Dear Listener

I have never even been to the Cheltenham Literature Festival, so getting an invitation to speak at it this year was a big surprise. Despite its name there was a finance strand in the Festival this year and, as the firm that sponsored these events told me, the sort of people who attend the Festival is similar to the sort who end up as their customers. So I was there to talk about Money Matters.

I was on stage with the wonderful economist (not words I often put in one sentence!) John Kay, and the chair was the actor and broadcaster Bill Bingham – who will be playing Tolstoy in a one man show shortly. The audience – which I counted at almost 200 – had lots of questions. And they generally reflected concerns of Money Box listeners: is the economy heading for Armageddon, how can I earn money on my savings, which investments are safe, how can I reduce the costs of investing, was Capital Gains Tax fair, and are disabled single people ignored by politicians. One unexpected question was from Bill Bingham himself: why are financial experts like me and John Kay not very rich with houses in the South of France? Luckily John leapt in to point out that he did have a house in the South of France and indeed had travelled to Cheltenham from it. I kept quiet. Generally John and I agreed most of the time – especially about the high and damaging charges financial firms take from investments – and everyone seemed to have a good time. Which was just as well as they had paid to be entertained.

***IN MONEY BOX THIS WEEK***

You enter your PIN in the ATM, key in the amount you want, out comes the receipt, but no money. Even reading that makes me feel queasy. Worse, you check your bank statement which shows the money has gone. But you have not had the cash. One listener had exactly that experience with £500. And could not get it back. What are your rights?

The Government has changed the changes it was planning to make in women’s state pension age. As a result 245,000 women who would have had to wait more than an extra 18 months – and 33,000 of them up to two years – will now have to wait only an extra 18 months. The Minister explains why he made the change and we find out if this extension of pension age will spread to company schemes.

“Council Tax refund for [your address]” says the official looking letter signed by a council tax co-ordinator. You could save more than £320 a year – perhaps as much as £2000. What is this firm offering to do? And is it worth paying it 30% of any saving you make to do it?

Structured products claim to give you the benefits of a stockmarket investment without the risk. Are they too good to be true? Or a key part of even a cautious investment strategy?

That is the usual eclectic mix planned for Money Box on Radio 4 Saturday at midday, repeated 9pm on Sunday, and of course online anytime www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/moneybox. You can get more information on our website www.bbc.co.uk/moneybox as well as follow links, download transcripts, and send us stories or ideas you want us to look into. Plus of course Have Your Say on cash machine mistakes and how easy is it to get your money back.

This newsletter is available at bbc.co.uk/moneybox/newsletter around the time it hits your inbox (tell your friends who don’t subscribe). And you could join more than 12,600 people who follow me on Twitter to enjoy (or rant about) my random but timely thoughts on money and a few other things whenever I’m awake at twitter.com/paullewismoney.

Best wishes,

Paul

PS More on energy bills on BBC One Breakfast on Saturday around 0845 and I am on Breakfast in the week, usually on Thursdays and usually around 0640 and 0820 talking about a money story and answering emails and tweets. But the time, and occasionally the day, can vary.

e-mail Paul Lewis