Podcasts from Your Money, Your Future presented by Sarah Pennells (1)

There's just over two weeks until the end of the tax year. So, what should you consider doing before the deadline and how do you go about it? To find out, Sarah was joined by Jeannie Boyle of EQ Investors and Robert Jobson, partner in the Inheritance Protection Team at Gardner Leader solicitors.

It's nearly a week since the Budget, but the dust hasn't really settled yet. The Chancellor's decision to raise one of the National Insurance rates that self-employed people pay isn't going down well in many quarters. So what does the Budget mean for you?

What is tax? It’s a simple question. And one that Sarah Pennells discussed with Mike Hodges from accountants Saffrey Champness and Sarah Ghaffari from the ICEAW - the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. Ahead of Wednesday’s Budget, they also looked at where your taxes get spent.

We're just a few days away from March 1st and that means the new '17' registration plate. If you're thinking of buying a new car, what kind of car should you buy and how should you pay for it? That's what we're discussing in today's programme. Joining Sarah Pennells are Faith Archer who's a freelance personal finance journalist, Amanda Stretton who's from comparison website Confused.com and Stuart Milne who's editor of carbuyer.co.uk.

Over the last few weeks there's been a lot of focus on housing and older people, with the government's White Paper on housing looking at ways to encourage older people to downsize. But not everyone wants to sell up. Last year people released over £2 billion of equity from their homes. So, how can you make money from your property? What are the options and what do you have to bear in mind? Sarah Pennells was joined in the studio by Jane King who's from Ashridge financial planning and by Ceri Wheeldon who's the founder of the website Fab After Fifty.

Now, how would you like some free money? Well, there may be some money you've lost track of. It's estimated there's up to £15 billion in bank accounts and Premium Bonds that people have lost track of - but it doesn't have to cost you anything or take a long time to find it again. Sarah Pennells was joined by freelance journalist Simon Read, Simon Barber from Title Research and Rodney Prezeau, Managing Director of Aviva Online Investments to discuss further.

Now, have you made a will? If not, you're not alone as over a third of adults don't have one. But new research from National Savings & Investments shows that 38 million people haven't thought about making a will or drawing up a legal document so a family member can manage their finances if they become ill. Sarah Pennells was joined by Chris Dowsett from NS&I, Amish Patel of legal firm Stone King and Toby Scott from Dying Matters.

It’s Your Money, Your Future, where we take a long term view of money and investing. Are companies in the right or wrong for asking us to hand over sensitive information like our date of birth or credit card number? And how safe is that data? Sarah Pennells was joined by Chris Green, tech consultant and journalist, Lewis Henderson from Glasswall and Mike Haley - deputy chief exec, Cifas to discuss the matter further.

And at this point every week we focus on long term investing and planning for the retirement you'd really like in Your Money, Your Future. Now, the introduction of pension freedoms in 2015 resulted in an increase in people wanting to transfer their final salary pensions. So they could take money out of them as and when they wanted to. But - can you move your final salary pension and, if so, should you? Or, can you cash it in altogether? We'll be hearing from Sarah Pennell's panel of experts - from Sir Steve Webb, recently knighted in the New Year's Honours. Steve is head of policy at pensions provider Royal London. Also in the studio is Michelle Cracknell, who's chief executive of the Pensions Advisory Service and on the phone I'm joined by Alistair McQueen who's from the pensions and insurance provider Aviva.

Sarah takes a look back at the big stories hitting the headlines over the past year which have affected investments including Brexit, property and buy-to-let and active and passive investing. Her guests are Julia Rampen, journalist at the New Statesman, financial journalist and author Rodney Hobson, Rebecca Taylor from Aurea Financial Planning and Richard Blanco of the National Landlords Association.