Must-know money: 30 ways to earn, divorce and money, and Britain’s borrowing binge

With the new year kicking in, after a big-budget Christmas break, it’s time to focus on your money matters again.

The cost-of-living crisis and inflation are going nowhere so it’s essential to stay on top of your finances.

Here are some of our favourite stories from around personal finance this week to help you get your head around money.

30 easy ways to earn £1,000s in 2023

For anyone looking to make quick cash after a costly Christmas, Esther Shaw writes for The Sun, coming up with 30 ways to make cash in 2023. Here are some of our favourites from Esther’s list:

• Take part in surveys

Surveys are an easy way to make money in your breaks, typically taking 10-15 minutes to complete. Try free sites like Swagbucks i-Say and PopulusLive. With consistency and discipline, you could earn up to £100 a month.

• Have a wardrobe clear-out

The start of the year is a great time for a spring clean and instead of throwing out clothing, try listing them on sites like Vinted and Depop. You can earn a few £100s depending on the quantity and condition of your items. Look out for any seller-side fees on these sites as they might eat into your earnings.

• Earn rewards for exercising

Kill two birds with one stone when you earn as you walk! Cash in your steps with sites like Sweatcoin and earn almost £5 per 5,000 steps you take.

• Claim the Married Tax Allowance

More than two million couples miss out on claiming this allowance. This could reduce you (and your partner’s) tax bill by up to £252 in the current tax year ending April 5, 2023. To claim, the lower earner must usually have an income below the Personal Allowance of £12,570.

• Turn your car into a billboard

Sites such as CarQuids let you sign up to brand campaigns by advertising with vinyl stickers on your vehicle. You can earn up to £150 a month depending on your model, areas where you drive and park and the type of ad.

Divorce and money- everything you need to know

January, also known as ‘Divorce month’, often sees lawyers receiving the biggest number of splitting up queries each year. With a divorce comes discussions around the couple’s financial positions.

John Fitzsimons writes for MoneyWeek, all the things you need to know if you’re splitting up, including:

Mortgage: Your property will be the trickiest asset involved in the division. You can choose to sell the property and divide the proceeds or one partner can buy out the other. Discuss with your lender, who may help you out by offering payment holidays or other allowances.

Savings and Investments: Savings can be easily transferred from one account to another. However, with investment transfers, there will be fees and taxes you must be aware of, such as the Capital Gains Tax. For joint account holders, it is worth informing your bank to avoid any misuse of account funds.

Pensions: The most commonly overlooked aspect of a divorce, has several options for dividing pensions such as pensions offsetting, pensions sharing or attachment orders.

Divorces have additional costs like lawyer fees, filing fees, child arrangement needs that will need to be considered.

Credit card rates hit record highs as Britain goes on a borrowing binge

Lauren Almeida writes for The Telegraph as average credit card interest rates jump 4.2% from last year.

Credit purchases spiked before Christmas with consumers spending £1.2 billion in November, triple the amount spend in October, according to the Bank of England.

This increase came despite a fall of 0.4% in November retail sales with the cost-of-living surging.

With higher interest rates burdening their debt repayments, borrowers have lesser time before interest is charged. Experts are now urging borrowers to use cheaper options as they reach closer to the end of their interest-free periods.

Nationwide found that one-third of the purchases in 2022 were processed with credit cards or ‘buy now, pay later’ schemes.

Shoppers are left with little choice other than spending further on credit interests after low cash savings following the pandemic and high-Christmas budgets.

Photo by Gabrielle Henderson on Unsplash