Rising house prices, more stamp duty to pay and less tax relief have all piled the pressure on to landlord finances in recent years but there are still healthy returns on offer in some parts of the UK. Research has looked at annual yields on 500,000 buy-to-let properties across Britain and found that while landlords in London are struggling to make a decent return, those letting out homes in Liverpool are firmly in the black.

The true cost of Christmas for some has been laid bare by research showing some parents are willing to skip meals and say no to holidays in order to buy gifts. Revealing the pressure that parents feel under at this time of year, one in three admit to dipping into their savings and overdrafts to finance presents, with a fifth admitting it is a huge financial burden.

Chalet Huskey is the largest new build chalet to be built in the popular resort of Val-d'Isère in the French Alps, and it is on the market for £8million. As well as an indoor garden with a glass bridge, it boasts an indoor swimming pool, seven bedrooms and a climbing wall. There is also a bar and a dining area that can seat 18 people.

Traditionally popular UK equity income funds were hit by heavy withdrawals during October as investors continued to be spooked by the ongoing Brexit saga. Figures from the IA revealed UK Equity Income as the worst selling sector, losing £272million, as private investors pulled out more cash than they put in.

Britain's long-suffering commuters have a problem with sky-high train fares, so what did the Government deliver? An extension of the Young Person's railcard up to the age of 30. But there is a simple solution that could at least ease the pain of people paying thousands of pounds a year to get to work - officially allow people to salary sacrifice their season tickets.

Where do you keep your car keys overnight? In a drawer? On a hook near the front door? Next to your bed? If the answer is any of the three above, you're one of 96 per cent of motorists that are vulnerable to car thieves using high-tech gadgets to steal vehicles in a matter of minutes.

I bought an iPhone 6 on eBay for £200 plus £5 postage. The seller sent the phone to me straight away via Royal Mail's 'signed for' service. Unfortunately, on the day it was apparently delivered, my husband and I were both out. When I got home I saw online that the parcel had been delivered and signed for. I checked with my neighbours and looked for the parcel to no avail. Royal Mail spoke to the driver who apparently said that he had left it in my mailbox.

Savings firm Legal & General said it has seen a surge in demand for the products, which allow owners to borrow cash against the value of their house and repay it after they die, plus interest. Retirees are piling into the market so they can release some of the money in their homes without having to downsize. In many cases those in retirement have seen the value of their home soar by hundreds of thousands of pounds.

London-based DS Smith, which produces millions of tons of cardboard and plastic packaging a year, joined the FTSE 100 last week. Its customers include Amazon, Asos and Next - some of the most successful retailers to have tapped into the online spending revolution. Yesterday, DS Smith reported sales of £2.8bn for the six months to October 31, up from £1.7bn over the same period five years ago.

History teaches us that bull runs never last forever and eventually markets will plunge into a bear territory, or even worse face a full-on crash. When exactly this will happen is anyone's guess, so unless you have a fully functioning crystal ball, having a contingency plan is a wise move.

With the government desperate to get as many drivers to ditch diesel and buy electric cars, it's about time there was a zero-emission model that we can all live with. Is BMW's i3s that car? We took the new family-friendly hatchback for a test in Lisbon, Portugal, to find out.

Britons thinking about retirement should not rely on their state pension or face up to a huge fall in earnings, a report from the influential OECD shows. The report that put the UK bottom of the pensions league showed retirees face the steepest income drop compared to any other OECD country - behind Mexico, Poland and Japan - if they rely solely on state pension payments.

Twice as many are closing their doors this year than in 2015 or 2016,So far this year, 962 branches have shut up shop, according to consumer champion Which?. The closures picked up pace last week, when RBS-NatWest announced it was getting rid of one in four of its branches.

And don't think that you have to be a big investor to be affected by dividends. You may be profiting from them without even realising. In this episode of the Big Money Questions, Marcus Stadlmann, chief investment officer at Lloyds Private Banking explains what they are, how they work and how they can make you richer.

The owners of this Caribbean property for sale on Bloody Beach Bay will only accept Bitcoin as payment (and are refusing cash). It follows the phenomenal rise in value of the cryptocurrency. A spokesman for the company selling the property said: "Someone wise or brave enough to have got in early on the cryptocurrency phenomenon could soon be lifting their rum cocktails to toast the bargain of the century."

Analysis of more than 7 million insurance quotes by comparison MoneySuperMarket has revealed which location has the most drivers with over-the-limit convictions in the last 12 months and also highlighted the occupations with the most drink and drug drivers in the country.

The Department for Work and Pensions has awarded me a 'Warm Home Discount' payment of £140. When my electricity bill came in this payment was shown on the bill as being £133.43. When I telephoned British Gas they told me that it was a 5% VAT charge.

The Lamborghini Urus follows in the footsteps of the 1986 LM002, and the Italian exotic car maker has dropped a colossally powerful engine into a 4x4 to create an offroad family vehicle that will be able to blitz just about everything that comes into its path. Revealed in Italy today, the Urus uses a 4.0-litre twin-turbocharged V8 engine packing 641bhp and will cost £157,800 or $200,000 before tax.

While Christmas gives many a great day and holiday period to look forward to, it's also one of the most expensive times of year for most families. Whether you are looking to earn rewards or carefully spread out the cost of Christmas, we look at the best credit cards to do so.

Investing for a low inflation world has paid off handsomely in recent years, as defensive shares with a reliable dividend have seen their prices rise substantially. But is it time for a different course of action? Better opportunities lie elsewhere believes Schroders' James Sym.

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 Bank of England has raised the base rate back to 0.5 per cent. The move up from 0.25 per cent is accompanied by an Inflation Report, which will outline where the bank sees things moving next. Expectations are that rates will not move up swiftly after this first rise, This is Money will bring you the details of the Inflation report and analysis imminently.

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.