#Mortgages

Fifty isn’t the finish line for your pension. Employer money, the annual allowance, fees, investment risk, the mortgage and the State Pension age are all still worth checking.

Changes to mortgage stress tests mean many lenders now offer around £30,000 more. Here’s how UK affordability checks work and why the extra borrowing doesn’t make you better off.

You might not feel stressed, but your body may disagree. How to spot the quiet signs of chronic stress in midlife, what it does to your heart, and how to fight back.

No will, an unmarried partner, an old pension form or a badly timed gift. These common inheritance mistakes can cost your family dearly, and most are easy to fix.

No rows, no slammed doors, just two flatmates sharing a mortgage. Why so many marriages end quietly, why men stay, what leaving actually costs and when settling is fine.

Compound interest gets talked up as a miracle, and skipping lattes as the way to tap into it. If you’re over 45, here’s what actually grows your pot.

Keeping everything in cash can feel prudent. Investing everything can feel bold. Neither is a plan. Give each pound a job based on when you will need it.

A financial shock in your fifties can unsettle your retirement plans. Here is how to work out the cash you need without treating your pension as a spare current account.

A £300,000 pension pot sounds substantial. Retiring at 55 is another matter. Here is what the money might cover before and after your State Pension begins.

Retiring early is easy. Staying retired is the hard part. These are the tax, timing and State Pension traps that drain a pot faster than you planned.

Stress gets blamed for high blood pressure, but its real effect works through your coping habits. Here is what the evidence says and how to check your numbers.

The asking price is only the beginning. Here is how to budget for an overseas property without quietly spending the retirement you meant to enjoy.

A Spanish flat can buy you more time in the sun, but purchase tax, annual bills and UK tax rules deserve as much attention as the balcony.

Insurance savings are easy to advertise and harder to judge. Here is how to challenge a renewal, spot duplicate cover and avoid an excess you cannot afford.

Leaving work to trade sounds appealing. Before you hand in your notice, work out the return your household needs, the costs of getting it and the retirement savings at stake.

A takeaway coffee can quietly become a four-figure annual expense. Here’s how to work out your real bill, keep the coffees you enjoy and use any savings well.

A second career could buy you freedom, or leave you financing a hobby. Here is how to test the numbers, choose a business structure and protect your retirement.

An extra £1,000 a month sounds useful. Here is what the target demands, how UK tax changes the sums, and why rent and dividends are rarely passive.

A useful budget does more than cover this month’s bills. Here’s how to make room for annual costs, emergencies and retirement without tracking every coffee.

Financial advice can cost thousands, but avoiding it can be expensive too. Here is how to judge when an adviser earns their fee — and when they do not.

The 4% rule offers a useful starting point, but your retirement date also depends on spending, tax and the years before your State Pension arrives.

Forget being told to give up coffee. The decisions worth checking are the ones you repeat, renew without noticing or never quite get round to making.

Your wife knows the bank password. Then you die or lose capacity, and the password solves nothing. Which signatures actually give her money or authority?

Planning to finish work at 65? Under current rules, your State Pension starts at 67, leaving 24 months of bills to cover before it arrives.

If you’re 55 and planning to retire at 65, you may have only another 120 monthly paycheques left. What you do with them could matter more than you think. For many men, the decade before retirement coincides with some of their highest-earning years. Your salary may finally be where you always hoped it would be. […]