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MONEY COMMENT
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Yesterday, heading south on the M1, we decided to stop at the delightful Welcome Break services at Leicester Forest East when the howling – mine and my son's - reached a crescendo. On entering the complex, I gasped, "HOW MUCH for an all-day full English breakfast?" I assumed that their £7.99 breakfast included a side order of Beluga caviar as well as the usual sausage, egg and bacon. Alternatively, perhaps the company has heard about EU plans to ban fry-ups and is making hay while the sun shines! However, there seemed to be no shortage of customers queuing (and eating) in the various restaurants, so I concluded that people don't mind being over-charged for the convenience of having a hot meal on a long journey. Personally, I don't like being gouged (what our American cousins call it when a captive audience is taken advantage of) and I'd rather live below my means. One law that always seems to hold true is people trapped in captive audiences always end up paying dearly for anything they buy. So much so that the Trading Standards Institute wants to ban tradesmen from paying unsolicited calls to our homes. Some of the most unscrupulous people imaginable work in sales environments that thrive on captive audiences: timeshare, double glazing and energy salespeople. It's when I think about financial services that captive audiences really start to worry me. Countless people have bought unsuitable or even worthless products on the prompting of persuasive salespeople. The most damaging scandals have involved the mis-selling of personal pensions and mortgage endowments, which have cost millions of consumers billions of pounds. However, despite tighter legislation and beefed-up compliance, problems persist and more continue to emerge. It's at times like this that I think almost no-one ought to buy financial products (or sign contracts to buy anything costing more than a quid) in a face-to-face setting, because you just can't trust the motives of the salesperson sitting opposite you, nor the literature you read. Okay then, where can financial beginners start educating themselves about money matters? Well, I humbly suggest that they start by reading some Fool articles (especially those in our Personal Finance area) and at least one of our latest books. They can then move on to posting a few comments or questions on our discussion boards. In the words of the shopping channel, "We have a huge community of friendly, knowledgeable Fools who are happy to help and are waiting to take your calls!" More: Five Terrible Financial Products | Five Fantastic Financial Finds