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

Summary

📝 Free Wills Month is back - free will-writing for anyone aged 55 or over, and a good reminder for the rest of us

⛽ Diesel has hit a record £2 a litre - how do the costs stack up compared with running an EV

👵 During their party conference, Labour has announced plans to make changes to the State Pension triple lock

🗣️ This week we asked a coach: Diesel is so expensive now - is it actually worth me switching to an electric car, or is that just swapping one cost for another?

📝Free Wills Month is back - and it's a good reminder to review your existing arrangements

Free Wills Month runs every March and October, giving people aged 55 and over - or one half of a couple making mirror wills together - access to a solicitor who'll write a simple will at no cost. There's no obligation, just the option, to leave a gift to one of the charities behind the scheme.

🤔 What this means for you

This October's round is now running, with solicitors covering different parts of the UK on a first-come, first-served basis. If you're 55 or over, or have a parent who is, it's worth acting now as appointments go quickly and the scheme only runs for a few weeks at a time. 

If you're younger, the free service isn't available, but the reminder still applies: many of us go through life without a valid will, often assuming we don't have enough to leave, or that it can wait. Neither really holds up - a will could decide who looks after your children if the worst happens, not just who gets what, and a straightforward will from a solicitor typically costs a few hundred pounds.

‍Worth knowing:

Free Wills Month runs every March and October, but participating solicitors and availability vary by area and appointments can fill up quickly. You can check availability near you and find participating solicitors here: https://freewillsmonth.org.uk/

Need help getting your will sorted? A Bippit financial expert can help you understand what to consider when planning your will and how it fits into your wider finances.

⛽ Diesel has hit a record £2 a litre - how this compares to running an EV

Diesel hit an average of £2 a litre this week - up to £2.16 at motorway services - its highest price on record, according to the RAC. Petrol isn't far behind, averaging £1.74 and nudging £2 at motorway stations too. The cause is largely related to the conflict between the US and Iran, which has pushed Brent Crude from around $70 a barrel to roughly $100. The RAC has called it "uncharted territory," well past the previous record set during the 2022 Ukraine war.

🤔 What this means for you

Diesel car enquiries have fallen by a third since March, while electric vehicle enquiries are up 28% over the same period, showing that buyers are increasingly skipping petrol and diesel altogether.

For a typical diesel family car doing around 50 miles to the gallon, today's prices work out at roughly 18-20p a mile. Charging an EV at home, by contrast, usually costs somewhere around 6-7p a mile - a real saving, provided you can charge at home. The gap narrows a lot on the road, though. Public rapid chargers can cost around 21p a mile, frequently more than diesel at today's prices, and standard public charge points land somewhere in between.

If you're thinking about going electric, it's worth considering how much of your charging would happen at home versus on the move - the saving is significant, but it isn't guaranteed, and it depends more on where you tend to charge rather than on fuel prices alone.

👵 Labour is planning to change the State Pension ‘triple lock’

At the Labour Party conference, PM Andy Burnham announced plans to change how the State Pension rises from April 2030. Until then, the current triple lock will remain in place.

From 2030, the State Pension would still rise each year by at least inflation or 2.5%. What changes is the earnings element: instead of wages being part of the calculation every year, a new longer-term link would be used to make sure the State Pension keeps pace with earnings over time.

The government estimates the change could reduce State Pension spending by around £15bn a year by the end of the 2030s, with the savings helping to fund a new National Care Service providing free personal care for older people based on need.

🤔 What this means for you

Nothing changes immediately. After 2030, the State Pension would still increase each year, but it may grow more slowly than under today’s system, particularly in years when earnings rise faster than inflation.

For anyone planning for retirement, it’s another reminder not to rely on the State Pension alone. Checking what you have in workplace or private pensions, how much you’re contributing and whether you’re on track can give you a much clearer picture of the retirement income you could have.

‍Want to know if you’re on track for retirement? A Bippit financial expert can help you understand your pensions, contributions and what they could mean for your retirement income.

Ask a coach‍

"With how expensive diesel is now - would switching to an EV actually save us money, considering the total cost of ownership?"

It's a fair question, and potential fuel savings are certainly a big part of the answer. At today's prices, a typical diesel family car costs you somewhere around 18-20p a mile to run. Charging an EV at home usually costs a fraction of that, around 6-7p a mile - a saving of well over 10p on every mile you drive, which adds up quickly over a typical year of driving. That gap is the main reason total cost of ownership tends to favour an EV, even once the higher upfront price is taken into account.

Maintenance tilts things further in the EV's favour too, though it's a smaller factor than fuel. Electric motors have far fewer moving parts than a diesel engine - no oil changes, no exhaust, and brake wear is often lower, since regenerative braking does much of the work. EVs aren't maintenance-free, but the routine running costs tend to be lower over time.

Where it gets less clear-cut is if you'd be relying mostly on public chargers rather than charging at home - the fuel saving narrows a lot, and on rapid chargers it can disappear altogether at today's diesel prices. So the real answer depends on your own numbers: how you'd charge, how many miles you drive each year, and what the car costs to buy or lease once everything's included.

A Bippit coach can help run those numbers so you know whether switching could actually pay off.

Questions (to ask your coach)

I keep putting off writing a will - where do I even start, and does it matter if I don't have much to leave?

With how expensive diesel is now - would switching to an EV actually save us money, considering the total cost of ownership?

If the triple lock changes in future, how much difference would that make to my own retirement plans?