TV review: The Martin Lewis Money Show

The debut series of The Martin Lewis Money Show (ITV1) has given prime time exposure to the advice he has long offered through the MoneySavingExper.com website and his Shropshire Star column.

Last night's penultimate show saw Martin and sidekick Saira Khan putting Premium Bonds, car boot sales and loyalty card schemes under the microscope.

The fast-moving show doesn't get bogged down in too much complicated finance but clearly and simply spells out how to make the most of your money in hard times in entertaining fashion.

Although Martin advises people to think carefully about investing in Premium Bonds, surprisingly he doesn't rule them out as a worthwhile way of getting a good return.

The consumer champion points out that that they are the UK's single biggest savings product with £40 billion invested but only offer an average tax free return of 1.5 per cent through prizes.

That doesn't compare well with the current top rate on a savings account of 2.8 per cent.

He says that Premium Bonds are a safe way to invest and are more exciting than a savings account.

For those paying higher rates of tax Premium Bonds compare much more favourably. Investors would make a little more by keeping all money in a top rate account but in today's low interest rate times the difference is not that much – and there is always the chance of winning £1 million.

On the merits of car boot sales versus selling online Martin concludes that there are no hard and fast rules.

He set his attractive co-presenter the challenge of buying bargains from a car boot sale with £50 and then re-selling them online to see if she could make a profit.

A Bop It game bought for just £4 made £19 and a cashmere jumper picked up for £2 returned £21.

In all Saira managed to make £20.82 although her profit ending up being wiped out when the jumper buyer returned it.

Martin's advice is to look around your house for anything not used since last Christmas and consider flogging that if you want extra cash this Christmas.

Tesco's Clubcard scheme was also under the spotlight and Martin found that many of its 16 million cardholders were not making the best use of it and were often forgetting to use all the vouchers they had accumulated and were using them on the wrong things.

In just one supermarket using a laptop to check shoppers' Clubcard accounts he found many had large amounts of vouchers they had never used with one woman having £180.

He recommends cardholders making use of the various scheme to double, triple and even quadruple the vouchers to make them go further.

His key point is to check thoroughly on the Clubcard website to see if people have vouchers unspent and print them out from there if they have been lost or misplaced.

Martin warns viewers that loyalty schemes are used to track customers spending and send targetted marketing, but says they should be used as a form of discount and once joined the card should always be used.

The show is a master class to help viewers get the best deals and in the last show in the series on December 11 he is promising to offer people caught up in the Christmas shopping rush some welcome tips on stretching their festive budget.

By John Corser