Setting your child up for the future doesn’t have to mean handing over cash at 18. With a Junior ISA and the power of compounding, even modest monthly contributions can grow into a retirement-sized nest egg. This article explores how starting early could turn £100 a month into over £800,000, all tax-free.

Most people think the ISA limit is fixed at £20,000 a year. Few realise there’s a rule that, in the right circumstances, can boost that allowance by tens of thousands. It’s called the APS allowance, and hardly anyone uses it.

One client was losing £100 a month in tax relief for over a decade, more than £12,000 - because her workplace pension used Relief at Source, and no one told her she had to reclaim the higher-rate relief. Most people assume payroll handles it, but knowing your scheme’s setup could save you thousands.

If you're a business owner taking dividends from leftover profit, you might be losing over 50% to tax. I used to do the same, until I learned how pensions can protect your profit and fund your future. Now I help others do the same: business owners who’ve worked hard, taken risks, and want to stop overpaying HMRC and start paying their future self.

Someone told me they had two pensions - £2.5k and £800 a year. I had a hunch it was one old DC pot, and when I saw the statements, I was right. No State Pension forecast, no idea about tax relief, and a forgotten stint in teaching that could add £3.5k a year. We didn’t solve everything, but we made real progress. That’s what proper guidance can do.

At the gym, someone told me they were planning to take all their pension tax-free cash to live on until State Pension age, advice they got at work. It wasn’t wrong, but it wasn’t tailored. With proper planning, they could keep more savings, preserve future tax-free cash, and avoid unnecessary tax. Same lifestyle, smarter outcome. That’s the difference a plan makes.