Headsup On Money

New Year's Resolutions are hard enough to keep, let alone financial resolutions.  With that in mind, in this episode Benjamin ignores corny resolutions and instead looks back at 2024 to review the key learns and takeaways. You can learn from these and take these into 2025 to ensure you remain on the track to financial independence.  Join Benjamin Mitchell (themoneyscot), serial hater of finan...

Ignore the complexity that's out there.  Your long-term financial success simply comes down to your ability to pull on the 3 levers mentioned by Benjamin in this episode.  So whether you have time on your side, affordability to increase your investment rate, or ability and comfort to increase your growth/risk trade-off, these are the determinants of your financial success.  As you'll lea...

In this episode Benjamin is joined by Sarah Marks, CEO of RedSTART Educate to chat about the importance of financial education. Together, they chat about:  Why people need to stand up and take notice of their financial planning NOW Gone are the days of low effort, maximum reward financial planning (death of the final salary pension scheme)  The importance of financial education at a young age Mist...

If you currently work with a financial adviser to help you achieve your financial goals then it can be helpful to put them to the test with these questions.  If they can confidently answer these questions then you know you're already working with a great firm.  Similarly, if you're considering working with a financial adviser at somepoint, now or in the future, then you should consider a...

We've all heard the saying time in the market beats timing the market... but how damaging can poor market timing actually be? Surely missing a few of the 'good days' won't matter too much in the grand scheme of things when looking at a 20 year investment timeframe? Wrong. Market mistiming destroys wealth. In this episode Benjamin brings this to life with a case study, with than...

Inactivity is inferior to activity. Doing something beats doing nothing.  This may be true in other walks of life, but when it comes to your investing journey it couldn't be further from the truth.  What can Novak Djokovic's return game teach us about mastering the art of successful investing?  It's all here in this episode.  Join Benjamin Mitchell (themoneyscot), serial hater of fi...

Risk Questionnaires are designed to understand more about how you view investing and to guide you to invest in a suitable portfolio. Sounds good in theory doesn't it? In practise however they're extremely dangerous when used in isolation, because they encourage you to view investment risk as a bad thing. In this episode Benjamin explains why you should disregard the word 'risk'...

What if you didn't need to focus regimentally on curbing your expenditure? Good news - you can still indulge your caffeine fix and frequent your favourite coffee shop every day. Instead, by making a tiny annual tweak to your investment rate, you can impact your long-term planning much more than cutting back on a flat white or 2...  And finally, here's the calculator referred to in this e...

It's been an eventful week in personal finance. On Wednesday 30th October we had the first labour budget in 14 years. On the face of it there are a lot of changes at play and you're likely unsure which are relevant to you. To help you avoid the noise, in this episode Benjamin walks through the key takeaways of the Budget and how you should react to the changes. And if you stay to the end...

If you gift wealth to your children and that wealth isn't held in a tax efficient wrapper (for example a Junior ISA) then you need to be aware of this quirky, lesser-known, tax rule.  It isn't as complicated as it sounds, but you need to appreciate how it operates in practise so you can organise your financial planning around it.  In this episode Benjamin explains everything you need to...

Have you got gaps in your National Insurance history which may result in you receiving a lower state pension? You can 'backfill' these gaps, but only as far back as the preceding 6 tax years. However, at the moment a loophole exists that will allow you to go back all the way to 2006. You've only got until April 2025 to do this however and then the opportunity is gone. Benjamin expla...

The Labour government's first budget is coming up on the 30th October 2024.  There is a lot of negativity in the financial press at the moment and speculation is rife with rumours of changes to Capital Gains Tax, restrictions and caps on pensions tax relief and an overhaul to the long outdated Inheritance Tax regime.  What should you pay attention to?  What should you ignore?  In this episode...

It's a simple rule that will allow you to understand how long it'll take for your wealth to double in value. If compound interest confuses you and you've got no desire to understand the underlying mathematics (let's be honest - who does?!) then this is the episode for you. A super helpful cheat sheet that you can apply to your own financial plans. Here's the calculato r re...

 It's a classic mistake made by many.  If you're a higher rate or additional rate tax payer then you're entitled to further tax relief which you're maybe not reclaiming.  Learn in this episode if this is relevant to you, and how you can go about reclaiming this.  Word of warning - you can only go back 4 tax years so do yourself (and your wallet) a favour and look into this now!...

What do you think the biggest risks affecting retirees is?  In this week's episode Benjamin covers the main dangers and pitfalls that retirees need to be aware of.  You'll learn that stock market risk shouldn't be a primary concern when it comes to your retirement plan.  Understand these 3 risks and you won't go far wrong.   Join Benjamin Mitchell (themoneyscot), serial hater o...

In this episode Benjamin picks up from where he left of last week and summarises the key steps you need to take if you want to retire early.  You don't need to do anything particularly clever, but as always the sooner you start the better it will be for future you.  By the end of this episode you'll be armed with the perfect recipe for early retirement success.  Join Benjamin Mitchell (t...

Have you thought about how your financial picture will look when suddenly your income tap gets turned off? The day will come, but so many of us choose to ignore it. How will you replicate that loss of income? The answer is you need to have sufficient investment capital behind you so that you can live life on your terms and retire with confidence. Budgeting is the first step to getting there and in...

In this episode Benjamin discusses retiring early and what it means to different people. Good financial planning can give you independence and win you time to spend it as you wish, whether that's working (because you enjoy work), volunteering or quitting work completely. But you should ask yourself this first.  There's also a shout-out to married couples at the start of the episode and a...

Continuing our 'Masterclass' series, in this episode Benjamin tells you everything you need to know about pensions. Even the word pension strikes fear into the heart of many.  But it shouldn't.  Pensions are incredibly tax efficient and using them well is what separates the amateurs from the money nerds out there.  Confused by tax relief, tax free cash and what happens to your pensi...

In this episode Benjamin explains why you should approach online financial advice with a healthy dose of scepticism.  Social media is currently rife with financial influencers ('finfluencers') sharing secrets of overnight success when it comes to investing.  Taking this level of risk with your lifetime wealth is investment suicide.  Here's why you shouldn't believe everything y...

You're probably familiar with the term 'dividends', but how much do you actually understand and how much is conjecture? In this week's episode Benjamin provides a masterclass 101 on everything you need to know about the humble dividend, how they're taxed and planning ideas to avoid paying too much in dividend tax now that the dividend tax regime is tighter than ever before...

In this episode Benjamin explains why pensions aren't just for retirees and can in fact be used by any generation.  When used effectively they can result in huge tax savings for you and your next generation.  If you haven't thought about the role pensions can have for your children and grandchildren before then this is the episode to get started with.  It's not as complicated as it...

Continuing with our Masterclass series, in this episode Benjamin explains what the JISA is and how these tax-exempt wrappers can be used to plan for your children or grandchildren's futures.  As always, there are some caveats around whether they will be relevant for your own situation, but Benjamin explains here the pro's and con's in his classic no-nonsense, no-jargon way. Listen u...

In this episode Benjamin explains everything you need to know about the humble (or indeed not so humble) ISA or 'Individual Savings Account' to give it its full name!  This episode explains what an ISA is, how they can help with good financial planning and also some of the quirks in the ISA regime that can be used for your benefit.  It's all here in this episode.  ISA money nerd in...

We continue where we left off last week and re-join our countdown of the top 20 investment mistakes made by investors. Are you guilty of forgetting about inflation, letting your emotions run wild and chasing headline yields? In this episode Benjamin covers numbers 11-20. Here's the resource mentioned in this episode.  Join Benjamin Mitchell (themoneyscot), serial hater of financial jargon, as...