Scots are famous for discovery with the invention of the steam engine, television, and penicillin (to name a few) attributed to Scottish inventors. Edinburgh, the capital city, played a huge role during the enlightenment with philosophers such as David Hume earning the city the nickname Athens of the North. Modern Scots are well known for their entrepreneurial spirit. This has been the topic of a 2008 art exhibition, and subsequent coffee table book.

For the budding entrepreneur, it may be good to take a leaf out of the following Scotsman’s books.

Duncan Bannatyne

Probably most famous now for his role in television series Dragons Den, Bannatyne started his business empire with an ice cream van. He now owns a successful chain of hotels, spas, and gyms. One of the biggest tips he can give wannabe millionaires is to be thrifty. Rather than hiring accountants and consultants, Bannatyne recommends taking the time to do some research as everything you need to know is likely to feature in a government leaflet.

He also recommends small steps such as not buying stationery; hoard paperclips from the mail, and write a clause in staff contracts to buy their own pens. Obviouslythere are some corners it’s prudent not to cut, such as business electricity. This strategy has paid off as Bannatyne is now one of the best respected and richest businessmen in the UK.

Arnold Clark

Another rags to riches story, Sir Arnold Clark also had a modest upbringing in Glasgow only to become the tenth richest man in Scotland by 2010. Arnold Clark is famous for owning Scotland’s largest chain of car dealerships, and is also the owner of the famous racing boat Drum which used to belong to Simon Le Bon of Duran Duran. Despite being knighted for services to the motor industry and community work in 2003, Clark remains down to Earth and insists that his staff still call him Mr Clark rather than Sir.

David Murray

Making his fortune young, Sir David Murray had founded his first company Murray International Metals by the age of 23. Although the company suffered greatly during the recession, with Murray’s personal fortune dropping by around 78% in 2009, Murray International Metals is a worldwide distributor of structural steel and reported a turnover of £550 million in 2006.

Murray is perhaps most famous for his involvement with the Glasgow Rangers football team, which has often overshadowed his business and personal life. In 1988 he bought the old firm team for £6 million. His time as chairperson saw extensive improvements to the Ibrox stadium, nine successive championship victories, and the securing of many high profile footballers including Paul Gascoigne. Unfortunately Murray’s ambitions for the team caused the club to go into debt, with Murray admitting that he put £100 million of his own money into the club. The best lesson to learn from Murray is to separate your head from your heart when considering investments

One of the biggest contributing factors has been many drivers not providing accurate information when seeking car insurance quotes on the internet or over the phone. They may underestimate the number of miles they drive in a year or what they use their car for, making it very difficult for insurers to accurately judge the amount of risk involved in insuring them. If they do have an accident, insurers are either forced to pay out more than anticipated, or may refuse to pay out at all, meaning that the driver will be expected to pick up some of the tab in increased premiums the following year.

Leading insurance industry figures have also pointed an accusing figure at “no win, no fee” lawyers who are increasingly seeking damages on behalf of clients injured in a car accident through no fault of their own. Sometimes disparagingly known as “ambulance chasers”, these lawyers can expect to be paid substantial fees if victorious and are believed to be responsible for up to 200 injury damages claims every day. Many have been accused of using unscrupulous tactics such as encouraging clients to claims for injuries that are hard to disprove, such as whiplash, and making claims based on accidents that happened several years previously.

This also ties in with an increased number of fraudulent car insurance claims where people make damages claims for injuries that were not actually sustained. In many cases, all claimants need to do is supply a doctor’s note and the insurance company will be unable to disprove their claim. In response to increased fraudulent claims and litigation, the insurance industry has called on the British Government to place restrictions on “no win, no fee” lawyers.

The bad news is that insurance costs look set to rise again for many drivers in the coming years. A new European Court of Justice ruling means that insurers can no longer differentiate based on gender, meaning that young women, who traditionally have paid lower premiums than their male counterparts, can expect to pay up to an extra third on their car insurance from the end of 2012. Young male drivers, on the other hand, can look forward to seeing car insurance quotes drop by up to 10%.

Now it seems there’s an insurance policy for everything. These days you can get insured against being kidnapped, against nuclear incidents or against earthquakes. And you can insure anything – art, any kind of pet, even body parts.

The following is a rundown of my favourite insurance types:

Body Parts Insurance

You may think this is only for celebrities, it’s not. If you rely on your body as a way to earn an income (perhaps models, performers, musicians, artists and minor athletes) then you might be interested in this unusual insurance type.

The policy essentially covers you if you are damaged as the result of an accident in your prized area, and unable to earn an income as a result.

Of course if you are a celebrity, you can still insure your body parts, as Mariah Carey was previously rumoured to have done, along with a lot of other celebrities.

Rabbit Insurance

Your insure your dog or even your cat, so why not your rabbit? This is the question rabbit-loving bloggers Bunnycover ask, with their list of UK rabbit insurance companies.

Although it’s still a relatively new idea, and there are only three companies that currently provide cover for rabbits, the idea is taking off. Especially now that Britain is getting more involved in rabbit show jumping, with hopes to beat off inventors Sweden in the future.

iPhone Insurance

Well, considering the cost of an iPhone, this one actually makes a lot of sense. What many don’t realise is that should you lose your iPhone, break it or damage it, you’re responsible for paying for the cost of a new one.

Unfortunately iPhones do get broken and lost quite a bit, at least according to gadget insurer Protect Your Bubble who revealed that iPhones get stolen, left on the roofs of cars, stolen from handbags and even dropped from hot air balloons or lost while sky diving.

There are currently a handful of insurance companies, most specialist gadget insurance companies, who insure iPhones and other smart phones, although the demand is definitely there for more.

These are but a handful of some of the niche insurance policies out there. And even though we’re in a recession, or a financially dark period at worst, there seems to be no shortage in the number of new and niche insurance policies popping up as the demand is uncovered.

As fuel and car insurance costs continue to rise, owning a car is becoming a costly business. But follow these 5 simple fuel saving steps and you could find that you can significantly cut the cost of motoring.

Keep your motor well maintained

Having your car regularly serviced may seem like an expense that you can do without but a well maintained engine will save you money in the long run. It is estimated that an under-serviced engine can reduce a car’s fuel economy by up to ten per cent.

As part of a regular service you should have your air filters and oil changed as this will help to maintain your car’s fuel economy. Having clean oil in your engine will reduce the friction caused by moving engine parts and this, in turn, will reduce wear and help to maintain efficient fuel consumption.

In addition, you should regularly give your car a quick look over and make sure of the following:

• Tyres are inflated to the correct pressure – under-inflated tyres add resistance and can increase fuel consumption to such an extent that it can add two per cent to your annual fuel bill!
• Your fuel cap fits correctly – if the cap is not airtight then fuel can easily evapourate.

Keep cool correctly

You may not realise it but keeping you air-conditioning on can increase petrol consumption by up to 25 per cent! So it’s best to keep cool by simply opening the air vents, sunroof or windows.

However, when driving at high speeds it may actually be more fuel efficient to keep your windows closed and cool down using the air-con system. This is because driving at speeds of over 60 mph with an open window dramatically increases drag and can affect petrol consumption more than using the air-conditioning.

Keep drag down

It’s not only open windows that can increase drag as anything that adds unnecessary weight to the car will also do this.

It is estimated that every 50kg of extra weight will increase fuel consumption by up to two per cent, so remove things such as roof racks, carriers and any unnecessary equipment that is being kept in the boot.

Keep the revs down

This could be the most difficult fuel saving tip to adhere to but it may be necessary to change your driving style to cut down on petrol consumption.

According to RAC studies, you can save as much as 30 per cent on fuel costs by simply driving smoothly and consistently, in high gears wherever possible, and by avoiding sharp braking and accelerating.

It’s also worth noting that driving at 85mph uses around 25 per cent more fuel than driving at 70mph so just sticking to the speed limit can save fuel.

Keep idling to a minimum

If you are going to be idling for more than five minutes it makes sense to turn your engine off altogether.

Keeping the engine running for more than a minute consumes more fuel than is needed to restart it. So by switching the engine off instead of leaving it idling you will save more petrol than is lost from the burst needed to fire it back up again.

Since the turn of the year research shows that the average unsecured personal loan rates for all tiers have begun to fall to levels that haven’t been seen since 2008.

With Spring fast approaching, people tend to have a sort out around the house, maybe do a bit of decorating and plan out their finances for the rest of the year. We all need that holiday don’t we?

And with such low personal loan rates, now is the time to make those financial decisions, if you have debts on your current account, credit card or even another loan; then consider consolidating those debts into one monthly payment via a loan.

Over the past few weeks the big name providers such as Sainsbury’s Finance and Marks & Spencer have reduced their rates to provide the lowest APR for loans of £7,500 and above.

You can currently get a rate of 6.9 percent for any amount over £7,500 and with the expected base rate rise just around the corner; this rate shouldn’t be expected to be around for long.

So set yourself down in front of your PC, do your sums and work out how much you need to borrow to set yourself up for the rest of the year.

Borrow more to save money

Right then, you have done your sums and you need just under £7,000 to consolidate all your debts into one, your next step is to maybe go on to a price comparison site, and find out which loan is cheapest for that amount. And that would be the correct thing to do.

But wait there, think about it? Why have I only talked about tiers about £7,500?
Well that’s because this is where the competition is at; the top loan for amounts up to £7,499 is currently 8.4 per cent; that’s a huge 1.5 per cent difference for loans above £7,500.

A great example of this is Marks & Spencer; borrow £7,000 and the rate representative rate is 12.9 per cent equating to £3,384 in interest over five years, however borrow £7,500 and the rate is 6.9 per cent equating to £1,345 being paid back in interest over the same term plus don’t forget you would have the extra £500 too!

Know your market

Before you make any financial commitment make sure you have done your research, people like myself are always writing about the latest financial news, a quick 10 minute scan of the internet could end up saving you a small fortune.
Now maybe you can use that extra £500 to go towards that holiday!

Article written by Financial Ferret

Nowadays, recession and credit crunch are the buzz words, and even though we’re told these things are dying away, there’s still a cause to be frugal with our spending. Thankfully there are some top class finance bloggers out there who make this that little bit easier, highlighting voucher codes and simple ways to save money – whether that’s switching our electricity company, shopping around for the best car insurance deals, moving our savings into an ISA (or not), or creatively using credit cards to make purchases without making a dent in the bank account.

Money Saving Expert – Martin Lewis blog.moneysavingexpert.com

Although Money Saving Expert has grown to the point where it is a community of frugal money savers, rather than just one man and his blog, Martin is still a very active member of the money saving community and someone who’s always producing top quality content that’s designed to save you money. His guides to cashback, saving money on insurance and finding cheap travel deals are always worth a look, and essential reads from the novice money saver.

You can catch Martin on Twitter @martinlewismse

Miss Thrifty – miss-thrifty.co.uk

This Yorkshire lass certainly knows her stuff. Her ability to spot bargains whether it’s competitions to win trips to Alton Towers or how to get a free fish and chips from Inside Soap magazine, it’s all there.

You can also catch Miss Thrifty on Twitter @Miss_Thrifty

Cashzilla – Cashzilla.co.uk

Oh how did that get in there? ? If you don’t already, you can follow us on Twitter @cashzilla

Motley Fool – fool.co.uk

Slightly different to some of the other finance blogs, Motley Fool brands itself more on stocks and investing as opposed to savings, credit cards and the other most common areas of personal finance. That said the site does contain some comparisons of the best credit cards, insurance products and mortgages although you might not realise this if you just land on the site.

But it’s in investing where most of the resources, such as guides and personal finance stories are. If you’re looking to make more from your money, then be sure to take a look at the different articles and posts which are available on fool.co.uk

Fool can be followed on twitter @themotleyfooluk

No More Spending – nomorespending.net

Written by Laura, someone who used to be £45k in debt, No More Spending is a guide to getting out of debt and staying out of debt. The posts cover everything from how to save money by cooking with leftovers, to examples of how Laura manages her personal finances . This is a very personal blog, often written from a woman’s perspective and it’s well worth taking a look at, particularly if you have some debt problems yourself.

You can follow Laura on Twitter: @nomorespending