Big decisions
Rent or buy? Finding your break-even year
Rent is not throwing money away, and neither is mortgage interest. Compare the unrecoverable costs of each and find the year buying starts to pay off.
Personal finance, worked out
Nobody is coming to do your budget for you
Good news: it takes about an hour a month. Round Numbers shows you which hour, what to check and which numbers actually move the outcome.
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Investing costs
The real cost of a 1% fee, worked out over thirty years
One percent sounds small next to a 6% return. Run it over a working lifetime and it takes roughly a quarter of your growth. Here is the arithmetic.
Freelance money
Building a tax buffer when nobody withholds for you
When you freelance, every payment arrives before tax. A simple percentage rule, a separate account and a quarterly check stop the annual tax bill from becoming a crisis.
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Browse by topic
- Budgeting4Spending plans, sinking funds and buffers that hold up when real life sends an unexpected bill.Browse
- Pay and income3Pay slips, deductions, raises and making sense of what actually lands in your account each month.Browse
- Money systems3Accounts, automations and monthly routines that make good habits the default rather than a willpower test.Browse
- Freelance money2Irregular income, client gaps and setting aside money that no employer withholds for you.Browse
- Debt and borrowing2Payoff strategies, interest maths and how loans and mortgages change the shape of a budget.Browse
- Investing costs2Fees, compounding and the small percentages that become large sums over a few decades.Browse