Last chance for Isas

The deadline for this tax year's Isa is approaching and you have this week to bung any spare cash into a tax-free savings account or investment. But where to put it? Obviously that's up to you but here are some pointers:

General Isa information

Everything you need to know to help pick the best Isa

Cash Isas

At the very least if you have cash in a standard savings account you should consider this week opening a cash Isa account. It's the same as a bog-standard one but you'll get paid more interest. It's money for nothing.

Best-buy cash Isas

Do your own research

Find an Isa using our search and compare tool

Equity Isas

Experts pick their top equity Isas

Win an Isa

Yep, you can even win a share of £5,000 to invest

Note: This is probably the last time we'll mention Isas this year. But remember, if you don't take advantage of this year's tax-free benefits you lose them for ever. However, it means that from next week you should start planning your Isa savings and investments so you don't leave it to the last minute again next year.

Organise the internet on one page

Email may or may not be one of the greatest inventions ever - the jury's still out on that that one - but alongside the World Wide Web it is without a doubt one of the greatest features of the internet. But there is another feature that is possibly even better than email and yet few people know about it and even fewer understand it. It's called RSS.

Nobody even knows for sure what the initials stand for, but in short RSS it is a clever way of accessing information from websites without having to visit the sites themselves. For example, you can see This is Not Work on a service called Feedburner.

But our favourite service is called Netvibes, set up by a former journalist Tariq Aziz, who got fed up trying to keep track of the internet so made something that would do it for him, and us, all on one page.

All of these services are a bit geeky, but Netvibes looks attractive and once you click on Add contact you can paste in a box the url of the site you want to track and it adds it to your page. You don't even have to register, but it is advisable to avoid losing the settings. You can even use it to watch your email, eBay, Facebook (if you're one of those), the weather and more or less anything you can think of.

Give it a go: Netvibes

Or visit the one we made for This is Money

Beware the BT price hike

The idea was to run this tip on 1 April but that would make it look like a poor April Fool - and this is no joke. From 1 April BT is putting up the price of weekday evening telephone calls by around 2000%.

The cost of a one-hour call is rising from 4.5p to 90p.

Of course BT is putting a positive spin on this rip off. BT is selling the change as a 'Get free UK weekend calls,' which is great unless you use BT in the week.

If you are on BT's Option One tariff and make calls in the evenings, which currently cost just 4.5p an hour then you need to weigh up your options to avoid your bills rocketing. If you keep paying the BT line rental you can easily make cheaper calls using one or more other providers. I use these:

http://www.1899.com/

http://www.18185.co.uk/index2.php

http://www.alphatelecom.co.uk/uk/default.aspx

Or for a cheaper all-round alternative use our

Phone finder service from uSwitch

Archive: how we broke the story of the BT stealth rise

Win a financial makeover from TV money man Lawrence Gold

If you've always wanted a celebrity money makeover but don't like the thought of appearing on the telly, well here's a competition for you.

To celebrate the launch and rising stardom of This is Not Work we have teamed up with T-Mobile to offer readers the chance of a money makeover at home with Lawerence Gold, presenter of BBC show Bank of Mum & Dad.

Enter now

'Get your US dollars now'

Well that's one frozen squib of an Easter out of the way for another year. Except it's not a year this time. It's way more than that because thankfully Easter 2009 doesn't crop up until the middle of April, where it is supposed to be - with its accompanying warmer weather and school holidays.

I don't know about you but by Easter Monday we found ourselves huddled around a radiator listening to the wireless. And in particular to Money Box Live on Radio 4, which was dealing - spitefully - with holidays. Or what we would have been doing had Easter been at its proper time.

The programme concluded, as is fairly inevitable, that anyone going on holiday should have travel insurance and if you go away often you should consider an annual policy. But there was one point that is worth reiterating here. If you're going to the USA or to a country where the dollar is used you should 'get your dollars now'. It's a valid claim.

One key factor to the US/£ exchange rate is the difference between our interest rates and as it stands it's looking as good as it's going to get. US rates are extremely low and though they could get lower so could ours so the difference is probably as wide as it will go. Besides, the pound is weakening against the euro and other major currencies and could quite easily fall considerably against the dollar. The prospects aren't great.

You can learn about how exchange rates work here

See today's tourist exchange rates

Which currency to take? Click on Currency Calculator and Currency recommendations

Find an annual travel insurance policy from £38

Cost of using plastic abroad soars

10 things you never knew about money but probably ought to

The entire Western financial system is in something of a mess at the moment because of greed, fear and a complex web of investment vehicles that even the morons who invented them don't understand. If only, you're asking yourself, there was a way of getting basic lessons in complicated financial issues in say a mere 30 seconds.

Well there is. This lunchtime check out some of our recent 30-second finance guides because this mess will affect you somehow.

30 second guide to private equity debt
30 second guide to bank rescues
30 second guide to bank capital
30 second guide to cost of living indices
30 second guide to 25-year fixed mortgages
30 second guide to power prices
30 second guide to US interest rates
30 second guide to rogue traders
30 second guide to equity derivatives
30 second guide to dead cat bounce

Or if this is all a bit too much, here's a helpful video that shows you how to decorate easter eggs

How to survive the credit crunch

OK, This is Not Work takes a light-hearted look at the issues that you need to tackle to sort your life and your money. But this credit crunch business is getting serious.

Everyone this lunchtime should read, print, study this guide to...

How to survive the credit crunch

Win a share of £5,000 to invest

We have teamed up with Unbiased.co.uk to offer readers the chance to win a share of £5,000 - with some independent financial advice on where to invest it thown in. First prize: £3,000, two runners-up prizes: £1,000 each.

Enter now

Tickets for sold-out events

Anyone trying to buy tickets for popular concerts would be forgiven for thinking that the whole thing is a stitch-up. Ticketmaster, for example, uses its ticket exchange to offer top seats at above-face-value prices. Seats which, when we've tried to to buy them, were not available at face value in the first place.

If you recognise this problem here are some useful pointers from the This is Money team:

Seetickets - the first choice for discerning concert-goers. Often holds back seats to allow those people unable to log on first thing in the morning have a chance of getting a ticket. 

Ticketline - a lesser known Manchester-based agency often has tickets after others have sold out. It has recently revamped the site to make it much easier to use.

Stargreen - a real gem because even fewer people have heard of it. Regularly has tickets when the others are sold out.

Ticketmaster international - why not think about travelling further afield? The venues in other countries are often smaller than in the UK so you get a better view and the tickets can be half the price. Worth considering if you can make a weekend of it.

Related

Tickets rip-off campaign

Affordable art: £50-£3,000

The good news is that this weekend it's the Affordable Art Fair, where you get the chance to snap up works by up-coming artists who may go on to greatness, turning your purchase into a handy investment. The bad news is that it's in London Battersea Park, which if you live outside of London is one kind of nuisance and if you live in London you'll already know it is not the easiest part of town to get to. But it is worth the effort. There are 120 galleries exhibiting 'a fresh line-up of paintings, sculpture, photography and original prints - all priced between £50 and £3,000'. There are also children's workshops and a creche.

If you cannot make it, however, you can also take part online, kind of.

>> Check out the exhibitors - some of which allow you to buy online.

>> Check sites such as London Art, which aims to offer affordable art 'to a wider audience'.

•   Update: Since we wrote about Affordable Art exhibitor Sarah Huxley Edwards two years ago, her work began selling out and she stepped up a career rung with commissions from leading global brands. Fortunately, there are still a few pieces that remain available for money that your average family can consider.

More money saving ideas

Quit drinking for less than a tenner

If you drink a bottle of whisky every day you're going to be around £200 a year worse off in the wake of yesterday's apparent attempt to cull binge drinkers in the Budget. If you top your spirits up with 1,000 pints of beer a year (20 a week) you're going to have to find a further £14 a year. Hardly a deterrent. If you feel you or someone you know has issues with drink you would be far better off getting the book, Beat the Booze. It's a brilliantly easy-to-read and grown-up stab at highlighting and solving drink problems in their various guises. And it's less than £10.

http://www.beatthebooze.com/index.html

Related

>> All the Budget coverage

Fix your own mortgage, save £10,000s

It's Budget Day. The day the Chancellor tries to balance the country's books by putting up taxes and cutting public spending while trying to make it look like he's cutting taxes and spending more on schools and hospitals. In the scheme of things it is likely to affect your pocket by a few quid over the coming year. Big deal. Far better, then, to sort your own budget out. And the best thing to tackle is your mortgage - because you spend so darn much on it.

In spite of what you may have heard about the credit crunch there are some decent deals out there - a 3yr fix from the Post Office with a flat £600 fee - and some potential horrors - a 3yr fix from Alliance & Leicester with a 2% of loan fee (£2,000 per £100,000).

This lunchtime you should check these links.

>> How to weather the mortgage storm

>> Do your own mortgage research

And why not consider this.

The 'fix your own mortgage' trick

Rather than pay lenders for short-term fixed-rate mortgages every two or three years, you can fix a mortgage yourself. This involves taking a flexible mortgage and overpaying by the maximum you can afford. That way you are immune to any smaller fluctuations in interest rates because you have set your overpayments to the equivalent of say 9%. 

For example. £100,000 @ 6% over 25 years = £644 / month. Total repayment: £193,000.

But if you can afford £840 a month - equivalent to a 9% interest rate - you can reduce the time it would take to pay it off by 10 years and save you £42,000 in interest. Flexible mortgage rates tend to be dearer than short-term fixes but it may be worth considering.

How to cope with email overload

Some useful help in dealing with email parasites - you know, the people who insist on CCing the entire company - was broadcast by the BBC on the Money Programme the other day. Why the Money Programme? you may ask. Well, one company alone reckoned it was losing £39m a year dealing with pointless emails.

The programme concluded that you have to find a way of managing your inbox or it will destroy you. If you recognise the problem you can get a flavour of the programme here, Email is ruining my life, and find out more about the three Ds theory at Email: a square peg in a round hole. That is Do it (if it takes 2mins or less), Defer it, Delete it.

Related

If your emails are under control and you want a quality informative weekly read then you're missing out if you haven't signed up for This is Money's newsletter. It only 'costs' your email address.

Best travel websites for parents

Ryanair and Easyjet have changed the way we travel for ever. Ryanair, in particular, turned the market on its head by creating demand for cheap flights to places that hitherto no one would think of going to. Klagenfurt anyone? Families, however, forced to travel in the school holidays will have found that cheap flights are something of a myth. Not always, but research takes time. If you prefer to choose your destination first then work out how to get there we recommend Expedia.co.uk for general flight search, newcomer Airlinedestinations.co.uk is worth a visit to find who flies where and Skyscanner.co.uk compares the low-cost flights with ease. Kayak.co.uk can often find attractive flight deals so is worth a look even though it has no child search option for flights or hotels, which is pathetic. The reviews on Tripadvisor.co.uk are always worth a read but remember the ratings/ rankings are a pretty arbitrary affair. And finally, however you plan your holiday you should at least once in your life sign up for the Travelzoo newsletter. We're still not sure if this is the best travel tool or the worst. The principal is a fine one. They track down the best deals of the week and send them to you. But they too often suffer from the dreaded 'prices from' disease. Make your own mind up.

Related links

More top travel websites chosen by Travelmail

Travel insurance from a few quid - no, really

European breakdown insurance

Archive: Ebay holiday conwoman jailed

BA / Virgin flights reclaim

Updated: May 2009 - payments are now being made

Few songs sum up the absurdity of the American justice system better than Arlo Guthrie's classic Alice's Restaurant. (Watch if you have time). And if you've been to the USA in the last few years you may have noticed that little has changed since the song was written as a Vietnam War protest about 40 years ago. If you have a British passport you'll be finger-printed, photographed, eyeballed and morally interpreted by a gnarled-face immigration officer but if you're a proper bad guy you can just walk across the border from Mexico and go about your bad guy business undisturbed.

However, if you have flown to or from the United States with British Airways or Virgin on a ticket that was bought between 11 August 2004 and 23 March 2006 there is some financial justice avaliable for you or your business.  A US court has ruled that the companies colluded over the level of fuel surcharges and you're entitled to a refund of up to £80 per return trip per family of four

[UPDATE: the reclaim process is now up and running and getting your money back is a simple process. If you were a BA passenger, once registered you only need to enter your passport number. Either way, you don't need to worry about finding old ticket stubs.] 

This lunchtime register for your refund with the legal firm dealing with the refunds. I've done it, It's a no-brainer as they might say across the pond.

http://www.airpassengerrefund.co.uk/

Related
BA and Virgin to pay out surcharge refunds
Annual family worldwide travel insurance from £45

Financial campaigns
This is Money campaigns/reclaims
Deals, tips, scams and rip-offs
Consumer rage

And finally...
And everyone should spend some time familiarising themselves with 'Everyone's favourite folk singer' he's one of the few out there still protesting.
http://www.arlo.net/

Free Office software

Bill Gates is no longer the world's richest man, according to Forbes magazine. This is something of a shame because at least Bill makes stuff. New Number One Rich Guy Warren Buffett doesn't do anything. He invests in other people's ideas, rather successfully as it turns out.

Bill Gates' genius was to understand that computers weren't just for the boys with dogdy bumfluff at the front of the class but for everyone in every home and every office. He swept up the contents of your desk, put it on screen and made it easy to use. Then charged everyone a little bit too much for it. And this could be his undoing.

Says our resident geek: 'You can get a powerful desktop computer for £200-£300 but once you start adding software it doesn't take long before the package adds up to £800. People don't always think about what they want a computer for and once they do, they don't take into account the cost of all the extras. Luckily you don't always have to.

'Open source software provides an excellent alternative to the mainstream products. It is created by groups of developers who get together online and is perfectly legal, safe and free. In fact most people don't realise the whole structure of the internet is based on open source software. One I can particularly recommend is Open Office (FREE). It does everything that Microsoft Office (Around £100) does and more and works in a similar way only better.'

>> Open Office . Org

The Buffett way:

'He avoids new industries because they attract so many entrants that no one makes any money.'

Related

Become the world's richest parent - the Buffett way

About This is Not Work

Best savings accounts for adults

As we have said before banks aren't thieves. But they do have a habit of launching savings accounts to lure new customers then, when the customers' backs are turned, they drop the rate and launch a new account to lure new customers and so on. The hope is that the first set of customers don't realise they're being stuffed. So, not theft but come on.

If you do have a savings account with money in it you owe it to yourself this lunchtime to go to the banks' website, check the rate and if you're being suckered, find a better account. If you don't you are throwing away money - the kind of money that people who want to be rich (pictured) cannot afford to throw away.

>> Best savings accounts for adults 

>> Best savings accounts tables explained

>> See which banks have offended over the past year

Best savings accounts for children - or how to be Paul McCartney

'If you're bored it's because you're boring.'

Sir Paul McCartney's mum told him that as a little boy, or words to that effect, and his subsequent efforts to avoid boredom led him to the world stage with the three other members of the Beatles. It's advice that every child should be given.

They should also be told that money isn't boring. It affects everything they will ever do and is probably the least boring thing there is. (Apart from Wings.) You ignore it, and the value of it, at your peril. The best way to start getting the message through is by opening a savings account for your children and encouraging them to save their birthday money and pocket money.

As with everything you'll want the best.

>> Here is the only list of genuine best-buy children's savings account worth checking

Cheap theatre tickets, best seats

Would you spend the best part of £300 so your children could sit for two hours staring at a wall, moaning? No. Of course not. But that's what can happen if you take a family trip to one of the big West End theatres in London. Tickets can cost at least £50 each, then there's a meal and transport and possibly a hotel. Let's make that £500. OK, it's not a wall they'll be staring at but according to our imaginery experts, with just average luck you can guarantee that one of your party will have a seat behind the world's tallest and widest man.

Before you buy your tickets you should:

Check www.theatremonkey.co.uk for its detailed reviews of where to sit. In fact, there's pretty much everything you need for your trip to the theatre.

But also check http://www.officiallondontheatre.co.uk/tkts the famous half-price ticket booth in Leicester Square. You'll be surprised how often you don't need to pay full price if you can show up on the day.

Related affairs

Campaign: Tickets-rip-off
Fighting for a fairer deal on booking fees and tighter reins on touts reselling tickets online