You switch – I’ll be in the pub

Thanks to online price comparison websites and a whole range of web-based financial advice, we're being driven to become a nation of money savers. Through switching mortgages, home insurance, broadband, mobile telephones etc, many of us are, in theory, saving the equivalent income of a modest part-time job. But is it worth the effort?

Take Joanie Wells, a research student I know. She admits that her money saving endeavours are often counter-productive: "It's like finding a pound on the street, but tearing your jeans when you bend down to reach it. I've spent all day getting car insurance quotes when I should have been doing work. You find a really cheap quote, then get greedy, and continue to waste time looking for something