After weeks of turmoil the money world has settled down to something approaching normal in recent days, but there are still plenty of finance stories doing the rounds …
Alongside the bank bail-out, the biggest numbers to be bandied around this week involved Madonna's divorce. According to our own Media Monkey blog, estimates of the payout for erstwhile husband Guy Ritchie vary from £0 to £150m. Either way, he's likely to end up better off than Iceland.
Ever paid a premium to jump a check-in queue, or speak to a personal banker? You may think you're beating the system, but are you really, asked Tim Walker in The Independent. The answer is no, of course, but the question of why we do it takes longer to answer. It's a good read, although dubbing this phenomenon "perkonomics", or even a phenomenon, is pretty naff.
Perhaps they should teach the old mantra about not getting something for nothing at school, alongside other personal finance tips. Former Tory leader Ian Duncan Smith argues the case in The Telegraph today. "Young people need to know the difference between a secured and an unsecured loan, an overdraft and a personal loan, a junk bond and junk, as much as they need to know about getting and holding down a job," he says.
Getting some good lessons in managing your money certainly seems to work, no matter what stage in your life it happens, according to a piece in The Daily Mail. It revisited a group of homeowners who were given financial fitness coaching three years ago and found most were still reaping the benefits, despite recent financial turmoil.
If only someone had told Tom Aikens, who, hot on the heels of Grant Bovey, is this week's Daily Mail Celebrity(-ish) Victim of the Credit Crunch. It seems the likes of Sir Michael Caine and Hugh Grant have been tightening their belts in more ways than one, and his company has been put into administration. Who will it be next week?
