But have you ever thought about where these came from, or how each savings initiative has changed over the years? In the following infographic, personal pension specialist True Potential Investor has taken a step through time with this question in mind.

Did you know that the first known building society formed for groups of individuals who were looking to help each other to buy property? Or that the Bank of England was founded towards the end of the 17^th century to fund the war effort against France? How about that the Amsterdam Stock Exchange was believed to be the world’s first stock market?

Discover even more fascinating facts by browsing through the full infographic below…

According to the latest YouGov debt research commissioned by Equifax, 15% of UK adults have missed a payment on a credit card or short term loan at some point. Almost a third (32%) of UK adults with a credit card admit that, in a typical month, they don’t pay off their credit cards debts in full, with over half (52%) of these saying it’s because they can’t afford the full monthly balance. With the net lending to individuals in the UK increasing by £9.68 million a day in March 2018 and an average debt to income ratio per adult in the UK at 114.4% as of May 2018 , Equifax asks the question: is all debt bad?

Household debt has been on the increase over the past few years, fuelled by squeezed wages and rising inflation. Last year alone the total credit card debt of households across the UK stood at £70 billon by November – equating to an average debt of £2574.00 per household. Whilst using credit can be useful for various reasons, there is a tipping point where the borrowing can turn into unmanageable debt. If someone can no longer afford to repay their debt they may have to opt for an Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA) or even declare themselves bankrupt.

Lisa Hardstaff, consumer credit expert at Equifax, comments: “According to our YouGov research, 40% use credit cards for day-to-day spending, which isn’t strictly a ‘good’ or ‘bad’ thing. But 13% of respondents have gone into their overdraft limit without approval from the lender, which could mean incurring extra charges and fees. Our infographic aims to help consumers see the different kinds of debt and recognise the risks, whilst outlining steps they can take to regain control of their finances.

“Not all debt is bad. If it’s managed properly and paid off, loans and credit cards can help people make plans and deal with unexpected events and emergencies. However, it’s vital that people understand the basics of budgeting, otherwise borrowing can spiral out of control. The first step to budgeting is understanding what’s coming in in terms of wages, benefits and other income. Individuals also need to take stock of their outgoings, including bills, pensions, loans and daily purchases, such as coffee or clothes. By subtracting their total spending from their total income, individuals will be able to see if there’s a shortfall and make positive changes.”

(Source: Equifax)

As a society, we cherish our right to privacy probably more than anything else. Sharing is great, and we all enjoy it, but there is always that other side, the untold story, the personal, the secret. Now, let’s extrapolate this to a societal level. How many information is out there, purposely being concealed for the sake of greater good, for the sake of our own safety? The number is probably unfathomable. Today, when everything is online, and our lives are intertwined with a world most of us know nothing about, privacy and safety become an issue of epic proportions.

That is why we need to talk about cybercrime and utilize the very best VPNs . However, instead of writing a tract of tedious length, here is an infographic that outlines the most important cybercrime facts all of us should be aware of in 2018.

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(Source: BestVPNs)

Everything evolves, constantly. Each new breakthrough poses heaps of new questions to which answers are yet to be discovered. One of these breakthroughs happened with fintech. Fintech, as a word, is what linguists would call a portmanteau – a combination of two separate words. In the case of fintech, those two words would be financial and technology. However, as a system or a sector, fintech is what experts would call the future.

Quite simply, when technology put its fingers in the financial services’ pie, fintech was born. We are talking about mobile payments, transfers, fundraising, cryptocurrencies; you name it. Even though fintech liberalized the whole financial system and put the power into people’s hands, the traditional financial sector felt threatened by it, and understandably so. To share our amazement with it, here are some incredible facts on the incredible growth of fintech in the last couple of decades.

(Source: 16Best)

(Source: Marbles.com)