Yorkshire Building Society has cut mortgage rates for those with a 15% deposit, offering a three-year fixed rate deal at 4.59% with a £495 fee. Other highlights in the newly priced range include: - Two-year fixed rate at 3.99% with a £995 fee - Three-year tracker at 3.49% with a £495 fee (Bank [ Read More → ]

BELFAST, Northern (AP) — The British government and the Roman Catholic church colluded to cover up the suspected involvement of a priest in a 1972 bombing that killed nine people and injured 30, a new report said Tuesday. The Northern Ireland police ombudsman’s report determined that Father James Chesney was [ Read More → ]

The New Zealand economy feels a lot like a ‘Zombie Nation’ that wants to keep extending the loans and pretending that eventually everything will eventually go back to normal. Parts of our financial system and many property owners have been in a zombie-like state for much of the last two years, [ Read More → ]

While Ottawa makes noises about boosting financial literacy, it’s curious that this country’s 289,000 financial advisors seldom talk about debt. The industry thinks it’s OK that 40% of Canadians now retire with some debt, with many going deeper into hock once they stop working. Little wonder that a thousand or [ Read More → ]

Anna and Charlie Reynolds of St. George, Utah, were worried about losing their home to foreclosure last year. Then they got a lucky break—from an unlikely savior. Some investment funds are emerging as the best hope for millions of U.S. households, like the Reynolds, above, who were behind on [ Read More → ]

As you help pack up the minifridge, laptop and extra-long twin sheets for your college freshman, you might consider a few other last-minute chores: • Scour your health-insurance coverage for loopholes. • Reread your homeowner’s insurance policy. • Call your lawyer.Sending a child off to college for the first time is wrenching enough, [ Read More → ]

Financial planner Rick Brooks increasingly finds himself tangling with what he and his colleagues call “yapping dogs.” Not the canine variety, but the 401(k) type—those pesky retirement accounts many people leave behind in their ex-employers’ 401(k) plans when they change jobs. Hear Carolyn Geer discuss some important issues and tips [ Read More → ]

With all the excitement of planning a holiday, it’s easy to forget to research the best type of travel money to take. If you don’t do your homework, however, you could end up far worse off at the end of your trip. With the pound’s continuing weakness against the euro and the dollar, [ Read More → ]

When Eclectica launched its agriculture fund in June 2007 it was the first of its kind. Now it seems you can’t move for fund managers promoting agriculture and timber as the next must-have. This week hedge fund manager Anthony Ward spent £658m on 241,000 tonnes of cocoa beans – the equivalent of the [ Read More → ]

Dentistry in Thailand, with holiday included, can be so much cheaper than having it done in New Zealand. Photo / NZ Herald Rip-offs in New Zealand are big news, following an opinion piece in this newspaper by UK sports writer Peter Bills. It’s an issue that anyone who keeps an eye on [ Read More → ]