Conquer your financial fears

To help you get your money matters in shape, we’ve teamed up with personal finance guru Lisa Conway-Hughes (aka @misslollymoney) to share some tips and quick-fix suggestions.

In 3 steps, here’s how to review your finances, reduce their cost and complexity, and give yourself the chance to relax.

Review

So, where’s the best place to start when it comes to reviewing your finances?

"Pensions are the most cluttered area of people's finances," says Lisa. "It’s mainly from having lots of short contract jobs, or pensions they’ve just forgotten about from the first job they did."

According to the Association of British Insurers (ABI), there’s a whopping £31.1 billion languishing unclaimed in a total of 3.3 million pension pots. That’s an average of around £9,500 in each one. If you think you might have overlooked a pension, the ABI has got some guidance on how to track it down.

It’s easy to forget about all the direct debits you’ve signed up to over the years too.

"People would be really surprised about how much they’re paying in direct debits they don’t even think about," Lisa explains. "Direct debits don’t just come from one bank account – they’re on your PayPal or Apple Pay accounts, so they can be more hidden than you think."

Are you paying for a streaming service you no longer watch, or insurance for appliances you no longer have?

Reduce

Once you’ve reviewed a specific part of your personal finances, the next thing to focus on is reducing cost and complexity.

So, if you have lots of pension pots, you can think about consolidating them into 1. This generally makes things easier to manage and can often reduce the overall amount you pay in charges.

Once you’ve reviewed all your direct debits, you can cancel the ones you don’t need. You might also be able to reduce what you pay for those you keep.

For example, it’s easy to end up renewing insurance policies with the same company every year. It might be convenient, but it often means you end up paying more than you have to.

Even a small saving on each of your home, car, travel and pet insurance policies could quickly add up.

Relax

You can never really take your eye off the ball completely when it comes to managing your money. But if you break the job down, you’ll get control of things quickly.

So, what’s the best way to put a proper plan in place? "Schedule some time every month to do a quick financial task," says Lisa. "In January, you could clear out your direct debits. In February, why not check your gas and electricity? And then in March, take a look at your car insurance."

On top of the extra pounds this could put in your pocket, it will also give you invaluable peace of mind and a simple schedule to follow.

To get started right now, why not get a quote for one of our home, car, travel or pet insurance policies to see if you could save money when it's time to renew?