no need to even mention AA carry forwards, it won't affect 99% of the population. What he did say will have caused confusion, as the strong implication was that someone on £20k can carry forwards from previous years and contribute more than earnings (and yes theoretically it's legal but rarely a good idea, and most providers don't allow it). 

He could have just said that pension contributions are limited to earnings, with additional restrictions on high earners who want to make big contributions. 

Totally agree on that last point, if (as can be reasonably argued) this is a show for the average consumer, then carry over, and indeed IHT, could have been relegated to a footnote, a reference to a more detailed podcast, or just left out entirely. 

Yes they may be disproportionately of interest to me and other regulars on this board, but not to those watching the show.

Albermarle

zagfles said:

Cobbler_tone said:

'Common folk' find his stuff engaging and highly beneficial. A lot of people operate from a very low level of financial knowledge. e.g. I can imagine many didn't even know the importance of paying a credit card off "IN FULL" before maybe some other debts. Many others never switch energy providers and how many of our parents have always been with BT?
I think they can be forgiven for misrepresenting the previous years allowances on pensions and I doubt the vast majority of viewers are operating in that world, or rushed off in an attempt to take erroneous action. Anyone in that world will be a little more savvy and coming to places like here and the internet to get detailed information.

Maybe his team who monitor the discussions will feedback and he will issue a correction on the next episode.

There was no need to even mention AA carry forwards, it won't affect 99% of the population. What he did say will have caused confusion, as the strong implication was that someone on £20k can carry forwards from previous years and contribute more than earnings (and yes theoretically it's legal but rarely a good idea, and most providers don't allow it). 

He could have just said that pension contributions are limited to earnings, with additional restrictions on high earners who want to make big contributions. 

I agree.

However he is only joining the many other people who seem to be confused about this topic, judging by the number of times it crops up on this forum. It is like it is a kind of urban myth !

SmokeysTravels

The pension podcast he did last year was littered with errors as well. There was a thread about it on this forum. Unfortunately, people take what he says as gospel so there really ought to be a greater effort to make sure the facts are correct and not misleading.

hugheskevi

SmokeysTravels said:

The pension podcast he did last year was littered with errors as well. There was a thread about it on this forum. Unfortunately, people take what he says as gospel so there really ought to be a greater effort to make sure the facts are correct and not misleading.

That thread is at this link. 

Cobbler_tone

I'd spin it another way. If you can't believe the odd thing that ML says, just think of how much misinformation you have to pick through on message boards and the internet. I guess not as bad if you read incorrect information that you are not physically capable of doing.
I always research using google and multiple sources to try and establish the 'truth'...it is out there!

artyboy

Cobbler_tone said:

I'd spin it another way. If you can't believe the odd thing that ML says, just think of how much misinformation you have to pick through on message boards and the internet. I guess not as bad if you read incorrect information that you are not physically capable of doing.
I always research using google and multiple sources to try and establish the 'truth'...it is out there!

The problem though is that he's become a bit of a financial messiah to the masses - many many people hang off every word as if it's gospel truth. Just look at some of the FB comments he gets, saying how he's the only person telling the truth, should be PM, what would they do without him etc etc...

Again in the interests of fairness, it's not really his fault - there's a real shortage of serious consumer journalism out there. Martin himself made the point in an awards acceptance speech that he'd really like some competition. The BBC has reduced Watchdog to a slot on the One Show, when really as a public body it should be driving this sort of thing (ok, there's Scam Interceptors, but don't get me started on that twaddle).

The upshot though is that accuracy really does become paramount when people will accept what you say as 'the truth'.

With great power comes great responsibility...

MeteredOut

artyboy said:

Cobbler_tone said:

I'd spin it another way. If you can't believe the odd thing that ML says, just think of how much misinformation you have to pick through on message boards and the internet. I guess not as bad if you read incorrect information that you are not physically capable of doing.
I always research using google and multiple sources to try and establish the 'truth'...it is out there!

The problem though is that he's become a bit of a financial messiah to the masses - many many people hang off every word as if it's gospel truth. Just look at some of the FB comments he gets, saying how he's the only person telling the truth, should be PM, what would they do without him etc etc...

Again in the interests of fairness, it's not really his fault - there's a real shortage of serious consumer journalism out there. Martin himself made the point in an awards acceptance speech that he'd really like some competition. The BBC has reduced Watchdog to a slot on the One Show, when really as a public body it should be driving this sort of thing (ok, there's Scam Interceptors, but don't get me started on that twaddle).

The upshot though is that accuracy really does become paramount when people will accept what you say as 'the truth'.

With great power comes great responsibility...

There's also rip-off Britain  

Grumpy_chap

zagfles said:

There was no need to even mention AA carry forwards, it won't affect 99% of the population. What he did say will have caused confusion, as the strong implication was that someone on £20k can carry forwards from previous years and contribute more than earnings (and yes theoretically it's legal but rarely a good idea, and most providers don't allow it). 

He could have just said that pension contributions are limited to earnings, with additional restrictions on high earners who want to make big contributions. 

The big exception, of course, if SS schemes permitting high pension contributions even for people with low incomes.