Pensions
Employer pension matching is the most ignored free money there is
Declining a match is a voluntary pay cut. It is also extremely common.
Money After Thirty — The decisions that arrive all at once
Earning
A pay rise is worth less than the number suggests
Between tax bands, benefit withdrawal and lifestyle drift, the useful part of an increase is smaller than the headline.
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Big Decisions
Costing a career break before you take one
The lost salary is the obvious number. The pension gap and the re-entry discount are the ones that surprise people.
Family Costs
The childcare arithmetic that decides whether work pays
For a period of a few years, the second income and the childcare bill can nearly cancel out. The long-run answer is different.
Safety Nets
How much emergency fund is enough once you have dependants
The standard rule of thumb was written for a single person with a portable job. The variables change.
Looking Ahead
Talking to your parents about their affairs before you have to
The conversation is uncomfortable once and expensive to postpone. Most families postpone it.
Looking Ahead
Wills, and what happens if there is not one
Intestacy rules distribute an estate by formula. The formula rarely matches what anyone intended.
Earning
All earning →Earning
A pay rise is worth less than the number suggests
Between tax bands, benefit withdrawal and lifestyle drift, the useful part of an increase is smaller than the headline.
Earning
The second income that is not worth the hours
Side income is priced in money and paid for in time, tax and admin. Some of it does not clear the bar.
Earning
The years your earnings move fastest, and what follows them
Most careers do the bulk of their real growth in a compressed window. Knowing roughly where you are in it changes what you plan for.
Pensions
All pensions →Pensions
Employer pension matching is the most ignored free money there is
Declining a match is a voluntary pay cut. It is also extremely common.
Pensions
Starting a pension at thirty-eight rather than twenty-two
The lost years cannot be recovered directly. What can be changed is the contribution rate, the horizon and the date you stop.
Pensions
The pensions you left behind at old jobs
Several employers over fifteen years leaves several small pots. People routinely lose track of some of them entirely.
Family Costs
All family costs →Family Costs
The childcare arithmetic that decides whether work pays
For a period of a few years, the second income and the childcare bill can nearly cancel out. The long-run answer is different.
Family Costs
The cost of a child is front-loaded, then it moves
The expensive years are not the ones people brace for, and the shape of the spending changes several times before the child is…
Family Costs
Two money histories, one household
People arrive in a partnership with habits formed decades earlier by circumstances the other person never saw. Most money arguments…
Big Decisions
All big decisions →Big Decisions
Costing a career break before you take one
The lost salary is the obvious number. The pension gap and the re-entry discount are the ones that surprise people.
Big Decisions
Moving for a job: the costs that are not in the offer
A relocation is priced in salary and paid for in transaction costs, lost network and a partner's career.
Big Decisions
Overpaying a mortgage against investing the same money
The comparison looks like a rate calculation and is mostly a risk and certainty decision.
Safety Nets
All safety nets →Safety Nets
How much emergency fund is enough once you have dependants
The standard rule of thumb was written for a single person with a portable job. The variables change.
Safety Nets
What income protection actually replaces
Most households insure the house and the car and not the income that pays for both.
Safety Nets
The gap between the last payslip and the first new one
Job changes and job losses both create a period with no income arriving. The length of it surprises people more than the fact of it.
Looking Ahead
All looking ahead →Looking Ahead
Talking to your parents about their affairs before you have to
The conversation is uncomfortable once and expensive to postpone. Most families postpone it.
Looking Ahead
Wills, and what happens if there is not one
Intestacy rules distribute an estate by formula. The formula rarely matches what anyone intended.
Looking Ahead
Care for a parent, and who is expected to pay
The rules differ enormously by country, and almost every family discovers them during a crisis rather than before one.
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