With the kids back at school, is now the time to start saving or investing for their future? Join our host, Philippa Lamb, and Maike Currie, VP Personal Finance at PensionBee, as they break down the key differences between a Junior ISA and a Junior SIPP, how each is taxed, and which one might be right for your family.

00:51 Junior ISAs and Junior SIPPs at a glance

02:29 How Junior ISAs and Junior SIPPs are taxed

06:07 Cash Junior ISA versus Stocks and Shares Junior ISA

08:04 How to decide between a Junior ISA or Junior SIPP

To learn more about saving for children, check out these articles, podcasts and videos from PensionBee:

• Episode transcript (Blog)
• E8: How to teach kids about money (Podcast)
• E28: The Bank of Mum and Dad - what's the impact on your pension? (Podcast)
• E42: Should you pay for your kids to go to university? (Podcast)
• 5 tax allowances to make your savings and investments more tax-efficient in 2026/27 (Blog)
• 7 of the best ways of giving money to grandchildren (Blog)
• Buying a property: the basics - PensionBee's Milestone Moments (Video)
• How to diversify your pension investments (Blog)
• How to make your child a millionaire (Blog)
• What is a Junior ISA? (Article)
• What is compounding? (Article)
• Should I pay into a pension or an ISA? (Article)

• Junior Individual Savings Accounts (ISA) (GOV.UK)
• Junior pensions: what is a junior SIPP and how does it work? (Unbiased)

Catch up on the latest news, read our transcripts or watch on YouTube:

• The Pension Confident Podcast
• The Pension Confident Podcast on YouTube

Follow PensionBee (@PensionBee) on TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, X and Threads.

Enjoying the podcast? Tell us what you think below and give us a review or rating. As always we'd love to hear your suggestions and feedback. Send us an email: [email protected].

We're over halfway through Series 5, and it's already covered a lot of ground: whether marriage makes financial sense, what to do if you're 50 years old with nothing saved for retirement, how to stop lifestyle creep swallowing your pay rise, and plenty more.

So our Host, Philippa Lamb, pulled Series Producer, Lucy Greenwell, out from behind the glass to argue over their favourite moments from the 33 guests who've joined the podcast so far this year.

01:42 Best episode for first-time listeners

04:20 Most surprising number

08:16 Funniest episode

10:40 Best money tip

13:44 Most shocking moment

Catch up on all of Series 5 of The Pension Confident Podcast today!

• Bonus episode: What does the 2026/27 tax year mean for your finances? With Maike Currie
• Bonus episode: How much can you contribute into your pension each year? With Maike Currie
• Bonus episode: Should you buy Premium Bonds or save into a Cash ISA? With Maike Currie
• Bonus episode: How does market volatility shape your pension pot? With Maike Currie

• Bonus episode: "I stopped paying into my pension for 20 years" With Rachael Oku and PensionBee customer, Tara-Jane
• Bonus episode: "I work as a handyman to top up my pension income" With Rachael Oku and PensionBee customer, Tony
• Bonus episode: "I switched my pension so it complies with my faith" With Rachael Oku and PensionBee customer, Sanna
• Bonus episode: "A life-changing diagnosis refocused me on my beneficiaries" With Dani Skerrett and PensionBee customer, David
• Bonus episode: "As soon as I left that job, the pension stopped" With Dani Skerrett and PensionBee customer, Becca
• Bonus episode: "I've often said that I retired when nobody wanted me anymore" With Dani Skerrett and PensionBee customer, Nigel
• Bonus episode: "I put my money where my mouth is" With Veronica Morozova and PensionBee customer, Sally
• Bonus episode: "There's no point being the richest person in the graveyard" With Veronica Morozova and PensionBee customer, Andy

• E46: How to bounce back from redundancy with Jimmy McLoughlin OBE, Eleanor Mills, and Emma Ferenc-Bachelor
• E47: The 'Singles Tax' - how much is it costing you? With Bobby Seagull MBE, Emma Barnes, and Valentina Adaldo
• E48: Are you ready for the 'great wealth transfer'? With Niaz Azad, Annaliese Barber, and Dan Stean
• E49: Can you still make money as a Buy-to-Let landlord? With Anna Pearce and Michael Annis
• E50: Starting a pension from £0 at 50 years old with Hannah Martin, Simonne Gnessen and Sarah Durber
• E51: How to resist lifestyle creep with Clare Seal, Edoardo Moreni, and Alex Langley
• E52: Is it worth getting married? With Mike Donkor, Philippa Dolan, and Jasper Martens

And there's plenty more where that came from. We'll be back in September with three new episodes:

• 7 September - Bonus episode: Should you save into a Junior ISA or a Junior SIPP? With Maike Currie

• 17 September - Bonus episode: "Discussing money is a taboo subject" With Dani Skerrett and PensionBee customer, Joumana

• 27 September - E53: What might be missing from your investment portfolio? With Gabriel Nussbaum, Davinia Tomlinson, and Matt Batsman

You don't want to miss it! So make sure you're subscribed to The Pension Confident Podcast today and catch every episode as soon as it airs.

Catch up on the latest news, read our transcripts or watch on YouTube:

• The Pension Confident Podcast
• The Pension Confident Podcast on YouTube

Follow PensionBee (@PensionBee) on TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, X and Threads.

Enjoying the podcast? Tell us what you think below and give us a review or rating. As always we'd love to hear your suggestions and feedback. Send us an email: [email protected].

In this bonus episode, we hear from PensionBee customer Andy as he shares his pension story. From two decades living and working abroad and untangling the dormant pensions he left behind, to returning to the UK and working out what "enough" really means when you're planning around a Multiple Sclerosis (MS) diagnosis.

We unpack Andy's pension journey with pensions expert Veronica Morozova from PensionBee, covering:

• why finding and consolidating old pensions matters, especially after working overseas;
• what 'QROPS' is, and how time spent abroad affects your State Pension;
• the tax benefits of paying into a pension through your own limited company; and
• how to plan for a range of retirement scenarios, including future care costs.

00:51 Meet Andy

04:12 Consolidating pensions and working abroad

08:13 Tax relief and self-employment

11:31 Planning for an uncertain future

To learn more about the topics discussed in this bonus episode, check out these articles and podcasts from PensionBee:

• Episode transcript (Blog)
• E15: How can we achieve financial inclusion? (Podcast)
• How to transfer an overseas pension to the UK (Article)
• Markets and tariffs: what's going on and what it means (Blog)
• Overseas pension transfers (Article)
• Pension tax relief and the tapered annual allowance for high earners (Article)
• The lump sum allowance, lump sum death benefit allowance, and overseas transfer allowance (Article)
• What happens to my pension if I move abroad? (Article)
• What is the State Pension? (Article)

• Check the recognised overseas pension schemes notification list (GOV.UK)
• Check your State Pension forecast (GOV.UK)
• Pension Tracing Service (GOV.UK)
• When the council might pay for your care (NHS)

Catch up on the latest news, read our transcripts or watch on YouTube:

• The Pension Confident Podcast
• The Pension Confident Podcast on YouTube

Follow PensionBee (@PensionBee) on TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, X and Threads.

Enjoying the podcast? Tell us what you think below and give us a review or rating. As always we'd love to hear your suggestions and feedback. Send us an email: [email protected].

It's time for your Series Five rewind and sneak peek at what's coming up on The Pension Confident Podcast.

If you missed an episode, don't worry, you can catch up on every single episode so far wherever you get your podcasts:

• E46: How to bounce back from redundancy
• E47: The 'Singles Tax' - how much is it costing you?
• E48: Are you ready for the 'great wealth transfer'?
• E49: Can you still make money as a Buy-to-Let landlord?
• E50: Starting a pension from £0 at 50 years old
• E51: How to resist lifestyle creep
• E52: Is it worth getting married?

And there's plenty more where that came from. Later this month, Series Producer Lucy Greenwell joins our Host Philippa Lamb to pick out the best bits from our Series 5 guests (so far).

Then, coming up in September: What might be missing from your investment portfolio? We'll be joined by:

• Content Creator 'That Money Guy', Gabriel Nussbaum;
• Founder and CEO of rainchq, Davinia Tomlinson; and
• Senior Investment Content Manager at PensionBee, Matt Batsman.

You can read the episode transcript here.

Catch up on the latest news, read our transcripts or watch on YouTube:

• The Pension Confident Podcast
• The Pension Confident Podcast on YouTube

Follow PensionBee (@PensionBee) on TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, X and Threads.

Enjoying the podcast? Tell us what you think below and give us a review or rating. As always we'd love to hear your suggestions and feedback. Send us an email: [email protected].

For the first time ever, fewer than half of UK adults are married or in a civil partnership, yet the law hasn't caught up with how many of us now live together instead. So, legally and financially, is it still worth getting married?

Join our host, Philippa Lamb, and our expert panel as they discuss whether marriage still pays off financially and legally, and what unmarried couples need to put in place instead:

• Financial Planner, Mike Donkor;
• Solicitor and Partner at Collyer Bristow, Philippa Dolan; and
• Chief Marketing Officer at PensionBee, Jasper Martens.

01:18 Why marriage rates are falling

05:44 The financial perks of marriage

09:04 When unmarried couples split

12:41 Avoiding the money conversation

16:20 How are pensions shared

19:28 Who gets the pets?

21:15 Protecting your partner with a will

24:22 Cohabitation Agreements and annual reviews

28:48 A fairer end to relationships

To learn more about managing money in a couple, check out these articles and podcasts from PensionBee:

• Episode transcript (Blog)
• E14: What's the impact of your relationship status on your finances? (Podcast)
• E35: The cost of divorce (Podcast)
• How does divorce or remarrying affect your pension? (Article)
• Pension beneficiaries (Article)
• Six money conversations you need to have with your family (Blog)
• Why pensions deserve your attention during divorce (Blog)
• Writing a will (Article)

• A fairer end to relationships: consultation (GOV.UK)
• Capital Gains Tax allowances (GOV.UK)
• Cohabitation Agreement guidance (The Law Society)
• Families and households in the UK (Office for National Statistics)
• Inheritance Tax (GOV.UK)
• Marriage Allowance (GOV.UK)

Catch up on the latest news, read our transcripts or watch on YouTube:

• The Pension Confident Podcast
• The Pension Confident Podcast on YouTube

Follow PensionBee (@PensionBee) on TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, X and Threads.

Follow Collyer Bristow (@Collyer_Bristow) on YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook and X.

Follow Mike Donkor (@michaelgdonkor) on TikTok, Instagram, LinkedIn and Facebook.

Enjoying the podcast? Tell us what you think below and give us a review or rating. As always we'd love to hear your suggestions and feedback. Send us an email: [email protected].

In this bonus episode, we hear from PensionBee customer Sally as she shares her pension story. From decades of putting money into living over saving, and losing her husband suddenly in his 40s, to retirement in her 60s and choosing a pension plan that truly reflects her values.

We unpack Sally's pension journey with pensions expert Veronica Morozova from PensionBee, covering:

• why financially literate people still don't save;
• how emotional barriers can be a bigger obstacle than lack of information;
• the tax benefits of saving into a pension; and
• what values-based investing actually means in practice.

00:39 Meet Sally

02:48 'Present bias' and money

06:10 Tax efficiency in retirement

10:11 Values-based investing

To learn more about the topics discussed in this bonus episode, check out these articles from PensionBee:

• Climate Plan (Web)
• What do heatwaves have to do with your pension? (Blog)
• What is a crystallised pension? (Article)
• What is flexi-access drawdown? (Article)
• Why reaching net zero is cheaper than doing nothing and what it could mean for your pension (Blog)

• Pension Calculator (PensionBee)
• Retirement Living Standards (Pensions UK)
• Taking money from your pension just got simpler with Automatic withdrawals (PensionBee)
• The new State Pension (GOV.UK)

Catch up on the latest news, read our transcripts or watch on YouTube:

• The Pension Confident Podcast
• The Pension Confident Podcast on YouTube

Follow PensionBee (@PensionBee) on TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, X and Threads.

Enjoying the podcast? Tell us what you think below and give us a review or rating. As always we'd love to hear your suggestions and feedback. Send us an email: [email protected].

Market volatility is back in the headlines, and if you've noticed your pension balance moving up and down, you're not alone. From tariffs to geopolitical tensions, there's no shortage of reasons to feel uneasy. But before you rush to make any changes, it's worth understanding how volatility actually works and why, more often than not, staying put is the smartest move.

Join our host, Philippa Lamb, and VP Personal Finance at PensionBee, Maike Currie as they discuss:

• what market volatility is and what drives it;
• why pension pots are more resilient than you might think, and how quickly markets have historically recovered;
• why keeping up contributions during a downturn can actually work in your favour; and
• how to check whether you're in the right plan for your life stage.

00:49 What's market volatility?

03:21 How far can a pension balance fall?

05:25 The investor upside of a market downturn

08:32 How quickly can markets recover?

09:55 Pension plans for different life stages

To learn more about investing and stock markets, check out these articles and podcasts from PensionBee:

• Bonus episode: How much can you contribute into your pension each year? (Podcast)
• E39: Trump, tariffs and what it all means for your pension (Podcast)
• Markets and tariffs: what's going on and what it means (Blog)
• Switching plans in volatile markets: what to know (Blog)
• The power of regular contributions in volatile markets (Blog)
• Understanding market volatility and pensions (Blog)
• What is the stock market? (Article)

• Bull and bear markets explained (Investopedia)
• Fed History Overview (Federal Reserve History)
• Our pension plans (PensionBee)

Catch up on the latest news, read our transcripts or watch on YouTube:

• The Pension Confident Podcast
• The Pension Confident Podcast on YouTube

Follow PensionBee (@PensionBee) on TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, X and Threads.

Enjoying the podcast? Tell us what you think below and give us a review or rating. As always we'd love to hear your suggestions and feedback. Send us an email: [email protected].

Are you earning more than you were five years ago but still don't feel better off? You might be experiencing 'lifestyle creep'. The subtle way spending expands to quietly swallow every pay rise, bonus, and promotion. From Ocado upgrades and subscription sprawl to beauty routines that keep growing, lifestyle creep is surprisingly easy to fall into and remarkably hard to spot.

Join our host, Philippa Lamb, and our expert panel as they discuss how to identify, resist, and even reverse lifestyle creep:

• Content Creator, Clare Seal;
• Co-Founder and CEO of Emma, Edoardo Moreni; and
• Head of Customer Success Team at PensionBee, Alex Langley.

01:38 What is lifestyle creep?

05:23 Trigger points and the psychology of spending more

09:41 Supermarket upgrades and the subscription trap

13:17 Being intentional and auditing your spending

16:05 The real pension cost of lifestyle creep

19:20 How to cut back without making life miserable

21:31 Building resilience and talking about money

26:12 Budgeting frameworks and tools that work

To learn more about lifestyle creep and how to manage your money, check out these articles, podcasts and videos from PensionBee:

• E37: The easiest way to retire with more money (Podcast)
• 50-30-20: How the budgeting 'rule of thumb' is changing in the face of the cost of living crisis (Blog)
• How much should I pay into my pension? (Article)
• Six ways to put together your emergency fund (Blog)
• The power of 1%: how small pension increases can make a big difference (Blog)
• What is compound interest? (Video)
• Increasing your pension contributions (Video)

• Compound Interest Calculator (The Calculator Site)
• Pension Calculator (PensionBee)
• Subscription service statistics (Finder)
• The Retirement Living Standards (Pensions UK)
• The Cost of Disengagement (PensionBee)
• UK financial outlook 2026 (YouGov)

Catch up on the latest news, read our transcripts or watch on YouTube:

• The Pension Confident Podcast
• The Pension Confident Podcast on YouTube

Follow PensionBee (@PensionBee) on TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, X and Threads.

Follow Clare Seal (@clare.seal) on TikTok, Instagram, LinkedIn and X.

Follow Emma App (@emma_finance) on TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook and X.

Enjoying the podcast? Tell us what you think below and give us a review or rating. As always we'd love to hear your suggestions and feedback. Send us an email: [email protected].

In this bonus episode, we hear from PensionBee customer Nigel. Now 76 and retired, he spent decades commuting into Central London, raising two children, and telling himself he'd sort his pension "someday". A bad experience with an active fund manager and an IFA changed all that - and a tip from his son led him to PensionBee.

We unpack Nigel's pension journey with pensions expert Dani Skerrett from PensionBee, covering the tax benefits of saving into a pension, when a financial adviser is (and isn't) worth it, how to think about how much you actually need in retirement, and what life in drawdown really looks like day-to-day.

00:48 Meet Nigel

03:19 The tax benefits of saving into a pension

06:47 Should you use a financial adviser?

12:11 How much do you actually need for retirement?

16:12 Nigel's life in retirement

To learn more about the topics discussed in this bonus episode, check out these articles and podcasts from PensionBee:

• E43: Who wants to be a pension millionaire? (Podcast)
• E37: The easiest way to retire with more money (Podcast)
• 4 smart ways to use your ISAs in retirement (Blog)
• Independent Financial Adviser fees on pensions (Article)
• What is a crystallised pension? (Article)
• What is flexi-access drawdown? (Article)
• What is the 4% rule for withdrawals in retirement? (Article)

• Pension Calculator (PensionBee)
• Retirement Living Standards (Pensions UK)
• Taking money from your pension just got simpler with Automatic withdrawals (PensionBee)
• The new State Pension (GOV.UK)

Catch up on the latest news, read our transcripts or watch on YouTube:

• The Pension Confident Podcast
• The Pension Confident Podcast on YouTube

Follow PensionBee (@PensionBee) on TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, X and Threads.

Enjoying the podcast? Tell us what you think below and give us a review or rating. As always we'd love to hear your suggestions and feedback. Send us an email: [email protected].

Premium Bonds and Cash ISAs are two of the most popular savings options in the UK, but which one is right for you? With interest rates fluctuating and the cost of living still a real concern, it's more important than ever to make your savings work as hard as possible.

Join our host, Philippa Lamb, and VP Personal Finance at PensionBee, Maike Currie as they discuss:

• how Premium Bonds work, including the odds, limits, and why there's no guaranteed return;
• how Cash ISAs compare on interest rates, access, and tax efficiency; and
• who should consider which option, and whether holding both makes sense.

00:45 How Premium Bonds work

02:41 The catch with Premium Bonds

05:05 How Cash ISAs work

07:00 Tax considerations

07:35 Which is right for you?

To learn more about Premium Bonds and Cash ISAs, check out these articles and podcasts from PensionBee:

• How does inflation affect pensions? (Blog)
• Inflation Calculator (Calculator)
• What are Premium Bonds? (Article)
• What is a Cash ISA? (Article)
• What to do when interest rates rise (Blog)
• E29: Pensions vs. cash - which is best? (Podcast)

• Premium Bonds prize rate and odds (NS&I)
• Tax-free interest on savings (GOV.UK)
• Barclays Equity Gilt Study 2025 (Barclays)

Catch up on the latest news, read our transcripts or watch on YouTube:

• The Pension Confident Podcast
• The Pension Confident Podcast on YouTube

Follow PensionBee (@PensionBee) on TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, X and Threads.

Enjoying the podcast? Tell us what you think below and give us a review or rating. As always we'd love to hear your suggestions and feedback. Send us an email: [email protected].