Money

My daughter and I tried to switch from Virgin Media to Sky to get a better deal. But the Sky engineer said the satellite signal was being blocked by our neighbour's tree. We decided to stay with Virgin. Then four days before the original date for the changeover, everything went blank. We had no internet, landline and only the free TV channels.

Every year about one million earthquakes and 90 hurricanes are recorded worldwide. For families affected, these can be devastating. And for insurers, financially crippling. When Hurricane Katrina hit the U.S. more than a decade ago, it was estimated to have cost insurance companies £62 billion.

See how three homes were transformed into luxury pads with designer touches such as over-sized lamps and co-ordinating ornaments added to previously bland interiors. We got top designers at Alexander James Interior Design to give their advice on how to achieve a sophisticated designer look.

During May, 8.5 per cent fewer new cars were registered in the UK than the same month in 2016. But the devil was in the detail that showed private sales dropped by a substantial 14 per cent in May and diesel car sales plummeted 20 per cent compared to a year ago, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders confirmed

What do you do if you are sick of pitiful interest rates on your savings, but are not sure about investing? How nervous should you be about making the switch and are there ways to invest confidently? Moola founder and chief executive Gemma Godfrey shares her top tips.

The online-only electrical retailer's losses deepened to £7m for the year to March 31, down from a loss of £6.7m a year earlier. Revenue rose 17 per cent to £701m.

Private equity investors Nordic Capital and Avista sold 171m and 79m shares respectively at 322p each, for a total of £805m. As a result, ConvaTec, which also focuses on treating conditions like diabetes, saw £265m wiped off its market value. Following the sale, Nordic still owns a 7.3 per cent stake in the firm while Avista retains a 3 per cent stake.

I have 32 full years of National Insurance payments and this is currently estimated to give me a state pension of £127.61 per week. At 35 years, I would get a full pension. If I get extra National Insurance years beyond the 35 figure, will my estimated state pension continue to rise or is it capped at whatever the 35 year total is at?

Millions of homeowners are throwing away as much as £5,000 a year in mortgage interest payments by failing to switch to a cheaper deal - with many borrowers blaming their apathy on a nightmare experience when obtaining the initial loan.

What happens when you sling a Porsche 911 RS made entirely from Lego into a wall at 28mph? Absolute carnage. See the collision unfold in this 3-minute clip of a scaled-down crash test. The test was conducted by ADAC - the German equivalent to the AA and RAC - to highlight how crash exams work.

Britain is a nation of pet lovers, but our affection for dogs, cats and other furry friends could land us in hot water with car insurers. Some drivers risk invalidating their motor policies by letting pets roam free in their vehicles, uSwitch has warned. The HIghway Code dictates that animals should be suitably restrained in a vehicle at all times, whether that be in a cage, travel carrier or harness.

Ever since we broke up I've continued using my ex's Netflix and Amazon Prime accounts. It's not costing him anything extra as I just use them to watch box sets. But should I be the bigger person and just get my own or can I wait until he changes his password?

The forecast is for a long hot summer, and even though it is unlikely to break records, there are lessons from the drought of 1976 that could save you money today. Here, The Mail on Sunday explores how to cut your water bills and protect a precious resource.

They are calling for the next Government to tackle migration to stop the industry falling off a 'cliff edge' as European Union workers desert Britain. A survey of the bosses of Britain's biggest hospitality firms, including Caffe Nero, Hilton, Travelodge, Whitbread and cruise company Carnival UK, showed confidence had plunged over the 12 months following the EU Referendum.

Rising living costs mean households are increasingly turning to credit cards to get by. Bank of England data shows borrowing on plastic has reached £68billion - a 10 per cent rise in a year.

With bank and building society savings rates virtually non-existent, investors are almost certainly better off buying Lloyds shares than taking out one of their savings products. At 69¼p, the price should rise, provided there are no dreadful economic shocks down the line. In the meantime, the dividend yield makes this an obvious stock for investors in search of income.

If the Conservatives win, Ketan Patel, a fund manager at EdenTree Investments, said there could be money to be made from the party's pledge to build 1m new homes by 2020. He thinks all UK housebuilders will benefit from this, but said the best stocks will be those who can take advantage of May's pledge to protect greenbelt land.

India is an exciting investment opportunity in one of the emerging markets' strongest economies, so why do more UK investors not buy in?

Although Brexit will dominate the political agenda in the coming months irrespective of which party wins on Thursday, I hope the next Government adopts a more coherent policy on pension saving. Over the past five years, we have seen both Coalition and Conservative administrations snip away at the tax breaks available to those who put money into a pension fund for their retirement.

On July 27, Rolls-Royce will officially take the wraps off its latest flagship Phantom model - the eighth in the illustrious line stretching back more than 90 years - at a spectacular 'The Great Eight Phantoms' exhibition in London's Mayfair.

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?

The break from rising inflation is only likely to be brief and economists forecast the cost of living to continue to rise through this year. The Bank is still not expected to raise rates due to Brexit uncertainty, however, if the economy continues to fire on all cylinders the mood could shift.

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.