credit card ads

Last night, I was watching some rubbish on tv. It was on one of the commercial channels so I was plagued by ad breaks every quarter of an hour or so. One of the ads was for a Capital One credit card. It was advertising that Capital One has a lower interest rate than some other banks, and maybe you should switch to them to stop the interest from dragging you down.

This advert got me to thinking. If adverts reflect society then that means that its ok as far as society is concerned to be permanently in debt. But if you are forever in debt, then how can you get ahead. I find it really difficult to conceive of amassing any great sum of money, and think that it woud be a lot easier to try to get out of debt as at least you would have a goal to aim at. But then, how much harder must it be to contemplate having any money. And how much money must you spend on finance.

I guess people don't think about it too much. What should I be doing to change this? How can we make saving and investing more attractive?

money scripts: voting (part 1)

In common with a lot of people, I’ve grown up with some scripts relating to money. By this I mean things that I have absorbed in childhood that I have never questioned. Some of those are related to voting.

first voting script
As a child, the importance of voting was drummed into my head. Interestingly, not because that’s how to get your voice heard, but because men and women died trying to get universal suffrage in Britain. Now, that’s all well and good, but how is it related to personal finance?

Well, in order to vote in the United Kingdom, you have to be on the Electoral Register. The electoral register is also used by credit reference agencies to confirm your address and not being on it damages your credit score. So there we go, registering to vote will improve your credit score.