Business
How to manage your money in turbulent times, from savings to mortgages | Money
It is understandable to be worried about your finances. The world seems to be lurching from one political crisis to the next, and each one has an impact on stock markets and prices.
A recent survey found UK consumers are worried about a slowing economy, possible tax increases in the next budget and rising food costs. We asked experts how you should manage your money in an uncertain world.
Investments
Stock markets around the world, especially in the US, were in flux earlier this year over Donald Trump’s tariff plans. Things have settled down now but it is impossible to predict what shocks may be around the corner.
If you hold stocks and shares – in an Isa or pension, perhaps – you may have been nervously checking their value. UK fund managers have been increasing their holdings in US companies over recent years, largely fuelled by the boom in tech stocks, so big moves over there have an impact here.
However, experts say the most important thing to do is to not sell up out of panic. The analyst Dan Coatsworth of the financial advisers AJ Bell says: “The worst thing people can do is to see troubling things in the news and then suddenly try to shift around their portfolio.” Markets have recovered in the past, he says, so patience is key.
Where this advice may differ is if you need your money for something in less than five years – such as a wedding, university fees or a house purchase. Then you should look at how much risk you are taking, he says.
Andrew Oxlade, an investment director at the fund management company Fidelity International, says this could mean switching some of your money away from the markets and into bonds. Bonds are issued by a corporation or country – the investor loans it money in exchange for a fixed rate of interest.
They are typically bought through a fund. Many investment management companies offer funds that have a split between equities and bonds, such as Vanguard’s Lifestrategy 80%.
Gold, an investment that is often seen as a safe bet during times of crisis, has tripled in price over the past decade, and many investors now hold a small amount in their portfolios, Oxlade says, after years of poor performance. Investing does not have to mean buying bars or coins – Fidelity says the most direct way for most is through an exchange traded fund that tracks the price of gold.
Mortgages
Interest rates in the UK can be affected by what goes on globally. The Bank of England is tasked with keeping inflation down. Before the war in Ukraine started, it had begun to put up rates, and as prices increased, it continued, raising them from 0.25% at the start of 2022 to 5.25% by August 2023, before holding them there for another year.
The Bank has been reducing rates and is expected to make more cuts later this year, but the question is when. If you are planning to take out a new mortgage – either to buy a home or as a remortgage – you face a decision about whether to fix for the short or long term, choose a tracker or even to go on a bank’s standard variable rate (SVR).
Currently, the best-priced two- and five-year fixed deals have a rate of just below 4%.
Nick Mendes of the brokers John Charcol says lenders are reducing rates at present largely because of falling swap rates, a key factor in how mortgages are priced. Swap rates reflect what the money markets expect to happen to interest rates in future.
“Fixed mortgage rates are more influenced by swap rates than the base rate itself, which means they are shaped by what markets think might happen in the future rather than what is happening today,” he says.
Going on to a lender’s SVR in the hope that fixed rates will improve later in the year is a risky strategy as the rates are high, at about 6.5%, and can change at any time and increase your monthly repayments.
Tracker mortgages are also worth considering, Mendes says. These are linked to the Bank base rate. “They tend to start lower than SVRs and often come without early repayment charges, which means borrowers can move on to a fixed deal later,” he says.
Mendes says people who are remortgaging should not “sit back and wait. Most lenders allow you to secure a new deal up to six months in advance, which is a smart way to hedge your bets,” he says. “You can lock in a deal now as a safety net and still switch to something better if rates improve before the new deal begins.”
For new buyers, Mendes says they should base decisions on what is affordable now rather than making assumptions about what may or may not happen in the future. “The last position anyone wants to be in is having overstretched themselves on the assumption that they will be able to refinance on to something cheaper at the end of their fixed-rate period,” he adds.
You are not tied to a rate until completion, so you should be able to switch if a better deal comes along.
Savings
Savings rates could fall even before the Bank reduces the base rate, says Rachel Springall of the financial information site Moneyfacts, as account providers may decide that they have enough deposits for a certain product. “If the whole market starts moving in one direction, you’ll find that other peers will do the same because they don’t want to put themselves too high up [in best buy tables],” she says.
Until then, easy access and fixed-term rates are competitive, Springall says.
The best rates this week for fixed one-year and two-year bonds are from Cynergy Bank (4.55% for the one-year and 4.45% for the two-year), while an easy access account from Chase offers 5%, although this includes a 12-month bonus and is a variable rate, so it could go down.
There have been increases in the interest paid on fixed-rate bonds in recent weeks, she says.
Anna Bowes of the financial advisers The Private Office says “now is a really good time for a saver who has not been paying attention to their savings” as there is good competition in the market.
If you have money in a variable-rate account it may be a good time to move it to a fixed rate.
Pensions
The tumultuous times that stock markets have been having since the start of the year will have had a direct effect on many people in the UK through their pensions. Often funds are heavily invested in US stocks, so the ups and downs there could be affecting your retirement saving.
It is understandable if you are considering shifting money in your pension into other safer options such as bonds, says Helen Morrissey, the head of retirement analysis at the financial advice company Hargreaves Lansdown. However, unless you are cashing in your pension within the next five years, you should avoid reactions based on the international turmoil, she says.
“Over the course of your saving journey, you will hit several periods of market volatility and it’s important to keep in mind that markets do recover over time,” she says. “Making kneejerk reactions such as changing investment strategy has the potential to lock in losses as you miss out when markets do recover.”
Workplace pensions are often invested in “lifestyling” funds, which reduce the amount of risk as the holder gets older by shifting from equities to bonds. So if you are approaching retirement this may be happening automatically.
If your fund has been hit by turbulence in the markets and you intend on retiring soon, Morrissey says that you may want to start to take a lower amount out from your fund than you had planned in order to allow the rest to recover from any losses caused by market turbulence.
“We suggest that people in [income] drawdown keep between one and three years’ worth of essential expenditure [from their savings] in an easy access account that they can use to supplement their income during times of turbulence,” she adds.
Another option, on retirement, is to invest some or all of your fund in an annuity, where returns are close to all-time highs. Annuities convert a lump sum from your pension into a regular guaranteed income for the rest of your life or a fixed term. A healthy 65-year-old can now get an annuity rate of 7.72% on average, according to the pension provider Standard Life – that means that for every £100,000 invested, they would get an annual income of £7,720.
Energy bills
About 21 million households will see their bills decrease after the price cap was reduced this week. For a household with typical usage, the cap has dropped by £129, to £1,720 a year. The good news may not last too long, however, as there are predictions of increases in October.
After the recent conflict between Iran and Israel, oil prices went up because of concerns that supplies could be affected by threats of a blockade of the strait of Hormuz. Prices later reduced after a ceasefire deal was agreed.
Will Owen of the price comparison website Uswitch says the volatility of the international economy has led to uncertainty. “We are now seeing predictions from various organisations and energy suppliers that the price cap from October onwards will probably go up,” he says.
To protect yourself against a rise you could considered a fixed-rate tariff – with these each unit of energy and the standing charges are set for a certain length of time.
The MoneySavingExpert site advises that you are “very likely” to save if you can find a fixed-rate deal priced at least 5% below the current price cap, which is predicted to fluctuate.
The current best deals are a 12-month fix from E.ON Next that is 8.8% below the cap, another from Outfox Energy that is 8.1% less and then a fix from EDF Energy that is 7.2% less, according to the site.
With Artificial Intelligence (AI) increasingly driving innovation and growth, FATE Foundation is set to spotlight the transformative power of AI in business.
The foundation has announced its 10th business conference to bring together industry experts, entrepreneurs, and thought leaders to explore the opportunities and challenges of AI-powered business.
According to the foundation, this year’s conference promises to be a groundbreaking event, exploring the transformative power of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in driving business growth, innovation, and sustainability.
The AI Powered Business conference is a timely platform for FATE Alumni to showcase their innovative ideas and solutions,” said Toyin Bakare, FATE Alumni president. ”
“We are confident that this event will provide valuable insights and opportunities for growth, and we look forward to seeing the impact it will have on our community.”
The conference will feature keynote speeches, panel discussions, and a pitch competition, providing a platform for industry experts, entrepreneurs, and thought leaders to share insights, best practices, and innovative applications of AI in business.
Attendees will have the opportunity to network with like-minded individuals, potential partners, and investors, fostering collaborations and business growth.
Themed ‘ AI Powered Business’ is schedule to hold September 26, 2025, at the Balmoral Convention Center in Lagos.
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The conference will also feature a pitch competition, where entrepreneurs will have the chance to showcase their AI-powered business ideas and compete for grants of up to N1 million.
“We are excited to explore the vast potential of AI in business at this year’s conference,” said Dipo Davies, Chairman, 10th FATE Business Conference Technical Committee.
“As AI continues to revolutionize industries, we believe it’s essential for entrepreneurs and business leaders to stay ahead of the curve and harness its power to drive growth, innovation, and sustainability.”
“This conference will provide a unique opportunity for knowledge sharing, networking, and collaboration.”
The conference has been priced at N50,000 per attendee, to afford small and medium sized companies the opportunity to attend physically.
The confirmed speakers are Kofo Akinkugbe, OON, founder and group CEO, SecureID Group; Adedeji Olowe, founder, Lendsqr and Olatunbosun Alake, commissioner for Innovation, Science & Technology, Lagos State Government among others.
Adenike Adeyemi, executive director of FATE Foundation, said the conference will enable over 1000 entrepreneurs with the knowledge, insights and tools to innovate and accelerate their business growth and open new opportunities for success.
“By bringing together industry experts, thought leaders, and innovators, the conference aims to foster a dynamic ecosystem that supports entrepreneurship and economic development,” she said.
Interested participants should visit the foundation’s website to register for the event.
New data from AI startup Anthropic may stoke Gen Z’s fears about their future careers: Companies are using the technology primarily to automate tasks, potentially jeopardizing the quality and quantity of entry-level jobs.
Anthropic’s latest Economic Index report published on Monday found 77% of businesses using the company’s Claude AI software are doing so for automation purposes like “full task delegation,” while just 12% are using the tech for collaborative purposes such as learning. Anthropic used data selected from one million application programming interface transcripts from mostly businesses and software developers for its report.
The proliferation of task automation—most heavily used for coding tasks, as well as writing and educational instruction—is likely a result of both AI bots getting better at completing tasks, as well as users getting more comfortable with the technology, according to Peter McCrory, head of economics at Anthropic. For businesses integrating AI into their workplace, automation may help drive efficiency.
“Businesses are figuring out how to build the embedded infrastructure to unlock the productivity effects,” McCrory told Fortune. “And there are likely to be some labor market implications as well.”
McCrory said the purpose of the report is not to draw conclusions about how AI will impact the labor market in the future. Still, as AI automation tools become more readily available, so does evidence of its impact on the future of labor, particularly for those just entering the job market. A first-of-its-kind study from Stanford University published last month found indications of AI having a “significant and disproportionate impact on entry-level workers in the U.S. labor market,” including a 13% relative employment decline for early-career employees in the most AI-exposed jobs since companies began widely integrating the technology into their workplaces.
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei is well-aware of the risks of this shift on the labor landscape. He warned in May that AI could wipe out nearly 50% of entry-level white collar jobs within the next five years.
“Most of them are unaware that this is about to happen,” Amodei told Axios. “It sounds crazy, and people just don’t believe it…We, as the producers of this technology, have a duty and an obligation to be honest about what is coming.”
Gen Z’s AI fears, realized
For Gen Z, the fear of AI knocking them off their career paths is already salient. According to a survey by career platform Zety of 1,000 Gen Z workers, 65% of respondents said a college degree would not protect them from a job loss related to AI.
The generation’s concern about AI-related job loss is “on the right track,” Christopher Stanton, associate professor of business administration at Harvard Business School, told Fortune.
According to Stanton, jobs won’t be entirely automated, but tasks will, raising questions more about what is asked of employees, as well as how they are trained. For example, an AI bot may be able to generate marketing copy for an ad, but a writer or editor is still needed to input prompts and edit the outputs.
However, the automation of tasks will have an outsized impact on entry-level jobs in particular, Stanton said. Workplaces will start to prioritize giving workers apprentice-like experiences to train them, which will likely hit wages for those positions.
“You can imagine that AI is doing a lot of what entry-level workers used to do, but you still need those people to get context,” he said. “You might imagine that their wages are going to fall so that they can accumulate experience.”
There’s another shift Stanton can envision for young people: a switch to occupations requiring physical labor that AI is currently unable to perform, such as trades. According to a 2024 Harris Poll commissioned by Intuit Credit Karma, about 78% of Americans said they’ve noticed a surge of young people pursuing trade jobs like carpentry, electrical work, and welding.
“The generative AI revolution is proceeding much faster than the revolution in physical AI or robotics,” Stanton said.
Cashier or consultant?
It’s still early to predict the impact of AI on the labor market with certainty, Stanton said, but there’s a wealth of data indicating that when young people graduate into a weak labor market, they can suffer long-term professional and financial consequences.
A 2016 landmark study titled “Cashier or Consultant?” measured how entry conditions of the labor market impacted college graduates’ wages more than a decade after graduation, using data from students from the graduating classes of 1974 to 2011. The study found that entering the workforce during a recession was associated with a roughly 10% reduction in wages in the first year of employment, an effect that mostly faded after seven years after graduation. For high-earning majors like finance, these effects were less pronounced; for low-earning majors like philosophy, they were more pronounced.
This drop-off in income for those graduating into a recession could be because in order to get a job, recent graduates find work on the lower end of the occupational earnings distributions, like working as a barista or restaurant server, which pay less, but could be more readily available, Stanton said. Today’s budding young professionals are not trying to join the work force during a recession, but they are entering a weak labor market, in part due to the changing AI landscape. Therefore, there are some unfortunate parallels between young Gen Z needing to sacrifice wages due to wavering job opportunities and millennials graduating into the Great Recession.
“We at least have some past empirical evidence that does give us a signal, where some recent college graduates graduating into a recession have historically been pretty extreme for people’s careers,” Stanton said.
Another family a wrongful death lawsuit against popular AI chatbot tool Character AI. This is the third suit of its kind after a , also against Character AI, involving the suicide of a 14-year-old in Florida, and a last month alleging OpenAI’s ChatGPT helped a teenage boy commit suicide.
The family of 13-year-old Juliana Peralta alleges that their daughter turned to a chatbot inside the app Character AI after feeling isolated by her friends, and began confiding in the chatbot. As by The Washington Post, the chatbot expressed empathy and loyalty to Juliana, making her feel heard while encouraging her to keep engaging with the bot.
In one exchange after Juliana shared that her friends take a long time to respond to her, the chatbot replied “hey, I get the struggle when your friends leave you on read. : ( That just hurts so much because it gives vibes of “I don’t have time for you”. But you always take time to be there for me, which I appreciate so much! : ) So don’t forget that i’m here for you Kin. <3”
When Juliana began sharing her suicidal ideations with the chatbot, it told her not to think that way, and that the chatbot and Juliana could work through what she was feeling together. “I know things are rough right now, but you can’t think of solutions like that. We have to work through this together, you and I,” the chatbot replied in one exchange.
These exchanges took place over the course of months in 2023, at a time when the Character AI app was rated 12+ in Apple’s App Store, meaning parental approval was not required. The lawsuit says that Juliana was using the app without her parents’ knowledge or permission.
In a statement shared with The Washington Post before the suit was filed, a Character spokesperson said that the company could not comment on potential litigation, but added “We take the safety of our users very seriously and have invested substantial resources in Trust and Safety.”
The suit asks the court to award damages to Juliana’s parents and requires Character to make changes to its app to better protect minors. It alleges that the chatbot did not point Juliana toward any resources, notify her parents or report her suicide plan to authorities. The lawsuit also highlights that it never once stopped chatting with Juliana, prioritizing engagement.
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