MONEY COMMENT
More Money Advice At The Fool

By Cliff D'Arcy
January 13, 2003

In 2003 we plan to concentrate even more on the issues that matter to you. Starting this week, we are launching a new series of articles focusing on personal finance subjects, aimed at making your money work harder for you.

Every weekday, we will be writing two short articles on money matters, commenting on the topical issues that affect many UK consumers.

An easy way to introduce the topics we plan to report on is to remember the acronym "BLIMPS", which covers:

• Banking - current accounts, overdrafts, personal loans and credit cards
• Life assurance - term assurance, mortgage protection and endowments
• Investments and pensions - PEPs and ISAs, unit trusts, OEICs, bonds, buying shares (covering monthly saving and lump-sum investments)
• Mortgages and housing - house prices, the various ways to repay your mortgage, interest rates, etc.
• Protection - home and motor insurance, payment protection, critical illness, income protection, travel insurance, etc.
• Savings - deposit accounts, National Savings, cash mini-ISAs, TESSAs, saving for children, etc.

If you're unfamiliar with any of these terms, don't worry: we'll explain ourselves as we go along. At around 300-400 words each, these articles should be easy to grasp - we'll give you enough information to improve your financial confidence and help you to make better financial decisions. We'll continue to produce the Fool's Eye View series of articles which offer a more in-depth look at topical money issues. However, instead of the previous five articles a week these will now only be produced on Tuesday and Thursday.

You'll be able to see this new series of articles in our lunchtime e-mail, with some articles appearing in the weekly digest. Here's a flavour of what's in store for this week:

• The possible comeback of negative equity
• How pension funds performed during 2002
• The benefits of employee share schemes
• Protecting yourself against theft and fraud
• Dealing with the taxman

Also, if there are any personal finance issues that you feel we should include or you have any comments on articles that we have already written simply click on the "Have your say" link at the bottom of every article and tell us your thoughts.

We hope you enjoy the new series.