Why doesn’t that happen anymore?
19 August 2025There is much in the national press this month about various financial services related topics, from car loan compensation to a well-known fund manager being banned and fined, along with the Bank of England base rate decision, as examples. The world of money does not stop for a summer holiday, and another news example was the release of up-to-date data on unclaimed prizes from National Savings Premium Bonds of just over £103M (more on this in a moment!). For August, it’s been busy, and perhaps not like the days of the past.
Most will remember the ‘good old times!’. That period in your life when, well, it just wasn’t a problem. You might have been lifted by love, by companionship, by extra money...or simply shielded from the reality of what was actually going on.
I always reach back to the mid-1970s, a time when I was about 7-9 years old, and the world for me was fun. The start of the 70s had not been easy, and the years to come after were to prove challenging (that’s another story), but those middle years seemed to have everything. From the Queen’s Silver Jubilee (great fun!), to football, to swimming pools, to generally discovery of life. As you can guess, the world is now a very different place. Better? Hmm. More connected? Certainly. Smaller and more immediate? Yes!
And there’s lots of things that seem to be more complicated than they ever were before, and I believe that is not always a good thing.
From a financial planning perspective, technology and its advances has proved valuable in providing the end user, clients, with more real-time information. Whether they choose to use that information is down to them, but it certainly allows our client responses to be quicker and more exact when looking at issues such as current allocations, fund values and performance.
Technology also allows us to achieve fund switches, sales, secure emails and changes online in many cases to make trades quicker, with confirmations also being electronic.
Paper forms are still the only option from some providers, but their days I believe are numbered and, I am sure, we will look back positively to say, ‘Why doesn’t that happen anymore?’.
One good (and topical) example of how technology can help clients is the online service offered by National Savings & Investments (NS&I) to help people find out whether they’ve won a prize on the Premium Bonds and by My Lost Account to trace a lost NS&I or other bank / building society account. Most requests of this nature can be submitted entirely online these days, and if you think you might have held Premium Bonds, or another type of NS&I account, years ago, it’s certainly worth checking if these are still active.
You may have seen the headlines noting that as of early August 2025, around £103M of Premium Bond prizes remained unclaimed. If you know your Premium Bond holder’s number, you can use the Prize Checker here: https://www.nsandi.com/prize-checker
For lost accounts (NS&I plus other deposit takers), try My Lost Account here: https://www.mylostaccount.org.uk/
Chapters Financial is not responsible for the content of external websites
However you prefer to receive information on your investment and pension arrangements, and perhaps if you have not reviewed your planning for a while, talk to the team at Chapters Financial for your ongoing financial planning needs.
The opinions expressed above are those of the author only.
Keith Churchouse FPFS
Director
CFP Chartered FCSI
Chartered Financial Planner
Chapters Financial Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, number 402899
