Ruth Jackson-Kirby

Ruth Jackson-Kirby

Credit card debt can quickly mount up, leaving you wondering how to pay it off. Read on to learn how to assess how much you owe, how to stop your debt from growing, how to pay off your credit card, and the steps to take if you can’t afford the repayments.

Ruth Jackson-Kirby

If you have lost track of a personal or workplace pension, you aren’t alone. Fortunately, tracing that pension is easy. What you need to do will depend on how much you remember about your lost pension.

Ruth Jackson-Kirby & Richard Eagling

Ethical pension funds bring socially responsible investing to retirement planning by ensuring the underlying investments meet Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) criteria.

Ruth Jackson-Kirby

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.

Ruth Jackson-Kirby

Don't get duped by urgent-sounding emails or texts, and learn how to sidestep all the tricks up fraudsters' sleeves.

Ruth Jackson-Kirby & Brean Horne

Improving your credit score can help boost your chances of getting financial products such as loans, credit cards and mortgages. Here, we run through 15 simple tips and tricks that could help you improve your credit rating.

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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.

Ruth Jackson-Kirby

Although it may leave you a little red faced, cards can be declined for a number of reasons, these could include reaching spending limits, being abroad or getting your information wrong. Learn what it could mean if your card has been declined.

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If you have credit card debt with multiple providers you could consolidate it into one place. Read on to discover more about credit card debt consolidation and the pros and cons of it.

Ruth Jackson-Kirby

Money borrowed from a credit card provider is credit card debt. As long as you pay your monthly repayments in full, you will not accrue interest on the amount borrowed. Learn more about credit card debt, including how it compares to other types of debt and the consequences of building it up.

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Anyone on a low retirement income may be eligible for pension credit. There are two forms: guarantee credit and savings credit. Here we look at savings credit, who is eligible and how to claim it.

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The government’s guarantee credit forms part of pension credit. It ensures that anyone on a low income gets a guaranteed minimum retirement income.

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A pension statement is an annual summary of your pension pot. It shows how much you have built up so far and gives you a projected retirement income. Your state pension forecast is different and highlights whether you have paid enough national insurance to get the full weekly payment.

Ruth Jackson-Kirby

In the distressing period after the death of a spouse or partner the last thing you want to worry about is money. You may be entitled to government benefits to stop you from falling into financial hardship.

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A pension forecast will help you estimate how much state pension income you could receive when you retire. For personal and workplace pensions your annual statement will provide a projection of your likely retirement income.

Ruth Jackson-Kirby & Tim Leonard

The triple lock protects the income that retirees receive through the state pension from inflation. Usually payments increase in line with the highest of either earnings, Consumer Prices Index inflation, or 2.5%. But for the next rise in April 2022, the earnings measure won’t be considered.

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Pension credit is a tax-free government benefit available to people over state pension age who are on a low income. There are two main forms: savings credit and guarantee credit.

Ruth Jackson-Kirby & Tim Leonard

If you are not ready to retire, want to build more retirement savings, or simply don’t need to claim your pension yet, you may want to defer taking your pension. Your state pension can also be deferred in return for increased payments in the future.

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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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Treat your current income like it is spoken for - today’s pension contributions will be more valuable during retirement.

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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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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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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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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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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.

Ruth Jackson-Kirby

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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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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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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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.

Ruth Jackson-Kirby & Tim Leonard

Buying a pension annuity with some or all of your pension pot means you can rely on a certain level of retirement income. There are different types of annuity that can provide for your loved ones after you die, pay a higher income if you’re in ill health or smoke, and keep pace with inflation.

Ruth Jackson-Kirby & Tim Leonard

Moving into pension drawdown at retirement gives you flexibility as to how you withdraw your money and enables your funds to stay invested to hopefully grow further after you retire. How pension drawdown works means retirement income decisions are firmly in your hands.

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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.

Ruth Jackson-Kirby

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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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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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.

Ruth Jackson-Kirby

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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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.

Ruth Jackson-Kirby & Tim Leonard

Pension contributions are the payments that you, your employer, and the government make into a pension, but there are caps and other considerations to bear in mind. So how much should you contribute to a pension and what does the pension annual allowance allow?

Ruth Jackson-Kirby

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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These schemes allow you to give over part of your salary in order to make more contributions to your pension.

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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.

Ruth Jackson-Kirby & Tim Leonard

Pension tax relief is a government top-up to your pension contributions that aims to encourage people to save for their retirement. The amount of tax relief you can claim will depend on the income tax that you pay.

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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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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.

Ruth Jackson-Kirby

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 is the initiative by which you are automatically enrolled in your workplace pension scheme (unless you opt out).

Ruth Jackson-Kirby & Tim Leonard

A self-invested personal pension (SIPP) gives you more control over your retirement savings, enabling you to make your own investment decisions. Contributions into a SIPP are eligible for tax relief and existing pensions can be transferred into a SIPP too.

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A workplace pension is a pension that is organised by your employer. Your workplace is required by law to offer one.

Ruth Jackson-Kirby & Tim Leonard

A personal pension is a private pension that you can set up for yourself, outside any workplace scheme. Open a personal pension plan and your contributions could be boosted by tax relief too.

Ruth Jackson-Kirby

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.