How to make over your finances in 2024

A savings calculator will also help with this. The second step I would take is to decide what product to place my money in. While easy-access accounts provide savers with immediate access to their money, fixed-term rates offer higher returns. So, you need to decide if you want to have the flexibility of being able to take money out of the product before a fixed-term ends.

As a general rule, savers should split their money between easy-access and fixed-term products, in order to maximise interest. As the difference between fixed-term and easy-access accounts has narrowed substantially over the past six months, there remains very little value in locking up your money for longer, unless you are certain you won’t need that money.

I would therefore keep the majority of my savings in easy-access products, or shorter dated fixed-term products.

Another top tip is to look at opening a top-paying easy-access account now, before they are withdrawn from sale. By opening an easy-access account with as little as the minimum opening balance ( sometimes £ 1) it will then allow you to top up that account whenever you want to, even once it is removed from sale to new customers.

This potentially allows you to earn a higher rate of interest than if you had waited to open up an account further down the line, if/ when you receive additional funds.

Nick Flynn

Retirement income director at Canada Life

As an adviser, I would always start with working out your state pension age. It’s easy to request a state pension forecast from the Department for Work and Pensions, which will confirm both your state pension age and also the amount you will receive.

This is an incredibly valuable benefit, but you won’t receive the full state pension unless you have 35 years of National Insurance contributions or credit. Your forecast will tell you if you are on track. If you are short, it’s well worth considering buying additional years to plug any gaps.

If you have had multiple jobs over your career, you’ll likely have accumulated many pension pots. If you’ve lost paperwork for any of these, you can use the free government pension tracing service to help track them down: https://www.gov.uk/find-pension-contact- details. If you are not sure how much you should be saving, think about how long you wish to save for – the longer you have, the more investment risk you should be able to take.

A spread of good value investments in equities across global markets will often serve you well.

If you are one of the millions of us saving into pensions via your employer, the default investment option typically offered may not be the best option. If you want to flexibly access some cash from your pension, consider making the withdrawal over a number of tax years to maximise the tax thresholds and your personal allowance.

Finally, if you are approaching retirement and considering your options to generate an income, don’t simply accept your existing pension company’s offer of an annuity. Always shop around on the open market.

Mike Warburton

Telegraph tax expert who was previously a tax director with accountants Grant Thornton

Tax planning will be particularly important this year because, if the opinion polls are correct, we are heading for a change in government.

We should first be planning for the changes already announced that take place from April 6. The savings allowance will be frozen at £ 1,000 for a basic-rate taxpayer and £500 for those who pay higher-rate tax. However, the dividend allowance will drop from £1,000 to £500. This reduction and higher interest rates means that many more of us will be paying tax on our savings, an added reason to take advantage of your Isa allowance.

Separately, the annual capital gains exemption is to fall from £ 6,000 to £3,000 in April. You should therefore consider selling shares to generate gains up to £6,000 before the tax year ends on April 5. If you want to keep the shares long-term you can buy them back after 30 days. Alternatively, there is nothing to stop your spouse buying them straight away, as long as this takes place through the market. Transferring assets to a spouse means you can effectively double your tax-free allowance as a couple.

Elsewhere, a big change is coming for the self- employed as the tax rules change in April to assess businesses on the profits in the year, rather than on the accounts ending in the year. It may be worth changing your accounting date to March 31 or April 5 if you currently use another date.

As for pensions, the Government has abolished the pension lifetime allowance charge, but Labour says it will reintroduce it. Those with large pension funds may consider crystallising their pension fund into drawdown.

The pension annual allowance has been raised to £60,000 a year, primarily to help solve the problem with doctors retiring early. However, Labour says it will solve this another way so it could reduce.

While the festive season is a time for giving, there are good tax arguments to continue doing so into 2024. Higher and additional- rate taxpayers can claim extra tax relief if they make donations before the year end.

Finally, review your will. Far too many of us either have no will, or fail to update it.