The Money Handbook

Free one page checklist

You are probably doing these in the wrong order, and it is costing you.

The nine steps, in the right order, for the UK. One page, free.

You get paid, you pay your bills, and there is some money left over. And then it just sits in your current account earning nothing, because no one has ever actually told you what to do with it next.

That is not a discipline problem. Almost everything written about money online is American, so the accounts are wrong, the numbers are wrong, and the one that hands some people a free 25% does not get mentioned at all.

This is the order, for the UK, on one page. Work down it, stop when you run out of money, pick it up next month.

AJ Brown, trading as The Money Handbook, is the data controller for your email address. It is used for nothing except sending you these emails, and it is never sold and never passed on.

What is on the page

  1. 01Work out what a month actually costs youThree minutes in your banking app. Every step below is measured in months.
  2. 02Get current on everythingNothing below this line matters while something is in arrears.
  3. 03One month of costs, somewhere boring and instantTurns a broken boiler from a crisis into an annoyance.
  4. 04Take every penny of your employer pension matchThe step people skip for years. If they match 5% and you pay in 3%, you are turning down a pay rise every month.
  5. 05Kill anything expensive, and leave your student loan aloneThe bit every American guide gets wrong, and the reason it belongs nowhere near your credit card.
  6. 06Build the buffer to three to six monthsAnd somewhere that actually pays a rate, which is where most people quietly lose money.
  7. 07First home under 40? Look up the Lifetime ISA£4,000 a year in, up to £1,000 free on top. Two catches you need to know first.
  8. 08Now start investing, inside an ISAWhere money stops being stored and starts compounding.
  9. 09Feed the pension harder, then take your pickPlus the income band where this stops being optional and gets urgent.

Why is this free?

Because I want you on my email list. That is the honest trade, and I would rather say it than pretend otherwise.

You get the checklist whether you ever open another email from me or not. I am betting that the free stuff is good enough that you will want to stick around. If I am wrong, one click and you are gone, no hard feelings.

Figures are for the 2026/27 tax year. Scottish rates and bands differ, though the order does not change. This is educational content, not financial advice, and nothing here is a personal recommendation. For advice on your own situation, speak to an FCA authorised adviser.