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Chancellor John Healey has scrapped the planned cut to the cash ISA allowance, so savers can still put £20,000 a year into an ISA tax-free. But from April 2027, tax on savings interest outside an ISA rises to 24%, 44% and 49%. The new tax year starts on 6 April 2027. Unused ISA allowance is lost, pensions start counting towards inheritance tax, and the oldest year of unclaimed pension tax relief runs out. Edmund Greaves sets out what the Budget means for your money and what to check before April. He explains the changes for savers, pension holders and landlords, from the 64% tax that can hit an inherited pension to the rise in property income tax. He also looks at what's new for first-time buyers, pensioners, side hustles and student loans. Check your ISA allowance on GOV.UK: https://www.gov.uk/individual-savings-accounts The full checklist, with every deadline, is on the Mouthy Money Substack: https://mouthymoney.substack.com/ 00:00 What You Need to Know Before the New Tax Year 01:17 ISA Allowances and Savings Tax Changes 03:36 Pension Inheritance Tax Changes 05:36 How to Claim Higher-Rate Pension Tax Relief 07:46 Frozen Income Tax Thresholds 08:21 New Tax Rules for Landlords 09:15 Capital Gains and Dividend Allowances 10:12 Lifetime ISA Changes for First-Time Buyers 11:13 The New First Home Scheme 12:57 Changes for Pensioners 13:56 Side Hustles, Student Loans and Other Tax Changes 14:57 Your End-of-Tax-Year Checklist

Higher-rate taxpayers left between £450 million and £1.3 billion of pension tax relief unclaimed in 2023-24, according to figures HMRC gave the pensions consultancy LCP. If your pension comes out of your pay after tax, your provider adds 20% tax relief automatically. If you pay 40% tax, the other 20% has to be claimed from HMRC yourself, and HMRC won’t pay it unless you ask. Edmund Greaves checks LCP’s figures and works out what’s owed at seven salaries, from £55,000 to £150,000. He explains the payslip test that shows which kind of pension you have, the quick “divide by four” rule and why the claim is worth more in Scotland, for parents and for anyone earning over £100,000. He also sets out how he claimed his own relief back, why you never need a claims company and why the oldest year you can claim for runs out on 5 April 2027. Claim tax relief on pension contributions on GOV.UK: https://www.gov.uk/tax-on-your-private-pension/pension-tax-relief The full breakdown, with every salary band, is on the Mouthy Money Substack: https://mouthymoney.substack.com/ 00:00 Are You Missing Pension Tax Relief? 01:45 How Pension Tax Relief Works 04:11 Why HMRC Doesn't Pay Automatically 06:02 How Much Tax Relief Goes Unclaimed? 08:23 How to Calculate What You're Owed 10:13 Pension Tax Relief by Salary 11:13 How to Claim Your Money Back 13:16 Claim Deadlines and Common Mistakes 13:47 Why the Pension Tax Relief System Needs Reform

The UK government spent £130 billion on debt interest last year, according to the Treasury. That’s more than defence and the police, courts, prisons and fire service put together. Every year HMRC sends you an annual tax summary showing where your income tax and National Insurance went. Debt interest sits fourth on the list, but it buys nothing new. It only pays for borrowing that has already happened. Ahead of the budget on 28 October, Edmund Greaves goes through the Treasury’s spending accounts and rebuilds the tax summary at six salaries, from £25,000 to £150,000. He explains how much of your tax goes on pensions, health and debt interest in pounds, and what the summary leaves out, including VAT, employer National Insurance and borrowing. He also sets out what he’d look at before budget day, from frozen thresholds to the £100,000 personal allowance trap. Find your annual tax summary on GOV.UK: https://www.gov.uk/annual-tax-summary The full breakdown, with every salary band, is on the Mouthy Money Substack: https://mouthymoney.substack.com/ 00:00 Where Does Your Tax Money Go? 01:35 How the UK Government Spends Your Taxes 04:35 The Hidden Cost of National Debt 06:41 Breaking Down Taxes by Salary 09:01 What Your Tax Summary Leaves Out 10:10 How Much Tax You Pay at Different Salaries 12:24 What to Check Before the Budget 13:38 Why Government Spending Is Hard to Cut

Ed and his family spent the best part of £6,000 to £7,000 on two holidays abroad this year. Their old VW Polo then needed £700 for a service and about £1,000 more in repairs, which is more than the car is worth. The loan on their other car was ending at the same time, freeing up £300 a month. Ed explains how the family weighed those three pressures and decided on a converted VW Transporter camper van. Chris Tuite puts the money questions to him. They cover diesel at close to £2 a litre, insurance at £33 a month and a £400-a-month loan in place of PCP. Ed also explains how he checked a used van's MOT history before buying, and how the van doubles as somewhere to sleep after late trains home from London. 00:00 The big decision02:03 What our holidays cost07:33 The Polo's repair bill08:36 Three things at once10:54 The van we bought11:52 The super commuter15:52 Fuel and insurance19:04 Checking a used van's MOT history22:13 How we're paying for it24:15 Holidays with small kids

Around 827,000 young adults in the UK have a Child Trust Fund they have never claimed. The average unclaimed pot is worth £2,310, according to HMRC. The government opened one of these accounts for every child born between 1 September 2002 and 2 January 2011. Each started with at least £250, and many families never knew where the money went. Edmund Greaves speaks to Ged Killen of HMRC about how to track down a lost account. He explains what details you need, how long the search takes and what your options are once the account matures at 18. He also says why you should never pay a tracing agent, or hand over your bank details, to find it. Search "Find a Child Trust Fund" on GOV.UK: https://www.gov.uk/child-trust-funds The full breakdown is on the Mouthy Money Substack: https://mouthymoney.substack.com/

Andy Burnham has announced the end of the pensions triple lock, but the change doesn't start until 2030 and your state pension still rises in full next April. Edmund Greaves and Chris Tuite unpack the three big money announcements from Labour's conference. These are the new state pension formula, the Your First Home scheme for first-time buyers and new council powers over empty homes. They finish with the changes already locked in for April 2027, covering the state pension, cash ISAs and inheritance tax on pensions. 0:00 Intro2:01 The end of the triple lock7:52 Your First Home scheme16:33 Councils taking over empty homes20:28 What's coming in April 2027 This episode is for information only and is not financial advice.

Nearly half of people paying into a workplace pension can't say how much their employer puts in, and one in five don't know whether their employer would pay more if they did. Paul Davies, pensions expert at Which?, joins Edmund Greaves and Chris Tuite to work through new Which? research: what the law says your employer must pay, why the percentages are not taken from your whole salary, how matching works and what to check on your own payslip this week. Edmund and Chris test themselves on air first. The episode also covers how often the legal minimum is all an employer pays, how public sector schemes differ and what the Pensions Commission could change when it reports. Paul's Which? guide to public sector pensions: https://www.which.co.uk/money/pensions-and-retirement/saving-for-retirement/what-is-a-public-sector-pension-aobOd3f81QK1 Our earlier episode on the £100,000 pension tipping point: https://youtu.be/bjEh2c-4R9I Get the Mouthy Money newsletter: https://mouthymoney.substack.com Research: Deltapoll surveyed 1,294 UK working adults for Which? between 14 and 17 August 2026. General information rather than financial advice. Pension values can fall as well as rise.

From 6 April 2029 the government will cap the National Insurance saving on salary sacrifice pension contributions. The first £2,000 a year stays free of National Insurance, and everything above that will be taxed like ordinary pay. The CIPP puts 3.3 million workers in scope. Edmund Greaves and Chris Tuite explain what salary sacrifice is, why middle earners gain more from it than high earners do, and what the cap actually changes. National Insurance falls from 8% to 2% above the higher-rate threshold, which is why someone earning £28,000 saves proportionally more than someone on £80,000. They also work through the drawbacks of carrying a lower gross salary, from mortgage affordability and maternity pay to income protection and redundancy, and answer whether any of it affects your state pension. Nothing changes until April 2029. Check your payslip to find out whether you are already on salary sacrifice, and talk to HR or payroll if you are not sure. Chapters 00:00 The perk in your payslip that's about to be taxed 00:48 What we cover in this episode 01:28 The law has already passed 02:33 Why the £100,000 threshold matters so much 04:24 Fiscal drag is pulling more people in 05:26 How salary sacrifice actually works 07:02 Why the highest earners gain the least 08:06 The numbers at £28,000, £50,000 and £80,000 10:14 The catches: mortgages, maternity pay and cover 14:08 What changes in April 2029 15:19 The cliff edges at £60,000 and £100,000 17:15 What to do before 2029 19:44 Chris's verdict and the name problem 20:56 Over to you

Sean Standerwick is a chartered financial planner, and a fair part of his job is talking people out of distrusting their own pension. This episode is what he tells them. You come away with a number to measure your own pot against. The Retirement Living Standards put a single person's minimum retirement at £13,900 a year, a moderate one at £32,700 and a comfortable one at £45,400, against a full state pension of £12,547.60. You also get the tax case in three parts — relief going in, no tax while the money is invested, and 25% available tax free on the way out — along with the three routes to paying in: salary sacrifice through work, your own limited company, or personally. The second half is the more useful part if you are the sceptic yourself. Sean argues that people seldom object to the pension itself and mostly resist being sold to, and he works through two clients who talked themselves round once the conversation changed shape. Figures are current for the 2026/27 tax year. This episode is information rather than financial advice.

From April 2027 the cash ISA allowance for under-65s drops from £20,000 to £12,000. The overall allowance doesn't move, so £8,000 a year has to go somewhere that isn't cash. For a lot of people that turns investing from a someday decision into a this-year one. Edmund Greaves is joined by Andy Prosser, Head of Investments at the ETF platform InvestEngine, on how to pick what you invest in — time horizon, risk tolerance, the difference between an ETF and a traditional fund — and on what InvestEngine's own investors have been buying this year. Ed also explains what he got wrong when he started. InvestEngine investing data: https://blog.investengine.com/most-bought-etfs-july-2026/https://blog.investengine.com/most-popular-etfs-uk-2026/ Nothing here is financial advice. Investing involves risk and you can lose money. ISA and tax rules can change.

AI stocks retreated through July, and Ed’s portfolio went with them. Chris Tuite's didn't. So does Ed scrap his strategy and copy Chris T’s? That question sits at the centre of this month's Investing Stakes, in partnership with Stratiphy. If you want to explore Stratiphy or build your own rules-based portfolio, you can use our referral link:🔗 https://www.stratiphy.io/referrals?code=INVESTINGSTAKESDisclosure: This is a referral link. We may receive a benefit if you sign up using it. Ed’s tech-heavy Black Elephant strategy peaked in June and has handed back a chunk of it since, with Corning alone falling close to half its value and accounting for roughly half the decline. Chris kept out of the direct AI names and has carried on climbing. He is now behind every strategy and benchmark we track. Chris Ling, Chief Investment Officer at Stratiphy, walks through why AI stocks pulled back, why the drawdown stayed concentrated in that corner of the market, and what happens to your returns when you abandon a strategy mid-run to chase whoever led last month. We put six months of our own numbers into a matrix and follow what would have happened to an investor who switched into the winner every time. The answer is not flattering. We also cover the difference between our two quantitative models, why a faster-trading strategy is not the same thing as a more volatile one, and the case for doing nothing when the market goes against you. Chapters and full data tables are on the Substack, where we publish the monthly performance figures in more detail.👉 Stratiphy: https://www.stratiphy.io/referrals?code=INVESTINGSTAKES 👉 Substack: https://mouthymoney.substack.com👉 Subscribe for a new episode every monthYour capital is at risk. Past performance does not guarantee future returns. Nothing here is personal financial advice.

Ed pays £50 a month into a junior ISA for each of his sons. At 18 it's legally theirs, and he can't do a thing about it. So what happens if he uses a pension instead? Full description Every month he puts £50 into a junior ISA for each of his two sons. On their eighteenth birthdays that money becomes theirs outright — no conditions, no drip-feed, no veto. So Ed modelled the alternative: the same £50 a month into a junior SIPP, a self-invested personal pension. Children get 20% tax relief despite paying no tax, which means £50 goes in as £62.50. Over a lifetime, that relief alone is worth £82,000. The catch is that they can't touch it until 57 at the earliest, and probably 60 by the time his sons get there. Chris and Ed work through the whole model — the tax relief, the charges, the inflation problem — and argue about whether an 18-year-old can be trusted with the money at all. We both end up somewhere we didn't expect. The numbers, at 8% growth and 0.5% annual charges: £10,200 paid in over 17 years becomes £19,930 in a junior ISA at 18, or £24,912 in a junior SIPP. Left alone to 60, that SIPP reaches £511,675. Restart contributions at 22 and it reaches £661,264, against £529,012 for the ISA. Raise charges to 1.2% and £181,915 disappears. Double the contribution to £100 a month and the pot hits £1,322,529 — which 3% inflation reduces to £231,211 in today's money. (00:00) I think I've been doing this wrong(01:12) The junior ISA as it stands(02:32) Chris makes the case for the ISA(05:02) Would an 18-year-old actually blow it?(06:31) The tax relief is worth £82,000(07:20) Junior ISA against junior SIPP at 18(09:01) What happens if they restart at 22(09:40) When can they actually access a pension?(10:30) What charges do to all of this(13:00) Only 23% of UK workers are on track for a moderate retirement(15:43) What £100 a month becomes(17:36) The inflation problem nobody talks about(20:00) Tax on the way out(20:49) What Chris is doing(21:23) What I've decided to do Full tables and charts, at both contribution levels and both charge scenarios, in cash and in today's money: [Substack link] Retirement Living Standards figures from Pensions UK, 2026 update, calculated by the Centre for Research in Social Policy at Loughborough University. Neither of us is a financial adviser and none of this is financial advice. All projections are illustrations based on stated assumptions, not forecasts. Investment returns are not guaranteed and tax rules change.

£50,000 guaranteed, or a 50/50 coin flip for £1 million? YouGov asked 4,600 British adults, and 73% took the safe money. That result set off a fair bit of argument — including between the two of us. Ed and Chris go through what the poll actually found, why the gender and age splits are the most revealing part of it, and how each of us thinks about risk with our own money. Then we both commit to an answer, and we don't land in the same place. Along the way: why the coin flip is worth ten times the guaranteed option on paper, whether Americans really are less risk-averse than Brits, what £50,000 would actually buy you, and the question neither of us had thought to ask until the end. Chapters00:00 The question00:58 What the poll found03:15 Are Americans really bigger risk-takers?04:30 The gender split06:42 Why young people flip the coin09:02 The financial equivalent of watching paint dry11:04 The risk of not taking enough risk17:35 What we'd actually do18:45 Where the money would go22:06 Wait — who's tossing the coin? So what's your answer? Guaranteed cash or a shot at life-changing money — and what's the number that would make you flip? Tell us in the comments; we read and reply to all of them. New episodes weekly. Subscribe so you don't miss one. Everything here is general information about money, not personal financial advice. If you're making a decision about your own finances, speak to a regulated adviser.

£500 a month has just freed up. Do you kill the mortgage — or supercharge the pension? When childcare costs drop, most households would love the problem Chris is facing: a few hundred pounds a month to redirect, and one big decision to make. Overpay the mortgage and be debt-free years early, or pour it into the pension and let compounding do the work? So Ed and Chris ran the real numbers on Chris's own finances — a £453k mortgage on a 29-year term, 27 years to retirement — and modelled both paths. The gap is bigger than you'd think: roughly £750k in the pension one way, around £1.3m the other. But as they get into tax relief, the spread between market returns and mortgage rates, what each route means for retirement income, and a smart way to clear the mortgage with tax-free cash, it becomes clear the spreadsheet answer isn't always the one you'd choose. In this episode: - How £500 a month becomes a six-figure difference over 27 years - Why a guaranteed 4.5% saved isn't the same as a hoped-for 7% earned - Where both options land against the "comfortable retirement" benchmark - Using your 25% tax-free lump sum to clear the mortgage — and the trap of doing it the wrong way - Why pensions and property are now taxed very differently when you pass them on Team mortgage or team pension? We'd love to hear how you'd play it. We don't give financial advice — we're talking through our own situations. Everything here rests on assumptions that will change, so if you're weighing this up yourself, speak to an FCA-regulated financial adviser. (0:00) The £500 question (1:39) Chris's 29-year mortgage problem (2:27) The reveal: £750k vs £1.3m (4:42) Why the real number could be higher (6:54) Shorting inflation & the 2.5% spread (8:48) Clearing the mortgage a decade early (9:30) What it means in retirement (11:09) Finishing the mortgage with tax-free cash (12:18) The inheritance tax trap: home vs pension (15:27) A two-pronged plan (17:39) The discipline problem (18:51) Inflation, rates & staying ahead (20:51) So, what did Chris decide? The Mouthy Money podcast — how we actually think about pensions, ISAs, mortgages, tax and the economy. New episodes every week.🔔 Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/@mouthymoneypodcast📰 Mouthy Money News (short explainers, twice a week): https://www.youtube.com/@MouthyMoneyNews📲 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mouthy.money📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mouthymoney/✍️ Substack: https://mouthymoney.substack.com/📩 Get in touch: [email protected] anywhere:Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/72bQEJnPAWJprmy0B9Yy4uApple: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/mouthy-money/id1712308475Full disclaimer: Produced for general information only. Not investment, legal, tax, mortgage or other financial advice. If in doubt, consult a regulated professional about your own situation. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Investments can fall as well as rise and you may get back less than you put in. Never invest more than you can afford to lose. More at https://www.fca.org.uk/investsmart. Captions are auto-generated and may not be fully accurate.

Every month, Ed and Chris put real money into their own strategies, run them live on Stratiphy and compare results with an expert on hand to explain the damage. If you want to explore Stratiphy or build your own rules-based portfolio, you can use our referral link: 🔗 https://www.stratiphy.io/referrals?code=INVESTINGSTAKES Disclosure: This is a referral link. We may receive a benefit if you sign up using it. This episode: Alphabet is in everyone's portfolio, but is there a smarter way to back the same story? Enter Corning — the 1851 glassmaker quietly building the fibre optics that AI data centres can't run without. Plus, Ed's portfolio flashes its first sell signal, and the gap between the two strategies starts to open up. Picks and shovels, bubble talk, and a lesson in why one day's performance tells you nothing. ⏱️ Chapters 00:00 Intro 00:48 Stratify update: concentration limits and rebalancing 02:42 Why Alphabet is in every portfolio — except Chris T's 03:57 The tech-sceptic case: waiting for the correction 06:01 Is Alphabet diversified enough to survive? 08:15 The fundamental view: valuations, CapEx and the cloud backlog 11:53 Corning: the picks-and-shovels alternative 14:12 Why a monopoly on the infrastructure beats picking winners 16:37 The strategies: scores on the doors 18:01 What's driving the gap — and the risk-adjusted picture 20:16 Ed's first sell signal 22:04 The one-day drop that means nothing 23:26 Final thoughts Capital at risk. This episode was made in partnership with Stratiphy. The Mouthy Money podcast — how we actually think about pensions, ISAs, mortgages, tax and the economy. New episodes every week. 🔔 Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/@mouthymoneypodcast 📰 Mouthy Money News (short explainers, twice a week): https://www.youtube.com/@MouthyMoneyNews 📲 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mouthy.money 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mouthymoney/ ✍️ Substack: https://mouthymoney.substack.com/ 📩 Get in touch: [email protected] Listen anywhere: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/72bQEJnPAWJprmy0B9Yy4u Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/mouthy-money/id1712308475 Important: This content is for information and discussion only and is not financial advice. Capital is at risk and past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results. Full disclaimer: Produced for general information only. Not investment, legal, tax, mortgage or other financial advice. If in doubt, consult a regulated professional about your own situation. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Investments can fall as well as rise and you may get back less than you put in. Never invest more than you can afford to lose. More at https://www.fca.org.uk/investsmart. Captions are auto-generated and may not be fully accurate.