The Money Guide library
Find a guide for your next step.
Explore 17 money topics, from day-to-day decisions to plans for your future. Start with an overview or open a topic to find a specific guide.
Links marked * are commercial or go to our partner sites, which share our operator. Third-party companies may pay us commission. How we make money.
Banking & current accounts
Pick the right current account, switch banks with the Current Account Switch Service, and protect your money with FSCS cover.
Read the guideExplore this topic
Savings & ISAs
How Cash ISAs, Lifetime ISAs and easy-access accounts work — and how to use your personal savings allowance.
Read the guideExplore this topic
- ISA allowance 2026/27
- Personal Savings Allowance
- Cash ISA vs Stocks & Shares ISA
- Premium Bonds explained
Show 17 more guides
Mortgages & first homes
From Help to Buy alternatives to remortgaging — work out what you can borrow and what each rate type means.
Read the guideExplore this topic
- Loan-to-value (LTV) explained
- Fixed vs tracker mortgage
- How remortgaging works
- First-time buyer step-by-step
Show 33 more guides
- Equity release
- How much can I borrow?
- Stamp Duty explained
- Mortgage rates
- Help to Buy & shared ownership
- Deposit: how much?
- Mortgage in principle
- Green mortgages
- Shared ownership staircasing
- Buy-to-let tax
- Mortgage prisoners
- Deposit protection
- Rent increase rights
- Tenant repair rights
- Ending your tenancy
- Renters' Rights Act
- Landlord deposit duties
- Possession grounds
- Landlord EPC rules
- Selective licensing
- Private renting guide
- Overpayments
- Porting
- Offset mortgages
- Interest-only
- Affordability rules
- ERCs
- Bridging finance
- Offer to completion
- Equity release alternatives
- Compare mortgage deals
- Renting in Scotland, Wales & NI
- What you can be charged to rent
Pensions & retirement
The State Pension, workplace auto-enrolment, SIPPs and drawdown — explained without the jargon.
Read the guideExplore this topic
Show 24 more guides
- April 2027 pension IHT change
- Pension consolidation
- SIPPs explained
- Retiring early
- Pension death benefits
- Pension Credit
- Pension tax relief
- Pension Wise
- Phased retirement
- Employer pension matching
- State pension deferral
- Auto-enrolment
- MPAA
- Commutation
- Pension recycling
- Min pension age
- Tax-free lump sum
- Defined benefit
- Drawdown basics
- DB transfer warning
- Drawdown income
- Pension crystallisation
- Buying an annuity
- State Pension age
Moving home & conveyancing
The full cost of buying and selling a home in every UK nation — conveyancing, Stamp Duty, LTT and LBTT, registration fees and how long it all takes.
Read the guideExplore this topic
Credit cards & loans
APRs, 0% balance transfers, soft-search eligibility and how to build a UK credit file responsibly.
Read the guideExplore this topic
Show 21 more guides
- Improve your credit score
- Guarantor loans
- 0% credit cards
- Minimum payment trap
- Credit utilisation
- Debt consolidation loans
- Credit agencies
- Credit disputes
- BNPL rules
- Card rewards tax
- Secured vs unsecured
- Credit limits
- Card eligibility
- Car finance complaint
- Loan eligibility
- Loan rates explained
- Credit score myths
- Compare credit cards
- Compare personal loans
- Small claims court guide
- CCJs and your credit file
Debt help
Free, regulated debt advice from StepChange, National Debtline and Citizens Advice — and what each option means.
Read the guideGambling and money
Protect your money from gambling harm: bank blocks and GAMSTOP, free help with gambling debt, how charity lotteries work and whether winnings are taxed.
Read the guideExplore this topic
Show 1 more guides
Insurance
Buildings, contents, life, income protection and travel — what each cover does, and when it's worth paying for.
Read the guideExplore this topic
- Income protection vs critical illness
- Buildings, contents & Flood Re
- Travel insurance essentials
- Travel insurance directory
Show 27 more guides
- GAP insurance
- Warranty vs guarantee
- Critical illness cover
- Whole-of-life insurance
- Life insurance basics
- Pet insurance
- Term life insurance
- IP waiting periods
- Home emergency
- Multi-car insurance
- Gadget insurance
- Home insurance explained
- Cut home insurance
- Compare life insurance
- Travel insurance buying
- Buildings vs contents
- Compare home insurance
- Compare critical illness
- Compare pet insurance
- Compare income protection
- GHIC explained
- Boiler cover
- Landlord insurance
- Compare travel insurance
- Van insurance
- Motorbike insurance
- Over-50s life cover
Benefits & tax
Universal Credit, Council Tax support, tax codes, Marriage Allowance and the rules HMRC actually uses.
Read the guideExplore this topic
Show 33 more guides
- Inheritance Tax explained
- IHT on crypto
- Donating crypto to charity
- Council tax bands & discounts
- Crisis and Resilience Fund
- Attendance Allowance
- Carer's Allowance
- Scotland benefits
- Wales benefits
- Rental income tax
- SA expenses
- Foreign savings tax
- Pensioner tax
- UC 2026 changes
- Pension Credit take-up
- DLA for children
- NI benefits
- UC work allowance
- Benefits for autistic children
- Scottish Child Payment
- Discretionary Assistance Fund
- Child Benefit explained
- NHS prescription charges
- NI domestic rates
- PIP explained
- New Style ESA
- New Style JSA
- Blue Badge
- Motability
- Child Disability Payment
- Housing Benefit, LHA & extra housing payments
- PIP at 16
- Council Tax SMI discount
Investing & ISAs
Stocks & Shares ISAs, index funds, platforms and fees — how long-term investing actually works, without the hype.
Read the guideExplore this topic
Show 18 more guides
Bills & utilities
Energy price cap, council tax bands, broadband and water — cut what you pay every month without changing your life.
Read the guideExplore this topic
- Energy price cap & Warm Home Discount
- Water bills & social tariffs
- Broadband: social tariffs & mid-contract rules
- Flight delay & cancellation compensation
Show 25 more guides
- Council tax rebanding
- Energy switching guide
- Train delay compensation
- SIM-only vs contract
- Home insulation grants
- Smart meters
- Water meters
- TV Licence
- Standing charges
- Single person discount
- Cheap energy deals
- Broadband switching
- SIM-only switching
- Solar panels UK
- WaterSure & bill help
- Mobile price rises
- Mobile social tariffs
- Social tariffs hub
- Compare broadband
- Heat pumps UK
- Compare mobile deals
- Cut water bills
- Compare energy tariffs
- Business energy
- Broadband & TV bundles
Family & care
Childcare costs, child benefit, wills, power of attorney and paying for later-life care — the money side of family life.
Read the guideExplore this topic
Show 40 more guides
- Digital assets in your will
- Executors & digital assets
- How to write a will
- Will witnessing rules
- Mirror vs mutual wills
- IHT 7-year rule
- Residence nil-rate band
- Deed of variation
- Trusts basics (UK)
- Unmarried couples & estates
- Advance decisions (living wills)
- Contesting a will
- Appointing guardians
- Free & charity will schemes
- Pre-paid funeral plans
- Care fees & deprivation of assets
- Joint tenants vs tenants in common
- Care home funding
- IHT planning basics
- 30 hours childcare
- Bereavement Support
- Divorce finances
- Change your name
- Passport name change
- Change a child's name
- What is an executor?
- Change name on driving licence
- Who to notify after a name change
- Funeral Expenses Payment
- Scotland wills & legal rights
- Deputyship
- Name change and credit score
- How to pay for a funeral
- Direct cremation explained
- Choosing a funeral director
- Help with funeral costs
- NHS continuing healthcare
- Paying for care at home
- Care home costs by UK nation
- Deferred payment agreements
Work & self-employment
Payslips, National Insurance, side income, tax on self-employment and what to do when your job changes.
Read the guideExplore this topic
- Side hustle tax
- Statutory redundancy rights
- Maternity, paternity & shared parental pay
- Self-employment basics
Show 20 more guides
- Tax codes explained
- Statutory Sick Pay
- Holiday pay & entitlement
- National Insurance explained
- How much tax will I pay?
- Minimum wage 2026
- Salary sacrifice
- CIS tax for construction
- WFH tax relief
- Overtime pay
- Agency workers
- Zero-hours rights
- Notice pay
- Scottish Income Tax
- Welsh income tax
- Maternity Allowance
- Access to Work
- Making Tax Digital
- Income Tax rates 2026/27
- Uniform and work expense tax relief
Cars & motoring
PCP vs HP vs leasing, car insurance, DVLA medical notifications, EV running costs and what really happens at the end of a finance deal.
Read the guideExplore this topic
Budgeting & saving money
Practical UK budgeting: plan your spending, build an emergency fund, cut bills and find cost-of-living help.
Read the guideExplore this topic
Show 2 more guides
Students & young adults
Student finance, student loan repayments and the money basics for your first job — explained simply.
Read the guideExplore this topic