Contactless cards
Two out of three adults pay amounts of less than £30 with
a contactless card and it’s now the most common way to pay.
The number of contactless payments has doubled in a year to
hit more than 5. 6 billion in 2017. Contactless is generally safe.
Stories of people taking money from you by brushing past
your wallet are exaggerated. However, if you lose
a contactless card it can be used by anyone who finds – or
steals – it and that may continue even after you report it.
So check your statements carefully for transactions you did
not make and ask for them to be refunded.92 SAGA.CO.UK/AUG-MAG I^2018
Stay ahead of the game
Paul’s shorts
wo financial
regulators have taken
the unusual step of
issuing a public warning to
members of good company
pension schemes. These are
schemes that pay a pension
related to your pay and
guarantee to do that for the
rest of your life. Such a promise
is very valuable. The Financial
Conduct Authority and the
Pensions Regulator are
concerned that people who
have not yet drawn their
pension are being targeted by
advisers to encourage them to
give up their future pension and
transfer the value of their fundPension warning
T
Money
Need to know
SHUTTERSTOCKfyi
into a new, non-guaranteed
pension. The advisers get paid
only if the pension-holder
agrees to make the transfer.
The charge for doing so can be
3% or more of the fund and
may be followed by ongoing
fees to manage the money.
Once the pension has been
transferred it cannot be moved
back. Both regulators ‘urge you
to be very careful’ and warn
that such a move ‘is unlikely to
be in your best interests’.
For free, objective
information on transfers,
contact the Pensions Advisory
Service at pensionsadvisory
service.org.uk, 0800 011 3797.Merryn Somerset WebbInvesting
Merryn Somerset Webb is
editor-in-chief of MoneyWeek.
Her views are personal: seek
professional adviceMake it easy!
Savers want
simpler savings
products with fewer
gimmicks and less
confusing offers.
That’s the main
finding of research
by Ford Money.
About six in ten
savers want
existing customers
to get the same
deals as new
customers and
a similar proportion
say they are
‘overwhelmed’ by
the number of
products available.
Anna Bowes,
director of
savingschampion.
co.uk, says there
are around
1,6 00 different
products on offer
to new savers.Train-fare refunds
If your train is at least 30
minutes late, then you can
normally get a refund of
some of the ticket price, but
it’s estimated that two out
of three passengers never
claim. Most train operators
are now covered by the
Delay Repay scheme, where
you get half of your ticket
price back for a delay of 30
to 60 minutes and all of it
for longer. Some will pay
25% for a 15-minute delay- the standard for 2020.
If the operator is not part
of Delay Repay, rules vary.
Keep your ticket and claim
a refund from the operator
within 28 days – even if you
bought your ticket
elsewhere. Ask for cash,
cheque or a card refund.
Find investing interesting but
not that interesting? Perhaps
you need a one-stop-shop
fund you can buy and ignore.
If so, look at the 130-year-
old Dundee-based Alliance
Trust. After a grim period of
expensive underperformance,
it was revamped last year. Its
eight managers each has a
focused portfolio of around
20 stocks in their special
area – which makes the
combined portfolio diverse in
terms of both sector and
geography. Performance has
been good so far (around 3%
better than the index since
the revamp), costs are low
and you get a rising dividend.