A Little Bit Richer

With lots of people giving financial tips online, it’s tricky to tell the difference between good, bad and who’s credible. But what are financial advisers and how do they help people? Joining our host Kia Commodore is adviser and wealth planner, Orann Coyle. Orann is on a mission to help demystify financial advice and make things more accessible through his social media posts. Orann explains the d...

A new job brings happiness, career growth and hopefully a better salary but job hunting can feel daunting. From finding the roles to filling out applications, interview prep to salary negotiations. So here to help is Khalifa Mustapha, who works in recruitment at Legal & General.  He shares with our host Kia Commodore some practical advice from an employer’s perspective to help you get a foot i...

Owning a pet brings lots of joy and unconditional love. There’s lots to consider and clever ways to find the perfect pet for you and your lifestyle.  Ben Simpson-Vernon, aka Ben the Vet on TikTok, joins our host Kia Commodore to give some great insights on choosing and looking after a furry friend and the potential costs involved. From the best breeds, the upfront and longer-term costs and what to...

In the UK, many younger people are reaching key life events later than previous generations. On average, people aren’t buying their first home until they’re 34, the highest age in decades. And the average age to get married has gone up to 32.  Those big life events can be triggers for sorting out your finances. So people are also often putting off important decisions like getting life insurance, c...

Whether you’re travelling for work, visiting family or friends or off to have some fun, getting around can get expensive. If you’re thinking of taking the train, coach or hiring a car there are lots of clever hacks to save cash along the way. From ‘Big World, Small Pockets’, travel expert Steph Parker gives us plenty of UK travel  tips and tricks. Steph shares with our host Kia Commodore the best...

From credit cards, personal loans, car loans, overdrafts, mortgages, owing friends and family, even a phone contract – debt comes in a number of forms and it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. But there are ways to climb out of debt and feel more in control. Here to dive a little bit deeper is friend of the show, Andy Webb – the man behind the award-winning Be Clever With Your Cash blog and host of the C...

Your workplace pension is a valuable way to save. It gets you extra money from your employer and the government. And an early start can have surprisingly big benefits – thanks to the power of compounding. Saving relatively small amounts in your 20s and early 30s is the best route to being a little richer when you retire. Legal & General’s workplace pensions expert and friend of the show Kim Br...

Scams aren’t something that just happen to older people, young people are also likely to get scammed. The scammers are getting smarter and have lots of clever ways to con you out of your cash - whether that’s pretending to be your bank, tricking you into becoming a money mule, buying stuff you don’t receive and much more. Head of Fraud Risk Management at Santander, Chris Ainsley, gives our host Ki...

When being mindful with our spending, heading on holiday can feel like a splurge. From ‘Big World, Small Pockets’, Steph Parker shows us how to travel smarter so you can get away, without the price tag. Steph shares with our host Kia Commodore – the best time to book flights and hotels, how to manage spending while abroad and her favourite, more affordable destinations to discover. Money plays a b...

Ever wondered about switching current accounts but couldn’t face the admin? Friend of the Show, Cash Chats podcaster and award-winning Be Clever With Your Cash blogger Andy Webb talk us through just how easy (and profitable) moving to a new bank can be – and why you might want to stay put too. Andy and our host Kia Commodore cover moving bank accounts, having multiple accounts, compare traditional...

April will ring in the beginning of a new tax year so you may have noticed that there’s a lot of talk about ISAs. But what are they and might they be useful for you? Here to help us understand a little bit more is Legal & General’s ISA Product Manager, Fahad Ahmed. Fahad and our host Kia Commodore chat through the different types of ISAs for saving and investing your money, how the Lifetime IS...

More and more people are earning extra cash through side hustles. With so many options, from selling a few old clothes to starting a whole new business, how do you decide what’s best for you and leap into your own side hustle? To help us answer that, financial coach Tolu Frimpong joins our host Kia Commodore. Tolu and Kia chat about different kinds of side hustles and how to pick the right one for...

Money and love can be a strange mix. It can feel like lots of unspoken rules and pitfalls start popping up when your emotional and financial lives come together. That’s true even when things go smoothly. But what if they don’t? Amy James, a Legal & General Product Manager, joins Kia Commodore to share how she navigated this journey. When Amy and her partner Dan decided to settle down together,...

Credit can seem like a dirty word. But avoiding it altogether could mean you’ll miss out on some benefits. There is a happy medium – and that’s what Kia Commodore explores on this week’s episode. Kia’s joined by Andy Webb, who runs the award-winning Be Clever With Your Cash blog and hosts the Cash Chats podcast. They cover what credit actually means, explore its positive side and chat through risk...

Kia Commodore returns to one of A Little Bit Richer’s biggest topics – house buying. If you bought your first property a few years ago you might be thinking about moving up the proper ladder. Maybe you need a bigger home, somewhere that’s a better investment or perhaps even both. Kia chats through it all with independent mortgage adviser Liam Anstruther. He set up The Mortgage Advice Club to help...

It’s the first episode of the new year, so Kia Commodore shares some simple, practical moneymaking and saving habits you can adopt in 2024. She’s joined by Iain Russell, of Moneyhub - a financial tech company that’s created a money management app (and much else). Kia and Iain discuss what to focus on during a financial checkup and recommend good habits to keep. They also chat through how money app...

In the post-pandemic world of remote work, more and more people are becoming digital nomads and leaving the UK to work from sunnier climates. But is it really as simple as just hopping on a plane with your laptop? What are the financial implications of working abroad for a UK-based company? In this episode, Kia Commodore chats with Claire Rhodes. She’s a freelance writer whose been working with UK...

When it comes to gender equality in finances, we’re still not where we need to be. Last year Legal & General found that a woman’s average pension pot at retirement was likely to be less than half that of a man’s at the same stage. And that’s just for starters. Women are also faced with the gender pay gap, childcare costs and much more. So we’re tackling all that head on! This week Kia Commodor...

In this episode, Kia Commodore continues exploring one of A Little Bit Richer’s most important topics – buying your first home. It’s an extremely important milestone. But it’s also an extremely expensive one. So in this episode Kia is joined by Hazel Johnston from Legal & General. Hazel began as a mortgage adviser and now helps other advisers better support homebuyers. Kia and Hazel talk about...

The Christmas season is coming – and it can be a pretty pricey time of the year. But does it really need to be? Does more money spent equal more fun had? Or can you be fabulously festive and fully frugal too? Kia Commodore’s joined by Megan Micklewright, creator of the financial social media platform ‘The Savvy Spender’, and winner of Online Financial Influencer of the Year 2023. Together, they’ll...

Once you’ve graduated and are out in the working world it’s easy to just ignore your student loan. But it’s always best to keep on top of all your finances. In this episode Kia Commodore talks with Abigail Foster, a Chartered Accountant and the founder of Elent, a financial education hub for student, employees and parents. The two run through the different loan plans and interest rates, and the im...

You can do all the career and financial planning you want, but sometimes life just gets in the way. Health problems can be particularly difficult if you need to take a lot of time off work. Luckily many of us won’t have that challenge but you never know what’s around the corner. In this episode Kia Commodore chats to Koren Byrne, a PR Manager at Legal & General. Koren was recently diagnosed wi...

A Little Bit Richer is all about helping you find different ways to save and grow your money. But why bother? What can all that saved up and invested cash actually get you? What many people look for is the financial freedom and flexibility to live their dream lifestyle. You might want to go travelling, retire early, or have a portfolio career. Once you figure out what your priorities are, it’s tim...

The nine to five office grind isn’t the only way of working anymore. There are loads of other options if you want to rethink your working life. Self-employment’s one of them. It can give you a lot more flexibility and be financially rewarding too. But there’s a lot to think about when you’re working for yourself. As well as marketing yourself to clients, you have to take control of your tax and fi...

Around 42% of Brits invest – in fact, if you’re saving into a pension you’re already an investor. But the wider world of investments can seem murky, confusing and risky. It doesn’t have to be that way. So we’ve put together an investment episode. Podcaster, author and founder of financial education company Mr MoneyJar, Timi Merriman-Johnson, joins our host Kia Commodore. They discuss what investin...