Cigarette packs will have to carry pictures as well as words warning against the health risks of smoking from next month. If only banks had to do the same.

I envisage a neat little pictogram of a man in a suit picking a customer’s pocket, to remind us that financial firms exist for their benefit, not ours. Such publicity would be timely, because there is no doubt that the US trillion-dollar bailout scheme is going to change banking for generations, and that includes your mortgage, credit card, savings and investments. While we have yet to see how much of that trillion dollars (£540 billion) is going to come from the banks and how much from American taxpayers, be under no illusion: some of the cost will come through your letterbox.

The Bank of England insists that it will not create any similar rescue scheme here. Just as well, it would probably send our increasingly manic prime minister over the edge.

But Barclays, HSBC, Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds TSB have operations in America. Ironically, some Congressmen have demanded that the bailout should not be extended to foreign banks. By the time it is up and running, I suspect that our lot will wish someone had barred them.

Extra vigilance is the price we are all going to have to pay to make the most of our money. The Co-operative Bank reckons the credit crisis has made us more planning conscious, though it admits that what many people still mean by planning is deciding when to go shopping — or not, these days.

Trust will be at a premium, so confer it sparingly. If you have been with a provider for years, check regularly to see that its offerings match the best. Holders of store cards from Karen Millen, Oasis and Principles face higher interest rates, in good time to hit their pre-Christmas debts. Others will follow.

Although the Financial Services Authority is encouraging banks and others to come clean when they shave a few pounds off a deal, many will use every trick in the book to make such changes as inconspicuous as possible. Don’t let them get away with it.

Unless you have a strong personal relationship with a financial manager, there is no incentive to stick to the same firm if it stops performing well. Moving your financial business is easier than ever, and banks can hardly claim that it is difficult or unusual.

But, as billionaire Warren Buffett showed last week when he bought a chunk of the top-drawer bank Goldman Sachs, be open to opportunities. While the stock market looks set for a rocky few years, shares in sound companies will be dragged to giveaway levels. It will be more important than ever to keep up to date. Dozing is about to become an expensive hobby.

Union dues

AT a Labour party fringe meeting last week, Treasury minister Kitty Ussher said the government was pressing to relax credit-union rules so that they could be formed more easily and everyone would be able to join one. Their cheap loans are more in demand than ever, but if you save with a credit union be sure it is as well managed as anywhere else that takes your money.

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