NOTES

Children’s Christmas cash could be losing value if parents have put it into Junior ISAs paying below the current 3.1% inflation figure. Research from SavvyWoman money website reveals just three Junior ISAs beat inflation – Coventry Building Society’s 3.5%, Nationwide’s 3.25% and Tesco Bank’s 3.15%.

Sarah Pennells, founder of SavvyWoman, said: “The good news is you don’t have to put up with lousy rates. You can transfer a Junior cash ISA to another bank or building society. So don’t be afraid to switch if you can do better elsewhere.”

Admiral has launched its own travel insurance policy with cover available from £6.92 for a single trip and £16.23 for multi-trip annual cover. The firm has been selling travel insurance, provided by a third party, since 2012.

There are three levels – Admiral, Admiral Gold and Admiral Platinum, with cover for a single trip up to 365 days.

Scuba diving, windsurfing and canoeing are covered as standard, but winter sports and cruises are optional extras that can be added.

Brits will begin the New Year full of good financial intentions. They will save more than £100 in January. But it will be just six weeks before they slip back into their old spending habits. Research from financial adviser evestor.com shows that while two-thirds of people take steps to save money in January, less than half of them will manage to save throughout the year. Most won’t make it past March.

Cheltenham tops the table of 2017 house price winners, according to research from Halifax. The average price in the town, located on the edge of the Cotswolds, was 13% higher than in 2016 – increasing from £277,118 to £313,150. That’s five times the 2.7% increase seen by the UK as a whole.