Though most of us are busy buying presents, planning family visits and picking out our best festive outfit for the office party, it is really important to find the time during December to take stock of your finances.

The last month of the year is the ideal time to really go through your financial situation with a fine tooth comb and ensure you head into the next year with a clear head and a healthy balance. Things to look out and plan for include the end of interest-free deals on credit cards, store card balances and rises in travel costs, particularly if you get the train or public transport to work – prices often rise in January.

With so much to think about, we thought we would call on the experts and asked our favourite finance bloggers their top tip for healthier finances in 2017.

Charlotte at Lotty Earns
Lotty Earns
In January, give yourself a big financial shake-up. What worked in 2016, may not be best in 2017. What have you got coming in? Outgoing? Any holidays? Big purchases? Sit down – figure out how you can start saving for. Download banking/saving/budgeting apps and get a simple tangible plan to achieve what you want to achieve by the end of the year.

Lynn at Mrs Mummypenny
Mrs Mummypenny

My top tip is to get in control of your finances, face the truth and work out your financial situation. Work out your debts versus your savings and go through your bank and credit card statements to work out what you are spending your money on. From this you can:
1) Create a budget
2) Cancel any non-essential payments
3) Reduce costs of regular expenses through switching. Facing the truth is the first step to getting in control.

Francesca at From Pennies To Pounds
From Pennies To Pounds

I would say that my top tip for a financially healthier 2017 is to get all of your money in order. Set up a budget, cancel any direct debits that you don’t need, make sure that you save money every month and get your financial goals aligned with this.

Carl at Wiser Wealthier
Wiser Wealthier

Because you’re reading this before/during (delete as appropriate) ‘New Years resolution’ season, my top financial tip for 2017 is: Don’t bother making money resolutions! In fact, I don’t believe in New Year’s resolutions at all but I’m especially against those that involve money.

If you want to get better with money the best time to start is NOW. Not tomorrow, not in the new year, RIGHT NOW.

Here’s how.

-Next time you go shopping, switch one branded item for the own label version.
-Find one (yes, just one) thing to put on eBay tonight.
-Prepare one big bulk meal next time you cook.

These small changes will make you realise just how easy it is to be better with money, plus you won’t feel any pressure because they are such simple things to do!

It’s amazing how doing things like this changes your perception of saving money and increasing your income and I guarantee you’ll soon be doing much more!

Sara at Debt Camel
Debt Camel

Want to save some rainy day money but it all seems so hard? Why not open a new account in January, set up a £20 a month standing order for when you get paid. Many people don’t pay council tax in February and March – adding that money in as well would really give a big kick start.

Iona at Young Money Blog
Young Money

Plan for the long-term. Don’t think about short-term noise surrounding the economy and the fall-out from Brexit/Donald Trump. Stashing your cash under the mattress or in a paltry bank account will do nothing for your long-term prosperity if inflation continues to grow. Make sure you have an emergency savings fund topped up and if you have capital that you don’t require in the short-term, consider investing over a five to ten-year horizon where you have a real chance of at least conserving your capital if not decently growing it (although nothing is guaranteed). There are lots of options out there but execution-only websites have meant it’s never been easier or cheaper to build a portfolio of funds. Diversify across different sectors, regions, and types of company. Above all, hold your nerve.

Our Average Tax Refund For Clients Is Over £206!

The Tax Refund Company & Mrs Mummypenny: the Dynamic Duo

I love how Mrs Mummypenny takes twists and turns in the work that I am approached to do. I was recently delighted to be asked to become the blogger in residence for The Tax Refund Company. So what does blogger in residence mean? To me, it means that I write blog posts appearing both on The Tax Refund Company and my site discussing all things personal finance.

The Tax Refund Company

The Tax Refund Company is a company here to help you out with getting a tax refund Most of us in the UK are employed by others, both public and private sector. I wonder how many people struggle to understand their tax code and how many actually know what it means? Do you ever check it and calculate your correct tax payment every year to ensure you have paid the right amount?

I have always checked mine and I was employed for 16 years. Now, this is most likely because 1) I have always been obsessed with saving money and 2) one of my first ever jobs in 1997 at university was for a small accountancy firm. I used to do peoples’ tax returns and basic sole trader accounts. This taught me all about the world of tax codes, allowable and disallowable expenses, rental income, all sorts. When I left university I got a job with HSBC in the city and trained to become an accountant, so by the time I was 24 I was a qualified management CIMA accountant.

My qualification and interest in personal finance are what haave got me to today. I simply love sharing my knowledge and expertise with you readers on my website, and this is what got me noticed by The Tax refund Company. They like my story of being a personal finance expert along with being a qualified accountant. And that I have this canny ability to write about boring finance subjects in a fun and engaging way.

How can My Tax Code Help you?

the Tax Refund Company will help you to understand your tax codes and will investigate any allowable expenses to help reduce your tax bill. For example, when I was employed I was always able to include my CIMA subscription fee of £250 per year as an allowable expense so I was able to save some tax.

There are many jobs where you can include uniform cost as an allowable expense and thus reduce your tax bill. The Tax refund Company will investigate this, correct your tax code and will arrange for this refund for you. They will take a small fee from any refund they generate for you. How will you spend this refund from the Inland Revenue?

Your tax code investigations and refunds will be arranged by the friendly team based in Manchester. Full of qualified accountants like me who know the ins and out of complicated tax rules. As the advertising slogan goes, tax need not be taxing, but it is to many people. the Tax Refund Company will help you sort out your tax code problems and will get you any refunds you are due.

This partnership between Mrs Mummypenny and My Tax Code is a sponsored relationship and will help Mrs Mummypenny pay for the 8 pairs of football boots to be bought in September #MrsMummypennyMyTaxCode

Our Average Tax Refund For Clients Is Over £206!

It’s not part of Franklin’s famous ‘two certainties in life’ saying, but many of us will end up paying more tax than we should due to a wrong tax code. However, unlike mortality and tax itself, your code and tax refund situation can be resolved, but only if you take action.

Sadly, we often do little to help ourselves. How many of us could confidently recite our tax code, or would even know how to find it? Do any of us thoroughly check our wage slip or know our personal tax allowance? The majority of British employees put their trust into the accounts department of the company they work for, but this could be leaving us all heavily out of pocket.
Plenty of par-for-the-course life events can impact our tax code, from getting married to taking a sabbatical, being unemployed for a length of time or having children. All these things can change our personal tax allowances or the benefits we are entitled to, but most of us will have never considered doing anything other than letting our workplace deduce the amount of tax we are apparently meant to pay.

The reality is that our tax codes are supplied to our employers by HMRC itself and if it’s wrong, your employer can’t do anything about it, and you’re due to a tax refund. The responsibility for your tax code being correct lies with you and only you, whether you’ve overpaid or underpaid. HMRC sends out new tax codes at least once a year, but sometimes more often, so the chances of people being on the wrong code is high.

Figures released earlier this year showed that some 3 million people, both PAYE employees and self-assessment candidates, may have paid too much tax last year after job cuts at HMRC saw telephone waiting times triple to 47 minutes. The remaining staff was overwhelmed by a large number of callers in the days before the tax return deadline and many frustrated callers were unable to speak to an advisor before the deadline passed. The end result? Potentially millions of out of pocket workers.

Commenting after the figures were released, chairman of the Public Accounts Committee MP Meg Hillier said that it is wrong to expect taxpayers to pay a penalty for a late or incorrect tax submission if they were unable to access the information they needed to submit it properly.

She said: “The fact they are hanging on the phone waiting is not good enough. Most taxpayers just want to pay the tax they owe on time, without question. If they can’t get access to the right advice they are the ones who pay the penalty not HMRC.”

Between finance departments, HMRC and job cuts, there’s no shortage of things to blame for paying an incorrect amount of tax. However, when it comes to fixing your tax code, the responsibility lies squarely with you. You may not have to put in the hard yards yourself, but the process of getting your money back has to start with you.

Tax Refund Company
Our Average Tax Refund For Clients Is Over £206!

As Benjamin Franklin (the founding father of the tax refund – I joke) once claimed…

there are two certainties in life: death and taxes. Whilst most of us accept we have to ‘pay our way’ in order to fund the UK’s public services, it’s also fair to say that nobody wants to pay more tax than is absolutely necessary.

So a report out this week from the National Audit Office (NAO) that claims up to three million people may have paid the wrong amount over an 18 month period from 2014 to 2016 – all due to catastrophic failings within HMRC’s customer services department, and all due a tax refund – has many members of the public grinding their teeth in frustration.

(more…)