Gareth Shears

20/05/2026

For the first time in years, your cash can actually grow.
Inflation is 3.3%. The best easy-access savings account on the market pays 4.75% (Tembo HomeSaver). That's a genuine real return.
But the average high street saver is still earning under 2% — and quietly losing money every month to inflation.
Five minutes online moves you from sinking to growing. Check your rate this weekend.

19/05/2026

The "tax-free retirement" is a myth most pensioners haven't woken up to.

The triple lock keeps pushing the state pension up. The personal allowance has been frozen at £12,570 since 2021. They're about to cross. From April 2027, the state pension alone will push retirees into HMRC's books.

If you're planning your retirement income — plan for the tax.

18/05/2026

The April energy price drop was a sugar high.
Cornwall Insight now forecasts the July cap will rise to around £1,836 — a £195 jump in three months, driven by the Iran conflict pushing wholesale gas prices up. Ofgem confirms the new cap on 27 May.
If you're sat on a standard variable tariff, you've got two weeks. Fix it.

17/05/2026

Everyone watches the base rate. The base rate isn't what prices your mortgage.
The Bank held at 3.75% on 30 April. Since March, the average two-year fix has still jumped from 4.83% to 5.67% — because swap rates spiked on the Iran conflict, and lenders price off swaps, not the BoE.
If your fix ends this year, don't wait for a cut that may never arrive.

Education not advice

17/05/2026

Thoughts?

05/05/2026

HMRC's new Making Tax Digital penalty system works on points — and most self-employed people and landlords don't know the rules. Miss a quarterly deadline and you get a point. Hit four points and you're charged £200. Every late submission after that adds another £200. And those points don't reset until you've filed on time for twelve consecutive months. The first year is a soft landing but that won't last. Save this and share it with anyone who needs to see it. 👇

24/04/2026

“Stock markets are too high and set to fall.”
Cool. They said the same thing in 2024. And 2023. And 2022. And 2021.
If you’d sold every time an economist predicted a crash, you’d have missed one of the greatest bull runs in history.
The job isn’t to predict the market. The job is to stay in it.
Stop reacting to headlines. Start thinking in decades.

22/04/2026

21/04/2026

Did anyone else miss this?
The State Pension is now £12,547. The Personal Allowance is £12,570.
That’s a £22 gap.
One more triple-lock rise and every full State Pension in the country becomes taxable income. Work a few shifts, draw a private pension, and HMRC wants 20% back.
Tell me how that’s fair. 👇

18/04/2026

The State Pension is now £22.40 away from being taxed.
£22.40.
After 40 years of graft, National Insurance, and doing everything the system asked of you — one tiny uplift and HMRC takes 20% of your own money back.
Some people will say “that’s fair, it’s income, tax it like anything else.”
Others will say “you already paid tax on it the first time — this is theft in a suit.”
I know where I stand.
Is taxing the State Pension fair game… or is it the biggest stitch-up of the working class in modern British history?
Drop your answer below. 👇

15/04/2026

In 2016, over 50,000 graduates repaid their student loan in full. Last year? 2,943. 📉
That’s a 94% collapse in under a decade — and the number that explains everything about the UK student debt crisis.
Total outstanding debt: £267 billion. The average English graduate leaves university with £53,000. We now have the highest graduate debt in the developed world — higher than America.
But here’s the part most people don’t know — for the majority of graduates, this was never designed to be fully repaid.
It’s not really a loan. It’s a graduate tax.
Scotland: £18,000 average debt
Wales: £39,000
Northern Ireland: £28,000
England: £53,000
Same island. Four completely different policy choices.
The question isn’t whether you’ll repay it — it’s whether you understood that going in.
Sources: OBR | ONS | HMRC