Chris Thompson   Chris Thompson on the internet

Today, some of my friends were talking about a trip to America they’re planning, and it brought back memories of a recent trip to Chicago: the food, the sights, the sports.

That’s one of the things that’s so tempting about it — that it will be right in the middle of American football season, and not only would we get to watch an NFL game – and probably a very good game at that; we would get to choose the area we go to, after all – but we would get to see a college game as well.

I’ve not seen a college game before, not in the flesh, and the atmosphere and the spirit of them is fantastic from what I can see.

The trouble is, it is difficult to afford it. Especially after paying out so much for my sub-editing course over recent weeks. So I’ve been looking at independent financial advisers to help me put together a plan to combat my penniless state.

It will have to be a big move to afford it, either way. I’ve got my trusty current account and that’s it – I’ve never had to get a loan before, discounting my student one back in the day. And I don’t like the idea of increasing my debt.

I’ve been looking at a number of banking websites and browsing as much financial news as I can, to keep my eye on trends and deals that might help out, but ultimately I think it’ll have to be a loan and the debt that entails – or no trip.

Decisions, decisions…

Manchester United are in serious debt. Liverpool are, too.

The economic downturn has a far reaching shadow that extends well beyond us to every aspect of society.

We hear about it through the television, through the newspapers, through every aspect of the media. People are struggling in every aspect of society – even football teams are struggling. Struggling to balance their titanic wage books, struggling to keep afloat when, for so long, they have had to pay millions and millions of pounds to player after player.

What can we do? The average Joe, the everyman, working and working for just a scratching of the money that these sports players and celebrities make? What can we do? How do we manage money when even people whose job it is to manage money are struggling to do so?

Financial protection and, with it, now more so than ever, financial planning becomes key, becomes incredibly important. We need to be careful in everything we do, everything we spend money on, because it is so easy to misstep. And in times like these, financial missteps can be tremendously costly.

Today is the day of good deals – looking for them, finding them, and taking them, where you can. There are places that can help out with this, Money Supermarket, and other websites designed with you in mind, to help you out with your finance and your spending. And they can be tremendously beneficial.

And, it goes without saying, that insurance of every kind is as important as ever. From the small things, whether it’s your mp3 player, or if you’re just looking for home insurance reviews – or the bigger, more important things.

You can get life insurance that covers health problems, critical illness, and other things.

And, based on the premise that your home is the biggest investment you’ll ever make, there are some impressive (and not so impressive) mortgage life insurance cover schemes out there, as well.

The problem is that there are so many of these kinds of deals, you need to do your research and make sure that you find the right one for you.

Now that the film has finished, it doesn’t look like there’s much on. In fact, the television shows seem to range from shows on the economy and finance, to shows on the essence of beauty, and that is as sure a sign of anything that I should be getting to bed.

When I said as much to my dog, though, who was slobbing out beside me on the sofa, and she promptly looked at me in disgust. When I repeated myself, it was obvious she wasn’t having any of it, and she crawled sleepily off and hid underneath the table.

Not Insomnia — quite the opposite, in fact: she’s plain lazy. Although I don’t feel like walking much myself, I must admit. But then, when I look again at the TV, my decision becomes just that little bit more reinforced. Although if there’s one good thing about hearing three people chatting about the economy late at night, it’s that it reminded me to get in touch with my friend the banker, and bring that subject of offshore financial services again – I think he would appreciate that, this time, I can sound a bit more knowledgeable on the topic that he was so interested in last time we met.

It can only be beneficial in these tough financial times, to have as swish a CV as possible. So I think I’ve decided to do an MA degree. Spending a year getting more qualified, and, on top of that, using it as an opportunity to take some time to expand the CV further with work experience and other writing just seems like a good idea at the moment. In a year’s time, with luck, the job market will be looking a little bit more peachy, and my more peachy resume will be right at home in it. That’s the hope, at least.

The most interesting courses, for me at least, are in London. It’s an interesting place, too – obviously, being a thriving, bustling capital. But there is an interesting video on You Tube, too, where someone has seen and recorded a UFO flying around the city. It seems the general consensus is that it’s a bunch of balloons drifting on the air, but still … it’s nice to have an air of mystery about a place. My worry is that to study there, and pretty much do anything there, really – well – it’s very expensive, though … there’s no getting round it. To make it possible, I’d probably need a loan, even if I can manage with a small one, and try and work up the rest of the money. So I’ve been looking around at the various current accounts to see what sort of deals they have on offer, and some of them don’t look too bad. With so many banks available, I suppose it’s always nice to have some healthy competition.

There also appear to be foreign currency bank accounts, which seem quite interesting, allowing you to bank offshore. I’m not sure it’s for me at the moment, but having leafed through quite a lot of pages on these bank websites, I stumbled on it and thought it quite an interesting idea. There are so many different accounts out there, and so many benefits, and so many different loan packages that I think I’ll certainly have to look into it more before I make a decision which to go with.