Tune In to Better Money Habits: 5 Tips for 5 Years of Times Radio

BetterAskAdam.com
Jun 27
4 min read

Updated: Jun 30

1: Aiming for Better Interest

The Bank of England’s figures show that there are £300 billion in bank accounts that pay no interest at all. Most of us are on rubbish rates from our bank accounts which rely on the fact that we are too busy doing other more interesting things than shift the account to somewhere better. But it can really pay dividends to spend a little time moving your money

For instance –

TSB Spend & Save: Get £100 when you open a Spend & Save account and start a full switch before the offer is withdrawn. Additional eligibility criteria apply. Then earn £15 a month for up to 6 months by making 20+ card payments each calendar month. Plus, in Dec 2025, make 20+ card payments to choose a £120 hotel voucher or access to 12-months’ activity tickets in Jan 2026. T&Cs apply. Offer can be withdrawn without notice. 18+ & UK resident. Details here

First Direct 1st Account:

Open an account in minutes
£175 welcome bonus*
Enjoy a £250 interest-free overdraft (subject to status)**
Get access to our 7.00% AER/gross Regular Saver account
No first direct debit card fees when spending abroad*

Details here

Then there is the ongoing savings. For instance -

Nationwide FlexDirect: Earn 5% AER (4.89% gross a year) fixed for the first 12 months.

We pay interest monthly on every penny you have in your account up to £1,500. Keep that much in your account the whole time and you could earn up to £75 over the year.

Details here

You can get around 5% on your savings - so if you are only earninh 1% or nothing have a look here for some best buy tables

2: The Broadband Penalty

UK customers are overpaying for broadband access to the tune of £182 million a year, according to OFCOM. You might be able to switch contracts in less than 30 minutes and it could save a family £100 a year.

Comparing deals can be complex as you are often not comparing like-for-like do be sure to compare the same speed deals. But you can often cust costs by not getting as fast a connection.

Sky offer £35/month for 61mbps
Virgin have a deal for £23.99 for 132 mbps - twice the speed
If you want to cut your cost you can just go to a lower speed - Virgin's 2GB speed costs £69.99 a month.

So what speed do I need?

Which? does a great guide which should be your starting point. They say the following

Up to 15Mbps – basic online activities such as web browsing, emails and watching low resolution videos.
15-50Mbps – HD video streaming and managing a small number of smart devices in the home.
50-100Mbps – 4K video streaming on one or two devices, online gaming, and supporting a limited number of smart devices in the home.
100Mbps or more – 4K video streaming on multiple devices and supporting a good number of smart devices around the home.

3: Free Credit

Using credit cards for long-term debt is a very bad idea but millions of us need a bit of temporary help and credit cards can be very useful for this. There is an easy way of cutting the interest rate you are charged from 20% to 0%. The average UK household credit card debt is around £2,000. If you didn’t make any repayments for 36 months and left the balance on a standard credit card charging 21.9% APR, the debt would grow to approximately £4,190 due to compound interest. That’s an extra £2,190 in interest alone. That has doubled your debt.

By contrast, shifting that debt to a 0% balance transfer card for 36 months would stop the interest clock. Even after a typical 3% transfer fee (£60), you’d still come out far ahead. This is why these deals are such powerful tools—but only if used properly. So the average UK household would save around £2,000 by making the shift.

4: Looking After Pennies to Save Pounds

Small changes can make big differences. Einstein is reputed to have said that compound interest is one of the most powerful forces in the world. Those that understand it, earn it and those that don’t understand it, pay it.

You can use the power of compounding to turn your daily coffee into nearly £100,000 pension. Here’s how it works.

A Starbucks cappuccino costs around £4. So, one every day is about £80 a month. A 35 year old who drank one less cup of coffee a day and put the money in a savings account saving 4% instead would have around £59,000 when they retired.

A higher rate taxpayer who put their coffee money into a pension which was making 4% would be making around £98,000 when they retire - because they benefit from the tax-refund from pension investments, which grows at a compound rate.

5: Save Into A Pensions

Pensions offer a a great way of saving for retirement as the government gives you thousands of pounds back - that would have gone in tax but instead goes into your personal savings pot. Generally these are invested in shares and bonds so the price can fall as well as rise.

These are long-term savings only as a rules as you won't be able to access the money. Currently, you can only start taking your pension savings once you reach age 55. This is known as the normal minimum pension age (NMPA). There are some exceptions to this – like if you’re suffering from ill health or have a lower protected pension age, for example. But generally, the rule is the same for most people.

From 6 April 2028, the NMPA is rising to 57. So, depending on when you were born, this could impact you in different ways.

In a company scheme, you’ll also usually get extra money from your employer as they usually make an additional contribution to the scheme above your salary.