The new year is almost upon us and you may have started filling in your phone planner for 2025 or scribbling key dates on next year’s family calendar.
But it’s not just birthdays, weddings and get-togethers to keep in mind – there are various tasks and bits of life admin (some nice, others not-so-nice) to grapple with in 2025.
To make things a little easier, Guardian Money has a month-by-month guide to sorting out your finances.
(Though of course, if you are really keen, there’s nothing to stop you getting stuck into some of these earlier in the year.)
January: sort out your self-assessment form
More than 12 million people need to file a self-assessment tax return for 2023-24, and the deadline for filing is midnight on 31 January 2025. (Although you could do it now: for example, 25,593 people filed their return on New Year’s Eve last year.)
If your affairs aren’t complex, then don’t be daunted. The online process is straightforward and fairly intuitive – for some, it can take as little as 20-30 minutes to file a return – and HM Revenue and Customs offers lots of online help and YouTube videos to assist people, including first-time filers.
If you can’t pay what you owe in full by 31 January, you may be able to pay in instalments over 12 months by setting up a payment plan. “If you owe less than £30,000, you may be able to do this online without speaking to us – our YouTube video explains how and will guide you through each step,” HMRC says.
February: give your pension some love
Review your pension at least once a year to make sure you are on track to meet your retirement goals. If you are saving into a “defined contribution” pension (the most common type), your provider must send you an annual statement, so if you have not had one for a while, ask.
If you look like you might fall short, take a look at paying in more. Maybe your finances are in slightly better shape than they were a year ago, and you can afford to start topping up your workplace pension with additional voluntary contributions (AVCs). Or, if you are already doing that, upping the amount. Some employers will boost these contributions – perhaps adding 50p for every £1 you pay in.
“A key thing you can do that can really boost your retirement is to find your lost pension pots,” says Helen Morrissey, the head of retirement analysis at the investment platform Hargreaves Lansdown. “Make a list of your employers and check to see if you have pension paperwork for all of them. If not, call the government’s Pension Tracing Service. All you need is either your employer name or that of the pension provider.”
March: use up your Isa before the tax year ends
Isas are the best way to shelter your money from income or capital gains tax, so check you are making the most of your allowance.
The current limit on new savings in each tax year is £20,000, which can be spread between cash accounts and stocks and shares. You can now have more than one of each type in the same tax year – so even if you have paid into a cash Isa since April 2024, you can shop around again for the best rate.
Myron Jobson, the senior personal finance analyst at the website Interactive Investor, says: “Using your Isa allowance is more important than ever, especially in the current high-interest rate environment, which is expected to persist for longer.”
He says a higher-rate taxpayer with £20,000 in a non-Isa savings account at 5% interest could face paying £200 in tax, while if they held the same amount in an Isa, they would not have a bill. Meanwhile, a £20,000 investment yielding 5% in dividends would generate £1,000 in income – in a stocks and shares Isa, this is tax-free, while outside one, the same taxpayer would pay up to £168.75, and could face capital gains tax, too.
Come 6 April, you can use next year’s allowance.
April: shop around for utilities
1 April is a key date in the energy calendar: it’s one of the four days each year that the price cap on domestic bills changes. It is spring, so it is likely that the new cap will be lower than the one in place between 1 January and 31 March, but that’s no excuse not to check you are getting the best deal.
The energy crisis resulted in many households being on a gas and electricity tariff that matches the price cap. Ben Gallizzi, from the comparison website Uswitch.com, says: “If you’re on a default tariff, consider running a comparison, as you could make considerable savings by taking a fixed deal.”
Currently, he says, the average household could save up to £139 a year by switching to a 12-month fixed deal.
Even if you don’t move providers, it’s worth looking at your monthly spending. “By the spring, many households will have used up their cushion of energy credit during the colder months,” Gallizzi says. “To ensure your direct debit is set to a suitable level, make sure you have submitted a recent energy meter reading (if you don’t have a smart meter).”
Check your TV and phone packages, too. “April is an important month to take a fresh look at your mobile and broadband outgoings, as this is when annual mid-contract price increases come into effect,” Gallizzi says.
If you are out of contract, you are likely to be overpaying. Under a new One Touch Switch process, to move your broadband you just need to contact a new provider and it will arrange everything.
May: get holiday ready
At this time of year, your thoughts may be turning to your summer getaway. You may have already booked a trip, but there is still plenty to think about.
First, dig out your passport(s) to check they are OK. Brexit-related rules that came into effect in 2021 mean your passport needs to meet two criteria – be within 10 years of its date of issue on the day you enter the EU and valid for at least three clear months after the end of your stay.
Will you be charged for using your bank card abroad? Some are much better than others when it comes to overseas purchases and cash withdrawals, and if you’re heading off this summer, you have plenty of time to apply for a new credit card or bank account. MoneySavingExpert.com’s top picks include the Barclaycard Rewards credit card and the Chase current account debit card. With both, there are no fees when used abroad.
June: track down lost things
St Anthony of Padua is the patron saint of lost things and his feast day is celebrated on 13 June, so maybe this is the month to think about whether there are any accounts, investments or other financial bits and bobs you have lost track of.
There are several services that can do some or all of the legwork for you. My Lost Account (mylostaccount.org.uk) is a free-to-use, industry-run tracing service for lost or forgotten bank, building society and NS&I (National Savings and Investments) accounts. It has helped more than 1 million people track down their lost accounts and savings since 2008.
Meanwhile, there are several hundred thousand child trust fund accounts sitting unclaimed. There’s an online tool on the gov.uk website, or go to findctf.sharefound.org.
There’s also Gretel, a free service for tracing lost investments, shares, life insurance and other things.
July: sort your paperwork
Now you’ve got hold of all of your financial details, it’s time to organise them and take time for a clear-out.
Some information is worth storing, either physically or digitally: documents for insurance, including phone numbers and policy references, letters with your tax code, and your latest statements from banks and investment firms, for example.
Anything you used to fill in your tax return should be kept – although this can be on paper, digitally or as part of a software programme. HMRC says you should keep the records for at least 22 months after the end of the tax year the return is for. So for a tax return filed in January 2025, you should keep your records until at least the end of January 2026. If you filed late, it says you should keep them for at least 15 months after you sent the tax return.
Keep things in several safe places rather than all together, in case of a break-in. If you are storing things online, protect folders with passwords.
August: focus on financial relationships
August is the most popular month to get married. If you are, you need to think about your financial future together, which may mean having some frank conversations about money: do you have different views on things like debt, will you manage your finances jointly or separately, and who will take charge of which bills and so on.
What about those who are married? If you are working or have a pension plan, check that your employer or provider has the correct “nominated beneficiary” on its system when it comes to your death in service and pension benefits, says Jim Emsley, the founder of Bristol-based ELM Legal Services. He says he has seen cases where someone dies and their ex-spouse is still on the nominated beneficiary form “and gets it all”.
For unmarried cohabiting couples, Emsley says one of the biggest issues involves same-sex couples living together where one person dies without a will and their estate doesn’t go to their surviving partner – instead it goes to their family.
September: start saving for your (grand)children
The start of the school year is a good time as any to start saving for children.
For savings you want to use to spend on them, you will need an account you can access without penalty, which means cash will be more appropriate than shares and you might miss the highest interest rates.
Rachel Springall from the financial data firm Moneyfacts says: “There are flexible children’s savings accounts out there which are ideal to save a little bit of cash for the future, but there also some fixed-rate savers which could be better suited to encourage the savings habit.”
She adds: “A junior Isa is a great choice for anyone who wants to save a pot until a child is old enough to manage it themselves.”
There are good reasons to hold an account in a child’s name rather than yours: it won’t form part of your estate if you die, interest earned on money from grandparents and friends is likely to be tax-free (children have the same £12,570 income tax allowance as adults), and it will encourage a savings habit.
Interest or other returns on money put into the account by parents will attract tax if it comes to more than £100 a year, unless you use a junior Isa or still have a child trust fund.
Moneyfacts lists top-paying savings accounts.
October: get a free will – or check your existing one is up to date
Free Wills Month happens every October and March, and involves firms of solicitors across the UK offering those aged 55-plus the chance to get a will written or updated free of charge.
Many people put off sorting out a will because they assume they will have to spend ages thinking about everything they own and writing it all down – from antique knick knacks to bank accounts – before they sit down with someone, but that is a common misconception, Emsley says.
“People overthink it,” he adds. “You don’t need to list everything – you just need to think of your estate as 100%.” You then just have to decide who is going to get what percentage. It is then down to the executors of your will to go through all your stuff, liquidate the estate assets and give everyone their share (of course, you can use your will to list specific items that you would like to pass on to loved ones).
How often should you review an existing will? “[On] BDM – births, deaths and marriages,” Emsley says.
November: sort out your credit card
Black Friday is on 28 November next year, and it traditionally kickstarts the pre-Christmas spending spree, so this is a time when many people’s plastic will inevitably take a pounding.
This is a good time to potentially shuffle your deck of cards. A reward credit card could give you more bang for your buck. Right now, the zero-fee Amex Platinum Cashback Everyday credit card lets you get 5% back on purchases (up to £125 cashback) – plus an extra £10 bonus cashback – for the first five months that you have it. After that, you get 0.5% on spending up to £10,000, and 1% on spending above that amount.
Anyone with credit card debt could save hundreds of pounds or more by transferring these balances to another provider offering a better rate. Some credit cards are offering interest-free deals lasting for more than two years. For example, Barclaycard is offering 0% interest on balance transfers for up to 30 months (with a 3.45% transfer fee).
December: donate to charity – efficiently
It’s a month when thoughts turn to giving, and for many people, that includes a charitable donation.
To make sure any cash payment is worth as much as possible to the charity involved, opt for gift aid if you can – this will increase what the charity receives by 25p for every £1. You need to be a UK taxpayer and to make a declaration.
When it comes to donations of goods to shops, that might also be an option. The big charities offer a gift aid sign-up. You will need to give them your details each time you drop off a bag of stuff. You will typically get a letter at the end of the year telling you how much was claimed if your donations were worth more than £20; otherwise you will get a letter every three years.
You can give shares to charities, too, and claim income tax relief on the full value – so a higher-rate taxpayer can get relief worth 40% of the donation.
However, Robert Salter of accountants Blick Rothenberg says that while larger charities may take gifts of shares directly, many smaller charities may “prefer to have the taxpayer sell the shares and then to donate the proceeds to the charity”.
Most charities have a minimum value of shares they will accept, but for gifts below this or for those to small charities, you can use an organisation called ShareGift.
Keep details of who you have given to – file emails acknowledging donations in a folder, or jot down payments to keep with your financial paperwork, then you know where to find them when it next comes round to January and your tax return.
