Many consumers complain that January is a long month, but like many other months, January also has 31 days. What makes it longer though, is how you spend your money during the festive season, says Adv. Kedilatile Legodi, Acting Manager: Education & Communication at the National Credit Regulator (NCR).

Adv. Legodi reminds consumers that some will receive their December salaries earlier than usual and others will be receiving bonuses. Often times, bonuses present a great temptation to buy more, however, consumers are strongly encouraged to draft a budget to ensure that they spend what they have. Consumers are further encouraged to get into a habit of allocating a portion of their budget to savings.

Consumers must remember that the salary paid in December is the same income that has to cater for January expenses such as school fees, school uniform, food, transport and others. Failure to consider January expenses before spending during the festive season, will indeed make January feel longer and financially stressful, adds Legodi.

Reckless spending over this period without due consideration of January which is a few weeks away, may lead some consumers directly into the trap of unregistered credit providers informally referred to by many as “Abomashonisa”. Desperation to borrow money in order to cope with January expenses will make you a target of unregistered credit providers who would usually advertise using phrases such as “Blacklisted consumers welcome”, “cheap credit” and often require you to pay a fee before they pay out the alleged approved loan.

Unregistered credit providers usually charge excessive interest rates and fees that are not in line with the National Credit Act. They also use unlawful tactics to collect on their debt such as retaining consumers’ identity documents, bank cards / pin numbers, SASSA cards and others. “Consumers are advised to only use NCR registered credit providers and report those that retain their instruments such as bank cards to the NCR”, advises Legodi.

Consumers should remember that credit is expensive as it includes interest, monthly service fees, once off initiation fees, etc. “Spending wisely during the festive season, will alleviate the need for consumers to borrow money in January”, concludes Legodi.

Below are tips for the festive season:

• Plan and draw up a list of your needs;
• Set a realistic budget for what is on the list;
• Prioritise your home loan, rent and school fees. Where possible, pay more;
• Buy school uniforms and stationery now when you have money;
• Start saving for next year’s projects such as holidays, renovations, studying, retail sales/specials and do not rely on credit for this;
• If you are battling with your debts, contact a registered debt counsellor for assistance.

The home delivery specialist ParcelHero has updated its Christmas deadline tool revealing the final order dates for all the UK’s favourite stores; and it’s warning shoppers will need to get on their bikes to book final online orders, as stores such as Evans Cycles’ final order deadline for Christmas delivery is December 16th.

Says ParcelHero’s Head of Consumer Research, David Jinks MILT: ‘Many shoppers do like to leave it as late as possible to order online; perhaps in the hope of last-minute bargains, or just because of good old-fashioned procrastination. Whatever the reason, they should not leave it too long as a number of stores’ deadlines are as early as Monday 16th. This is particularly the case if they specialise in heavier items such as cycles or furniture. In contrast some other retailers, such as Amazon and Net-a-Porter, are actually offering Christmas Eve same-day ordering. It will pay shoppers to look up the final dates for the store they have in mind.’

Reveals David: ‘Retailers’ deadlines are rapidly coming upon us, and we really don’t recommend ordering too late. Last year we Brits spent £133bn online at Xmas and an astonishing 880 million parcels were delivered before the big day. With the parcel network that busy it’s safer to place your orders in good time. And, don’t forget, our last recommended date for sending a parcel by courier in the UK is December 20th to ensure its safe arrival.’

Here’s ParcelHero’s Amazon to Zara list of Christmas deadlines:

• Amazon – 24th December
• Argos- 24th December
• ASOS – 22nd December
• Boden – 23rd December
• The Body Shop – 23rd December
• Boohoo – 22 December
• Debenhams – 23rd December
• Evans Cycles – 26th December
• Firebox – 23rd December
• Gap – 23rd December
• HP – 22nd December
• John Lewis – 22nd December
• Littlewoods – 23rd December
• Next – 22nd December
• Paul Smith – 19th December
• The White Company – 19th December
• Very – 23rd December
• Zara – 18th December

Hope Capital has partnered with Connect for Intermediaries as Connect adds the bridging lender to its panel.

Hope Capital has been chosen for its exceptional service levels, turnaround times and flexibility and its wide range of lending of up to 24 months on residential, commercial and mixed-use property across England, Wales and Scotland. Hope Capital also lends against land, with or without planning permission, while its rates start at just 0.69%.

Hope Capital’s appointment to Connect’s panel provides Connect’s appointed representatives with a flexible new lending option, and provides access to those who use Connect’s packager and referral arms.

Kevin Thomson, sales director at Connect for intermediaries says, “We have worked with Hope Capital off panel for some time and as a result we have no hesitation in now formally putting them on to our lender panel. The efficient team at Hope Capital have very quick turnaround times, are incredibly flexible and are always there to help, ensuring that when brokers phone them direct, they will always get to speak directly to an underwriter or a senior decision maker.”

Gary Bailey, MD of Hope Capital says, “We understand that for many brokers, bridging is something that they only see a need for occasionally. For these brokers it can be very useful to have help to guide you through the bridging market to find the best lender and the best products for each client. Connect for Intermediaries are experts in the bridging market and provide brokers with all the help and expertise that they may need, we are delighted to partner with Connect and their members.”

We have recently added to our UK equity holdings, eliminating the bulk of our longstanding underweight of UK equities. Although uncertainties undoubtedly remain, our view is that the risk of the two most market unfriendly outcomes – a No-Deal Brexit or Labour winning a majority – is now quite small. With the pound and UK equities both still cheap, we no longer believe a sizeable underweight of UK equities is warranted.

• While the outcome of the election remains somewhat uncertain, a Conservative majority now seems the most likely outcome. The Conservatives have a commanding lead in the polls, which has increased if anything in recent weeks, and importantly Corbyn remains much more unpopular than Johnson. Last night’s TV debate looks unlikely to have changed matters much with no out-and-out winner. Meanwhile, the threat to the Conservatives posed by the Brexit Party has been reduced significantly by the latter’s decision not to contest Conservative seats. Even so, the possibility of widespread tactical voting, the failure of the polls to correctly predict recent election results, and the possibility of an alliance between some of the ‘Remainer’ parties still mean the outcome is far from a done deal.
• A Conservative victory would be the most positive outcome for the markets given their pro-business policies and the likelihood that Johnson’s Brexit deal would be ratified. Sterling would very likely rise to $1.35 or so from $1.29 currently and UK equities recover a further part of their marked underperformance relative to other markets in recent years. Despite their bounce since mid-October when the risk of a No-Deal fell substantially, UK equities have only unwound a small part of this underperformance and continue to look relatively cheap compared to other markets. The pound also remains well below pre-2016 levels and is cheap. UK small/mid cap would very likely also outperform large cap as domestic economic fears would ease while UK large cap would be held back to some extent by the relatively large proportion of their earnings coming from overseas (75% of FTSE 100 earnings come from overseas versus 50% for the FTSE 250), which will be worth less in sterling terms if the pound recovers further.
• A Labour majority would clearly be the worst outcome for the market but we believe this remains low risk given the continuing poor ratings of both Labour and Corbyn. If Labour did win a majority, their radical nationalisation plans, which now include Water, the Railways, the National Grid, Royal Mail and BT’s Openreach subsidiary, would clearly hit particular segments of the market hard, particularly as the businesses would probably be purchased at below the market price. Their plans for compulsory employee share ownership – with companies required to hand over 10% of equity to workers – and compulsory worker /consumer representation on the boards of all UK listed companies would also be viewed with trepidation. Still, Labour’s bark would very likely be worse than its bite – not least because of the difficulties in actually carrying out its more radical plans. Only if there were a Labour majority – rather than a Labour-led minority government – would Labour very likely be able to carry out such policies. On Brexit, by contrast, Labour’s policy is as market friendly as the Conservative’s policy – with Labour calling for a deal to be ratified in a referendum and the possibility therefore that the UK could end up remaining in the EU after all.
• A hung Parliament is clearly possible with a minority Labour Government supported by a combination of the SNP/Liberal Democrats/Green Party. But Lib Dem/SNP support may be hard to secure. The Lib Dems have said Corbyn can’t be Labour leader if they are to have their support and any agreement with the SNP would be tied to SNP demands for a Scottish referendum. This scenario would clearly lead to continued uncertainty on the policy front – other than on Brexit – but our view is that in this scenario, Labour would not be in a strong enough position to carry through most of its more radical policy proposals.
• Both Labour and the Conservatives are planning substantial rises in Government spending – particularly investment. The gap between the two parties in this area is much smaller than normal although Labour is still planning a significantly larger boost than the Conservatives. The Government has torn up its fiscal rules, replacing its target of a balanced budget by the mid 2020s with an aim of balancing the current budget (which excludes public sector investment) by the middle of the next parliament. It also aims to limit borrowing for investment to 3% of national income (up 50% from current levels) and keep debt service costs below 6% of national income. Labour’s new fiscal rules also include balancing the current budget but are significantly loose for investment and debt service costs. These new rules give both parties the leeway needed to accommodate their plans for a substantial boost to investment spending. But they limit the scope for the Conservatives to cut taxes and boost current spending much further – indeed, Johnson has this week abandoned the previous plan to cut the corporation tax rate from 19% to 17%. As for Labour, its plans for significant tax increases mean it has considerably greater room to raise current spending than do the Conservatives.
• A Conservative victory would very likely lead to Johnson’s Brexit deal being ratified and would clearly remove some of the Brexit-related drag on UK growth over the last couple of years. Even so, significant uncertainties will still remain. Johnson is sticking to his pledge that the transition period (during which nothing much will change) will end in December 2020. At best, the UK/EU will probably only be able to agree a very limited kind of trade deal within a year (particularly given Conservative plans for regulatory divergence from the EU). Other trade deals should also take a number of years to put in place. Consequently, while we expect UK growth to recover a bit as Brexit uncertainty eases and the boost from higher government spending kicks in, we still expect it to remain sluggish next year at 1.25-1.5%.

Recent studies have shown that as many as 65% of small and medium sized businesses are losing time and money through failing to adopt technology and use it to its full potential.

Although the large majority of SMEs use the internet for business purposes, including online banking and emailing customers, many of these owners have admitted to not possessing basic digital skills and knowledge beyond this. This is despite a proven correlation between digital skills and a high business turnover.

So why wouldn’t an SME want to adopt a few simple tools to help streamline their business processes? In this article, Opus Energy, renewable energy provider to businesses, shares its top 6 tech solutions for helping business owners save both time and money.

Get a project management tool

Being able to stay on top of your workload is important, but when you’re juggling twenty different tasks, it’s easy to lose track of where you are.

There are lots of handy online tools to help you manage projects more efficiently. For example, Trello and Asana use the Kanban methodology, a production-line style approach which enables you to see what work you need to complete, and when. This can help you stick to deadlines, keep your priorities organised and ensure nothing gets forgotten or dropped.

Make the most of the cloud

It’s been argued that the one of the biggest impacts on businesses over the last few years has been the introduction of cloud technology, but not everyone is reaping the benefits yet.

In the past, people would use programs on their computers or building servers to do their work, but cloud-based software allows the same programs to be accessed through the internet. As long as you have an internet connection, you can complete your work anywhere, when it suits you.

Cloud software like Office 365 allows multiple users to simultaneously collaborate on the same document, without creating multiple versions. Users can see changes in real-time, including who has made what changes, which saves time as you don’t have to wait for other people to finish editing before you can start.

At the same time, it’s easier to protect sensitive information and prevent data loss with cloud-based software. For example, Office 365 has advanced security features to safeguard your data. From encrypted emails to mobile device management and threat intelligence, you can be confident that your data and intellectual property is well protected.

Train yourself and your employees online

As a small business owner, it’s vital to continue to develop and expand you and your team’s knowledge, whether that be in your specific sector, or more general business updates. In an ideal world we would attend all of the seminars, meetings and training events possible, but these can be costly and time consuming.

However, self-paced training and online business training programs, which are often free, are the ideal way to expand your know-how from your own office.

There are various business training resources that will cover everything and anything you need to research and educate yourself on, so get familiar with these tools and pick the right options for you and your team. Don’t forget podcasts either; they can be a great source of entertainment, but they are also a viable tool for education, and you can listen at any time, even on the commute.

Share your calendar with everyone and anyone

Finding a time that works for you and a supplier, a new client or even a lunch date with friends can often be an exercise of email tennis, with dates and times suggested back and forth over email for weeks before anything is set in stone. Using online calendars will allow others check your availability for meetings. This not only takes the management of your calendar out of your hands but will save everyone a lot of admin time and hassle.

Digitalise your invoices

When it comes to getting paid, the easiest way to track and log your finances is online. There are currently several companies offering similar invoicing services, so businesses need to do their research to ensure that the chosen system will complement their working methods and will be adaptable to their business.

In fact, a digitalised and streamlined online invoicing service may be an appropriate alternative for your business that allows you to manage your billing process quicker and more proficiently.

Track every second of your time

Whether or not you bill customers and clients by the hour, there is much to be gained from keeping track of where you and your team’s time goes each day. This not only ensures you bill those who pay by the hour, but helps you spot where you can be more time efficient, and which tasks are taking up too much of your time.

Like bookkeeping tools, there are many of these time-tracking tools available so be sure to select one which will integrate easiest into your day to day activity.