Hello Mr Postman. Plonk, what's that? The sound of another utility bill rising. Life is getting expensive. Energy up, petrol up, and tax rises coming. Stop stealing my money you gits! We are all struggling with the increased living costs. Things will be tough in 2022.  It's a perfect storm. It should never have come to this, but it has. It's a worrying time. Particularly for those with young families and vulnerable relatives etc. I'll struggle through, I always have. I feel for those who have it tougher. People choosing heating over eating.  Here's my take on it, for what it's worth. I'm going full "Martin Lewis" today. Income Tax Rises I don't mean to scare, but people are not prepared for an income drop.  April marks a new tax year. Traditionally we see favourable tax-code changes, and feel theoretically richer. Not this year. In the UK, there's an April national insurance rise of 1.25 percent. Households will lose around £500 a year (on ...

Sold! Two months ago, we moved.  I've moved a few times, but with a family, it's different. There's lots to navigate and consider, when moving the troop. But you'll know when it's time. The house and location, stop serving their purpose. Perhaps they never did, but you put up with it? Nobody moves, unless they need to. But it was for the greater good. I was resisting change, but it was the right decision. So much can go wrong (and it did). The house-moving process, throws many curve-balls. Our adventure took six months, but finally we moved into the new place. We didn't move far, we just went bigger. I suspect many families will move this year.  Best of luck, because rarely is it straight forward, or cheap. I hope this post helps you.  Why We Moved Back in March 2020 (like many), I was forced into a period of home-working (I still am). Thank you Coronavirus.  A storage room became my home office.  I started to see the deficiencies of our three-bed semi. All the ...

Show me the money.....Dad! Are you saving money for your children? If not, I would urge every parent to get organised and start building a nest-egg now. If you have started already, great, but read on.  I have saved for my two children since they were born. A modest direct-debit goes out each month. Already I have four-figure sums saved for them. By the time they hit adulthood, I would hope to have grown this more. I am not doing anything ground-breaking.  You would be surprised, how much you can grow money in an eighteen-year period. The power of compounding (more on this later) means you can leverage time, by saving regularly and growing a decent return. In this post, I'll show you my approach and what I believe parents can do to save. I am no financial advisor, just a parent, trying to save for his kids. However, this approach would also work for parents wanting to save for themselves. These tips are aimed mainly at British parents, but some of the principals can be applied...