Being quite a cautious person I'm not one to speculate with my money so instead I try to squeeze anything I can out of my savings without taking big risks. I am a very big supporter of ISAs (Individual Savings Accounts), transaction accounts that don't charge fees and I like Credit Unions being a member of one in Australia and the UK.
I regularly roll over my savings accounts to take advantage of teaser rates that are offered by Banks and Financial Services companies in the UK. Like many other people I have started to wonder why for most people (except me) it seems that its easier to get a credit card than it is to open a savings account.
My latest discovery was the Visa Electron which is an interesting product in that (unlike Visa Debit and Credit Cards but like EFTPOS cards) each transaction involves not just the ability to do a transaction but also the amount of the transaction being authorised by the issuing bank.
It is perhaps because of the reduction in the credit and fraud risk that these cards are open to means that their transaction costs are much lower and closer to those of debit cards that they mimic.
Even though the cards are quite hard to get hold of now (Its reported that only Halifax offers the cards with their EasyCash account) Until recently they were the only way of paying the advertised price for Ryan Air and EasyJet fares. Ryan Air recently removed the option but EasyJet still offers it (for now).
Halifax also have a credit card that doesn't charge a margin or fee for overseas transactions including cash withdrawls. Like the 28 degrees Mastercard in Australia this card seems. reasonable product for occasional trips overseas and avoids the need to get cash or load money onto prepaid debit cards which tend to take a margin on the cash loaded on the card or via transaction fees. Of course you pay interest on your balance but well timed payments can avoid most of that.
Economics
I was a child I've had an interest in economics, and that's not just reading The Economist on a regular basis.
I've always been interested in the interplay of money and politics (studying both at university) and because of that have always had an interest in Credit Unions. There are a few credit unions in New Zealand but most of them have formed into a group under the NZCU brand name.
Of course I live in the UK and joined my first credit union, the RACV Credit Union in Australia so I have an interest in what is happening in those countries as well. RACV Credit Union is now a distant memory merging with Bigsky Credit Union which recently was itself merged into Australian Unity (which you will find out at this point unusually doesn't have a Wikipedia article).