Personal Finance: Loose Change

COMMISSION ON all UK share trades up to pounds 2,000 atmyBroker.co.uk will be halved to pounds 12.50, the company announcedthis week. Charges for UK deals over pounds 2,000 will stay at pounds25, while the fees for US equity deals remain at a flat $15.95. Andfrom next week myBroker plans to announce it is offering access toNASDAQ Level 2, a service which shows which market makers are tradingin which stocks on the American stock exchange for hi-tech shares.MyBroker also provides free access to updated live prices, a livetrading platform, market transaction logs, market data and news fromboth the UK and US markets. For further information go towww.myBroker.co.uk.

u

BRISTOL & WEST is launching today an account called Easy Pluswhich will pay savers an introductory interest rate of 7.1 per centguaranteed for at least six months from the date the account isopened. After the introductory period the customer can choose fromone of four different "Easy Life" accounts, depending on whether theywant to access the account by phone, internet and so on. The sixmonth offer is available until 14 December 2000, but may be withdrawnif it is oversubscribed. During the guaranteed period savers canwithdraw up to 25 per cent of their capital on an easy access basis.For more details call 0808 181 1111.

u

A NEW company called the Postal Preference Service will givepeople the chance to say what type of advertising mail they do anddon't want to receive. The new service aims to cut down on unwantedjunk mail and is backed by the Royal Mail and the Royal PTT Post(Dutch Post). Using a questionnaire, the service gives consumers thechance to say what information they do and don't want coming throughtheir letterbox from companies. To obtain a questionnaire, call 08700503554.

u

MORE THAN half of British business is unaware of its obligationsunder the Government's new stakeholder pension initiative, the low-cost retirement scheme due to be launched next April, according toresearch published this week. All businesses with five employees ormore, or around 600,000 businesses in the UK, will have to offertheir workforce access to a stakeholder pension scheme from October2001. According to research by Axa, the insurance company, 64 percent of businesses without an employee pension scheme do not knowthey will have to offer their people such an arrangement.

All the answers are contained in a booklet, Stakeholder Pensions -a guide for employers, available free from the Department of SocialSecurity (DSS) if you ring 0845 7646 646. Individuals can also obtainthe guide from the DSS by ringing 0845 7313 233. Or you can click ontheir website, www.dss.gov.uk.