#personal-finance

#personal-finance

Money expert Martin Lewis has urged savers to ensure they are getting tax-free returns of nearly five per cent on their money as a key deadline looms. The new financial year begins on 6 April, marking the last date individual savings account (Isa) holders can use their full 20,000 allowance for the year.

While $1,000 offers a nice head start for children, Trump Accounts lack flexibility, restrict access, and limit your investment options. The account is unusable until kids are at least 18 years old, and when they do come of age, they'll still have to pay taxes on any investment growth. It's also restrictive around what they can use the money for, and limits investment choices due to the government's control.

The benefits of using a cash ISA are clear: no tax payable on the interest earned, regardless of amounts, and you can put in up to 20,000 a year for now. That will change from April 2027, capped at 12,000 (the rest can go into other ISA types), but if you'd even been putting in 150 - nowhere near enough to max your allowance - you'd still have been able to save up more than 21,000 after a decade, assuming an average 3 per cent interest rate.

But also, I do not want to spend $1,000 on dinner! I'm the first person in my family to go to university and to make a salary like this. I am supporting my parents and paying my sister's tuition. I'm very frugal and save every dollar I can, because there's no safety net except for what I've saved. I do all this happily, this was always my plan.

"Your Rich BFF,"

As generative artificial intelligence (AI) advances in its capabilities, people are using tools like ChatGPT and Grok, the AI embedded in the social media platform X (formerly Twitter), for general brainstorming. These AI tools have become (maybe-not-so) trusted advisors that can spark ideas or help people sort out their thoughts. You have to fact-check every bit of solid information, since GenAI isn't known for its accuracy.

When I was 22, my grandmother died. She was my favorite person. She didn't have a lot of money, but each of us grandchildren got a check for $3,000 from the will. I really, really wanted to do something special with that money, something to honor my grandmother, but I was young and dumb and broke, and it evaporated into rent and burritos and drinks and cigarettes and all the other "necessities" of my young, dumb 22-year-old life. I have had an "IOU" to myself for that money ever since and promised myself that one day, when I had an "extra" $3,000, that would be "grandma's money," and I'd do something special with it.

Do you remember a time in your city in Spain when bar and restaurant terraces were not packed with locals having fun (except for during the Covid-19 lockdown, of course)? No matter how tight finances are, Spaniards always seem to have the money for eating and drinking out. Some would say this carpe diem attitude is to be admired rather than sniffed at. After all, it goes hand in hand with the much-admired Spanish lifestyle - outdoors, in the company of others, enjoying the moment.

They're displaying a fascinating set of personality traits that go much deeper than having their finances sorted. 1) They have exceptional impulse control Think about what it takes to always have exact change ready. You need to resist the urge to spend those coins on vending machines or leave them as tips. You have to plan ahead, knowing what you'll buy and preparing accordingly.

He says that for boomers, who lived through an economic boom, accumulating wealth was easy-or at least easier than it has ever been since. Baby boomers currently hold more than $85 trillion in assets, making them the richest generation by far. Therefore, they earn the title "all about the money." Millennials, meanwhile, were handed a map and told the exact steps to follow to find the financial success their parents enjoyed.

Ever notice how the people with the flashiest lifestyles often have the emptiest bank accounts? It's a strange paradox: those who look the wealthiest are sometimes the ones struggling most to make rent. I learned this lesson the hard way after being laid off during media industry cuts. Those four months of freelancing taught me something crucial about money that I wish I'd understood earlier.

For Love & Money is a column from Business Insider answering your relationship and money questions. This week, a reader is frustrated that his partner of nearly a decade is avoidant with financial planning. Our columnist suggests either being comfortable with separate finances or gently guiding his partner along her personal finance journey. Dear For Love & Money, My partner and I have been together for almost 10 years now.

Ramit Sethi, author of I Will Teach You to Be Rich and host of the Netflix series How to Get Rich, has built a following around one central claim: automation beats budgeting. His approach centers on setting up automatic transfers for bills, savings, and investments rather than manually tracking every dollar. The advice resonates because it simplifies money management and removes the emotional burden of constant decision-making.

Looking back, it's easy to spot the moments where things could have gone differently. At the time, each financial decision felt justified, and sometimes even smart! Whether it was driven by optimism, pressure, or a belief that I could "figure it out later," I made choices that seemed reasonable in the moment but were costly over time. What surprised me most wasn't just the money lost, but how similar the underlying mistakes were.

We live in a world of consumerism whether we like it or not. It's hard to do anything or go anywhere (or even doom scroll) without being served up the latest gadget, subscription, or solution - most of which end up being a reason you have to devote so much time to decluttering the damn house. How can you know when your latest splurge is actually worth it or just a waste?

First, she said that $2 million isn't nearly enough to retire early on. She then went on to say that it might take a good $5 to $10 million to retire early without financial worries. Yep, you read that correctly. Are you shocked? Well, maybe you shouldn't be. In the past few years, we've seen inflation drive living costs up dramatically. And it's hard to predict how much havoc inflation will continue to wreak.

Abbie Beggs is a business owner and content creator. In 2020, during the first Covid-19 lockdown, when she was 20 and facing into her final year at university, she decided to launch Bound Apparel to fill a gap she identified in the market. There were plenty of leggings suitable for time spent at the gym, but what about the other hours of the day?

Remember that moment when you check your bank account and wonder where all your money went? Last month, I had one of those wake-up calls. After getting laid off and freelancing for four months, I thought I'd gotten pretty good at budgeting. But there I was, staring at my statement, realizing I'd somehow spent $847 on things I couldn't even remember buying. That's when it hit me: The problem was all those "normal" expenses that everyone just accepts as part of life.

Michela Allocca, founder of the personal finance brand Break Your Budget, got started with just her iPhone and an Instagram account. She had a friend take pictures of her around Boston, where she was living and working at the time, "and I would literally post a picture of myself and write a long caption about three steps to start investing," she told Business Insider.

Then life happens, and suddenly it's June and you can't recall what your resolutions even were. But it doesn't have to be that way. Sometimes the problem isn't a lack of motivation but rather a lack of tools, the kind that can make those goals feel more manageable and easier to achieve. After all, the right gear can help turn good intentions into habits that actually last.