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Pete Matthew over at Meaningful Money just put out a great video on how we should be approaching our finances leading up to the general election. Well worth a watch. I will link it below in the comments. 

Hi! What are your thoughts on the latest inflation numbers?

I normally react to the inflation data on the day it is released, but I am currently on a short break with my mum for a couple of days. So, I will be making the video tomorrow. Here is a quick take on the figures:

CPI, the main headline number quoted by the media, fell to 2.3%. This is close to the Bank of England's target of 2%.

The biggest factors in the declining rate are the continued fall in food inflation and the reduction in household energy prices. This is to be expected given how high both of these were at one point, and those high months are now dropping out of the overall calculation for inflation. (If inflation is the rate of price growth over a 12-month period, when a month with high inflation drops out of the measure, the overall number will fall). Gary Stevenson did a good video on this recently.

CPIH is a better measure of inflation, in my opinion, as it includes owner-occupier housing costs, and it turns out we all spend money on housing! This is currently at 3%. If we strip out the food and energy components, we get what is called "core CPIH." It is important to look at this because, as I mentioned, food and energy price declines are dragging down the overall number. By removing the effect of energy and food price falls, we see the underlying inflation in the UK.

Core CPIH rose by 4.4%, down from 4.7%. Yet again, service-based inflation sits at 6% and has not moved. We need to consider that inflation is compounding, so while these numbers might not seem all that high, this is on top of previous years' inflation, so it is concerning that this inflation is this sticky.

Rishi Sunak claimed that inflation is "back to normal," and while the headline rate of CPI declining is of course better than it going up, let's all remember the Bank of England forecasts that inflation will rise again when the sharp declines in food and energy stop flattering the overall headline rate. I will go into more detail on all of this tomorrow in the video. 

Who is your work-based auto enrolment pension provider?

At the start of this year I recommended that you all look into your work-based pension scheme to ensure your money was being invested in the way that you want it to be invested.

I also gave you some questions that you should be asking your employer...

Because these pension providers try to offer "one size fits all" solutions they often aren't right for many people - they don't take a lot of important things into account.

I wanted to let you know that we've been updating our free spreadsheet - this sheet helps you see the fees that your pension provider is taking, along with the current fund you are in, and some other funds that they have available.

If you want the spreadsheet, instructions on how to use it, and the questions to ask your employer, all you have to do is search "Financial Interest pension sheet" in Google - it should be the first result

(Sorry I can't share it directly, the algorithm would suppress the post so no one would see it. Hope it's helpful - assuming you find it!)

It currently covers; Aegon, Aviva, Creative Auto Enrolment, Cushon Master Trust, DB Pensions, Legal & General, Nest, Now: Pensions, Penfold Pension, Royal London, Scottish Widows, Smart Pension, Standard Life, The Lewis Workplace Pension Trust and The People's Pension.

As always if you have any improvement ideas please let me know! 

Hello! If you fancy watching me talk about something other than finance, I recently sat down with Callum, who runs the podcast agency behind podcasts like "High Performance."

We spoke about the exact strategy I used to grow on YouTube, my views on making money online, and I shared a horrendously embarrassing story from my past in the quick-fire question section at the end.

Link in the comment below. 

The Bank of England voted to hold rates at 5.25%, which is pretty unsurprising given the data from yesterday.

Policymakers voted 8-1 to keep rates on hold. This means the two members of the committee who had been voting to increase rates have now changed their minds. Swati Dhingra continues to be the only member calling for a decrease in rates.

How would you vote? 

Do you hold any Bitcoin? 

Would love to hear your thoughts on it below in the comments. 

I get the same comment a lot and it goes something like "Pensions are a scam" 

How much do you agree with this statement? 

If you answered 'yes' in any way, I would love it if you could leave a comment letting me know your main concerns or reasons for this view point. 

Does YouTube have a bot problem in the comment section? 

As my channel grows, the bot issue just gets worse. I received two messages yesterday from people asking if the person who had given them a WhatsApp number in the comment section was really me. I hate to think how many do not message to check... From my side, I do everything I can to remove these, but they use automated bots to place thousands of comments on the channel instantly. I then have to remove them one by one, only for them to pop up again the next day. These bots damage my reputation with people who watch my content and think I am trying to scam them. They ruin the comment section because they fill it with nonsense, but most importantly, they make the comment section a dangerous place where people are targeted by grifters. I will continue to do everything I can to police it on my channel, but please know I will never contact you directly offering you my number, and @YouTube, please give creators the tools to do something about this. If i could remove all comments from a poster with 1 button that would be a start. 

Which email provider do you use? I’ve had an issue...

If you didn't receive the pension document, Outlook (which includes Hotmail and Live) blocked the email because it was from a new address, and I received thousands of requests in 24 hours. I should have fixed the problem by now, but it might still be in your junk folder.

So if you still want it, please go into your junk folder, look for an email from 'financial interest,' mark it as not junk, and move it to your inbox. 

If you want to be a complete legend reply to the email and let me know you received it, that would be amazing!

I will add Scottish widows to the document this Sunday and Royal London next week. 

Happy New Year! 

I've got a feeling 2024 will be great.

How are you feeling?