Supermarket sweep: Which FTSE 100 grocer is the best buy? August 14, 2018 British supermarkets haven’t had an easy ride lately. There’s been plenty for them to worry about – the biggest being the rising cost of imports as sterling has continued to slide (the pound dropped to €1.11 and $1.28 last week). A weak pound has tightened profit margins. And with heavy competition from discount retailers, passing [...]
Forget ditching the Lifetime Isa – it should be evolved instead August 1, 2018 Last week, the Treasury Committee suggested that the year-old Lifetime Isa (Lisa) be killed off. This news came hot on the heels of rumours that the pensions dashboard might get the boot, just months before it was expected to go live. This government seems to have a knack for driving in reverse. And by [...]
Borderless banking: Meet the mobile-only bank for migrants July 30, 2018 When Norris Koppel came to the UK 18 years ago, he landed a good job and found a flat to rent. But there was a problem: the banks refused to let him open a current account. Koppel had no credit history in the UK, which meant – as far as the banks were concerned [...]
Pensions dashboard: Why it would be crazy to ditch one of the most common sense ideas to come out of government July 25, 2018 "What have you lost?” your colleague asks as you desperately retrace your steps. “My pension!” you cry. Okay, well that never happened. But imagine for a second that we were to treat our misplaced pensions in the same way we treat lost phones. In the UK, billions of pounds of pension money is currently [...]
The co-founder of Urban Massage on the gig economy and disrupting the spa industry July 16, 2018 Years ago, Jack Tang paid £100 for a massage. But, even though the therapist was at the top of her game, it turns out that she was getting a measly £20 of the total payment. Tang found out that it’s not uncommon for spas to charge customers huge amounts, and dish out a tiny [...]
Rapper and TV personality Professor Green talks to us about side hustles July 12, 2018 A business school isn’t where you’d expect to meet a famous rapper. But it is 2018, and stranger things have happened. While Professor Green might not be an actual qualified professor, he’s got plenty to say – and he puts everything so eloquently, almost lyrically. This is a man from a working-class background who is [...]
Rapper and TV personality Professor Green talks to us about side hustles July 12, 2018 A business school isn’t where you’d expect to meet a famous rapper. But it is 2018, and stranger things have happened. While Professor Green might not be an actual qualified professor, he’s got plenty to say – and he puts everything so eloquently, intellectually, almost lyrically. This is a man from a tough working-class background [...]
The pros and cons of crowdfunding July 6, 2018 People are divided about crowdfunding. While many investors and businesses see it as invaluable, it often comes with a number of caveats which shouldn’t be ignored. Equity and debt-based crowdfunding methods are often used by entrepreneurs looking to start or develop their business. However, they differ in that equity-based lets you swap money for shares [...]
Arabian heights: What Saudi Arabia’s upgrade means for investors July 3, 2018 It was a symbolic moment for Saudi Arabia last week when women could finally get behind the wheel. Lifting this archaic driving ban was obviously a huge milestone for women’s rights, but it also speaks volumes about the direction of travel the country is heading in. The Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, has been [...]
We meet a former Nasa space engineer who has launched a platform to combat unethical payday loans June 28, 2018 No, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to launch a peer-to-peer lending platform. But let’s take a minute to consider what such a business would look like if a rocket scientist did decide to do such a thing. Cue space engineer Nadeem Siam, who has spent the past three years building peer-to-peer lender Welendus. After [...]