There are steps you should take throughout the year to keep on top of your finances
People have been urged to check over their finances with the Autumn Budget looming. Chancellor Rachel Reeves will present her latest raft of fiscal policies before the Commons next week, on Wednesday, November 26. As there could be major changes to tax and other policies, families may want to look over their finances ahead of any changes.
Rajan Lakhani, personal finance expert and head of money at smart money app Plum, said it’s always a good idea to look over for household spending.
He said: “It’s never a bad idea to conduct a spend review. You need to go through your finances and check what’s really needed and to see if you’re getting the best deals on things like insurance, mobile phone contracts and streaming packages.”
If you struggle to find the right moment to do this, the finance expert has some suggestions about when might be a good time. Mr Lakhani said: “It can be really hard to find the time to manage your money with a busy schedule, so make it part of your routine to set aside some time each month to review your finances, pay any bills and create your budget.
“Do it on a day where you know you won’t get interrupted and can give it your full attention, for example, a weekday evening.” Another tip from the finance expert is to have a yearly overview of your savings and investments.
He said: “It is also helpful to have a yearly overview of your finances. You can now easily access a whole year’s worth of bank statements to check online, or use an app to secure a good overview of your spending so you can see where your biggest outlays are.
“You’ll want to get a sense of when in the year you spend more (e.g. Christmas) or have a higher income (e.g. due a tax rebate).”
One key policy that the Chancellor usually confirms in the Autumn Budget is the triple lock for the state pension. This measure ensures payment go up in line with whichever is highest: 2.5 percent, the rise in average earnings or inflation.
If the triple lock is confirmed for next April, this would mean payments go up by 4.8 percent. This would increase the full new state pension from the current £230.25 a week to £241.30 a week.
You can check how much state pension you are on track to receive using the state pension forecast tool on the Government website.