Dear listener,

“What do you do?” I was making small talk at an event on Tuesday in Kensington Palace where I knew no-one. The young man (actually to call him “young” rather exaggerates his age) grinned and said “I gamble with other people’s money.” It was an event for people who call themselves wealth managers, so I grinned back and hazarded a guess. “A wealth manager?” “No,” bigger grin, “derivatives trader. But my clients are wealthy.” Then the grin turned into a chuckle and he added “They should know better really.” The event was the Daily Telegraph Wealth Management Awards. Stockbrokers, financial advisers, and of course wealth managers turned up for the dinner and to see if they had won the 2008 prize for such things as Best Execution Only Service, Best Derivatives Service, Best Market Newsletter, or Wealth Management of the Year. I was there because I had been specifically invited to go along by the company doing the PR for it. So when it came to the award of Best Industry Commentator I was not wholly surprised to be called up to get my glass trophy saying just that. It was of course for my work on Money Box and so was an award shared by the whole team. With two wins and a second prize from three awards events in the last month we really can call ourselves an award winning programme.

Over dinner an auditor who has worked for a number of banks was even more critical than Which?, the FSA or the Competition Commission about payment protection insurance which we discussed on last week’s programme. His view was that when a bank lends you money it takes a risk that you won’t pay it back. Covering that risk is built into the price it charges you. So why does it try to make you buy insurance to protect the risk that you are already paying for in the interest rate?

*** ON MONEY BOX THIS SATURDAY ***

The financial industry is in a state of limbo this weekend as we await Alistair Darling’s second pre-Budget report – and only the second ever on a Monday. So this weekend the papers will be chock full of speculation about what he will announce. Next Saturday (29th) we will have had five days to work out what it all meant. But this weekend we will join in the prophecy of what he will or won’t, might or may not, should or shouldn’t, and could or never in a million years announce on Monday.

Bookie Paddy Power is already laying odds on the pre-Budget tax changes. A cut in VAT is favourite and cuts in the higher rate of income tax least favourite. But of much more interest are the odds on what colour tie Alistair Darling will wear. Pink is favourite at 3 to 1. Brown is much less popular at 16 to 1. And a bow tie (of any colour) at 250-1 is even less likely than no tie at all which would pay 66 to1.

A major row between insurers and the companies that hire replacement cars to victims of road accidents could put up the cost of motor insurance for all of us.

Were thousands of people with money they wanted to save safely misled into taking risks with it?

And fixed rate mortgages finally start to fall as speculation rises of another big interest rate cut in December.

All or most of that and possibly more in Money Box on Radio 4 Saturday at noon, repeated Sunday at nine. You can listen to all the items on all our programmes through our website. And all Money Box programmes are available on a podcast you can download or subscribe to. And if you want to read what was said we publish a transcript every week on Monday or Tuesday.

Best wishes,

Paul

PS Don’t forget the programme taster on BBC Breakfast between quarter to nine and nine o’clock. If you miss it, you can watch it on the web. And on Wednesday you can catch up with the latest news by watching Samantha Washington’s midweek money headlines on our website.

e-mail Paul Lewis