Check you wallet carefully for £20 notes as the old style £20 note will no longer be considered legal tender as of June 30 meaning shops will no longer accept them and it is up to banks whether they are swapped for the newer notes or not.

From 1st July, £20 noted with the image of Adam Smith, the Scottish economist, will be the only £20 notes considered legal tender. These notes were first put into circulation in March 2007.  Read more... (222 words, 1 image, estimated 53 secs reading time)

According to the latest research, millions of people who are set to retire in the next few years have unrealistic views of their pensions and are living in denial about their finances. Many still have hefty mortgages on their properties and have little or no savings.

Pension advisors are concerned that many people are looking to their properties to provide for their pension – however many people have large mortgages on their properties still and are also not looking to move in their retirement.  Read more... (212 words, 1 image, estimated 51 secs reading time)

Mortgage lenders have warned that there may be a shortage of credit in the coming months, leading to many first time buyers unable to secure mortgages.

The Council of Mortgage lenders has said that government schemes to keep mortgage lending afloat end in 2014, leaving a funding gap of £300 billion.

Before all the economic problems of the last few months, the gap between what the banks took in savings versus what they lent out was covered my the wholesale market in mortgage debt. However when the world financial markets were hit in 2007, the UK government was forced to plug this gap with the special liquidity scheme and credit guaranteed scheme.  Read more... (173 words, 1 image, estimated 42 secs reading time)

No-win no-fee lawyers are said to be the main cause of increasing car insurance premiums this year. Research shows that the average car insurance premium is set to rise 15 percent this year.

According to Consumer Intelligence, the average annual premium is £564.19, almost 20 percent higher than the same time last year – and is predicted to rise by 15 percent to £648.82 by January 2011.

There are two main factors contributing to the rise – the first are no-win no-fee solicitors whose ads on TV have seen many more people deciding to pursue personal injury claims after crashes, pushing up the amounts insurance companies have to pay out and therefore increasing premiums.  Read more... (143 words, 1 image, estimated 34 secs reading time)

With all the BA strike talk at the moment, if you’ve booked a flight and your airline goes on strike, what sort of comeback do you have?

If your flight is cancelled due to industrial action (aka a strike) EU regulations state that you should either be provided with an alternative flight to your destination or your plane ticket should be refunded in full within seven days of the cancellation.

If you have bought a flexible or refundable ticket, you can cancel the ticket ahead of the strike action and rebook your flight. If your plane ticket is non refundable, you should not cancel the ticket until strike action is fully confirmed as you will not receive a refund.  Read more... (327 words, 1 image, estimated 1:18 mins reading time)

London mayor Boris Johnson has warned that up to 9,000 bankers could leave London thanks to the recently imposed tax raid on their bonuses.

A new tax rule states that there will be a 50% tax on bonuses over £25,000 – a tax which wil initially only be for a year. The Conservatives have said that if they win the General Election they will scrap this new tax.

Although the new tax is predicted to bring in around £5 billion, Johnson believes that it could have a massive detrimental effect on the City and could undermine London’s status as one of the World’s financial capitals.  Read more... (258 words, 1 image, estimated 1:02 mins reading time)

It’s always interesting to see who the richest people in the world are and what they earn. Over at Business Pundit, they have put together the 12 highest earners in 2009 along with what they earned and how they earned it.

Stephan Schwarzman: $702,440,573
Stephan Schwarzman is co-founder of the Blackstone Group private-equity firm. According to CNN money, he took home $702,440,573 (in salary, equity and bonus) in 2009 increasing his total net worth to $7.8 billion.  Read more... (640 words, estimated 2:34 mins reading time)