Money

Today NS&I; has launched its three-year Investment Guaranteed Growth Bond, first announced in last year’s Autumn Statement. The Government backed account pays a best-buy rate of 2.2 per cent on balances up to £3,000, but experts say it might not be as good a deal as it first might look.

The Vanquish S Red Arrows Edition has been created to celebrate the RAF's world-renowned aerobatic unit - and just ten cars will be made with one given to RAF Benevolent Fund. As well as matching paint with the Hawk jets used by the RAF squadron, the 'charge' pattern emblazoned on the carbon roof is the same as the zig-zag explosives embedded into the canopy of the planes in case the pilot has to eject.

New research has revealed a big gap between the number of working women in the UK who have a protection policy in place should the worst happen. Almost half of all working women in the UK do not have any form of protection in place to cover them if they lost their job. This is despite 51 per cent of working women being the main breadwinner in their family, new research has revealed.

We have rounded up the top five simple tricks holidaymakers can use to boost your Avios points to get you closer to bagging a free flight or seat upgrade.

Tony Hetherington is Financial Mail on Sunday's ace investigator, fighting readers corners, revealing the truth that lies behind closed doors and winning victories for those who have been left out-of-pocket. Find out how to contact him below. A.D. writes: I live on a council estate and recently discovered that we are on a soakaway for surface water drainage - and not the national drains that are the general rule.  Yet we have been charged for years for drains we do not have. I emailed Anglian Water and received a £265 refund. I contacted Suffolk County Council and found that all of our estate is on the soakaway. 

The average price of a semi-detached property has soared in some parts of the country, including areas of Winchester and Bristol where typical values have reached more than £1million. The exclusive report by estate agents Savills found that average values of such properties have climbed 20.9 per cent during the past five years, up from £199,000.

The home phone is heading towards extinction. TOBY WALNE plots the rise and fall of the landline and assesses whether it really is time to hang up on the old handset. The landline telephone used to sit at the heart of the family home, taking pride of place on a hallway table or hanging on a wall in the kitchen. The chunky handset had a curly cord which was infuriatingly prone to becoming tangled, and lovestruck teenagers lived in the vain hope of escaping parents from eavesdropping on their conversations on an 'extension' in another room.

This month patients see a five per cent increase in the cost of NHS dental care in England. A routine check-up will cost £20.60 - up from £19.70. It follows similar increases in April last year. But there are ways to spread the cost - and save money - on everyday medical and dental treatment, and even some alternative therapies, by using health cash plans. The schemes, sometimes known as NHS top-up plans, are a form of low cost insurance policy to help meet the cost of a range of non-urgent healthcare procedures and appointments - not just at the dentist but also at the optician and for osteopathy, physiotherapy, chiropody and a visit to a chiropractor.

David Dingle, chairman of cruise giant Carnival UK has mixed views on the prospects for his industry after Brexit. A dramatic expansion of UK trade beyond Europe could be a huge boon for British shipping, he argues. At the same time, stricter border controls after Brexit could provide a major headache for cruise passengers, hopping on and off ships at European ports. With 10 million people a year holidaying on more than 100 cruise ships, Carnival is the world's largest cruise operator. Delays at British and European ports would mean far highest costs for its European arm, especially for Carnival UK's P&O; Cruises and Cunard brands, whose ships include the Queen Mary 2 and Britannia. Dingle says: 'If people are going to have extended immigration inspections, particularly when their cruise comes back to port, it means that they're going to take much longer to get off the ship and go home. This means we can't turn the ship around as quickly as we normally would.

THE snacks-by-post business Graze is 'very lucky', with so much uncertainty around Brexit, that half of its revenues come from the US, says chief executive Anthony Fletcher.  But he is concerned at the prospect of the firm, based in London, losing access to skilled staff from abroad. He says: 'It's a worry. It's very hard to plan a Brexit strategy. It is a period of greater uncertainty if you're looking to export full stop.

TSG Consumer Partners is pumping £213m into the Aberdeenshire-based business for a 22 per cent stake, in a deal which values the brewery at £1bn. About £113m will be spent on buying shares from its investors - including 34-year-old founders Martin Dickie and James Watt. The deal follows an astonishing rise for Brew Dog, which surfed a wave of demand for unconventional beer amid growing contempt for industry giants.

David Linley's high-end interiors business saw sales almost double from £6.9m to £13.5m in the year to June 30, and it swung to a £337,000 profit from a £1.9m loss. Bosses put the 'extremely strong' figures down to rapid growth overseas. As well as its traditional focus on tailor-made home furniture, the firm is also making headway in the yachting and automotive worlds.

Average property prices are expected to rise by over £50,000 within the next five years, economists predict. While the rate of house price growth is expected to slow over the next two years as Brexit negotiations take place, by the end of this year prices are still expected to be around £9,000 higher than in 2016. The Centre for Economics and Business Research said the cost of a home in the UK will be roughly £220,000 by the end of the year and £272,000 by 2021.

It's just galling to have dates in the calendar and bits of often foreign and irrelevant culture packaged up and sold to you with bells on and a mark-up. To me it immediately devalues it as a shared experience, if indeed there was any there in the first place.

The former police headquarter in Derbyshire has been converted into a family home, and has gone on the market for sale for £500,000. Its original features include a gun room, a jail door and barred windows.

Former Pensions Minister Steve Webb is This Is Money's Agony Uncle. He is ready to answer your questions, whether you are still saving, in the process of stopping work, or juggling your finances in retirement. This week, a civil servant asks why he won't get a full state pension, after being 'contracted out' without his knowledge.

Last week, former Waitrose boss Mark Price claimed that £10 is the 'sweet spot' to buy a bottle of supermarket wine - we list the ten best available, according to rigorous testing by experts at Wotwine, who get together twice a week to sample the goods offered by the nine leading supermarkets.

The UK's divorce from the EU offers pensioner-age Britons a 'good opportunity' to up sticks and move to Thailand, a Thai official has claimed. With the value of the pound faltering against european currencies and ongoing uncertainty about the rights of Britons living within the EU after Brexit, a residency permit for further afield destinations like Thailand could be the answer. But, before whipping off any scarves and jumpers and flinging on the sandals and shorts while heading for the next flight to Thailand, it pays to look at the costs  involved in getting a residency pass. In three words: it's not cheap.

Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said investors should look at five tried and tested indicators to see whether the UK stock market is primed to fizz higher still or in danger of going flat. The FTSE 100 is trading only marginally below its March all-time high of 7,430, but it is at such times that caution is warranted.

Although average pot size has increased across the board, men have saved £73,600, nearly three times the £24,900 held by women, according to the research by Aegon. The firm believes the pension freedom reforms in 2015 are a major reason behind the recent massive growth in the size of retirement pots. The changes gave over-55s direct control over their retirement pots, and heightened awareness of the importance of saving enough for a comfortable old age.

Although cash Isas don't currently offer fantastic rates, it is still worthwhile opening one to shield money away from the taxman. Our savings correspondent Lee Boyce picks his five favourite cash Isas for savers in 2017 - essential reading to help you choose a top savings account for your money. This page is kept up-to-date throughout the year - bookmark it for the very latest developments.

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.

The amount you can save into a pension ultimately depends on what you can afford - but the longer you leave it the more you will need to save. We tend to put ambitious targets on our hoped-for income in retirement and then underestimate how much we will need to set aside to achieve that. So how much should you save?

Inflation pushed up to a higher than expected 1.6 per cent in December, but pressure remains within the range that the Bank of England is expected to disregard in its interest rate decisions. Rate setters did not meet in January due to the shift from monthly decisions, the next MPC meeting and announcement is due in early February, alongside the Inflation Report.

Despite endless media coverage of the political wrangling and financial speculation, the average Briton can be forgiven for remaining confused about what 'soft' and 'hard' Brexit really mean. But a clever table put together by HSBC cleaves some clarity from the murk.

Compare your pay to the national average and see whether your employer treated you to a pay rise in line with the the rest of your profession. Farmers, care and air travel assistants were big winners on the pay scales in 2016. Travel agents, careers advisers and probation officers lost out.