Every week, we pull together the most relevant stories for your personal finances.

Summary

🧓 One in five of us haven't looked at our pension in the past year - are you one of them?

🔥 Six million households need to check one thing before 23 August - or risk missing £150 off their energy bill

💳 UK households are borrowing more than they have in years - what's driving it, and should you worry?

This week we asked a coach:

I haven't looked at my pension in years - where do I even start?

One in five of us haven't looked at our pension in the past year - are you one of them?

New research from Wealth at Work, surveying 2,000 UK workers with defined contribution pensions, found that one in five (20%) have taken no action on their pension at all in the past 12 months - and 14% say they've never reviewed it, full stop. Just 40% have checked its current value, and only 28% have actually logged into their pension account or app. Perhaps most striking: more than a quarter (27%) didn't realise their pension is invested at all, while 38% say they fear they'll never be able to afford to retire.

🤔 What this means for you

It's easy to let a pension quietly sit in the background - it's not something that demands your attention the way a bill or a bank balance does. But that 27% figure is worth sitting with: your pension isn't cash sitting in a vault, it's invested, meaning its value moves with markets over time, and how it's invested has a real effect on how much you'll end up with.

Interestingly, it's people in their 40s and early 50s who are most likely to have taken no action this year (26%) - exactly the decade where checking in tends to matter most, since there's still time to make meaningful changes before retirement, but life is also often at its busiest.

A pension check-in doesn't have to be complicated. Three things are worth looking at: what it's currently worth, what it's invested in (and whether that still suits your timeline and comfort with risk), and what income it's actually projected to give you at retirement. That last one, in particular, can turn a vague worry into a concrete plan - some people who fear they'll never afford to retire are closer than they think, and some who feel comfortable have more of a gap than they realise. Either way, it's better to know.

Your pension is one of your biggest financial assets.
A Bippit coach can help you understand where you stand and whether you're on track for retirement.

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Six million households need to check one thing before 23 August - or risk missing £150 off their energy bill

The government has confirmed that around six million households will get the £150 Warm Home Discount automatically this winter - but only if the person receiving a qualifying means-tested benefit (such as Universal Credit, Pension Credit, income-related ESA or Housing Benefit) is the name on the electricity bill by Sunday 23 August 2026. Suppliers will use bill records as they stand on that date to decide who qualifies. Around 250,000 households in Scotland will get the discount automatically for the first time this year, rather than needing to apply.

🤔 What this means for you

For most eligible households, this needs no action at all - if you receive a qualifying benefit and you're the named bill payer, the £150 should simply appear on your account this winter. The risk is for anyone whose circumstances have shifted recently: a house move, a change of supplier, a change in who's named on the account, or a relationship change where the bill is in a different person's name to the one claiming the benefit. In any of those cases, you could be entitled and still miss out, purely because the records don't match on the day that matters.

Worth knowing

You don't need to apply if your bill name and benefit details already line up - it's automatic. It's only worth contacting your supplier if you think there might be a mismatch, so it's fixed before the 23 August cut-off. If you're receiving a qualifying benefit, it's worth a two-minute check of your latest electricity bill now, while there's still time to sort any mismatch with your supplier before the deadline.

UK households are borrowing more than they have in years - what's driving it, and should you worry?

The Bank of England's latest figures show consumer credit growing at its fastest pace in years: the annual growth rate for all consumer borrowing rose to 9.1% in June, up from 9.0% in May, with credit card borrowing growing even faster, at 12.5%. Households borrowed a net £1.8 billion in June alone.

🤔 What this means for you

This is a national, big-picture figure rather than proof that any individual household is in trouble - plenty of card use is entirely healthy, paid off in full each month, and simply reflects more spending going through cards generally. But taken together, rising reliance on credit - and credit cards growing fastest of all - tends to reflect household budgets under a bit more strain, with more people bridging gaps between pay days with borrowed money rather than savings.

It's a useful nudge to look at your own borrowing with fresh eyes. If you're carrying a credit card balance month to month rather than clearing it, it's worth checking the actual interest rate you're paying - many standard cards charge well above 25% - and whether a 0% balance transfer card, or consolidating into a single lower-rate loan, could meaningfully cut what you're losing to interest.

The distinction that matters most is between borrowing that's planned and affordable, and borrowing that's quietly crept up because monthly spending has outpaced income. The first is nothing to worry about. The second is worth catching early, before the balance - and the interest - grows further.

Take control of your borrowing before it grows.
A Bippit coach can help you understand your debt, reduce interest costs, and build a plan that's right for you.

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I haven't looked at my pension in years - where do I even start?

You're far from alone - a fifth of people haven't touched their pension in the past year, and some have never looked at all. The good news is that getting started is much simpler than it feels once you've put it off for a while.

First, track down how to access it - that's usually a login on your provider's website or app, which you can find on a recent statement or through your employer's HR or payroll team. Once you're in, there are really only three things worth checking to begin with: what it's currently worth, what it's invested in, and what income it's projected to give you when you retire. Most providers will show you that projection automatically, and it's usually the single most useful number, because it turns a vague feeling ("will I be okay?") into something concrete you can actually plan around.

If you've had a few jobs over the years, it's also worth checking whether you've got old pensions you've lost track of - there are free tracing services that can help reunite you with them. And if the numbers you find feel worrying, or you're not sure what to do with what you see, that's exactly the point to bring it to a coach - we can help translate the jargon, check whether you're actually on track, and work out what (if anything) needs to change.

All the best,

The Bippit team

Questions (to ask your coach)

I've never really looked at my pension - what are the first three things I should check?

I get Universal Credit but I recently moved house - how do I make sure I don't miss the Warm Home Discount?

I've noticed my credit card balance creeping up each month - what's the best way to get it back under control?

Get matched with a financial expert