Neil Faulkner takes a novel approach to finding financial products: he asks Google...
I'm always searching for great, new financial products. It's not easy, as I explained in Why Are There So Few 'Good News' Stories? I check dozens of sources every week. Often they inspire new money tips, but rarely do they uncover a product. So, this week, I've turned off the conventional investigative route and asked Google instead. I typed in the keywords 'great', 'money/personal finance' and 'product'. Then I clicked Google Search...
Most Of It Was Junk
Google did find some financial products, but I would struggle to put the word 'great' before many of them. For some reason, marketing departments never seem to think that the products their company sells are 'Average', 'OK', 'Pretty awful' or 'Horrendous'. No. They think they are 'Excellent', Great value', 'Comprehensive' or simply 'The best'. Strange that.
They can't all be right, but it does mess with Google's results. Nevertheless, sifting through them for little gold nuggets, here's what I found. Firstly, here are the duds:
Fool's Gold
Utterly unable to disguise themselves as the real thing, Payday loans certainly are Fool's Gold. These dreadful products sometimes have APRs in the hundreds of percent. They certainly are 'great' - at ripping people off and sending them into even worse debt misery.
If your credit rating is so bad that you can't get a 0% card or an unsecured personal loan, your next step is to seek debt help, not to go for some more expensive and dangerous product like this.
The results also found guaranteed equity bonds. These aren't the worst products in the world, but it's very easy for marketing teams to make them sound 50 times better than they are.
Another item was travel money. Useful, of course. Necessary when you're abroad, certainly. It's just not necessary to get it from a High Street bank, but that's what Google was highlighting in its results. The bank in question was encouraging you to order travel money through it online, and to use its debit and credit cards abroad. All of these are expensive ways to exchange money. Avoid the high-street banks for travel money.
Gold Nuggets
Books on finance made it to the results, and you can't go wrong with a well-written book packed with tips to improve your money situation.
Google recommended Alvin Hall's book Your Money or Your Life. I've not read any of Hall's books, but I've read some of his articles. He writes well and his guidance is excellent, so I'm sure the book is good, too. Another that Google found was Personal Finance for Dummies.
Next, Google found financial software, which has helped many Fools to budget better, to pull themselves out of debt, and even to track their savings and investments. Microsoft Money was one find; it's a popular choice amongst Fools. Also on the list was a cheaper alternative: Banktree Personal Finance & Accounting Software. I was unable to download it, but I found some good reviews so it's probably worth a try.
There's no downside to free things that save you money, so a site,
My Voucher Codes, telling you about discount codes and shop vouchers is welcome. Vouchers are two-edged swords though. Usually you could buy similar products in cheaper shops for a lower price. Also, it's easy to trick yourself into buying more than you otherwise would merely because you can't resist a 'bargain'!
Difficult to categorise are the Google results from providers of 'ordinary' products like credit cards, loans and savings accounts. These are useful and often necessary products, but the problem is that each provider thinks theirs are the best, but they can't all be right. (Virgin Money was right about its balance-transfer card - it's a fine card. Otherwise, the claims are dubious at best.)
Google found one more item of note.
If you're concerned about collapsing banks and don't trust the savings guarantee, the Money Monster might be just what you're looking for!
Semi-precious metals
The problem is that nothing Google found was particularly new, nor especially great, with the possible exception of the Money Monster. I used Google to sift for gold, but found bronze and silver. Google isn't a great financial advisor, although perhaps it has a sense-of-humour.