What banks and accountants rarely explain about your own money

Not a conspiracy, just incentives. Banks sell products, accountants bill hours, and nobody is paid to teach you the basics. Here is what they assume you know, and mostly you do not.

Curtains pulled open to reveal a piggy bank and coins behind a bank counter

Straight talk6 min readAnyone who has ever nodded along in a meeting about their own money and Googled the words afterwards.

The short answer

Nobody profits from making you independent. A confused customer is a profitable customer.
Most of what they charge for is written down free, by the government, in plain enough English.
Six ideas explain almost everything about your money. They are all on this page.

Ideas that explain most of it

Six

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Typical accountant's hour

£100 to £300

A year here costs less

Cost of the official guides

£0

Linked throughout this app

Only if you want the detail

One: tax is a set of rules, not a punishment

Every tax is arithmetic: a base, some allowances, some rates, some reliefs. Anyone can run the arithmetic. What you are usually paying for is someone remembering which rules apply to you, and the deadline.

Two: the bank's first job is to sell to you

A savings account paying 1% while inflation runs at 4% is losing you money politely. The bank lends your deposit out at far more than it pays you. That gap is its whole business.

Three: fees compound exactly like interest does

A 1% yearly fee on investments does not cost you 1%. Over thirty years it can quietly consume a quarter of what you would have had, because you lose the growth on the fee too.

Four: your structure matters more than your rate

People obsess over finding a slightly better savings rate while paying tax in the most expensive possible way: as wages, with no allowances used.

Five: allowances expire, and nobody reminds you

Most tax allowances reset every year and unused ones are simply gone. The pension annual allowance, the ISA allowance, the capital gains exemption, gifting allowances: use them or lose them.

Six: you are allowed to understand everything

The jargon is a fence, not a wall. Behind every intimidating word is a plain idea: depreciation is spreading a cost, a dividend is your share of the profit, equity is what you own minus what you owe.

What to do with this

Three moves, none of which need a suit.

What people get told, and what is true

The tax system is rigged so ordinary people cannot win.

It is written for people who read it. Every saving the wealthy use, pensions, allowances, structures, timing, is on the government website. The advantage was never secrecy, it was knowing.

My bank will tell me if there is a better option.

Banks recommend their own products. Comparison and allowances are your job, or now, ours.

I am not a numbers person.

You do not need to be. You need six ideas and a calculator that shows its workings.

Now do it on your numbers

Reading is the easy half. The saving comes from applying this to your income, your country and this tax year, with the deadline written down.

Start with the six ideas in Money school Grants and backing What changed lately

Where this comes from

General guidance, not personal advice. Anything involving a company, a trust or another country should be checked by a qualified accountant or tax adviser before you act.