In these hard times a little free financial advise can be useful so for those who don't know Paul Lewis hosts a program on radio 4 called money box which airs twice a week most of the year

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qjnv

Paul acts as a consumer champion offering advice on all things financial and is well worth a listen...............

If you miss the program you can listen to or download the program and back issues here

http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/moneybox

I rarely remember to listen but always download the podcasts and listen to them just right click on one and select download
There is not much among all the available programs worth a listen these days but I recommend this as worth a listen

As an afterthought after recently staying on a campsite with no tv reception I discovered some interesting listening on radio 4 in the mornings so sit down with a cuppa and maybe have a listen

After attending the meet earlier it was noticeable that many of us are retired or nearing that age

Bearing in mind that people like us who saved for our old age ...............are the ones baling out this country by losing a large slice of their income due to at least 5 years of 0.5% interest
making the most of your nest egg is a hard thing to do these days .............I recently moved some money from a taxable bond earning 1.4% before tax (about 1.0%after tax) to an isa which earns a little more tax free so worth taking notice of how things are going ......the government this year changed the amount you can invest in a tax free cash isa (if like me you are too old to benefit from long term stock market isa's) or don't want the risk of the stock market.

Keep an eye on your money .................look at old accounts and what interest rates they may now be giving you
My brother had an account where his savings had been "resting" for a few years when he moaned about the return recently
I checked up and they were paying him 0.01% because he had not "moved" his money

This is by way of a "bump" to the above post about moneybox on radio 4 and also hopefully a wakeup call to have a look at where and what your savings are doing .................

You could make enough money from this for another trip away

Best move I ever made financially was securing the services of a Chartered Financial Planner. Not advisor note, but planner (and the words "chartered" or "certified" are also important as bona fides. For a fixed monthly fee (cost depends on how actively you wish them to manage your portfolio) they will order your affairs to meet your risk profile and financial goals. Any commission that they are paid as a result of my investing on their advice is either rebated or set against their fees. Each CFP has different areas of interest; I selected one specialising in pension planning because that was my No.1 priority.

I'm insufficiently experienced in these matters to be able to recommend a CFP for everyone unreservedly, but can reflect that mine got my affairs in to good shape and, thanks to "plain English" regular meetings I now understand my finances better than I ever did before and they are most decidedly actively managed!

All I can say is that financial management is not my forte, I've been with my planner for over 10 years now and I am very happy with the arrangement.

We are in a fixed 3 year bond with monthly interest from Birmingham Midshires at 3.25% for 3 years took it out last year. Today I looked and I could get 3.50% fairly readily you just need to look, it's all out there