Yes prepaid cards are a good option for over seas travel. Though be careful that they are not an obscure format like electron which may not be acceptable elsewhere.

10 products to always buy generic. An american site but relevant here as well.

http://www.walletpop.com/blog/2010/07/1 ... y-generic/

Anyone who can't tell the difference between Coke and Pepsi is lucky/unlucky depending on how you look at it - anyone who can't tell the difference between those and a generic 'soda' must have medical issues of some description...

As for cereal, it has to be Kellogs for me, nothing else comes close (even with cornflakes). Though Frosties and Ricicles don't taste the way they used to IME, so you may as well consider the generic ones there

What's "off-brand" petrol (I don't drive remember!)?

I am one of those who cant tell the difference with Coke or Pepsi. Though on many occasions the generics are just as good, it is a matter of trial and error. I have found that the store brand cereals can be almost as good as the top brands, but the price difference is so much more. The thing to do is try and if you cannot tell then swap.

Agreed, Pepsi (particularly Pepsi Max) has such a superior taste!

It's the stuff that the super markets sell, basically. Or maybe the handful of independents that still (somehow) continue to trade.
And, IMHO, it's a bad idea. Whilst very, very unlikely, does anyone remember the Silicon-in-petrol thing a couple of years back?
There's been several studies done that support the claims of Optimax etc. improving your mileage. I tend to stick to the 'cooking' petrol, but I do believe that not all petrols are created equal.

They should all be the same octane level if they are 4 star, though the premium petrols can be a higher octane rating.

Octane, yes, but there's also other additives that can help the engine's running.

It depends on where you live. I have it on good authority that all petrol in Cornwall is indeed born equal, because it all comes from the same refinery in Plymouth.

So, what, all the stations in Cornwall are filled from one big tank in Plymouth, but labelled and sold as greater or lesser octane ratings/brand names?
Surely someone should be taken to court for this then?

I have no idea, I'm just going on what a bloke in the oil industry said. Certainly he said the stuff in Sainsbury's, Tesco etc is the same stuff as that in Esso, Shell et al.

Sugar?

It has long been done that way. It is sometimes logistically easier (cheaper/more convinient) for all brands to use petrol from one refinery. Many of the big brands have (or at leat had, when I was working in the oil industry) a recipricol agreement, where one company's refinery would deliver (or allow tankers from another company to fill up on their site) for one area, and in another area, it worked the other way round.

The different types (leaded 4 Star, unleaded, super plus, diesel etc.) were, of course, delivered separately, and if a particular brand had a pump with special additives, they would either need to put the additives in post collection or they would have to arrange for that sort to be delivered from their own refinery, at extra cost.

On what planet?

The age of interest-only mortgages is over

If you've got an interest-only mortgage (the sort where you make interest payments every month but leave the capital part of your debt untouched) the Financial Services Authority (FSA) is worried about you. It believes that over a million people who were sold interest-only mortgages between 2005 and 2009 have no actual loan repayment plan.

It used to be that lenders wouldn't give interest-only loans without some evidence that borrowers had some kind of savings plan in place. But it seems many didn't bother with this bit in the dizzying heights of the housing boom. And borrowers have been equally lax about saving up. "Borrowers need a plan to repay the capital that does not rely on house-price inflation or unrealistic intentions to downsize to a smaller property at the end of the term," warns the FSA.

The FSA believes this problem could really explode between 2024 and 2033, when interest-only mortgage deals given out in the boom reach the end of their term. But the problems could begin sooner than that.

The first thing to worry about is negative equity, which you're more likely to hit if you never reduce your loan than if you do. That's a major problem if you want to remortgage. But even if you aren't in negative equity, it's going to be hard to remortgage an interest-only deal. With low equity levels, you're likely to find there aren't many deals on offer.

You'll be back to looking for a mortgage with what is effectively a fairly small deposit in a market where lenders have become pickier than they were. Worse, with interest-only mortgages disappearing from the market as lenders react to the FSA's concerns, it's likely that the only thing you will be able to get is a repayment mortgage – and that's going to bump up your monthly payments significantly.

So what do you do? The best thing, if you can afford it, is to switch to a repayment mortgage immediately. If you think that might be a struggle over your current term, you might extend your mortgage. The monthly payments on a 35-year mortgage will be lower than on a 25-year one, for example. Failing that, as a matter of urgency, set aside whatever you can every month so that when the time comes to remortgage, you'll have a nest egg to add to your equity so that you can apply for a smaller mortgage. It is time to start thinking beyond interest-only.

http://www.moneyweek.com/personal-finan ... ey%2BSense