Forget all those articles in the Sunday papers: everything you need is here on the Web, if you know where
to look.
To that end, we've compiled a list of around 375 of the best financial advice pages
we could find, helping you to do everything from
find the best mortage to solving your debt problems—all on one handy,
uncluttered web page!
Most of these pages are not trying to sell you financial products:
they come from government departments, trusted TV channels like the BBC, and newspapers, and are offering genuinely impartial financial advice.
We've done our best to include several different guides to most topics, so you can compare the advice and choose
the approach you like best.
Thinking about your money
Benjamin Franklin had it about right when he said "Money never
made a man happy yet, nor will it. The more a man has, the more he
wants. Instead of filling a vacuum, it makes one." But how many
people heed this sage advice? The trouble is, money makes the world
go round and—unless you're an unworldly sort of person—you
can't get by without it. There are many great things you can do in
the world without money, but far more things for which money
usefully oils the wheels. Groucho Marx was probably closest to most
people's idea of the truth when he said:
"Money frees you from
doing things you dislike. Since I dislike doing nearly everything,
money is handy."
How, then, to manage your money better... and where should you
start? Most people take their money for granted most of the time
unless a sudden financial crisis (a failure to cover the outgoings
with the incomings) starts to overwhelm them. Managing your money by
panic is certainly one approach, but not one to be recommended. Why
wait until a crisis looms? It may sound boring, but planning your
financial affairs is not nearly as onerous as it seems and could
literally save you a fortune. Taking shrewd decisions with your
mortgage, for example, can save you many years of repayments—which
could be equivalent to retiring several years earlier than you
might otherwise manage. Who could possibly think that a bad idea?
And it's not just housing that benefits from wise investments.
School and college fees are a pressing concern for many parents.
Then there's retirement itself—and even the question of planning
your financial affairs after you die so the people who care about
are properly provided for. Maybe there's no rest from financial
worries, even when you're pushing up the daisies!
The thing most people are learning about the Net is that most
questions have already been answered; someone, somewhere knows how
to solve your money or help you do exactly what you want to do. In
that spirit of sharing, welcome to our guide to the best online money
pages. On this one handy Web page, we've painstakingly dug out some of
the
very best financial advice websites, mostly from impartial, trusted
sources. They'll give you a head start in hacking through the
financial jungle to the oasis of calm, sanity, and financial
security we all hope awaits us. We spent a lot of time tracking down
this information for our own personal use and we hope you find it
useful too.
Many people's preferred solution to money problems is simply to
try to make more. If that's your idea too, you might like to take a
look at our companion page on starting your own
business. It has
lots of tips on homeworking, freelance work, and other opportunities
for ditching the humdrum job you hate and swapping it for
alternatives that will produce a healthier return on your time and
effort. Good luck!
Last updated: 29 May 2010.
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Contents - what's on this page
Beginners' guides and general introductions
TV and newspaper money guides (the money sections)
Savings
Savings and investment strategies
Spreading the risk with your savings
ISAs
Savings and debt calculators
- Savings calculator: From MSN money: "The Savings Calculator walks you through the steps needed to reach your goal or to determine how much you can save."
- Savings calculator: From The Guardian: "This calculator will help you determine how long, how much per month or what interest rate is needed to accumulate your desired sum of money."
- Money Supermarket: Another savings calculator to find the best home for your money.
- US$ Money calculator: This one's for US readers, from CNN.
- Simple savings calculator: A basic interest calculator.
- Pension contributions calculator: Find out how much money you will need in retirement and how much you should pay into a pension each month to achieve this.
- Financial x-ray: A quick review of the state of your finances from Money Surgery.
Saving money by reducing outgoings
General tips
Money-saving shopping sites
- LastMinute.com: Save money on hotels, flights, accommodation, travel, and entertainment by booking late.
- Laterooms.com: Find and book cheap, last-minute rooms in excellent hotels worldwide using this availability checking website.
- eBay: Yes, folks, eBay can be a financial saviour. Sell some of your unwanted clutter and turn it into useful money!
- Abebooks: Buy your books secondhand and save a few more pennies.
Saving money on energy bills
More money-saving tips
Mortgages
Choosing a mortgage
- ** Mortgages made clear: Impartial and reliable advice from the UK government's Financial Services Authority: How mortgages work, different types of mortgages, how you can work out what you can afford, and where you can go to compare mortgages.
- ** Buying a home: Good advice from the UK Citizens Advice Bureau.
- ** Mortgages and housing: In Depth: A collection of independent mortgage advice from the BBC. Includes:
- ** Compare Mortgages: Advice from The Motley Fool.
- ** Looking for the best mortgage: Advice from the US Federal Reserve Board, intended mainly for US readers.
- ** You can afford to make the first step: Helen Monks explains how to get on the property ladder in this article from The Guardian.
- Mortgages: Independent, reliable advice from the UK Financial Services Authority.
- BBC One Life: Mortgages: Another simple introduction to mortgages, intended mainly for younger readers.
- Mortgage guide: An introduction from MoneyNet.co.uk. Explains how to choose an interest rate and repayment structure, how to avoid redemption penalties, how to remortgage, and what kind of insurance to take out.
- Mortgages: Advice from Yahoo! Finance
- Compare mortgages: "Compare the best mortgage rates and find the cheapest mortgage payments from over 8,500 UK mortgages."
- Find the best deals on UK mortgages: Advice from MSN Money.
- Looking for the best mortgage deals: Advice from Money Extra.
- Open Directory Project: Personal Finance: Money Management: Loans: Home: A human-compiled guide to the best mortgage sites (43 of them at the last count).
Remortgaging
Equity release
Buy-to-let Mortgages
Investing in property
Borrowing money: loans
- ** Loans made clear: Impartial and reliable advice from the UK government's Financial Services Authority. Explains things like credit scoring, APR, loan jargon, and other aspects of borrowing sensibly.
- ** What's the best way for me to borrow?: Your options are explained by the UK government's Financial Services Authority (FSA).
Discusses the pros and cons of the main methods of borrowing money: using a current account overdraft, a credit card, an unsecured Personal loan,
a store card, Hire Purchase (HP), a secured loan, a further advance on your mortgage, interest-free credit deals on goods, a Credit Union, and buying goods on credit through a catalogue.
- ** Loans: Things to bear in mind; advice from the UK government's Financial Services Authority (FSA).
- Personal loans: Search for unsecured personal loans using MSN money.
- Compare loans: Advice from Uswitch.com
- Compare loans: A calculator that compares over 400 loans, from Money Supermarket
- Credit and debt: more on loans: Lots of articles about loans, from the Guardian's Money website. Includes:
Getting out of debt
Bankruptcy
Budgeting advice
Managing your budget using computer programs
Tax planning
- ** Beginner's Guide to Tax: Definitive, independent advice from the UK government's direct.gov site. Explains all about tax codes, national insurance, personal tax allowances, value added tax (VAT), capital gains tax (CGT).
- HM Revnue & Customs: The official tax collectors, includes information about self-assessment, how to submit your tax return online, etc.
- Tax advice guides: Website selling tax advice books. Includes up-to-date guidance on how to avoid property tax, using ISAs, how to avoid stamp duty, offshore tax planning, how to avoid inheritance tax, and lots of other tax matters.
- Money factsheets: A large collection of money factsheets from The Guardian. Scroll down for guidance on income tax, capital gains tax, and tax and work.
- Top tax saving tips: Advice from the BBC's money website. Other good BBC pages include...
- Interactive Investor: Tax Advice: Lots of free tax-saving tips.
- Valuation Office Agency: Responsible for valuing properties for council tax. Check your council tax band here.
Find an acccountant
- ** Institute of Chartered Accountants: Click on "Find an accountant" for members of the ICA (people with ACA and FCA after their name) in England and Wales.
- Search Accounts: A UK accountant finding website. Type in your post code and off you go.
Do your accounts yourself
Investments and investing—general
More unusual investments
Investments for children
Ethical investments
General guides
UK Ethical financial products and companies
Ethical financial products and companies overseas
Stocks and shares
Pensions and retirement
- ** Pensions made clear: Impartial and reliable advice from the UK government's Financial Services Authority. Explains how "to understand the benefits of using a pension to save for your retirement, what type of pensions are available, how they work and how to start saving for your retirement."
- ** Pension calculator: This calculator provided by the UK government's Financial Services Authority can only deal with new contributions made through a personal pension, group personal pension or stakeholder pension. It can't deal with any pension funds you may have built up already.
- ** Pensions: Sound advice from the UK's Citizens Advice Bureau.
- ** The Pension's Service: Includes tips on how to trace/tracing an old pension, pension calculators, winter fuel payments, pension credits, and much more.
- US Department of Labor Employee Benefits Security Admoinistration (EBSA): EBSA protects the integrity of pensions, health plans, and other employee benefits for more than 150 million Americans.
- ** A Beginner's Guide to Pensions: From the UK government.
- Senior's Advice: Useful pensions advice and lots of links, with an emphasis on pensioners struggling to cope on limited incomes.
- Making a Will in later life: A short introductory guide for UK readers.
- Financial planning for retirement: Investment advice from the MSN money site.
- Pensions: Advice on state and company pensions, retirement planning, and more from the Daily Mail's financial site.
- Pensions: Advice from UK charity Help the Aged on how to manage on your pension.
- Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation: A US federal corporation that protects the pensions of 44.1 million American workers and retirees in 30,330 private single-employer and multiemployer defined benefit pension plans.
- Pension contributions calculator: Find out how much money you will need in retirement and how much you should pay into a pension each month to achieve this.
- Pension contribution limits: Advice on pension tax relief from This is Money.
- Pensions: Advice from Yahoo! Finance, including pension calculators, details of state pensions, what to do about pensions if you live abroad, and much more.
- Property as a pension: Can property investments make up for pension deficits?
Student guides
- ** Student finance: Advice from the UK government's direct.gov website.
- ** Dollars and Sense: An Australian government money advice site for young peops.
- ** FinAid: A large collection of financial advice pages for students, covering such topics as loans, savings, scholarships, and military aid. Tells you how to complete the financial applications paperwork simplify and efficiently.
- Student Money Guide: From the UK's Guardian newspaper.
- Get ready for college: Prepare your student finances well in advance with this handy guide from the Minnesota Office of Higher Education.
- Student Finance: A guide from Yahoo for UK students.
- Money Matters : Tips for Australian students from Deakin University.
- Fed Money: "FedMoney.org is the most comprehensive FREE full-text online resource on all U.S. government grants and student financial aid programs."
- How to tackle student debt: Financial advisers offer tips to two students.
- Young Money: Written by student journalists and "specifically focuses on money management, entrepreneurship, careers, investing, technology, travel, entertainment and automotive topics".
- Students: How to borrow money: A Q&A (or FAQ if you prefer) on borrowing money as a student.
- Fin Aid: The SmartStudent(TM) guide to financial aid. Covers student loans, scholarships, savings, etc.
- Scholarship Search: A UK guide that includes lots of tips on managing student finances.
- Students and tax: A guide from the BBC.
- How to become an accountant: All the information you need from the Insitute of Chartered Accounts in England and Wales (ICAEW).
Making a will
Insurance
- ** Are you covered?: Are you prepared for unexpected things that may happen in your life? This guide from the UK government's Financial Services Authority tells you what you can do to anticipate the unexpected.
- ** BBC Consumer: Introduction to insurance: An impartial guide to the different kinds of insurance and when/why you might need them.
- ** Advice Guide: Insurance: A superb and dependable collection of advice and factsheets for consumers in England and Wales, from the Consumer Advice Bureau, including.
- ** Insurance made clear: Impartial and reliable advice from the UK government's Financial Services Authority. Explains different types of insurance, including medical insurance, travel insurance, health insurance, and more.
- Insurance: Tips on getting auto, home, life, and health insurance from MSN Money. Also includes:
- Insurance: Advice and news stories from This is Money website.
- Insurance: More advice, this time from Money Supermarket. Allows you to compare insurance quotes from lots of different companies.
- National insurance: Definitive advice from the UK Government's direct.gov website.
Income-protection insurance
Payment-protection insurance
Credit checks
Read much more about credit and credit cards on our Complete Guide to Credit page.
Security issues
Credit and debit card fraud
- BBC Q&A card fraud: Various suggestions for keeping your card details safe.
- Card Watch: Advice on credit card fraud and safety. How and where fraud occurs and what precautions you can take to stop it.
- Credit card fraud: Tips from advice website The Site.
Credit and debit card fraud
- Safe Shopping: Advice on shopping safely online from the American Bar Association.
- Web Trader: Helping to make online shopping more secure.
Identity theft
Avoiding financial scams
Organizations
- ** Fraudwatchers: A website dedicating to spotting and warning people about Internet frauds.
- ** Scambusters: "ScamBusters Has Helped People Protect Themselves From Clever Internet Scams, Identity Theft and Urban Legends Since 1994".
News stories
Philanthropy: giving money to charity
Helping you find the charities and causes you care about...
DISCLAIMER
- This is a page of links to web pages we have not compiled or
written.
We are not responsible for their content.
We do not endorse any of the sites, any companies behind them,
or any products they may be selling.
We have not checked the accuracy of the pages linked here and do not
warrant that they are lawful, accurate,
complete, safe, or up-to-date.
- Be careful with your money! Take plenty of independent advice before committing yourself to anything. The UK government
Financial Services Authority
website is a great place to find excellent, reliable consumer advice about all kinds of "money business".
- This website is intended mainly for UK readers. Most of the sites listed here are UK based and will offer guidance based on UK law and tax. Please seek appropriate advice if you live outside the UK.
- We do not directly control the advertisements that appear on this page. We are not responsible for and do not necessarily endorse any products that may be shown here.
- You use the information on the pages linked here entirely at your
own risk.
