Money

However you define what a richer or fairer life is, there is no escaping that a concern about inequality is one of the defining features of our times. Over the next five years a new study will attempt to answer whether it's actually a problem in the UK and at its launch a report laid bare a fascinating snapshot of Britain that shows who is getting richer.

Once the chest is opened there's a light inside to guide you to one of the quad of hand-blown crystal champagne flutes, which the marque says are 'arranged to evoke memories of a V12 engine'. Costing the same as a new Mercedes-Benz E-Class saloon, the champagne chest has two ejectable thermal containers that can be used to serve caviar and canapes or chill a spare bottle of bubbly. Prices start from £37,000 before tax - so £44,400 including VAT in the UK.

Low awareness of and confusion over the name 'attendance allowance' - which implies you are receiving home visits from a carer - could be putting people off, according to retirement home developer McCarthy & Stone. The firm helps its residents claim any benefits to which they are entitled. But some three quarters of the 4,000 people it has assisted over the past three years had failed to apply for attendance allowance until it informed them of its existence.

We switched from British Gas in November last year, but, several months later, it is still holding on to £1,745.34 of our money. In addition it has put debt collectors on to us. We have a small debit on our electricity account, but a large credit for gas. I was told that the debit would be offset against the credit, and then the balance would be repaid to us, but this has not happened.

Many people will have at some point walked down a street and thought 'I'd like to live here'. There's often just one small problem, however. None of the houses are for sale. But Knock for Sale, a new company that wants to help people buy their dream property - even if it's not up for sale - reckons it has a solution. Cards cost £5 each and prospective buyers can send multiple cards to different properties.

We are used to keeping an eye on our bank balance, but are we looking at the big picture? If not, you are missing the vital first step to transforming your fortune. Calculating their wealth has allowed Siubhan Reid-Litherland and Mark Litherland (pictured) to bring forward their retirement and plans to travel by five years.

Metro, which now has 1.7 million customers, became Britain's first new High Street lender in more than a century in 2010, but the past year has been a disaster. Founded by U.S. billionaire Vernon Hill, the bank prides itself on being different. It opens seven days a week and welcomes dogs. It calls branches 'stores' and customers 'fans'.

The first floor of the former printworks could pass for a dishevelled furniture showroom, writes AMELIA MURRAY. Wide-screen TVs and chests of drawers are lined up around the sprawling space. Sofas are grouped together in makeshift living rooms, with dining-room tables just around the corner. In fact, the warehouse, in Stockport, Greater Manchester, is home to Simon Charles Auctioneers, whose twice-monthly Super Saturday Live Sale is about to start. The auction has been running for more than 70 years and sells more than 5,000 lots each week. It is 9am, and eagle-eyed shoppers have an hour to inspect what's on offer before the bidding begins. Pictured: Chairs costing £600 which were bought for £55 (left), a microwave that retails for £110 but sold for £33 (top right), and a Samsung washing machine, which retails for £419 but sold for just £46 (bottom right).

Metro Bank was founded by American billionaire Vernon Hill (pictured here with wife Shirley). Shares have plunged since it revealed in January that it had miscalculated the riskiness of some property loans. It then announced in February that it would raise an extra £350m to fund future growth.

US giant Walmart - the world's biggest retailer - is 'seriously considering' listing Asda on the stock market, it has emerged. The change in strategy comes after the UK competition watchdog blocked a proposed merger of Asda and Sainsbury's last month. The deal between the UK's second and third biggest supermarkets would have created a £50billion rival to Tesco, but the watchdog feared it would lead to higher prices for shoppers. Walmart, which bought the cut price UK grocery chain twenty years ago for £6.7billion, told Asda managers on Tuesday that it is mulling a stock market float but said any preparations would 'take years'.

Savings rates have been low for a long time but over the past nine months or so, they've been even lower than usual - and that, in spite of the rising base rate. But since the start of May, Beehive Money, Post Office Money and Sainsbury's Bank have all either launched or increased rates on their easy access accounts.

Having outperformed all other major markets for most of 2019 - not to mention being in the longest bull run in American history - investors in some quarters believe the US stock market's winning streak could finally be due to end. The US stock market matters a great deal to British investors. Not only does it make up about 55 per cent of the global index, but where the US market leads, others tend to follow.

Investors have no shortage of choice about where to put their money to work nowadays, but narrowing that abundance of opportunities down is tough. We talk to David Coombs, of Rathbones, who sifts through the world's investments to find the pieces of the jigsaw needed to deliver good and reliable returns for investors.

Motorists who are one step away from a driving ban could be paying less car insurance than drivers with zero no-claims discount, new research has revealed. Insurances quotes were on average nearly 10 per cent cheaper for a typical UK driver with nine points on their license for speeding or other transgression, compared to those who have a no-claims discount, according to data from Vantage Leasing.

Aston Martin's Q-Brand releases progress report for 25 continuation DB5 cars built in homage to 1964 Goldfinger film featuring all the gadgets 007 - Sean Connery - unleashed in the movie. New photographs reveal the highlights including revolving number plates, a rear smoke screen (inset top), and replica machine guns (inset bottom). However the infamous ejector seat is proving a more difficult challenge though a nod to it in some form or other hasn't been totally ruled out as a teaser.

I am a little confused with the gov.uk website on pensions. It says: ' You can take up to 25 per cent of the money built up in your pension as a tax-free lump sum. You'll then have six months to start taking the remaining 75 per cent, which you'll usually pay tax on.' I have not been able to find any other reference to the six months in the legislation, and everything else I read says that you should be able to pay in £40,000 so long as you do not take any taxable payments.

Figures from estate agents Hamptons International show that landlords who sold a property last year did so for £79,770 more than they paid for it. But that hefty profit is overshadowed by the sums landlords are making in London - the most profitable area to sell up - where the average investor cashing in rakes in £248,120. That is 21 times the profit made by landlords in the North East, who made the smallest average gain of £11,810.

Jeff Prestridge (pictured) has turned 60. Here, he explains all the the financial treats he is now eligible for. He says: The first 'treat' I latched on to was discounted train travel. As a passionate football supporter (West Bromwich Albion is my team), I spend most Saturdays during the season sitting on a train either travelling up to The Hawthorns (home of WBA FC) or watching Sheffield United (newly promoted to the Premiership) where my eldest son is head of sports science. It costs a small fortune but from now on, it is going to cost a little less - a result of the purchase of a 'senior railcard' costing £30 a year.

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?

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.

Lower than expected inflation figures have added weight to expectations that interest rate rises will remain on hold throughout most of 2019. This combined with the Brexit extension is forecast to keep monetary policy steady, with rates held at 0.75 per cent. While unemployment is low and wages are rising, there are still concerns over Britain's consumer economy and business investment being stalled by continuing Brexit uncertainty.