Ruth Jackson-Kirby
Ruth is a freelance journalist with 15 years of experience writing for national newspapers, magazines and websites. Specialising in savings, investments, pensions and property.
Articles by Ruth Jackson-Kirby:
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Your Options When You Want to Cash in Your Pension
At age 55, you can start to access the hard-earned savings in your pension pot. There are a few ways to use your pension to generate retirement income, each with its own advantages and disadvantages.
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PayPal Scams: How to Protect Your Money
Don't get duped by urgent-sounding emails or texts, and learn how to sidestep all the tricks up fraudsters' sleeves.
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Help to Save: Accounts for Low-Income Workers
If you claim the working tax, child tax or universal credit, you may be eligible for the Help to Save scheme that pays you a bonus of 50p for every £1 you save.
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How to Defer Your Pension
If you aren’t ready to retire, want to build more retirement savings, or simply don’t need to claim your pension yet, you can choose to defer your pension and boost your savings.
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It Is Never Too Late to Set Up a Pension
Feel like you’ve left your pension too late? Don’t panic, it is never too late to set up a pension and start saving for retirement.
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8 Ways to Boost Your Pension
Treat your current income like it is spoken for - today’s pension contributions will be more valuable during retirement.
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How to Start a Pension
Ready to start pension savings for retirement? First, choose which type of pension and how much you will need to set aside less each month.
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How Pension Funds Can Set You Up For Retirement
A pension fund is a collective investment designed for people saving for retirement. It includes a range of assets to build your pension pot and set you up for retirement. There are two main approaches to pension funds: the default pension fund approach and the self-select pension fund approach.
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What to Know About Defined Contribution Pension Schemes Before You Retire
A defined contribution pension can be a private pension or a workplace pension and is a way to save for retirement that can combine your contributions, employer contributions, investment returns and tax relief. Once you retire, you can turn that lump sum into an income.
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What is a Final Salary Pension, and How Do Defined Benefit Pension Schemes Work?
If you have a final salary pension, or defined benefit pension scheme, you will receive retirement income for life. The amount you will receive in retirement is calculated using your salary when you retire or your average salary.
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Are You Paying too much for your Pension? Learn How to Minimise the Fees
Pension providers charge for their services with pension charges and fees. Pension charges can include annual management charges, platform fees, underlying fund fees, inactivity fees and exit charges. While they may be unavoidable, some costs can be minimised.
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What is a Tracker Mortgage?
A tracker mortgage is a type of variable rate mortgage. The interest rate directly tracks another interest rate – usually the Bank of England’s base rate. As a result, your mortgage repayments will fluctuate in line with changes to the base rate.
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What is a Standard Variable Rate?
A standard variable rate (SVR) is the interest rate set by your mortgage lender. After your tracker, fixed, or discount rate mortgage is over, you will likely switch to a SVR mortgage unless you can remortgage for a better deal.
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What Older Borrowers Should Know About RIO Mortgages
A retirement interest-only mortgage (RIO) is a type of home loan available to borrowers over 55. With a RIO, you repay interest monthly. Capital does not have to be repaid until you die or go into long-term care.
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How Repayment Mortgages Work
A capital repayment mortgage lets you pay back some of the capital you borrowed along with interest charges. It is one of a few repayment options.
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What is a Pension Annuity?
A pension annuity is a type of insurance policy that gives you a guaranteed retirement income for life. You can buy an annuity plan with all or some of your pension pot to receive income payments. There are several types to choose from.
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What is Pension Drawdown?
When you are ready to access your pension there are a number of ways you can turn that pile of savings into a retirement income, one option is pension drawdown.
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Understanding the Pension Tax-Free Lump Sum
You can take 25% of your pension pot without paying income tax through a lump sum. The rest can be converted to an annuity, used for pension drawdown or simply be left untouched.
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What is a Current Account?
A current account is a type of bank account to help you manage your everyday money and expenses. This can include things like bills, wages, standing orders and direct debits. Read on for what you need to know about current accounts, including the different types and how to open a current account.
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What is Money Claim Online?
Money Claim Online is one of the ways you can make a claim for any money you are owed, up to £100,000, and it can often be a cheaper and quicker alternative to going to court.
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What is a Building Society?
Building societies are mutual organisations, which means they are owned by their customers. They offer current and savings accounts and mortgages so they can be an alternative option to a traditional bank.
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What is the Financial Conduct Authority?
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is an independent public body that regulates the financial services and markets in the UK. It aims to protect consumers, maintain the integrity of the industry, and promote competition.
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What is the Financial Ombudsman Service?
The Financial Ombudsman Service, also known as the FOS, is an independent organisation that can help you resolve any disputes you may have with a financial company, after unsuccessfully trying to resolve the matter with the company first.
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Pensions Contribution Limits and Rules to Know
Payments that you (or your employer, or the government) make into your pension are known as contributions. There are caps and considerations to be aware of.
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Pension Withdrawals: Limits and Rules
If you are 55 or over and have a defined contribution pension, you can start taking money out. If your situation is different, other rules may apply.
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What Is a Salary Sacrifice for Pension?
These schemes allow you to give over part of your salary in order to make more contributions to your pension.
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What Happens to Your Pension When You Die?
There are a range of factors that can influence whether your pension gets handed off to your dependants. One is what kind of pension you have.
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What Is Pension Tax Relief?
Pension tax relief is money you get back from the government to bolster your retirement savings.
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Pension Advice: Everything You Need To Know
Whether you're approaching retirement or want to understand the funds you’re investing in, you might consider getting some advice about your pension.
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What Is a Pension Transfer?
When you bring all of your pension pots to one provider, that's a pension transfer. Learn what you need to know about the risks.
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Pension Planning Tips to Maximise Your Savings
Start early, assess what you have and how much you'll need, and if you need to, bridge the gap.
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Auto-Enrolment: Everything You Need to Know
Auto-enrolment is the initiative by which you are automatically enrolled in your workplace pension scheme (unless you opt out).
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Self-Invested Personal Pensions Explained
A self-invested personal pension (SIPP) gives you complete control over your retirement savings. But it means you have to make all your own investment decisions.
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Workplace Pensions Explained
A workplace pension is a pension that is organised by your employer. Your workplace is required by law to offer one.
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Personal Pensions: Another Way to Save for Retirement
A personal pension is a private pension that you set up yourself, outside any schemes you are eligible to through your workplace.
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Don't Be a Prime Target for Amazon Scams
From alerts about a lost package to promises of having won a prize, there are myriad ways scammers use Amazon to try to pry away your money.
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Hang Up on These Popular Phone Scams
About one-quarter of all the phone calls we get are from people trying to scam us out of our money. There are signs, and steps you can take.
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Pension Scams: How to Protect Your Savings
If an offer sounds too good to be true, it probably is. And there are a number of warning signs to look out for.
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How To Get Out Of Debt
In the UK, millions of people are in debt. If you’re one of them, don’t panic. There are steps you can take to get your debt under control.
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Debt Management Plans: Everything You Need to Know
A debt management plan is an agreement between you and your lenders if you are unable to pay your debts.
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What Is a Good Credit Score?
A credit score, also known as a credit rating, is a number used to represent your credit history. There are three credit agencies in the UK, and each calculates their credit scores differently.
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How To Check Your Credit Score
Don't know your credit rating? It’s easy to find out without hurting your credit score.
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How to Improve Your Credit Score
If you have a poor credit score, you may struggle to get a mortgage, credit card or loan. Fortunately, there are a few ways to build up a good credit rating.
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Credit Builder Cards to Help Bad Credit
Want to improve your credit rating? Credit builder cards can help by giving you a chance to establish a good credit history.
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Credit Cards for Bad Credit: How to Compare and Apply
Credit cards for bad credit help people with a poor credit history to rebuild their credit score. There are steps you can take to apply and get approved.
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Credit Card Charges And Fees Demystified
Credit card charges that might show up on your statement include fees from travelling abroad, cash withdrawals, or paying your interest and balance late.
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Credit Card Minimum Payment Calculations Explained
Your minimum credit card payment is a small amount of your total balance. We explain how it is calculated.
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How To Read Your Credit Card Statement
Your credit card statement contains your balance, minimum payment due, the due date, your limit and more.
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Credit Card Limits: How To Manage
Credit card limits are unique, but how to manage them isn’t — you shouldn’t exceed your limit, and your access to capital depends on your bank and credit history.
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Kids' Bank Cards: How Do They Work?
Kids’ bank cards are available as a debit card through a children’s bank account or as a children’s prepaid card.
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