One of the latest trends? Paying your employees in cryptocurrency.

But should business owners start shelling out crypto instead of cold, hard cash? Let's explore the benefits and challenges of paying your employees in cryptocurrency.

The Rise of Cryptocurrency

Cryptocurrency has been on the rise in recent years, partly due to its increased mainstream adoption. While Bitcoin is the most well-known cryptocurrency, there are now over 12,000 different types in circulation.

And it's not just individuals who are investing in crypto. Businesses are getting involved too. In 2019, Microsoft began allowing customers to use Bitcoin to buy content in its Windows and Xbox stores. And in 2021, Tesla made headlines when it announced that it had invested $1.5 billion in Bitcoin and would accept the cryptocurrency as payment.

The appeal of cryptocurrency is clear. It's borderless, decentralised, and secure. For businesses, that means lower transaction fees and reduced fraudulent activity. For individuals, it offers an alternative to traditional banking systems.

Could Crypto Change the Way We Get Paid?

With its growing popularity, it's not surprising that people are now interested in using cryptocurrency to receive their salary. After all, what's not to like about being paid in something that could increase in value?

Over the past few years, several high-profile individuals have received part of their salary in Bitcoin. From famous sports stars like former Seattle Seahawk Russell Okung, musicians Mel B and 50 Cent and even politicians like Miami Mayor Francis Suarez.

And it's not just celebrities and politicians interested in being paid in crypto. According to research conducted by SoFi, over a third (36%) of workers want the ability to receive part or all of their paycheck in cryptocurrency.

Paying Employees in Cryptocurrency: The Perks

So, what are the benefits of paying your employees in cryptocurrency?

First, it could help you attract and retain top talent, particularly tech-savvy employees interested in working for forward-thinking businesses and Gen Z and millennial employees who are more comfortable with digital currencies.

Second, the rise of global mobility means more employees are working remotely than ever before. According to the World Population Review, over 8 million US expatriates are working and living abroad. The think tank Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) estimates that around 5.5 million Brits are living abroad - that's almost 1 in 10 of the UK population! With more employees working internationally, business owners have to pay salaries in multiple currencies which often comes with high transaction fees and foreign exchange costs. However, cryptocurrency can be used to pay employees no matter where they are in the world without these additional costs.

Finally, with the rise of stablecoins like USDT, the volatility risk is significantly reduced. Stablecoins have been trialled and tested by major companies like IBM, Facebook, and JPMorgan Chase.

Essentially, these digital currencies are pegged to a real-world asset like the US dollar, which means they avoid the huge fluctuations in value often seen with other types of cryptocurrency. This means that businesses can be more confident about using them to pay their employees without worrying about the currency's value fluctuating.

Risks of Paying Employees in Cryptocurrency

Of course, there are some challenges associated with paying your employees in cryptocurrency.

First, it's important to remember that the value of cryptocurrency is incredibly volatile. This week the news hit that the popular crypto exchange FTX filed for bankruptcy. This sent shockwaves through the financial industry as the company could owe over 1 million creditors. While this is an extreme example, it does serve to highlight the risks associated with cryptocurrency. For example, if you paid your employees in Bitcoin and the value of Bitcoin suddenly crashed, your employees would be left out of pocket.

Compliance is another big issue. Cryptocurrency is still a relatively new phenomenon, and the regulatory landscape is constantly changing. That means that there's a real risk that businesses could inadvertently run afoul of the law by paying their employees in crypto. For example, countries like Egypt and Qatar have banned cryptocurrency, so if you have employees in those countries, you would need to be very careful about how you pay them.

Finally, it's worth noting that crypto isn't regulated when it comes to social securities like pensions and healthcare. Also, if an employee wanted to take out a mortgage, they would be unable to use their crypto earnings as collateral. So, while there are some definite benefits to paying your employees in cryptocurrency, it's important to weigh up the risks before making the decision.

A Hybrid Model Could be the Answer

So, what's the solution? While some definite risks are associated with paying your employees entirely in cryptocurrency, that doesn't mean that the idea is a non-starter.

One way to mitigate some risks would be to adopt a hybrid model, where employees are paid part of their salary in crypto and part in fiat currency. For example, suppose you pay your employee £5,000 a month. They could opt-in to receive 10% of that, or £500, in crypto. This would give them the opportunity to participate in the upside of cryptocurrency without being completely exposed to the downside.

For this model to be successful, the option to be paid in crypto would need to be voluntary. Employees would also need to be allowed to convert their crypto earnings into fiat currency on a regular basis.

Final Thoughts

Paying employees in cryptocurrency is a great way to attract and retain top talent, but it's important to remember that there are some risks associated with this approach.

A hybrid model, where employees are paid part of their salary in crypto and part in fiat currency, could be a good way to mitigate some risks while reaping the benefits.

Working with a reputable payroll provider with experience in paying employees in cryptocurrency is essential to ensure that your business stays compliant. They'll be able to: 

●      Help you choose the right cryptocurrency for your needs.

●      Convert fiat currency into crypto.

●      Pay your employees in crypto.

●      Monitor compliance regulations and ensure that you're always up to date.

About the Author:

As Co-founder and Managing Director at Agile HRO, Jamie Haerewa helps businesses expand their remote workforces by merging cutting-edge technology with industry experts. With 12+ years of experience in the global PEO, global mobility, and workforce solutions, she is a recognised thought leader with her valuable insights featured in popular publications like Business Leader, Grit Daily News and HackerNoon.

Her hard work and determination have resulted in her company being awarded the #1 payroll provider in Singapore in 2020 and SME100's fastest-moving company in 2022. She is also committed to giving back to the community and is a proud sponsor of education for the next generation of Cambodia through the not-for-profit organisation Caring for Cambodia.

Chris Brooks, CFO at Modulr, offers Finance Monthly their perspective on how businesses can turn payments to their advantage in fraught times.

As the Chief Financial Officer at Modulr and someone with over 15 years’ experience in the finance industry, I’ve witnessed a great deal of change in the way businesses manage their payments. But to date, no period has been as transformative as the one we’re entering right now.

For decades, small businesses have been let down by their payment processes. That’s because the majority rely on outdated, manual and inefficient payment services from traditional banks with legacy IT systems. The problem is compounded by the inefficiency of banks when disbursing loans, which are often critical to getting small businesses off the ground. In fact, some small business owners claim to have been left on the verge of collapse after the amount of time taken to process their bounce-back loans.

Sometimes it takes a crisis to shake businesses out of apathy. COVID-19 has shone a light on payment inefficiencies and highlighted the urgency of digitalisation.

Fortunately, fintechs are flourishing across the UK and providing new technologies that could transform the payment space. Here are three areas where payments innovation could help businesses become more resilient, future-proof and competitive.

Sometimes it takes a crisis to shake businesses out of apathy.

1. Maintaining security and business continuity

When COVID-19 led to sudden and widespread remote working, it starkly exposed the hidden inefficiencies in existing processes. Companies that were stuck in the old, manual way of managing payments suffered major disruption. While those that were ahead of the digitalisation curve managed to maintain business continuity.

In the accountancy space, many practices had already embraced cloud computing and payments automation. They were able to make the transition to remote working seamlessly – accessing client workflows from home and managing payments through centralised portals like Sage Salary and Supplier Payments, just as they would in the office.

But we’ve also heard from accountants who, prior to the crisis, had still been in the habit of driving to their clients’ offices and picking up folders of paperwork. Many more were doing things digitally – thanks in part to Making Tax Digital - but not in a completely centralised way, which required the ad-hoc sharing of files across insecure methods like email or third-party file transfer systems.

These workarounds are highly problematic in a time of crisis. Fraudsters will actively seek to exploit new vulnerabilities. According to UK Finance, Authorised Push Payment (APP) fraud cost UK businesses £138.7m in 2019. Only £33.8m was reimbursed. And since COVID-19, we’ve seen the emergence of entirely new scams and techniques.

Fortunately, new payment technologies such as Confirmation of Payee (CoP) are being introduced to help businesses safeguard funds. With CoP, payment service providers (PSPs) will be able to check if the name of the individual or organisation entered by the payer matches the identifying information of the account paid. This can prevent consumers and businesses from being tricked into pushing funds to a fraudster’s account.

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2. Reducing operational costs

As businesses seek to recover from the impact of COVID-19 and navigate this tough economic environment, finding ways to maximise efficiency and reduce operational costs will be critical. This is especially true for businesses that have furloughed employees and are forced to work with leaner teams.

Manual payment processes are a heavy burden for finance teams in today’s fast-paced, challenging environment. They waste time, incur errors and result in significant administrative costs. That’s why fintechs are developing sophisticated solutions that allow businesses to automate all aspects of the payments workflow.

A good example is payment splitting. This is when a business receives an incoming payment, divides it based on a calculated percentage, and sends two payments out to end beneficiaries. When done manually, it’s a time-consuming process. But automation offers a powerful solution, allowing payments to be split automatically based on customisable rules.

Imagine a property management business that’s collecting rent from tenants. Rent collections are typically complex and unwieldy, as payments are sent to the estate agent’s bank account and then manually reconciled and split before sending funds to the landlord. But with automated payment splitting, rules are set to automate the amount collected and sent on – drastically cutting down admin time and reducing operational costs.

That’s just one example of the power of automation. It can have a significant impact on all aspects of payments – receivables, payables, collections and disbursement. Not only does this reduce operational costs, it can help businesses to maintain payments continuity when employees are forced to work away from the office.

3. Improving cashflow management

Cashflow is the lifeblood of any business, and right now it’s even more vital for survival.

Faster Payments is a relatively new scheme compared to traditional methods like Bacs, but it’s already having an immense impact on UK commerce and business uptake is likely to accelerate. Initially designed to speed up the payment process for retailers, Faster Payments are meant to clear in less than 2 hours, though this is often far lower; at Modulr we’ve reduced it to seconds. This is a major improvement on Bacs payments, which can take up to three days to clear, meaning funds are held in limbo for that time period.

Cashflow is the lifeblood of any business, and right now it’s even more vital for survival.

The impact of using Faster Payments can be far-reaching. By allowing just-in-time payments and the ability for a business to hold onto cash right down to the very second, Faster Payments enables greater control, visibility and forecasting of cashflow throughout the year. Finance teams can more accurately predict what cash they will have and when, and plan to pay invoices at strategic times. This will be increasingly critical as businesses strive to recover from the impact of COVID-19.

To summarise; technology is going to continue disrupting all areas of business. And the same goes for the payments industry. New solutions being developed by fintechs can help companies to improve cashflow management, significantly reduce operational costs and protect their money.

With such a challenging and uncertain economic environment in the months ahead, there’s never been a bigger incentive for change. Companies are faced with a critical choice – to keep relying on slow, outdated payment methods, or overhaul everything and find better ways of moving and accepting money. By choosing the latter, businesses can boost their resilience and weather future storms. And those that move first might that find payments become their competitive advantage.

But how do the most skilled sportswomen compare, which are the best-paid sports for women, and how much are they earning each day?

Protectivity has analysed the annual salaries of the richest female sports players in the world and calculated exactly how long it would take them to reach your yearly earnings. With the most successful female sportswoman, Serena Williams earning a whopping £23.7 million each year, this athlete earns an impressive £65,000 every single day.

The top 5 richest sportswomen include:

Serena Williams crowned the world’s richest sportswoman

Serena Williams, arguably the most famous female sports player of the 21st century, takes the crown as the richest woman in sport with a staggering annual salary of £23.7 million. Known for her world-class abilities as a tennis player, Serena began her career over 20 years ago in 1995. Since then, the American athlete has won an impressive 792 matches at Wimbledon. What makes Williams even more impressive is that she continues to win world titles in her sport, showing off a seriously impressive career, with many athletes reaching their optimum playing skills for just a handful of years.

Serena’s success is reflected in her salary at £23.7 million. Broken down, this figure equates to £2,706 every hour and £45 per minute. The tennis champion is miles above other sportswomen, earning over £3 million more each year than the second highest-earning female sports player, Naomi Osaka, who has a yearly salary of £19 million.

With the average UK salary sitting at £29,009, it would take Serena Williams just 10 hours, 44 minutes and 24 seconds to earn this figure, and for the majority of the richest women in sport, a maximum of two days.

Tennis crowned the best-paid sports profession for women

Amongst the top 10 richest female sports players, all are tennis professionals, which highlights the sport as the best-earning skill to pursue for women. With tennis being one of the most popular sports to play and watch across the globe, it is a great opportunity to encourage women into learning the skill. With the UK seeing over 2 million people playing it on a regular basis, the US holding a staggering 17.9 million participating in the sport, and 2019’s Wimbledon men’s singles final seeing 9.6 million people tune in to watch the match, it is great to see the enthusiasm amongst so many people in keeping fit, healthy and happy playing tennis.

Outside of tennis and in the top 15 richest female sports players, football, badminton and golf appear. Football player Alex Morgan ranks 12th, badminton athlete Pusarla V Sindhu sits at 13th and Ariya Jutanugarn at 15th.

The richest women in sport compared to men

Whilst Serena Williams’ salary is immensely impressive, it is clear that female sports players have a long way to go to reach the earnings of the most successful male athletes. Football star, Lionel Messi is crowned as the richest sports player of all time, earning over £100 million each year, which is over four times the amount of Williams. However it is not just football players that are earning more, but tennis professionals too. Novak Djokovic sits as the highest-paid player in tennis earning $50.6 million.

Sean Walsh, Marketing Manager from Protectivity Insurance comments: “It’s great to see the success of women in sport and shine a light on their achievements, particularly in an industry where male professionals are known for earning significantly higher salaries. The popularity of tennis matches really shows in the top 15 richest women in sport list, with both male and female matches being immensely popular with audiences, and thousands of people each summer tuning in to watch Wimbledon.

“Over the next few years, it would be fantastic to see women in other sports rise into the top 15 list of richest women and break the top ten list of tennis players,”

According to Mark Judd, VP, HCM Product Strategy, EMEA at Workday, embracing technologies such as automation and artificial intelligence, payroll professionals can ditch processes, create more enhanced payroll services, and get closer to their employees.

Up to 97% of employers believe that employee expectations of their workplace experiences are changing, according to Aon’s 2019 Benefits and Trends Survey. Workers increasingly expect their employers to deliver seamless, personalised and human services, which mirror those they receive in their personal lives. This has prompted businesses to re-examine all the ways they interact with employees, with arguably the most important interaction being payroll.

Personalised pay

For years, companies took a one-size-fits-all approach to the services they delivered to employees. However, staff now expect smarter and more contextual interactions with their employers. Personalised payroll, adapted to the wants and needs of different employees, is a prime example.

An increasingly popular form of personalisation in payroll is on-demand pay. Through on-demand pay schemes, employers can offer staff greater flexibility over when they’re paid and offer the chance to access a percentage of their pay at the end of each day or week, for example. This increases employees’ ability to handle unexpected payments and can help them to better manage their finances. This could be highly valuable to employees, given that over 50 percent of young Britons currently live “hand to mouth”, according to research from Perkbox.

By personalising pay, businesses can recognise each employee’s situation and needs, enhance their experience and improve loyalty across the workforce.

Feedback loop

Feedback is key to successfully personalising pay arrangements and wider payroll functions. Not only does it help businesses to improve their services, but it also boosts employee engagement. After all, employees have come to expect their feedback to be heard and incorporated into process updates, in the same way, it would be in their personal lives as consumers.

Regular focus groups and routine employee surveys are great ways to gather feedback, and particularly effective if workers can contribute on their mobile devices. By connecting this feedback with the payroll team and wider HR function, organisations can make sure the voice of the employee is present when operational decisions are made.

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Providing education

Employees often request assistance in understanding their payslips and pay structure. In fact, over a quarter of respondents to the CIPP’s 2019 Future of Payroll survey reported an increase in the volume of payroll enquiries they received. A part of payroll’s function should be to educate the workforce on how payroll works. From promoting the payroll calendar to an understanding of payslips and the inner workings of pay, this will help employees across the workforce to get the most out of this function.

However, to meet staff expectations, for both education and seamless services, there needs to be a shift to digital payroll platforms. For instance, modern payroll technology can allow employees to access information about how they are paid and find answers to commonly asked questions. This, alongside process automation, helps free up payroll professionals so that they can spend time working with people to resolve more complex queries.

Embracing technology

Technology has a big role to play in the consumerisation of payroll. Complex, legacy systems that currently take several days to process payments and keep the employee at a distance will be consigned to the past. They will be replaced with simpler, less labour-intensive systems that take a more holistic view of the employee and their needs.

Solutions, such as machine learning, robotic process automation (RPA), blockchain and digital credentialing, will also create new opportunities for employers to increase process efficiencies and improve compliance management, so they can focus more on employee experiences.

Feedback is key to successfully personalising pay arrangements and wider payroll functions. Not only does it help businesses to improve their services, but it also boosts employee engagement.

The consumerisation of payroll

In a competitive job market where it’s difficult to retain talent, businesses should understand how each employee interaction impacts the overall experience and what can be done to improve it. No interaction is more important than the way a company pays its employees. Understanding the needs of each individual and giving them greater flexibility and control over how they’re paid can turn something that was once transactional, into something that feels a bit more personal.

RS Components looked at some of the world’s richest women who saw net worth increases between 2018 and 2019 to see how long it took them to earn your wage. So which females are leading the way in business?

At aged 72, Diane Hendricks is the richest self-made woman with a net worth of $6.3 billion. Diane made her billions as Chairman of ABC Supply, a wholesale distributor of roofing.

Her hourly earning is $91,324 which is $34,808 more than the US average yearly salary.

It would take the richest self-made woman 37 minutes to earn the US average salary of $56,516 and just 28 minutes to earn the UK average salary of £35,432.

Thai Lee is the second richest self-made woman with a network of $2.1 billion and earns $1,369,863 per day, which is 24 times more than the US average yearly salary.

Thai is the CEO of SHI International, a leading IT provider which she founded in November 1989 aged 31.

The youngest self-made woman is Kylie Jenner who earns $190 every minute. Aged just 22, Kylie is already worth $1 billion. She launched her successful cosmetics company, Kylie Cosmetics in 2015.

How does your salary compare to the richest self-made women? Use RS Components’ new interactive tool to find out how long it would take them to earn your salary.

According to Lucy Franklin, Managing Director of Accordance VAT, this is disappointing, and has prompted responses ranging from outrage about the results to despair about the process, with a healthy dose of weak excuses thrown in for good measure.

In the criticisms and reporting, we run the risk of getting mired in the process, not the impact. Gender Pay Gap reporting represents an immense opportunity to identify if and where there are issues within a business. Visibility is the first step towards progress – and the gender pay gap is an issue we need progress on.

That said, I know that adopting new reporting obligations can be onerous – finance is full of filing and submissions, and Accordance is no stranger to mandatory deadlines. But in this instance, the benefits outweigh the administrative burden. Gender pay gap reporting offers the potential to identify, at every level of a business, where inequalities lie. Whilst this may appear a redundant statement, the lack of progress in gender equality in the workplace over recent decades can attest to the necessity of an issue being recognised, being visible, and being acted on.

This is why Accordance has made the decision to publish our gender pay gap statistics, despite being well beneath the legal threshold for reporting. I want Accordance VAT to play a role in changing a historically male dominated sector. Finance and professional services companies boast a huge number of talented, bright, determined women. Many of these women have great careers in support functions, but those shouldn’t be the only avenues open to them. Financial and professional services organisations are unfortunately disproportionately dominated by men in the more senior positions, and this needs to change. Reporting on our Gender Pay Gap may not affect the systemic issues, but it is a step towards addressing inequality more widely as well as setting the bar for other businesses. We want to lead the way in our sector, and that means voluntarily putting ourselves forward, celebrating our successes where we find them but being the first to highlight where progress is needed.

Publishing our results is just the first step. Having identified that our mean pay gap sits at 12.8% and our median pay gap at -3.5%, we know that we’re doing better than some of our larger competitors in the sector, but we can do more. Publishing our figures shows our commitment to tackling this gap, as do the range of measures we have put in place around recruitment, training, job shadowing, and progression policies. These policies don’t just relate to gender diversity, but also diversity in terms of ethnicity, culture, physical ability, health and mental health.

Fundamentally, greater equality in our sector is about much more than just an improvement in statistics. Finance drives the world – and thus has a significant impact on how lives are led. We need to attract the best and the brightest minds shaping this future – and we need people from different walks of life with a seat at the table. Women need to be as key as men in determining the shape and course of finance, and how it affects economies and shared futures. Again, publishing our statistics cannot affect global trends and practices, but it does demonstrate our commitment to equality, and our determination to reshape the sector we work in.

I urge other businesses below the threshold to join us – to publish statistics for staff and for the wider world, and to identify where progress needs to be made. Reporting and publishing on the picture of an organisation offers an immense opportunity to recognise where problems are, and in doing so shape and improve them for the benefit of everyone. Equality requires commitment and a will to change, but the benefits of a more diverse workforce will be felt both in and outside of the financial and professional services sector.

After 8 seasons spanning 73 episodes and bringing together 566 characters, HBO have spent an estimated $1,460,600,000 to bring George R.R. Martin’s vision to the screen. But has this investment made them richer than the Iron Bank of Braavos or will they have to emulate the Lannister’s in always paying their debts?

ThinkMoney have played the ‘Game of Numbers’ to find out just how profitable the sprawling epic has been to HBO ahead of the season finale. By analysing viewing figures, subscriptions costs and production costs, they found that:

• Whilst the budgets of Game of Thrones have steadily increased over 8 seasons, due to the huge popularity of the show it now only costs HBO $2.37 a viewer per season.
• With a total show budget of $1.5 Billion, the show has earned $3.1 Billion through HBO subscriptions alone.
• All eight seasons, spanning 73 episodes and bringing together 566 characters, cost HBO a mere $30.90 per viewer.
• Game of Thrones Season Eight has brought in an average of $88 million dollars PER EPISODE from HBO subscriptions.
• Jon Snow is the rightful heir to the throne when it comes to earnings, being responsible for $501 million of HBOs earnings based on his time on screen across all eight seasons.
• When looking at which characters have earned the most for HBO per minute on screen, Grey Worm tops the list, earning $953,378 for every minute on screen.

A business’s success comes down to the employees that power the operation which means that it is essential that you keep hold of your best workers. This can be challenging as the top performers will usually be looking to progress and earn more money. Here are a few tips:

Career Development Opportunities

As mentioned, the top performers will usually want to advance their career whether this is within the company or by making a move. Therefore, you need to try and keep them at your company by offering options for promotion and development in the form of training.

Additional Responsibilities

Leading on from this, the top performers can easily become bored if they are excelling in their responsibilities. This means that you need to keep them active and engaged so additional responsibilities can be an effective way of doing this while helping them to develop their abilities and find areas of the business that interest them. This could involve leading a project, managing a small team, giving a presentation etc.

Positive Feedback

Positive feedback is incredibly important yet often overlooked by business owners. Additionally, the top performers often do not get positive feedback as sometimes owners will believe that they do not require it. This is not the case as it is important that all hard work is recognized, appreciated and celebrated.

Financial Wellbeing Resources

A good salary is, of course, crucial for retaining employees, but it is also important that you can provide financial wellbeing resources for workers. Personal money matters can have a huge impact on employee wellbeing, so if you are able to help your staff to improve their money management then it could have a huge impact on retention, as well as morale, productivity and absenteeism.

Mentors

It can also be helpful for those that are performing well to have a mentor who can help them with career advice and to further engage them with the company. These mentors should be senior employees who are good at engaging with younger staff and are able to provide valuable support.

In order to grow and succeed, it is essential that a business is able to keep hold of its top performers. If the best workers left, then you will constantly have voids to fill which will result in dips in performance. The above are the best strategies to use to keep hold of your top performers and help them to enjoy their work and maximize their abilities. Retaining employees is all about recognizing their talent, providing them with opportunities to grow and develop within the company and creating a positive working atmosphere. This should then inspire your entire workforce to work hard each and every day.

Homeowners are having to dig deeper than ever before to fund a home move, with the costs associated with buying and selling a home at their highest ever, according to reallymoving’s recent annual Cost of Moving analysis. The total cost of moving home increased by 6% between 2017 and 2018 for the average homeowner, to a record high of £9,812 – equal to one third of the median UK salary of £29,588.

At a time when the property market is stagnating due to uncertainty over the outcome of Brexit and fear of a no-deal scenario, homeowners pressing ahead with a move are facing the third consecutive year of a price increases, which can be attributed to higher stamp duty and conveyancing costs due to a 3% rise in house prices during 2018. On a UK level, taking into account regional rates, stamp duty now makes up almost half (46%) of the total cost of a home move.

Existing homeowners now pay on average £4,500 in stamp duty, an annual increase of 11%. Average conveyancing costs in 2018 were £1,497 versus £1,417 in 2017. Estate agent fees, EPCs (Energy Performance Certificates) and removals costs remain unchanged and surveying costs have risen by just 1%, as providers compete to offer movers the best possible deal in a flat market. Estate agent fees typically cost £2,880 based on a rate of 1.2%, an EPC £55 and a survey £400, while removals, varying considerably according to the volume and distance moved, cost on average £480.

First time buyers see costs plummet

In sharp contrast, first time buyers have seen the costs associated with buying their first home plummet by almost a third (29%) in 2018 to £1,809. This is due to changes to the Stamp Duty Land Tax regime implemented in England in November 2017 which mean first time buyers pay no stamp duty at all on properties up to the value of £300,000. The average first time buyer in 2017 paid £800 in stamp duty, but this bill has now fallen to zero, bringing total moving costs down dramatically.

Tables showing annual change in moving costs for homeowners vs. the average First Time Buyer (FTB)

Table showing annual change in average property prices for homeowners vs First Time Buyers (FTBs)

North/South divide in cost of moving

The cost of moving home in London has now reached £23,039, 2.3 times the UK average. Home moves in the South East, South West and East of England all cost more than the UK average, while in every other region of the UK (East and West Midlands, North East and North West, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland) the cost of moving is well below average, as a result of lower house prices. This clear north/south divide means homeowners in the south enjoy far less freedom when making major life choices such as moving home.

Graph shows: Regional cost of moving for homeowners in 2018 (reallymoving)

Rob Houghton, CEO of reallymoving, said: “It’s never been more expensive for homeowners to move, despite the fact that most providers of home move services, such as estate agents, removals companies and surveyors have refrained from increasing prices over the last year as they fight for business from a smaller pool of movers.

“It’s a different story for first time buyers however, who have benefited from a significant fall in the upfront costs of buying their first home due to stamp duty changes. For those first time buyers with a medium to long term view, now could be a good time to buy with costs and mortgage rates low and plenty of sellers prepared to do deals.

“For anyone planning a home move, it’s always a good idea to shop around online for the best deals and compare by ratings and reviews left by past customers, as well as price.”

This follows reports from Personnel Today, which identified a consistent rise in commuting times, with travel times now five minutes longer than they were in 2007. With UK workers losing more and more time to the daily commute – what does this equate to in terms of potential earnings?

Workers of UK could earn an average of £6.29 each day on their commute, which over a year equates to a significant £1,634.40. Based on a full working lifetime of 49 years (16-65), the potential earnings throughout a whole career is a whopping £80,134.60.

The people of London have the potential to earn the most, at £169,639.47 over a lifetime – £13.32 a day, £3,462.03 a year – and those from Northern Ireland have the potential to earn the least over a lifetime, at £58,013.35 – £4.56 a day, £1,183.94 a year.

“It’s not until you crunch the numbers that you can see the staggering financial cost of commuting in UK, and across the whole of the UK,” says Dan Greenslade, Marketing Specialist at Meetupcall. “There is such high earning potential during commutes, we can’t help but wonder whether this research will make individuals rethink how they spend their commute – and perhaps make more productive use of the time.”

“Employers have options too. There are so many developments in technology now that facilitate remote working, allowing staff to cut out the commute entirely, or work flexibly while they’re on the move.”

(Source: Meetupcall)

The disparity in wealth of the world’s political leaders and their country’s citizens varies greatly around the world. Research from credit broker Moneypod has uncovered just how big the political pay gap contrasts with the national average wage of their country.

Due to public anger over income equality, the Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong recently took a 36% pay cut to ease tensions. Despite this, he is still the highest paid world leader, with a $1.7 million yearly salary in comparison to the average wage of a Singaporean sitting at $52,000.

Controversial US President, Donald Trump’s wealth is valued at $3.1bn due to his large portfolio of hotels, resorts and real estate. He earns $400,000 per year for his role as President. However, he donates all but $1 of his salary to charity as the American constitution states that a sitting President must be compensated for his services. This is comparable to the average US citizen earns a relatively comfortable $57,000 per year.

When it comes to the world’s wealthiest world leaders, Russian President Vladimir Putin is the clear frontrunner. Worth a reported $40bn due to his holdings in a secret portfolio of companies in real estate, utilities and banking, Putin is often accused of corruption and enriching is friends. Compared to the average Russian salary of $7,000 per year, Putin lives a lavish life owning a $1bn palace located on the coast line of the Black Sea.

Discover the wages and net worth’s of the top 20 richest paid world leaders, and how this compares to the average wage of their citizens.

Less than 30 years ago, North Koreans were more than twice as wealthy as their comrades in China. Now, they're significantly poorer. Here's how it happened.