Never owned a home? Open a Help to Buy ISA – even if you've no savings, just put £1 in. This special ISA – that gives first-time buyers up to £3,000 free towards their first mortgage – closes to new applicants on 30 November 2019, so there's now less than six months left. Yet open one before then and you bag the facility in case you ever need it later.

On 1 January 2019, a cap was introduced on the prices that energy firms could charge on their standard (ie, default) tariffs.

On 6 April 2019, most UK workers aged 22 or over are due a hidden pay rise – but your employer needn't tell you. This is all about 'auto-enrolment', where your employer must contribute towards your pension. Now it'll have to give you even more, though then again, you'll have to shell out much more too. So I'm bashing out this blog to take you through it.

In June 2012 I pledged £10m for charity when MSE joined the MSM group and that for transparency I'd periodically bash out a blog explaining what was happening with it. Over the break I realised 2015 was the last time I'd done that, so an update is overdue…

Regular blog readers will know I'm obsessed with fitness tracking statistics. So it's time for my annual report. According to my tracker, I did 8,582,412 steps in 2018 – a silly amount, but not quite as ridiculous as 2017, when it was 9,278,393.

A couple of months ago I became a patron of the PSU charity, which helps those facing civil or family courts. I went along to the Royal Courts of Justice to explain why and to meet a superb collection of volunteers – who provide a mix of hand-holding of scared people, to providing excellent guidance to help them navigate the court system. 

If there was a big red CANCEL CHRISTMAS button, would you press it? While the festive season is usually portrayed as unerringly joyous, not everyone feels that way. It can put stress on you and on your pockets. So, forgive me, but to relieve that pressure, and possibly increase happiness, it is worth considering going cold turkey.