Jonquil Lowe – författare

Many people stumble through their financial life reacting to events and advice in an ad hoc way. As a result, few choose the most suitable financial products, some fall prey to misselling and many never realise their financial goals.

Are you one of them?

Be Your Own Financial Adviser shows you how to make sensible financial decisions without the need for expensive advice.  Its accessible style, examples and case studies explain and evaluate financial products and put you firmly in control of your own financial well-being. It will advise on how to adopt the best saving, spending and investment strategies, make decisions tax-efficiently, manage risk wisely and protect and enhance your wealth. It also suggests when professional help is a good idea, and shows you how to protect yourself against misselling and get the best out of your adviser.

Be Your Own Financial Adviser will show you how to:

Accessing financial products and services is not difficult - there is no shortage of commercials, advertisements, direct mail, email and marketing calls to entice you to take out loans, buy insurance and invest your money. But choosing which products are right  for you can be a hit and miss approach.

Good financial planning requires a systematic strategy. You should start by assessing your own particular circumstances, attitudes and timescales and then work out how you can implement your strategy on a long term basis.

Let Be Your Own Financial Adviser be your guide to making better financial decisions.

It includes advice on the following:

Financial planning         

Do you need an adviser?          

Protecting your income

Providing for your family

Health and care           

Somewhere to live       

Building a pension        

Retirement choices       

Saving and investing     

Managing your wealth

Passing it on    

Financial services are an ever increasing part of the infrastructure of everyday life. From banking to credit, insurance to investment and mortgages to advice, we all consume financial services, and many millions globally work in the sector. Moreover, the way we consume them is changing with the growing dominance of fintech and Big Data. Yet, the part of financial services that we engage with as consumers is just the tip of a vast network of markets, institutions and regulators – and fraudsters too.

Many books about financial services are designed to serve corporate finance education, focusing on capital structures, maximising shareholder value, regulatory compliance and other business-oriented topics. A Practical Guide to Financial Services: Knowledge, Opportunities and Inclusion is different: it swings the perspective towards the end-user, the customer, the essential but often overlooked participant without whom retail financial services markets would not exist. While still introducing all the key areas of financial services, it explores how the sector serves or sometimes fails to serve consumers, why consumers need protection in some areas and what form that protection takes, and how consumers can best navigate the risks and uncertainties that are inherent in financial products and services.

For consumers, a greater understanding of how the financial system works is a prerequisite of ensuring that the system works for their benefit. For students of financial services – those aspiring to or those already working in the sector – understanding the consumer perspective is an essential part of becoming an effective, holistically informed and ethical member of the financial services community. A Practical Guide to Financial Services: Knowledge, Opportunities and Inclusion will equip you for both these roles.

The editors and authors of A Practical Guide to Financial Services: Knowledge, Opportunities and Inclusion combine a wealth of financial services, educational and consumer-oriented practitioner experience.

Financial services are an ever increasing part of the infrastructure of everyday life. From banking to credit, insurance to investment and mortgages to advice, we all consume financial services, and many millions globally work in the sector. Moreover, the way we consume them is changing with the growing dominance of fintech and Big Data. Yet, the part of financial services that we engage with as consumers is just the tip of a vast network of markets, institutions and regulators – and fraudsters too.

Many books about financial services are designed to serve corporate finance education, focusing on capital structures, maximising shareholder value, regulatory compliance and other business-oriented topics. A Practical Guide to Financial Services: Knowledge, Opportunities and Inclusion is different: it swings the perspective towards the end-user, the customer, the essential but often overlooked participant without whom retail financial services markets would not exist. While still introducing all the key areas of financial services, it explores how the sector serves or sometimes fails to serve consumers, why consumers need protection in some areas and what form that protection takes, and how consumers can best navigate the risks and uncertainties that are inherent in financial products and services.

For consumers, a greater understanding of how the financial system works is a prerequisite of ensuring that the system works for their benefit. For students of financial services – those aspiring to or those already working in the sector – understanding the consumer perspective is an essential part of becoming an effective, holistically informed and ethical member of the financial services community. A Practical Guide to Financial Services: Knowledge, Opportunities and Inclusion will equip you for both these roles.

The editors and authors of A Practical Guide to Financial Services: Knowledge, Opportunities and Inclusion combine a wealth of financial services, educational and consumer-oriented practitioner experience.

National pension systems face a range of tough social and economic demands and pressures. These are complex to navigate, especially in a twenty-first century world that has ushered in global uncertainty and pressing challenges – even threatening the planet’s very sustainability – with implications for pensions that policymakers, financial services providers and individuals themselves must address.

This book probes, and unpacks, what pension systems aim to achieve, the uncertainties they face and how they are attempting to resolve them. Analysing pension provision from the systemic, political-economy and individual perspectives, it sets out and contextualises commonalities and differences in pension systems across the globe, looking at current developments in both public and private pension provision, structures and regulation. Moreover, the reader is encouraged to question how national pension systems can best serve their populations and ensure the ‘sustainability’ of later-life incomes in the light of today’s global pension challenges.

Global Pension Challenges: Pensions, Saving and Retirement in the Twenty‑First Century is an essential read for business, finance and social-policy academics and students, those working in the pensions industry and in the areas of welfare reform and advocacy, as well as the general public wishing to know more about the retirement issues we will all face in the coming years.

National pension systems face a range of tough social and economic demands and pressures. These are complex to navigate, especially in a twenty-first century world that has ushered in global uncertainty and pressing challenges – even threatening the planet’s very sustainability – with implications for pensions that policymakers, financial services providers and individuals themselves must address.

This book probes, and unpacks, what pension systems aim to achieve, the uncertainties they face and how they are attempting to resolve them. Analysing pension provision from the systemic, political-economy and individual perspectives, it sets out and contextualises commonalities and differences in pension systems across the globe, looking at current developments in both public and private pension provision, structures and regulation. Moreover, the reader is encouraged to question how national pension systems can best serve their populations and ensure the ‘sustainability’ of later-life incomes in the light of today’s global pension challenges.

Global Pension Challenges: Pensions, Saving and Retirement in the Twenty‑First Century is an essential read for business, finance and social-policy academics and students, those working in the pensions industry and in the areas of welfare reform and advocacy, as well as the general public wishing to know more about the retirement issues we will all face in the coming years.

Young people face unprecedented financial challenges: rising student debt, stiff competition for jobs, barriers to home ownership, dwindling state benefits and prospects of a longer working life. Essential Personal Finance is a guide to all the key areas of personal finance: budgeting, managing debt, savings and investments, insurance, securing a home and laying the foundations for retirement.

It provides an introduction to some of the essential foundations of a modern undergraduate finance qualification, including:

The second edition has been fully updated and includes: more information on the cost of living crisis; Fintech, climate change, sustainable finance and cryptocurrencies; financial skills and calculations; tax, trust planning and wills; pensions; regulation and fraud; and additional case studies.

Written by authors who contribute experience as financial advisers, practitioners and academics, Essential Personal Finance is a compelling combination of a textbook aimed at students on personal finance and financial services courses, and a practical guide for young people in building their own financial strength and capability.

Young people face unprecedented financial challenges: rising student debt, stiff competition for jobs, barriers to home ownership, dwindling state benefits and prospects of a longer working life. Essential Personal Finance is a guide to all the key areas of personal finance: budgeting, managing debt, savings and investments, insurance, securing a home and laying the foundations for retirement.

It provides an introduction to some of the essential foundations of a modern undergraduate finance qualification, including:

The second edition has been fully updated and includes: more information on the cost of living crisis; Fintech, climate change, sustainable finance and cryptocurrencies; financial skills and calculations; tax, trust planning and wills; pensions; regulation and fraud; and additional case studies.

Written by authors who contribute experience as financial advisers, practitioners and academics, Essential Personal Finance is a compelling combination of a textbook aimed at students on personal finance and financial services courses, and a practical guide for young people in building their own financial strength and capability.

The essential guide to making better financial decisions

 Navigating the financial industry isn't easy. While there are no shortage of commercials, advertisements, mail, email and marketing calls to entice you to take out loans, buy insurance and invest your money, choosing which of these products is right for you can be difficult. Sound financial planning requires a systematic strategy. 

This book will empower you to take control of your finances, helping you to make well-informed, confident decisions to achieve your financial goals and avoid pitfalls, equipping you with the strategy and tools you need to do so.

Through Be Your Own Financial Adviser's practical guidance, examples and case studies, you'll learn how to:

This edition adds new content on financial planning during turbulent times, open banking and cryptocurrencies, as well as a new chapter on avoiding scams. 

Supplementary material is available for download from Pearson.

There is increasing pressure for all of us to take responsibility for our own financial security and wellbeing, but we often overlook how the benefits that come with a job can help us do that. Essential Personal Finance: A Practical Guide for Employees focuses on these valuable work benefits and shows how you can build on this important foundation to achieve financial security and your life goals.

This unique book explores how making effective and practical use of these work benefits (such as pension scheme, life cover, sick pay, cheap loans, savings schemes and even financial coaching), means facing up to the behavioural biases we are all plagued with. Given that these can get in the way of even the best intentions, Essential Personal Finance tackles these biases head-on with practical ideas and tips for overcoming or harnessing them for good, and will help you to develop a positive and fruitful relationship with your money. With financial stress being a major cause of absenteeism and sick leave, low morale and lost productivity, the advice in this book also offers employers enormous benefits. By empowering employees through financial education and financial awareness, progressive employers will help them feel more in control of their lives, and experience less stress, resulting in higher morale and productivity.

Offering a distinctive approach which combines academic insight with practical financial wisdom and tools, this is a must-have book for all employees. It will help you make the most of everything your job has to offer so you can worry less about money and live life to the full.

There is increasing pressure for all of us to take responsibility for our own financial security and wellbeing, but we often overlook how the benefits that come with a job can help us do that. Essential Personal Finance: A Practical Guide for Employees focuses on these valuable work benefits and shows how you can build on this important foundation to achieve financial security and your life goals.

This unique book explores how making effective and practical use of these work benefits (such as pension scheme, life cover, sick pay, cheap loans, savings schemes and even financial coaching), means facing up to the behavioural biases we are all plagued with. Given that these can get in the way of even the best intentions, Essential Personal Finance tackles these biases head-on with practical ideas and tips for overcoming or harnessing them for good, and will help you to develop a positive and fruitful relationship with your money. With financial stress being a major cause of absenteeism and sick leave, low morale and lost productivity, the advice in this book also offers employers enormous benefits. By empowering employees through financial education and financial awareness, progressive employers will help them feel more in control of their lives, and experience less stress, resulting in higher morale and productivity.

Offering a distinctive approach which combines academic insight with practical financial wisdom and tools, this is a must-have book for all employees. It will help you make the most of everything your job has to offer so you can worry less about money and live life to the full.

Retirement planning has never been more complex. With yearly changes to the policies and professional advice, it can be overwhelming. That''s where The Good Retirement Guide 2024 can help. Retirement can be the perfect opportunity to discover new opportunities and to fulfil long-waited experiences, but many are unsure on how to best approach retirement planning and what it entails. This essential guide is here to help navigate the lead up to retirement with the most up-to-date information.Updated for the new financial year, and presented with an online directory and budget update, this new edition will inform the readers of the latest guidance on new pension rules, starting your own business, employment (hybrid and flexi-working systems), returning to work and NHS tips on staying healthy. With expert insights and useful resources, The Good Retirement Guide 2024 has been updated to offer helpful knowledge, and to ensure you plan your retirement efficiently.

Reclaim your peace of mind, secure your income and make the most of the years ahead. This practical guide helps you plan with confidence in a changing financial world, avoiding costly mistakes and taking control of your retirement future. Digital tools, pensions and healthcare can feel complex, but you dont need to figure it out alone. Youll learn how to maximize your UK State Pension, optimize your tax position, protect your savings and design a lifestyle you truly enjoy. Fully updated for the new financial year, The Good Retirement Guide 2026 by Jonquil Lowe is the trusted annual handbook used by thousands of UK retirees. It brings together expert insights, clear explanations and step-by-step checklists across pensions, ISAs, annuities, inheritance tax, care costs, property and leisure so you can make informed decisions with confidence. Discover how to turn savings into reliable income, navigate NHS and care options, and decide where and how you want to live. Feel more in control of your time, confident about your money and ready to enjoy work, travel and purpose on your terms. Design a retirement thats secure, simple and satisfying, with proven advice you can act on today. Themes include: pensions and tax planning, healthcare and social care, property and later-life housing, work and income options, lifestyle and purpose, consumer rights and scams.