Nick Cann used to be the boss of the Institute of Financial Planning, a great communicator who'd also dabbled in stand-up. I too am in the financial world, a communicator by trade, and once dabbled in stand-up. I met Nick to give him an award for fundraising after he'd had his serious 'brain attack' and lost most of his ability to talk.

I can reveal that on 1 October, it is almost certain the energy price cap rate, for all but those on prepay meters, will drop by roughly £80/year. This means 11 million households on these tariffs will get cheaper deals. Yet that worries me. It risks giving people a false sense of security that they're getting a good price – when nothing could be further from the truth. 

It's enough to make even the Great Train Robbers blush. A staggering £30 BILLION of payment protection insurance (PPI) has had to be repaid, typically £3,000 each, due to systemic mis-selling. Yet still no one has been prosecuted for fraud.

Financial abuse is the hidden financial cousin of domestic abuse – it's all about dangerous, unfair control using finances. It can be subtle or brutal. So be aware of it both for your own relationship, and for others – but this blog's about more than that too...

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.