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With the summer holidays drawing to a close in the next few days, the new team at HM Treasury will be busy looking at fresh ideas for the Budget on 28th October. The challenging economic situation calls for a fresh look at some of the underlying strategies which have driven debt so high over the past half-century. The really big problem is the extent to which 'universal, free-at-the-point-use' health care has caused deep generational unfairness; that, combined with the triple lock and unfunded state pensions, place real burdens on young generations. It's time for a major change in the underlying logic. Background music: 'People Watching' by Sir Cubworth

Literacy rates for young people have improved significantly over the past fifteen years, following Tony Blair's call for 'Education, Education, Education'; with technical development now rising in importance, we must ensure that it holds onto the priority attached to literacy. Meanwhile Government departments, including HMRC, must ensure that their communications are accessible to all — this includes the initiative to write to young adults at 21 to tell them about their Child Trust Funds. Background music: 'Hovering Thoughts' by Spence.

The young owners of over two-thirds of all Child Trust Funds reach adulthood at the end of March 2026, but very large numbers of HMRC-allocated accounts remain unknown and unclaimed, including almost three-quarters of the £1 billion belonging to low-income young adults: the position is particularly acute in the north of England and devolved nations. These are accounts for which HM Treasury/HMRC are the 'settlor', and therefore have a duty to deliver these young adults' birthrights. Background music: 'Waiting' by Andrew Langdon 

From next year, those in receipt of the full state pension will have to start giving some of it back to the government in income tax.The Treasury has put in place a ‘waiver’ system for less well-off pensioners — but it has been revealed last week that those who chose to defer their state pension could miss out because of the extra income they receive. Georgie Frost is joined by Helen Crane and Tanya Jefferies to discuss whether that is fair, and how Britain’s state pension got so complicated. Staying on the subject of retirement, estimates of how much we have to save for old age usually assume we will own our homes and have paid off the mortgage by the time we quit work. But for a growing number of people, that isn’t the case — and a new study suggests those who rent during retirement could have to save £419,000 extra to afford it. With today’s youngsters expecting to get on the ladder later — or perhaps not at all — the problem is only set to worsen. The team discuss this shift and what people can do to prepare. Despite a greater need for rented homes, the property market is awash with landlords trying to offload flats. Who is going to buy them, and is it an opportunity for first-time buyers? And finally, from Lidl trainers to pizza menus and even Argos catalogues, we reveal the everyday items that could be tomorrow's collectables. Items covered: 01:04 — Why some pensioners could face income tax on the State Pension; 05:00 — Who could miss out on the Government’s proposed tax waiver?09:47 — Should you still defer your State Pension? 14:35 — The looming problem of renting in retirement; 19:00 — How much more do renters need to save for retirement? 23:36 — Why are so many landlords selling their flats? 27:28 — Are flats still worth buying? 30:58 — Is buy-to-let becoming a professional investors’ game? 36:08 — Could the junk in your house actually be worth money? 39:56 — Why old Argos catalogues and pizza menus could become collectables; 41:08 – Crane’s compliment of the week: Sainsbury’s.

Adam Cox joins Greg Bornstein on an episode of Greg's 'Open Loops' podcast series, with Adam discussing how his methodology for hypnotherapy has developed through learning psychology, styles of therapy and different uses of metaphors. It's a bit different from our normal episodes, as Adam Cox is the guest here. Please search for 'Open Loops with Greg Bornstein: Conversations That Bend' to find out more.

‘Spider-man’ and ‘The Odyssey’ are still leading the box office, says James Cameron-Wilson. At #8 is Jason Statham's latest thriller, ‘Mutiny’. He plays a bodyguard on the run after his client is murdered. It's formulaic and very violent but the stunt work is effective and inventive while the director piles on the suspense, turning a B-movie into a B-plus. #10 is an unsympathetic biopic of chef Antony Bourdain which has a great cast. However, with such a disagreeable protagonist, it is not one of James's favourite foodie films. On Amazon Prime is ‘Mother Mary’ with Anne Hathaway a former pop star in an oppressive movie full of florid dialogue. Think Bergman's ‘Persona’ crossed with ‘The Dresser’, says James. He ends with the top 10 movies of all time in terms of audience numbers, with the #1 of all time remaining the same as it has for decades.

Steve Caplin discovers that balcony solar panels, while a good idea, don't actually appear to be on sale anywhere. He explains how Meta will change its safety limitations for children worldwide after settling a lawsuit against it for $17bn. Digger drivers will soon be able to train on video simulators. There are air-conditioned jackets for dogs. A 3D-printed banjo may not tempt the likes of world-class players like Bela Fleck. The Tokyo-Osaka bullet train is to offer an overnight stop, while a sightseeing bus in Tokyo now has sushi on offer on a conveyor belt. Take care if a car park suggests you pay by QR code. And an AI doctors' receptionist in Yorkshire unfortunately can't understand a Yorkshire accent.

With a company as large and as meticulously covered as NVIDIA, you would think there wouldn’t be anything that surprises us anymore. So much for that thesis. NVIDIA's most recent earnings and guidance blew past everyone’s expectations and setup another stellar year for anything AI-related. Jon, Matt, and Tyler dissect NVIDIA’s most recent earnings as well as the “hidden” winners and losers from the most recent earnings results. Plus, Crowdstrike’s earnings and a mailbag question about local vs. cloud AI. Tyler Crowe, Matt Frankel, and Jon Quast discuss
NVIDIA’s earnings and guidance update, the winners and losers from NVIDIA’s earnings, Crowdstrike’s earnings, is Crowdstrike’s stock a buy? Plus, Is local AI a hyperscaler problem? Companies discussed: NVDA, HP, DELL, CRDO, ONTO, IESC, GRMN, RBRK, ZS, SPCX. Host — Tyler Crowe; Guests — Jon Quast, Matt Frankel.

Meta Platforms has been the subject of several lawsuits. By some estimates, the potential fines for these lawsuits were as high as the market cap of the entire company. Today, the company settled several of these high-profile lawsuits for $18 billion, and for several changes to its social media apps. Lou, Rachel, and Tyler dig into the details of the settlement and how it will impact Meta. Plus, Intuit’s earnings and the listener mailbag. Tyler Crowe, Rachel Warren, and Lou Whiteman discuss Meta’s $18 billion settlement, was this a “best case scenario” for Meta? Intuit’s earnings: SasSpocalyse or corporate complacency? Plus, will Uber’s European fines impact its future? Companies discussed: META, GOOGL, INTU, UBER. Host — Tyler Crowe; Guests — Matt Frankel, Rachel Warren.

New research suggests Brits are choosing to live in the moment in 2026, rather than save for the future. The data from Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines shows guest numbers are up, and more and more people are exploring the idea of solo travel. Joining Rory McGowan to discuss this is the Guest Experience Director at Fred. Olsen, Doug Glenwright.

New research by The Royal Mint suggests that many of us are feeling anxious about our finances, with concerns about global instability and the cost of living leading a third of us to reflect on the money we could have made from precious metals like gold and silver. Despite gold’s value rising by around 128% in the last five years, most people still keep their savings in a bank account rather than precious metals. Joining Rory McGowan to discuss the findings is Stuart O’Reilly from The Royal Mint.

Months of drought are gradually waking us up to the fact that climate change really is a serious concern: if we're not going to stop it, then we have to take mitigation action seriously. Fresh water is our most critical natural resource: the only alternative to rainfall is desalination. Once again, democracy's great Achilles Heel of short-termism is letting us down. Politicians must accept that the era of treating fresh water as an unlimited resource is over, and new strategies must be developed to tackle the challenges ahead. Background music: 'Trickle of Water' by Underbelly & Ty Mayer.

National Financial Awareness Day was celebrated last week — and new research from the Money and Pensions Service suggests that millions of people across the UK are still struggling to keep up with their bills. The findings come from MoneyView, MaPS’ flagship annual survey of the nation’s finances, which shows wide variation across different parts of the UK. Joining Rory McGowan to discuss the findings, and where people can turn for help, is Victoria Copeland from the Money and Pensions Service.

For the final Bigger Picture with Simon Rose, Professor Tim Evans of Middlesex University looks back over the past twelve years of the programme. Into the good category, he places the advances in technology in areas like medicine, the digital world and the AI revolution. This will give a huge uplift to developing countries. As to the bad, that would include the polarisation of political life as the state hollows itself out from the inside. with taxes at an all-time high and services getting ever worse. Tim highlights the number of people under 40 abandoning the NHS, who believe they won't get a state pension for them and who see their future not in Britain but abroad. The ugly is the ever increasing indebtedness of the world's most advanced democracies and the rising authoritarianism which threatens the underpinning of our open society.

Professor Tim Evans says that to understand Donald Trump, you need to know that, in the late 80s and early 90s, he was a close friend of Richard Nixon, who told him that he used the persona of an irrational madman to unsettle others. Indeed, Nixon and his wife urged Trump to enter politics. In terms of policy, Trump is also a devotee of Reagan and William McKinley, an advocate of tariffs in America's interests. The Archbishop of Canterbury is one of the most important constitutional positions in Britain. In an increasingly secular age, the new Archbishop will have a challenging task ahead, but Tim feels that she is the right person for the job. The issue of Net Zero has come to the fore in the midst of an energy crisis like the 1970s. Tim ponders the politics of it, wondering if it could become as divisive as Brexit.

Pensions and inheritance are at the forefront of many people's minds ahead of the Budget. In her last Budget, Rachel Reeves announced she will pull pension pots into the inheritance tax net from April 2027. Meanwhile, there are concerns that pension tax-free lump sums and inheritance tax allowances could fall victim to another raid as the Chancellor tries to balance the books again. In this special episode of the This is Money podcast, Simon Lambert is joined by Lisa Caplan, director of Charles Stanley Direct Advice and Guidance. Lisa spends her days helping customers understand how to protect their wealth, make their pension last in retirement and, importantly, enjoy their hard-earned money. She discusses with Simon the questions people are asking right now about pensions and inheritance tax and her answers.

The world is facing a myriad of Gordian Knots at present — problems so intricate and complex that they need new and very different approaches to solve them. In Greek mythology, it was Alexander the Great who chopped the knot rather than struggling to untie it. If you're facing a raft of complex problems, this episode could help you find novel and creative ways to solve them. So, think of the most challenging things in your life and listen in for inspiration. Maybe Donald Trump should seek Adam Cox's guidance for resolving conflicts across the world, or the UN for dealing with climate change — or Governments across western democracies seeking an answer for intractable debt problems? Image: Wikipedia

For the 500th show, Steve Caplin takes a look back at some of the highlights of ten years of Gadgets & Gizmos. He covers sprayable sleep, cows imitating zebras to ward off mosquitoes, crows collecting cigarette butts, NFTs, self-parking slippers, KFC chicken-tasting nail polish, the first human head transplant, the Skunklock noxious bike lock, Refrigerdating, the robot dog flamethrower, ant populated gin and how to make pain relief pills 10 times more effective.

James Cameron-Wilson reports on box office -13% but still up on 2024, with ‘Wicked’ becoming last year's most successful film with £59.6m. The musical biopic of Bob Dylan, ‘A Complete Unknown’, with Timothy Chalomet and Edward Norton is the new #1. The tedious and unbelievable ‘Wolf Man’ limps in at #7. James found Netflix's spy thriller ‘Back in Action’, the return from retirement of Cameron Diaz, all very silly and over the top, despite some good stunts. The Oscar nominations were coming out during recording, so James gives his first thoughts on who's in and who's out.

Warren Buffett sends us into the season to be thankful with his philanthropic acts and his poignant words, and gives us all a place to start the conversation with family about money. Asit Sharma and Dylan Lewis discuss NBC’s negotiations to extend their rights to broadcast rights to the Macy’s Day Parade, and why holiday live events are turning into an arms race, the expectations for Black Friday through Cyber Monday, and two predictions on the direction of consumer spend and who will be driving it in future years, and Warren Buffett’s plans for passing his wealth on to his family and philanthropic efforts, and the words of wisdom we should all have in mind as we get together with loved ones this week. Companies discussed: CMCSA, M, NFLX, AMZN, BRK.A, BRK.B. Host - Dylan Lewis; Guests - Asit Sharma

The debate on 19th March 2024 was hosted by Sir Jeremy Quin MP to call for the need to simplify family access to Child Trust Funds for disabled young people, and a number of MPs contributed to the debate, including Danny Kruger and Ed Davy. The audio record is provided by Parliament Live, and is an unabridged recording of proceedings, without additional comment. Listeners may notice an adjournment for voting in the House of Commons.

Welcome to a special episode of The Financial Outlook: the investment section of the Managing My Money course. What's the difference between saving and investment? It's all in the risk. We talk about shares, bonds and funds, and which perform best over the long term. The Managing My Money course has 16 sections in total, and is presented by Glen Goodman and Annie Weston. You can enjoy the whole course, produced in association with the Open University via Share Radio's home page. Here's the link to the slides for this episode: https://www.shareradio.co.uk/help-guides/managing-my-money/supporting-slides/mmm-week-5-episode-10-supporting-slides/

“The [Child Trust Fund] scheme has been closed to new entrants for over 12 years. In this time HMRC has been focusing resources on evaluating and improving existing schemes. We will continue to keep the need to evaluate old schemes under review.” So said Andrew Griffith MP, Economic Secretary to HM Treasury in reply to a parliamentary question from John Ashworth MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. But this is not an 'old scheme' — there is currently over £1.7 billion sitting in mature accounts belonging to over 900,000 mainly low-income young adults throughout the UK who don't know anything about their good fortune! Their Child Trust Fund harvest is seeing too little action at present: but it's not too late to get it sorted, and the current focus from the National Audit Office and Public Accounts Committee will certainly help.
Background music: 'Hopeful Freedom' by Asher Fulero

It’s the last episode of Answers (but don’t worry, we’re just moving to Motley Fool Money every Tuesday). We’ll reminisce on our biggest lessons learned over the last seven years and answer your questions, some financial, some festive.

Scrooge has made the deal of his life with Chinese investors and must now quickly return to London on Christmas Eve to close the deal. On the flight back, during a fitful sleep, Scrooge confronts his past and present and learns the future consequences of his miserly life to find the true meaning of Christmas. Proscenium Online Theatre is super excited to be bringing you a whole new season of audio dramas in 2022. Starting off with 'The Girl in the Yellow Dress', a dark romance by South African playwright Craig Higginson, and 'Plunder', an original Hong Kong based thriller by American playwright Alan Olejniczak. In the meantime - sit back, close your eyes and enjoy the Proscenium Online Theatre’s production of 'A Christmas Carol'.

https://www.prosceniumonlinetheatre.com

Imagine a world in which everyone has a stake in the great tech firms that serve them each day, and where dividends are gradually replacing wages to provide regular income for everyone, as work becomes scarcer as a result of automation? Imagine a world where every young person not only has a small inheritance with which to start their adult life, but also the opportunity to build its value by learning life skills? Simon Rose is taking a well-earned break this week, so we’re taking the opportunity to bring you a talk given Gavin Oldham in August to the leading City of London think-tank Z/Yen.

Click link for slides for presentation

Every child in the UK born between 1 Sept 2002 and 2 Jan 2011 has a Child Trust Fund (CTF). But one child in six has lost contact with the money. Gavin Oldham, Chairman of The Share Foundation – which runs the Junior ISA & Child Trust Fund schemes for children in care for the Department for Education - is trying to re-connect them. He talks through the CTF, how to track an account down, and what a child can and can’t do with the money.

In a new partnership with publishers Harriman House, Share Radio has produced its first audiobook 'Superinvestors', written by Matthew Partridge and read by some of Share Radio's best known presenters. 'Superinvestors' lays bare the investing secrets of legendary investors - from early 20th-century figures such as Benjamin Graham and John Maynard Keynes, through to more modern names such as Anthony Bolton and Warren Buffett.

How you can help young people in care prepare for adult life by supporting The Share Foundation’s ‘Stepladder of Achievement’ programme.

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