Getting your mortgage cleared as early as possible used to be a prized ambition, but that mood seems to have gone the way of the Ford Escort and tape machine. Four times as many first-time buyers and homemovers now take on 30-year-plus mortgages than in 2005. A long-life mortgage may be the key to securing a home, but don’t forget how banks and building societies profit on this.

Last September, I received £500.13 of overpaid tax back from HMRC. Then, in January, they said I owed £1,071, but the very next paragraph of the letter stated I must pay £1,606.50 by January 31. I was due to have major surgery on January 24, so I put it aside. On February 20, I received a final reminder and phoned HMRC the next day. Then I was told I owed £2,106.65 - which I paid. Last month, I received another demand of £535.50, which I paid immediately.

Tens of thousands of property owners are signing up to websites that let them make extra cash by renting out a room or their whole home to tourists for a day. This is done through new websites, such as Airbnb and HouseTrip, which act as middlemen between home-owners and travellers. But experts fear owners have no idea that renting out their homes like this can put them in peril of having their mortgage revoked and their home insurance cancelled, as well as being hit with a huge tax bill and even an investigation.

Sales spike at Christmas, Pancake Day and Easter – and now there's another stalwart in the culinary calendar: The Great British Bake Off season. The graph produced by shopping insight consultancy IRI for This is Money reveals that baking sales surged during every season of the hit show – and the increase in sales is rising every year as the Bake Off grows in popularity.

The number of borrowers taking out longer-term mortgages has soared in recent years according to data from the Council of Mortgage Lenders. While borrowers can shave £100 a month off a £200,000 mortgage by stretching from 25 to 30 years, they would pay back more than £27,000 extra. Stretching to the 40 year terms offered by major mortgage lenders would see borrowers end up paying back almost £85,000 extra.

Debt charity StepChange helped nearly 13,000 more people with loan problems in the first six months of this year compared with the same period in 2013. The charity called for stricter lending rules to help protect vulnerable customers from sliding into unaffordable levels of debt.

If you fancy yourself as the next Warren Buffett or Neil Woodford, or are just starting to build your share portfolio, don't miss a free chance to learn about picking winning shares at the Stock Market Show, which is being backed by This is Money. The free show gives investors the chance to get tips on valuing and picking shares, investing strategy and grill the bosses of small companies catching the market’s eye.

Most entrepreneurs would jump at the chance to appear on Dragons’ Den. But not Daisy’s Matthew Riley. Working with Alan Sugar on The Apprentice put him off showbusiness for life. During 2011 and 2012’s series he was one of the entrepreneurial aces, even calling out a candidate who failed his business studies A-level. The agreement had been to film a third series – but Riley pulled out.

If you target the cheapest stock markets - rather than expensive ones - then you hugely increase your chances of success, says Mebane Faber. The leading investor argues that the worst places to invest in are not the cheap markets belonging to troubled economies, but the investors' darlings that have been chased to heady valuations. We caught up with him and can reveal where is 'cheap' by CAPE ratio.

Solar power company Belectric has launched a mini- bond called the Big60million, giving every member of the UK population the chance to invest in its site in Willersley, Gloucestershire. It has a minimum investment of just £60 and is offering annual returns of 7 per cent before tax, but is now the time to reach for the sun?

Online electrical retailer ao.com told This is Money it had its best ever day for vacuum cleaner sales last Friday as customers picked up a model with a power rating above 1,600 watts before they are outlawed by the EU. Sales were up 44 per cent last week on the same period last year. Tesco also saw sales rocket by 44 per cent over the past two weeks as panicked customers rushed to get their hands on popular 2,000W models.

Tax discs are bought and traded by collectors called velologists - and their numbers have been on the rise in recent years. Hundreds of pounds exchange hands for the right vintage and condition disc. Yet tax discs will be abolished from October in favour of electronic tracking and so as the final few discs are issued, the final set and more old ones may become something of a collectors’ item.

To clear the average national household debt of £13,000 at 6% interest with a monthly repayment of £100 will take around 17 years. There are, however, plenty of simple ways to make significant savings on your regular spending that could clear your debt - or boost your savings - in less than a year. This is Money's top 50 – updated – money-saving tips may appear light-hearted but are deadly serious.

Choosing the right DIY platform is crucial but a wealth of choice and changes to charges have left many investors scratching their heads. We pick some of the best. We also highlight why investing in an Isa makes sense, as it should protect your hopefully growing investments from tax forever.

Inflation has dipped again following last week's Inflation Report, which put low wage growth on the table as a reason for keeping rates down for now. Governor Mark Carney admitted there was tremendous uncertainty on slack and the Bank has now placed wage growth on the table as another key decider on when rates should rise. He reiterated: 'Increases in Bank Rate, when they come, are likely to be gradual and limited.'

Midwives in the UK get paid on average £29,248: so where does your salary fit into the national league table, and how does it compare to the average in your profession? Our table lists hundreds of Britain's jobs from company executives and doctors to van drivers, waiters and textile machine operators.