After my mother died last August, I phoned Sainsbury's Bank to request that a new direct debit be set up so that my father could continue making repayments on a loan. They would not discuss details with me because I was not the account holder, even though my father, who is hard of hearing, had given permission for me to act on his behalf.

Japan's economy will shrink by 0.1 per cent next year, according to the International Monetary Fund, and it already has the world's highest public debt. Japan's population has an average age of 44 and is rising fast. As more and more people hit retirement, it is reliant on an ever-smaller pool of workers.

Increasingly popular trackers and ETFs, run by computers rather than humans, now hold huge amounts of savers' cash. Their annual charges are as little as 0.06 per cent. And these tracker funds - which account for £1 in every £8 invested by savers - are becoming more sophisticated.

An economist has claimed that gold will soar in value in the coming years labelling cyber warfare as the number one reason people will pile into the commodity. James Rickards, chief global strategist at West Shore Funds, told Bloomberg Markets that the 21st century digital age poses risk to digital money and wealth to all investors and savers.

From payments during cold spells to free eye tests there are a plethora of benefits and pots of cash available to Britons aged over 65. Although some could add up to thousands of pounds every year, not everyone who is eligible claims them. Here we run through ten payments available and how to go about claiming them.

A study published yesterday, ahead of the IMF's spring meeting in Washington DC this week, has concluded that on balance, negative interest rates 'help deliver additional monetary stimulus and easier financial conditions, which support demand and price stability.' But the IMF's backing will come as a shock to critics who view the move to negative interest rates by the Bank of Japan and the European Central Bank in recent months as desperate. In total six of the world's central banks now have negative interest rates in place.

I am 24 and have started a new job paying £23,000 and my company wants to enrol me in the pension scheme. It offers to match what I put in up to 5 per cent of my salary but I'm worried that even though that's a small amount I can't afford this. How much will it cost me and is it worth doing for such a small amount?

Jaguar's F-PACE has a lot of hype to live up to, but it really does confound expectations. The F-PACE has the attitude and near performance of a sports car combined with the practicality of a crossover - and already has a lengthy waiting list. Is that justified, Ray Massey puts it to the test.

Pet owners without insurance pay out an average of £810 every time their animals need treatment at the vets, according to new research. The most common claim last year was for joints at an average code of £452.92 while some such as a cat with a ruptured Achilles tendon set its owners back £4,000. As 56 per cent of pet owners do not have insurance for their pets, they are faced with having to pay out each time their animal needs medical treatment.

This week could see the start of what is being dubbed another shareholder spring where the pay packets of the bosses of many big firms are voted on by investors at annual meetings. BP, Reckitt Benckiser, AstraZeneca and Persimmon are all expected to face protests on the multi-million packages bosses have been awarded.

The number of food producers going bust in the UK tripled in the last five years, new findings reveal today. With supermarkets squeezing suppliers' profit margins while battling to offer shoppers low prices, food producers are losing out, Moore Stephens said. In 2015, 162 food production firms went bust, compared to 48 in 2010. Over the past year alone, the number of firms falling into insolvency increased by 11 per cent.

The Government is keen to get households to chase value for money, but many workers struggle to find the time to analyse every penny spent on energy or earned on savings. Laura Shannon looks at services aimed at 'lazy switchers' who want a better deal - for minimum effort.

Kaan Azmi, pictured with his familty, is happy to spend time finding better financial deals - but only since he discovered a tool that reminds him to do so. BeeMyMinder - which claims to take the 'sting' out of financial decision-making - encrypts data, meaning it is kept private. It cannot 'see' the bills you upload. It is listed on the Data Protection Register, as required by law, and does not store your bank account details. It makes money via commission, when customers take products from companies it partners with.

There is one small corner of the buy-to-let market where the Chancellor has been more lenient: holiday lets. If you buy a property and let it out for holiday use, you will still be able to set your full mortgage interest repayments against tax. Moreover, you can continue to claim full capital allowances - something that ordinary buy-to-let owners are not able to do.

Burford Capital is an unusual business. It lends money to companies so they can fund lawsuits. Burford provides money upfront and is repaid - with extras - once cases have been settled. The company has funded itself largely through shares issued in 2009 and 2010 and a £90 million retail bond launched in 2014. Now it is back with another bond - offering 6.125 per cent interest and maturing in October 2024.

The shop has massive marker pen signs saying 'STOCK LIQUIDATION' and ALL STOCK MUST GO'. I assumed it was shutting down - but it's not. I can only imagine therefore that Sports Direct means 'all stock must go' in the traditional sense that that is the conventional aim of a retailer. But the cynic in me thinks I can't have been the only one tempted to go have a look for a bargain item thinking that the store was shutting down.

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.

George Osborne's continued austerity revealed in his 2016 Budget is likely to keep rates on hold for longer. Inflation expectations have been revised down for 2016 to 0.7 per cent, while Brexit uncertainty and slow global growth are also playing on rate-setters' minds.

For many buy-to-let looks an attractive income investment in a time of low rates and stock market volatility. Climbing house prices, rising rents and improving mortgage deals are tempting investors - although they will need a big deposit. Read This is Money's top ten buy-to-let tips

Musicians have seen pay rises averaging nearly 20 per cent in 2015, while cleaners are getting 17.8 per cent more, and window cleaners 12.3 per cent. Artists in general are earning 14.6 per cent more in 2015 than 2014, according to the huge annual data dump of pay scales by the Office For National Statistics highlights.