Simonne says....Second-hand’s not second rate

Did you hear that the car scrappage scheme has been so successful that the scheme is being extended to fund an extra 100,000 car and van purchases?
Don’t we just love it when the government gives away money!
But, if you’re tempted by this offer, just remember that the £2,000 contribution towards a new vehicle will be wiped out in depreciation after just a few short months. It’s still far better value to buy a slightly older car, especially if the new car is being paid for via expensive credit.

More Sheconomics research

I'm doing some more research - this time into the fascinating world of behavioural economics.

The survey poses some interesting financial dilemmas and is aimed at demystifying some of the irrational behaviours we all have around money.

It only takes about 10 minutes and there's a £25 cash prize and a signed copy of Sheconomics for the person who recruits the most respondents (so fill it in and send the link to a friend).

Click Here to take survey
And I'll post the results on www.sheconomics.com so keep a lookout! Thanks.

Please, Sir, can I have some more?

Stories about sexism in the city have cropped up everywhere this week. Women, it seems, earns far less than men in the city and encounter sexual discrimination more befitting of a Victorian workhouse than the 21^st century finance world.

A thought struck me. Yes, there is sexism out there but women also have to guard against another enemy – self-sabotage. If women undervalue themselves, the world will undervalue them. Many women still confess to being uncomfortable with the concept of success. And we live in a society that still sees thrift and 'making do' as a highly prized female trait.

Women, research has shown, are twice as likely as men to volunteer (it’s good to give to others but also important to value your time) and two and a half times more likely to dread asking for a salary increase.

How should the modern woman knock down the barriers set up by society and her own self-limiting beliefs? Here’s the Sheconomical way to succeed in those negotiations:

• · Recognise your true value
• · Make the first move (be proactive)
• · Prepare your case
• · Aim realistically high
• · Don’t settle for less

More on this is our chapter on self-limiting beliefs in Sheconomics.

Pay it forward

Good to see the concept of paying it forward taking off. An innovative broadband company has, apparently, recruited ex-pickpockets to creep around London and slip fivers, tenners and twenty pound notes into people’s unguarded bags and pockets. It’s their way of helping people beat the blues caused by the recession.

Yet psychological research shows that it’ll be the ones giving away the money who get the biggest boost in their happiness.

In one study in the US, students were given $10 each, then half were told to buy themselves something and the other half to spend it one somebody else. Their happiness levels were measured before and after. The group who’d spent the money on another person were happier than those who’d spent it on themselves.

So if you want to cheer yourself up, Do Something Different and spend some money on another person.

Put it on expenses.....

I was interviewed on LBC Radio today about the case of the guy who falsely claimed half a million quid's worth of expenses from his employers. The reason he gave was that he had to fund his wife’s lavish lifestyle.

A London paper I picked up on the train today had a huge photo of the wife on the front page, while the guy’s photo was tucked away in a corner. OK, the wife might have been naïve, unhappy and demanding, but let’s not forget he was the one who broke the law.

As I said in my interview, financial secrets are the kiss of death to any relationship. Communication is absolutely crucial and our chapter on Financial Intimacy in Sheconomics delves further into this.

I think most of us might have stopped and asked him, on yet another one of those luxury holidays, where the money was coming from?

Small change blindness

Here’s a quick question. If someone was serving you at a counter, disappeared for a few seconds and a different person came back and continued serving you, you’d notice right?

Wrong.

Or at least wrong for about 75% of us, who fall victim to something psychologists call Change Blindness.

How many changes in our financial world do we fail to notice?

Right before our eyes, interest rates have fallen from around 5% to 0.5%, yet have we switched provider to get the best deal around? Most current accounts now pay less than 0.1% interest whereas a year ago only about half paid such a measly amount. The banks make most of their money from existing customers who don’t bother moving their money elsewhere.

There are still some good offers around though, check them out on www. moneysupermarket.com. And remember that loyalty rarely pays in personal finance.

More about change blindness in this youtube clip.

Women on their Way to Wealth

There’s something incredibly powerful about women working and pulling together towards aspirational goals. Pitch the sisterhood against the brotherhood and I know who my money would be on (Sister Sledge vs Brotherhood of Man? No contest!).

That’s why I’m inspired by the work of an organization called Women on Their Way (or WOW – great acronym). It’s dedicated to supporting and mobilizing women from all backgrounds to get what they want from life. So I’m thrilled to be their Keynote speaker at their special event all about women and money. It's a breakthrough day in Birmingham on November 27th 2009.

If you’re interested in joining other women who want to smash through their financial limiting beliefs, check it out here.

Simonne's tip for cutting your mobile bill

I just found a neat little trick to bring down the cost of your mobile phone bill. If you have to pay for picking up voicemail, try calling your mobile phone number instead. You get to pick up your messages in the normal way but it bypasses the standard voicemail function and just falls within the usual free minutes allowed on your tariff. So, if you’re like me, and don’t use all your minutes anyway, there’s no additional charge. Could be it only applies to my provider (T-mobile) but it's worth a try!

Simonne

Credit card cheques to be banned

Finally something’s been done to stop those annoying and unsolicited credit card cheques coming through your letterbox. The ones that try and tempt you to spend money you can’t afford on things you don’t need, and then pay outrageously high interest rates for the privilege. (They worked the same way as if you'd withdrawn cash on your credit card - with interest charges starting to accrue immediately).

This recent government proposal gets a thumbs up from us!

From Simonne.

If women ran the economy

None of us women dare stick our pretty necks out and say this, naturally, but we loved Charlie Brooker's recent rant in the Guardian:

We don't need a few women in conspicuous positions of power scattered here and there - we need a 10-year prohibition on all forms of male power. Seriously: a decade in which men don't get to control anything, from the remote control upwards. Imagine the consequences. For one thing, there would be an instant and massive reduction in armed conflict around the globe. Sure, nations would routinely bitch about each other in secret (and with a new, hair-curling viciousness), but there'd be fewer intercontinental punch-ups and a far smaller bodycount. The economy should clearly be run by women. City boys are dicks, plain and simple. Look at them. Listen to them. Consider the carnage of the past 10 years. What the hell were these idiots thinking?

Bring back Charlie's Angels, there'd be a rush to sign up.