What would the average person read about Finance?

Question

Bit of a strange question....

What would your average person on the street be interested in reading in their local paper about finance. The average person isn't that interested in the stockmarket but may be in Inhertiance Tax or how Climate Change will effect their finances. Any ideas appreciated. Thanks!

Answer 1

I think you should phrase the question differently -- Why SHOULD the average person read about finance?

The answer is that how they handle their money today will have an affect on how many (or how few) money problems they will have in the future.

It's kind of like insurance. You don't wait until after your home is destroyed by a flood or fire before you think about buying insurance. Or at least you shouldn't -- it's too late.

Answer 2

The "man on the street" would most likely want to know what interest rates are doing. This is important to most everyone because as a consumer, you are constantly buying products. Companies that sell those products have to borrow money from banks for some reason or another. When interest rates are up or down, that determines what type of pass through the consumer will receive. If the rates are high, consumers should expect a slight increase in the price of the product. If they are low, product price will decrease.

These changes are not everyday changes but if rates remain high or low for a period of time, the products you buy will eventually be more expensive or cheaper.

A consumer would also be affected by interest rates when borrowing or saving money. In borrowing, it's more expensive when rates are high. At the same time, when a person is saving money, they earn more interest on the money they save.

Long story short, interest rates affect everything whether it be directly or indirectly.

Answer 3

The man on the street would be interested to know about his bread and sustenance; his normal consumption basket; his ability to financially maintain his family/dependents etc. Hir questions on these themes would all be related to finance in one way or the other. In fact, finance costs are an important element inthe total cost of products which firms pass on to the consumers. Our friend on the street would like to look at prices--consumer and wholesale and learn about the basic inputs for formulating his/her own budget and doing a little bit of financial planning. He may like to know from the daily pages about discount stores, privileged shopping, mall activity, direct company outlets offering products at heavy discounts, markets for fruits and vegetables, and also about the national budget presented by the Finance Minister every year and so on. And many of the so called 'average persons' now seem interested in the stock markets owing to the notion: 'buy a share at, say, Rs 25/- and sell the same within minutes at Rs 27/- and get a profit of Rs 2/- per share just within minutes. Buy-sell, say 100 shares and earn Rs 200/- on Rs 2500/- i.e., a return of around 8% within minutes. now, annualise it and get an astronomical rate of return. Many auto drivers, vendors, shopkeepers, daily wage earners seem to be widening their intersts to cover these stock markets. So, even this page would remain an area of deep interest for the man on the streee, i guess.