A personal current account is the hub for all your personal finances, so choosing the right one is crucial for happy money management.  It's almost impossible to manage your money without one – salaries and benefits are paid in there, and it's a must for getting most types of credit.

We've put together a guide to help you make sure you choose the current account that suits you best, covering topics including:

• What kinds of current accounts are there?
• What features can I expect from a current account?
• Do they offer online banking?
• What fees does the bank charge and are they reasonable?
• Who offers the best current account?

Read our latest guide here: How to choose a current account

Compare top current accounts »

Protecting ourselves, families, homes and possessions should be a top priority for us all – especially as you really never know what's around the corner.

The credit crunch has already cost thousands of jobs and put many more at risk. And with the ever increasing threat of a swine flu pandemic alongside the normal winter ailments, becoming too sick to work is something none of us can guarantee against.

And if the risk of losing your job or falling ill wasn't enough to contend with, you really never can tell where the grim reaper is lurking and you could quite easily get knocked over by a bus tomorrow, or today for that matter!

State aid is generally limited which is why insurance has played a pivotal role in providing the protection that many of us want, alongside any other savings or employee benefits that we may have.

One policy that has come in for a lot of stick recently is payment protection insurance. PPI helps you to repay your borrowing, for example mortgages, loans and credit cards, if you become unable to work because of an accident, illness or unexpected job loss.

The way the policy works is that you receive the benefits over a fixed time, normally 12 months – although there is generally a waiting period before the policy starts to pay. For mortgages and loans the monthly repayment is normally covered in full and for credit cards the monthly payment is always covered, but some providers pay more.

On the face of it PPI is not a bad policy and certainly has some merits. But it's not the best and it has plenty of faults. For instance, it doesn't normally cover pre-existing medical conditions and may not cover every type of illness. And because you're not asked for specific details about your health when taking out the policy it can be a bit of a lottery if the policy ever pays out.

Also, if you accept voluntary redundancy, resign or lose your job due to misconduct, you can't make a claim.

But its biggest fault has been in the way it has been sold in the past.

Already City regulator the Financial Services Authority has banned the sale of single premium PPI, where premiums are added onto the loan as an upfront sum and told banks and lenders to compensate customers who may have been mis-sold this type of PPI policy.

And the FSA has also told all financial firms to reopen 185,000 old complaints about PPI which had previously been dismissed.

- Been mis-sold PPI? Claim it back here

One of the main gripes is that many people are totally unaware that they have the product, having ticked a box on a loan or credit card application form and have been paying through the nose for it since. For credit cards, cover is generally priced around 80p for every £100.

- Claim back unfair credit card fees

The Competition Commission had tried to ban the sale of PPI at point of sale but Barclays appealed and won – arguing consumers would lose out not being offered the chance to buy the policy when taking out credit.

The Competition Commission may have thought it was acting in everyone's best interests – but I'm not so sure and think Barclays were right to win their appeal.

OK, PPI is not the best policy for everyone. It's far too expensive for the level of cover it provides and generates far too much in terms of profit for the banks that provide it – in 2006 the Competition Commission found that lenders made excess profits of £1.4 billion when selling the insurance.

Yes, PPI needs drastic reform, it needs to be cheaper and it needs to be a lot more transparent. There are far better protection products out there, such as income protection insurance, that for me win hands down all the time.

But should PPI be banned from being sold at point of sale?

No.

Despite the limited benefits the risk of disenfranchising however small a percentage of the population from having any type of cover should they fall on hard times far outweighs any downside of Joe Public signing up to the product without fully understanding it at point of sale.

Some cover is better than none. The risk is that once the loan or credit card is granted and the money is in the bank, the plastic is in the wallet, most people will not think about protecting their monthly repayments.

But I would go one step further and say that all new loans, mortgages and credit cards can only be taken if a simple form of protection is taken at the same time.

Such a simple step would soon consign the risk of repossession and threat of financial hardship to the dustbin.

And that can only be better for everyone's financial health.

- Claim back unfair bank charges

- Claim back mis-sold PPI

- Claim back credit card fees

- Speak to an independent adviser about a sensible Income Protection policy!

What do you think? Tell us in the comments below.

It's the question we've all been waiting to find an answer to: is now a good time to buy a house?

Collectively we've been so undecided about the answer to that question that most seem to have been holding off moving house until the market settles down.  But it's now more than two years since the property market started to go downhill - so is the ‘right time' to sell and buy getting any closer?

It's a hot topic and I'd take an educated guess that once would-be buyers do decide the time is right, there'll be a flood of property onto the market. For a lot can happen in two years that could mean a house move is long overdue. Children will have been born into families who'd love a larger home but can struggle on in the one they have until the time is "right". That is to say, until they can both afford to move and be sure that they won't be plunged into negative equity as a result. Many older people will have retired and want to downsize from their large family properties and move to a new area - but are stuck because they can't sell.

I know people in both of those scenarios at the moment - and I have no doubt they must be repeated many thousands of times across the country.

It seems to me that eventually something must give - and that there will suddenly be a perception among would-be movers that property prices are now low as they're going to get, combined with a greater willingness on the part of the banks to lend money.  And that may be starting to happen already. A number of recent figures seem to say that confidence is returning to the market, with mortgage lending - and a willingness to lend - now on the up. According to British Banking Association (BBA) figures, mortgage approvals for those looking to buy a house were at their highest level in September since January 2008, rising to more than 42,000. And the Bank of England's Trends in Lending report, out last week, suggests that availability of mortgage finance will increase in coming months.

It strikes me as significant that the growing appetite is only for loans to buy a new house. Remortgage figures for those looking to move lender or cash in on home equity still remain low, suggesting that while more people think the time is right for them personally to move house,  it's not the right time to run up debt.

BBA statistics director David Dooks detects a continuing recovery in the property market  - but, he adds, more movement is still needed. "Housing market activity will depend on more properties coming on to the market," he says.

This apparent recovery comes despite the fact that the UK is still in recession – a fact confirmed by last week's GDP figures showing the economy shrank by 0.4% in the last quarter.

So what's going on here? Is this now a good time to buy – despite the continuing economic concern? My personal view is simply that people, initially shocked into inaction by the scale of recession, have got tired of waiting. Despite the current level of unemployment, most working people still have a job and mortgage rates remain historically low.

Ultimately the property market is about more than trading an asset. It's about how we live our lives. Life can only be put on hold for a certain amount of time - and then you have to make a decision and move on, taking the losses or the gains as they come. That's why more people are now taking the plunge.

Speak to an independent mortgage adviser about your options »

What do you think? Is now a good time to buy – or have people simply got tired of waiting?

Let us know in the comments below.

As we've pointed out here before at Money Hospital, an artifact with a celebrity association can provide a useful financial windfall.

Now, it turns out that a fan paid just short of £10,000 at auction to get hold of some black hair that once belonged to Elvis Presley. The hair, part of a 200-lot auction of Elvis memorabilia in Chicago, was in all likelihood swept from a barber's floor when the singer joined the Army in 1958.

If all it takes is a clutch of famous hair clippings to amass a five-figure sum, what other ways could there be to add £10,000 to your wealth without working for it?

Try the following for size...

The Blue Plaque Effect

If you're a homeowner, an eight per cent increase in the price of the average terraced home (£119,682 according to Land Registry figures) would give you nearly £10,000 windfall.

However, the housing market is showing nowhere near the price inflation of recent years, and there are a limited number of ways you can add value over and above similar properties on the market.  If you or the previous owner modernised the bathroom, converted the loft or landscaped the garden, most of your aces have already been played.

Most, but not all!  Step forward the 'blue plaque effect'.

Getting a future dignitary, revolutionary or cultural figurehead to live at your house could transform its value... eventually.  It's not an easy strategy to implement, and it doesn't work overnight: first your lodger has to fulfil their early promise, then they have to be dead twenty years before you can propose your location to English Heritage's Blue Plaques panel. But if you manage to put up a trainee politician who becomes the next PM, a newly arrived American guitarist who changes his name from Jimmy to 'Jimi', a struggling writer who pens the next Harry Potter or a young lawyer who happens to help overthrow the British Raj, your home becomes a landmark and a very investable proposition.

Even better would be to buy a home with an undiscovered history, do a spot of research with neighbours and the Land Registry, and find that you're already occupying a potential plaque site.  That's when it's time to get excited about a house price windfall.  Good locations for the above include London, Edinburgh, Oxford, Cambridge and other university cities.

Not a homeowner?  Perhaps you're a business owner instead? How about...

The Royal Endorsement

Getting a member of the Royal Family to drop by and use your services can open a goldmine for the small business proprietor.

That's right, if word gets out that Princess Anne is partial to your plum preserve or Charles and Camilla crave your crushed velvet curtains, that ought to add at least £10,000 to your turnover.

Clearly, it helps if it's a popular royal – preferably the monarch themselves – and usually this kind of endorsement is done on a 'By Appointment To' rather than an impromptu basis. But if you benefit from an unexpected spot of Royal patronage, make sure the guide books get to know about it.  And, again, history can come in handy: if it can be shown that Henry VIII once popped in to your barbershop, you can market the "Tudor Trim" to all the town's menfolk.

Either way, a royal endorsement of sorts could not only secure you a customer base and a boost in turnover, it could really pay off if and when you come to sell the business.

But, sadly for most of us, the touch of celebrity, genius or noble privilege is a rare commodity.  How else is a common and decent Money Hospital reader supposed to amass £10,000?

Step forward, Albert Einstein.

Compound interest

It all comes down to the discipline of saving – and choosing the right rate!

As a physicist, Einstein made many fabulous discoveries in his lifetime - but compound interest is one natural force that seems to have grabbed his attention. He’s reported to have said: "The most powerful force in the universe is compound interest.” And you can benefit from it too, so long as you are willing and able to put a certain amount of money aside each month.

Compound interest happens when the interest you receive on your savings is added to the pot. Interest on top of interest (in other words) is one of the secrets for real savings growth.

Let's take a simplified example.  Suppose you are able to put aside £100 a month. At this rate it would take you 8 years and 4 months to accumulate £10,000 – and during that time, inflation may have been nibbling away at its value.

Now assume you are getting paid interest of 5 per cent annually (say, in a decent ISA savings account). After your first year you are paid £60 interest on top of your £1,200.  This means that the following year you will be paid interest on the £60 too – in other words, on £2,460 not just £2,400.  Now you're starting to benefit from compounding.  At this rate, accumulating £10,000 only takes 7 years and 3 months.

But for the best returns of all, find an account that credits your interest monthly, and compounding can really take off for you.  There aren't many such accounts out there, but suppose you earn 0.4% a month instead of 5% a year. With monthly compounding, you'd reach the £10,000 mark after only 6 years, 11 and a bit months.

That's a 1.3 years quicker thanks to compounding – and of course, if you are able to work with a bigger monthly set-aside, you're able to harness the power of compound interest all the more.

Use our savings page to compare rates of return on today's ISAs and savings accounts:

http://www.moneyhospital.co.uk/banking

Either that or you could always get sweeping that barbershop floor!

If all the economic pundits are to be believed then the UK is going to be in a low interest rate environment for at least the next five to seven years.

The bank of England Base Rate is currently 0.5% and has been since March this year. It's the lowest level since the Bank began setting interest rates and forecasters are predicting that it's likely to stay at 0.5% well into the end of 2011.

Respected think tank the Centre for Economics and Business Research even goes one step further and predicts interest rates will be 2% or under up until 2014.

Personally, I think we're going to be in a low interest rate environment for a lot longer than has so far been forecast.

Historically UK interest rates average around the 6% mark with noticeable blips over the last century when they have unrealistically peaked due to severe economic conditions.

However the UK is in uncharted territory and still in a dire financial mess and the real impact of the credit crunch yet to be fully understood. For instance, nobody really knows the long term consequences of the Bank of England pumping extra cash into the economy through its program of quantative easing.

Looking for a global comparison as to what we maybe in for over the coming years is difficult. However Japan suffered an almost similar fate to the UK in the 1990s. It has since had over a decade of low interest rates and a faltering economy and at 0.10% it now has the lowest interest rates in the industrial world.

Depending on which side of the fence you sit, living in a low interest rate environment is either incredibly good news or not good at all.

Put simply, low interest rates are good for borrowers and bad for savers.

Mortgage customers with tracker deals and those on standard variable rates feel the impact of low interest rates almost immediately as their repayments go down.

Generally it will also mean that cheaper mortgage rates are available for purchasing property while a low interest rate environment can often take the sting out of remortgaging.

The reversion rate, or SVR, that your mortgage switches too at the end of any introductory offer, can often be on a par with or lower than other new deals that are available meaning it makes more sense and potentially save you money to stay with your existing lender.

Get free impartial advice from an independent mortgage adviser »

Unfortunately low interest rates also hit savers hard.

If your money is in a low-interest paying account and you don't need to access it fast then you should start looking at a better place for it.

Notice accounts, where you give your bank or building society advance warning before you withdraw your money, will generally pay a higher rate of interest than instant access accounts.

Elsewhere you can look at fixed rate saving accounts that will pay a higher rate of interest over two, three, four and five and 10 year or more periods.

Generally speaking the longer the fix, the higher the rate of interest. But remember you will not be able to access your cash during the fixed term.

With interest rates set to stay low for the foreseeable future I think the message here is simple – if you've got money to save you should start looking for some of the better deals now before they start to disappear.

Compare savings accounts on our banking section »