Elvis has left the building, robots are taking over our investments, bozos are running our savings
This is Money Podcast
This is Money
4.1 • 650 Ratings
🗓️ 11 July 2017
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
If you pop into the bookies and bung a quid on Elvis Presley still being alive – he died in 1977 - and he shows up as the support act to his heir apparent Ed Sheeran at Wembley Stadium next year, you’ll win £2,000.
Put that pound into a top paying savings account over the same period and you’ll earn just over 1p.
This is why stupid savings gimmicks are becoming a thing.
It works like this.
The provider, bank, building society or app, pays a derisory interest rate but offers a 300% boost to your returns if an improbable event takes place.
Not quite as unlikely as a resurrection but not that far off.
First there were the Brexit bonds, where your 1% return will be tripled if you bet correctly on the pound / euro exchange rate once Britain leaves the EU and, depending on how you see this bet panning out, all of our successful businesses leave Britain.
Now football fans are being targeted.
If Manchester United win the FA Cup next year AND the English Premier League, unabashed Newcastle-based Virgin Money will bung you a bung in the form of 2% bonus on the savings rate. Other football clubs are available. As are better savings accounts.
Also on the show, Simon Lambert, Lee Boyce and Georgie Frost explain robo investing – the cheap and easy new way of saving money without having to interact with expensive human advisers.
And the latest wave of frauds filling an inbox near you are a terrifying as ever.
Enjoy.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to This Is Money Show. I'm Georgie Frost. Here with me today is editor Simon Lambert and Consumer Affairs Editor Lee Boyce. Coming up if fraud is as old as the hills, why haven't we tackled it yet? And we look at the rise of the Robo Advisor. But first, a bit of better news at last for savers. With a few eye-catching accounts appearing on the market, regular listeners, will remember Simon's particular favourite from a couple of weeks ago, |
| 0:22.8 | the Brexit Bond, where you can get a bonus interest rate, if you guess correctly, |
| 0:26.8 | whether the pound would rise or fall as Brexit happens. |
| 0:29.7 | Well, now you can get a tasty rate if Man United do the double. |
| 0:35.0 | Yes, indeed, Virgin Money. |
| 0:36.5 | You're offering a 3% rate over one year, |
| 0:38.8 | but only if the Red Devils win the Premier League |
| 0:41.3 | and the FA Cup. |
| 0:43.3 | Now, which of you is particularly excited about? |
| 0:45.6 | Oh, Lee, straight in there. |
| 0:47.0 | God, Georgie, this is like gimmick, Gimmick 101, isn't it? |
| 0:50.1 | For a saviour. |
| 0:50.7 | Tell us more about it. |
| 0:52.2 | So Virgin did this last year. |
| 0:53.7 | So Richard |
| 0:54.5 | Brants had signed a deal with Manchester United last year with Virgin money and they offered a |
| 0:59.5 | champion's bond. So it was 1.25% over a year. If Man United won the premiership, it doubled 2.5%. They finished |
| 1:07.2 | 6th and about 24 points behind Chelsea. it wasn't even close so those savers |
| 1:11.7 | they put the money in that didn't get the bonus but also you sign up for like a man |
| 1:16.3 | united rewards uh system so you get into the prize draw and that sort of thing so it probably |
| 1:20.5 | does appeal to man united fans i mean i think there's probably a few uh jordies that are a bit |
| 1:25.3 | upset with mr branson actually because Virgin Money |
... |
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