Personal finance

26 February 2026

Can you afford the house you want?

Buying a home is the biggest purchase that most of us will make, and it has a massive impact on day-to-day life. For many, a first home will be the place they plan to start a family or enjoy the first years of married life. It doesn’t stop there: finding bigger homes or downsizing later in life are just as much the start of a new chapter.

We want...

24 February 2026

Will you earn more investing all at once or monthly?

Taking your money out of a savings account to put into the market might feel like standing on the edge of a high dive.

So, it makes sense that many investors choose to wade in, by investing just a bit each month, before building up the courage for a full plunge.

The idea of ‘a little bit often’ feels intuitive because it’s the way we approach many...

20 February 2026

Student loan changes could cost graduates £250 a year

In the 2025 Budget chancellor Rachel Reeves announced a plan to freeze the threshold at which around four million graduates start paying off their student loan.

How much will these changes cost? The precise impact will depend on each individual and their own earnings, as well as future inflation over the next three years. But our estimates show...

17 February 2026

Discover the tool which can tell scammers apart from real firms

If you were making your way through Waterloo at rush hour recently you may have spotted a mysterious ATM offering untold riches before the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) Emil the Seal mascot emerged to warn of the dangers of investment scams.

The stunt was part of a broader campaign to raise awareness of the regulator’s ‘Firm Checker’ tool...

12 February 2026

How investing just £25 a month could have netted you £6,300 in 10 years

When people think of investors they may imagine people with private yachts or thousands of pounds in the bank, but investing doesn’t have to mean big sums or expert timing to deliver decent results.

Putting away just £25 a month could grow into a sizeable investment pot over time, and the figures highlight the powerful impact of investing little...

11 February 2026

How simplifying your portfolio can save you cash

A golden rule of investing is not having everything in one basket so you’re not caught out if something goes wrong with one of your holdings. But a less discussed point is how to do it and how doing it effectively can really save you money.

Ultimately when it comes to diversification what matters is not how many funds you hold, but their underlying...

4 February 2026

Just three steps could save you hundreds of pounds in 2026

After many spent January penny pinching, February brings a bit of good news for bank accounts: most people will not pay council tax payment this month or next month, which might make achieving regular investing goals a bit easier.

For most (but not all) people, council tax payments are split across 10 months, with no charge in February or March...

29 January 2026

Hargreaves Lansdown new charges: here’s how AJ Bell compares

Hargreaves Lansdown (HL) has made its first change to pricing in more than a decade, with fee cuts for a number of customers but increases to costs for many others.

While HL customers will benefit from a cut to the headline platform charge from 0.45% to 0.35%, other customers will find themselves paying a lot more in fees, thanks to certain fee...

23 January 2026

Is it really HMRC contacting you or a scam?

As tax season starts up this year, none of us want to find ourselves on the wrong side of HMRC. So, it’s natural to want to act fast when you get a phone call or text claiming to be from HMRC informing you of some unpaid sum.

Scammers often use tax season to manipulate people into revealing their bank account details under the ruse of HMRC, because...

19 January 2026

I’m a cash lover, what do the Budget Cash ISA changes mean for me?

Ask the experts. Laura Suter is on hand to answer your personal finance questions. If you'd like a question considered for a future edition send it in now.

I’ve seen the changes to Cash ISAs announced in the Budget, and I’m worried about how it’ll affect me. I max out my Cash ISA every year by putting in the full £20,000, so any change to the...

15 January 2026

What you can do about changes to salary sacrifice

Salary sacrifice has hardly been out of the news since the November Budget. It’s a formal agreement between you and your employer to lower your headline salary in return for pension contributions. The salary sacrificed up front is then exempt from National Insurance (NI) deductions for both you and your employer and in some cases, your employer...

14 January 2026

Scottish Budget: income and wealth tax changes explained

In a boost for those on lower incomes, Scottish taxpayers will see some income tax thresholds rise from 6 April 2026 for earned income.

But the 788,000 Scottish taxpayers who are forecast by the Scottish Fiscal Commission to pay tax at the higher rate and above from 2026 will still be at the mercy of fiscal drag. This is because the higher...

14 January 2026

UK mortgage rates are falling: what to do with any savings

The New Year is bringing with it a welcome reduction in mortgage rates – with HSBC the first big lender to cut its rates in 2026.

Clearly anyone on a five-year fixed rate might be facing up to a painful increase in repayments but if you are moving off a two-year fix, there’s a decent chance you could have a bit of extra cash in your pocket. A trend...

13 January 2026

Seven fund ideas for your portfolio

Before you decide which fund to buy, you need to establish two key things: what is your risk appetite and how long is it before you need to access the money.

Those happy to ride out the ups and down of the market, and have time to do so, might be comfortable owning funds that invest in shares. Those with a more cautious mindset and/or a shorter...

8 January 2026

A major tax deadline is approaching: do you need to file a return?

The festive period is now firmly in the rear-view mirror and millions of people are yet to file their self-assessment tax return for the 2024/25 tax year ahead of the 31 January deadline.

Although nearly 20,000 filed a return on New Year’s Day, just under half of the expected 12 million tax returns are yet to be received by the taxman, according to...

7 January 2026

These tools can help up your investing game this year

Researching an investment often begins with being swamped with information. While there’s heaps of analysis and tools to help you find the best fit knowing how to use them, and where to find them, is a mission in and of itself.

Here, we’re going to run through a few of the tools AJ Bell has available to investors and how to get them working for you...

6 January 2026

How much money can dry January save you?

As Brits woke up with a sore head on New Year's Day, some didn’t take much convincing to opt for a sober month.

Dry January fits in the calendar nicely after a December spent at long lunches and festivities, establishing a clean slate for those forging ahead with New Year’s resolutions, or just a good excuse to skip the pub in favour of being...

29 December 2025

How a regular savings plan dampens stock market volatility

Simplicity is a virtue when you first start investing, which is why setting up a regular savings plan can take some of the load off the decisions you have to make.

Money is automatically moved from your bank account to your ISA, SIPP or Dealing account every month, and then invested according to the standing instructions you gave when you set up...

27 December 2025

How does your emergency fund measure up?

The end of the year is a time where we think more about spending than saving, but lots of people are leaving themselves financially exposed by not having enough saved as a cash buffer.

According to new research by AJ Bell, one-in-five (19%) Brits have less than £1,000 saved in an emergency cash pot. This links to data earlier this year from the...

26 December 2025

Building a rounded portfolio

When an investor is first setting up their portfolio, they are usually asking themselves some basic questions, like how much risk they are comfortable taking and what goal they are trying to achieve.

For example, if you are uncomfortable seeing the value of your investments move up and down a lot, then you are probably on the risk averse part of...

11 December 2025

How one AJ Bell customer plans to save hard to retire in style

To Saul, the perfect retirement is living in Greece, with a healthy amount of steak dinners.

In some ways, it’s more achievable for him than most Brits: Saul is half-Greek, so it would be a bit of a homecoming. For now, he’s based in Yorkshire.

While he won’t be running into passport issues for his retirement dreams, he will still have to come up...

11 December 2025

What should I do with my first bonus: treat myself, save it or invest it?

Ask the experts. Laura Suter is on hand to answer your personal finance questions. If you'd like a question considered for a future edition send it in now.

I’ve just received my first-ever work bonus, and I’m not sure what to do with it. Part of me wants to celebrate and splurge on something I’ve wanted for ages, but I also feel like I should be...

9 December 2025

Embracing uncertainty – what you need to know about investment risk

When you hear the word ‘risk’ in the context of investing, your first thought could be in relation to losing money. It’s an understandable reaction – after all, no one likes the idea of their hard-earned savings falling in value. But investment risk is more than just the chance of loss. It’s also the reason investors can grow their money over time...

8 December 2025

How an 18-year advent calendar can generate £265,851 for your child

Parents currently pillaging the toy shops or Amazon for their kid’s Christmas presents should pause and think about whether they should ditch the presents and give them some money instead.

Rather than carrying out a supermarket-sweep style dash around the shops before Christmas Day, in the long run kids may prefer cash that goes into an account for...

1 December 2025

11 years of dividend tax hikes: how bills have dramatically risen

Dividends have faced an onslaught of changes over the past decade, and investors and company owners have seen soaring bills during that time, with the latest Budget change increasing rates once again.

The Budget change means both basic and higher rate taxpayers will face an increase of two percentage points in the amount they pay on dividend income...