03/05/2014 Your Money

monkey is still ongoing. Now it's time for this week's Your

Money with Declan Curry. Welcome to your weekly guide to

making the most of your cash here on BBC News. Stocking up on profits,

people who use tax accounts to buy shares are quits in, but is there

anything left for the rest of us? We have an investment expert here.

We look at the cost of repairing kitchen gadgets.

And how to avoid fraudsters who want to take your cash. Tips from

Citizens Advice. Is your money working hard enough

do? People who put their cash into the stock market got far more back

than those who just left it as cash in the bank. The financial

researchers looked at different accounts. Those who put money into

shares got a return of 9.42% in the 2014 tax year. If you put your money

into an ice account which came out as cash, you got a return of less

than 2%. The financial planning guru at SG Hambros is here. You would

expect to get a higher return in the stock market, would you not?

Clearly, over a number of years, the average return should be higher from

stock market investment than from money in cash. We have had

historically low interest rates for years.

Yes. But then we had many years really stock market just did not

perform. Why have things changed? The economy is recovering. That

means that in theory companies are doing better. A have more profits.

Their share price should go up. They can pay dividends to shareholders.

Stock market returns are based on the increase of the price of the

shares within the investments that the ISA manager runs. And also, some

companies pay dividends and share some of their profit with

shareholders each year. Therefore, to get a more balanced return from a

stock market investment, and slightly less risky than the growth

stocks, it is a good idea to go for a portfolio which pays some

dividend. Even if you reinvest that to grow your ISA balance. As well as

the share price growth you're looking for.

So do not just look at the share price.

Absolutely. It is possible with a shares income portfolio that

investment companies that do provide dividends, you can have a yield. And

income element of about three or 4%. That balance is a bit of a bird in

the hand. Anyone looking at a stocks and shares Isa or a stocks and

shares investment should always think they can put that money away

for at least five years. People who have put money into the

stock market and got that 10% per turn, is it now too late for those

who did not invest in it, to joining?

Now, it is not. That is another danger. Overall, timing is not that

relevant in investment. Five years down the line may well look cheap.

We do not know that. The important thing is not to panic if the market

takes a downturn. There will be peaks and troughs. One way to lessen

the risk is to save on a regular basis. Maybe not put all your money

in at one time. Drip it in over 12 months. You're going to buy things

at different rates each month. If it comes down, you will get cheaper

investments. And a quick word on timing, the ISA

allowance, the limit on how much we can put into an Isa is reset in

April every year. So it has just been set for this tax year. We know

it will increase later this year again. Does that mean you should not

invest now, because you will lose the higher amount later? Or is it OK

to invest now and still get the increase later?

It is OK to invest now. From July, ?15,000 is the allowance. It can be

held all in stocks and shares or all in cash.

Thank you. If you have been keeping ?50 notes under the mattress, you

might need to check they are not out of date. This particular one cannot

be used in the shops any more. It was withdrawn from circulation this

week. If you have one, you must swap it for this one. This is the new ?50

note. You can swap them at most banks or post offices until the end

of October. After that, you must go to the Bank of England itself.

We spend over ?100 million using contactless cards. It is the first

time our monthly spending has topped 100 million and that is a lot of

money, especially as you do not always have to type in your security

code before the cash is withdrawn from your account. We asked what the

risk is. There is a ?20 limit on each

purchase. If they get suspicious, the card user will be asked to enter

the security code. If the card is lost stolen, tell your bank

immediately. You are fully protected, they say. You will not

have to pay for somebody else's spending on your card.

How long does a washing machine or vacuum cleaner last? Not as long as

they used to. The grandchildren are coming. Time

to get out the food mixer to make a cake. This British meat machine is

still going strong after 40 years. What around the time of the miners

strike. It would have cost up to one month's wages then. It was this

woman's Best Buy ever. It is noisy, but I can live with that if it works

well. Hopefully it will last quite a while. I did not expect to last

quite this long. People change things nowadays.

For every veteran vacuum cleaner or appliance still in daily use,

countless ones go for recycling. Enough to fill Wembley Stadium six

times over every year. It is the relentless demand from consumers and

retailers which is fitting durability. That is unless you pay

far more than double for a top of the range model. White goods makers

admit the life span of a washing machine has dropped from over ten

years to seven years. It is also partly down to how we buy

electricals. It seems that the move towards buying things online has

introduced a bias against repairers, even when those are cost`effective.

Another reason is that many sellers are not equipped to offer any

repairers outside the guarantee period. This family business from

1925 takes pride in its repairers in an industry which no longer trains

many engineers. Nine out of ten washing machine can be put into

perfect order and three quarters of flatscreen TVs. But whether to go

for that ?100 repair will depend on what you paid initially. It is in

the interest of manufacturers to get three cells every ten years. But

people need to be given the opportunity, the choice, do you want

a repair or do you want a new sale? That choice is seldom offered to

people. Whatever you decide to buy, consumer

law does not require you to get a fixed six years of use as is

commonly believed. If you have a washing machine and

you paid ?199 for it and have used the four times a day, every day of

the week for four or five years, then the law would see you have had

enough use of that product. But if you spent ?1000 and used that a

minimal amount of time, then the law would probably say, yes, you may be

entitled to any refund or a repair. Investing in a premium brand could

give you 20 years service or more, with fewer breakdowns of parts

always available. As long as you use is lighter, then cheaper appliances

that will have to be replaced after a few years will turn out to be a

good buy. Even the server falling victim to this. Scams are becoming

more productive. 16% of scams were by letter or fax. Only 10% were

through e`mails. Here is the head of policy at Citizens Advice. What

should we be looking out for? For a million people per year are affected

by scams and we want people to be able to take action against them by

reporting them when they see them. Sometimes people pose as the police

or the bank and we had a man who gave ?14,000 to who they thought was

the landlord that when he came to move on their web people living

there and you are just as likely to be scammed on the phone or text

messages as on line. We talked a couple of weeks ago around the Green

Deal energy scheme where people think they are paying for the survey

that they are giving money to someone who is running for that. We

have looked at people who think they are handing the bank card over to a

truly are from the bank but are actually giving it to a complete

stranger. The reason I mention these is that people feel that these are

genuine and they do not feel like scams. Tell`tale scams are being

contacted out of the blue being asked to make our financial position

on the spot. Police are the bank will never ask for your PIN number

or ASCII to make a decision on the spot. Before you give details of way

make sure you can be absolutely sure you trust the person. If you pay

online always check that the website is secure and look for the padlock

by the web address. You wonder who is most at risk. People often say

the elderly should watch out but most older people I know I'm not as

gullible as that. It is disgraceful that scammers target older people

and we had a man in his 80s who was so worried he had been scammed after

giving his an actual details away to somebody who had caught offering to

save money on his water bills. People are struggling to save money

and this opens the to people. If you are worried what should you do? Come

and see Citizens Advice and we will be able to help as well as report

this camp. You can also reported to Action Fraud and they will pass it

onto the police Trading Standards. It often feels like you're blaming

the victim for the crime rather than the scammer. Should more not be done

to track down those people and bring justice to them? May is scam

awareness month and we should raise awareness that more people are being

scammed and that scammers are using deceptive and sophisticated methods.

We want people to be able to report scams so that others do not get

caught out. He was how you should report a scammer. When your credit

card company and rigidly and ask if he can get your money back. If you

have used the bank card are debit card at the bank if you can get a

chargeback. You can check out this online advice. That is all for this

week. You can keep up`to`date all week on the BBC website. You can get

updates by following our feed on Twitter. I hope you will join this

next week. A quick look at the headlines this afternoon. In

Ukraine, seven international observers captured by pro`Russian

separatists have been freed but violence has intensified in the east

of the country. Rescuers in north`eastern Afghanistan