Personal Finance and Investing

Forget drinking less or promising to go to the gym. If you really want to make 2010 a good year you’d be a lot better off making financial resolutions. Here are a few suggestions.

1. Dump your bank manager

If there is one lesson to take away from 2009, it is that banks don’t care about customer welfare – so don’t think loyalty pays. It doesn’t. That means that if you want the best bank account on the market – or even an adequate bank account – odds are you need to switch. Almost all the most rewarding offers are exclusive to new customers.

The best account available for those who are always in credit is Halifax’s Reward Current Account.

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There has been incredible disruption to people’s travel plans this year, as threatened strikes, broken trains, collapsing airlines and extreme weather forced thousands of people to abandon their Christmas trips. While nothing can compensate for calling off Christmas plans, it’s important to know what you’re entitled to.

Many people will be left hoping their travel insurance will pick up the bill, but not every eventuality is covered – so are you protected?

First up, before you ask your insurer to foot the bill, you should check if you are entitled to claim elsewhere.

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Everyone wants to make the most out of their vacations, and there is no easier way to do this than to use your credit card.

Before you laugh off the notion of a credit card making your vacation better, consider the following perks of using credit cards the next time you vacation:

• Airline miles – Earning frequent flyer miles are a fantastic reason to use your credit card for your next vacation. The more you spend, the more frequent flyer miles you earn. Consider using your frequent flyer miles to discount your next airline ticket, or charge your vacation purchases to begin earning more frequent flyer miles for your next trip.
• Free Hotel Stays - Check your rewards credit card to see if it applies to hotel stays. M

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If you’re planning to treat yourself to an iPhone ready for 2010 then the good news is there’s never been so much choice. O2 no longer has the iPhone exclusive. In fact Orange and Tesco are offering it in time for Christmas, and Vodafone will have it on the shelves early next year.

Naturally all this choice means there are some excellent iPhone tariffs available and you can see a wide range over on the newly revamped moneysupermarket.com mobiles channel.

If you’re not sure what deal is right for you then read on.

3G or 3GS?

Of course, before you pick the tariff, you had better work out which model you want.

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