Make sense of your money, without the jargon or an account.
Plainpurse is a free library of plain-English guides and calculators covering budgeting, saving, debt, investing, tax, pensions and insurance — built for working out your own numbers, not being sold something.
Pick a topic
Seven areas, five guides each — more added regularly.
Budgeting
Make a plan for every pound before it lands in your account.
Browse budgeting guides →Entry 02Saving
Turn good intentions into money that's actually sitting in an account.
Browse saving guides →Entry 03Debt
Pay it off faster, without guessing which balance to attack first.
Browse debt guides →Entry 04Investing
Put money to work over the long term, without the jargon.
Browse investing guides →Entry 05Taxes
Understand what's coming out of your pay packet, and why.
Browse taxes guides →Entry 06Retirement
Pensions and long-term planning, explained the way your future self would want.
Browse retirement guides →Entry 07Insurance
Work out what cover you actually need, and what you can skip.
Browse insurance guides →Tools that do the maths for you
Type in your own numbers — nothing is saved or sent anywhere.
Budget planner
See where your take-home pay actually goes, and what's left over.
Open tool →Loan, mortgage & compound interest
Three calculators in one: loan repayments, mortgage costs, and long-term growth.
Open tool →Retirement projector
A simplified estimate of where your pension could land by retirement age.
Open tool →Financial health check
Eight quick questions, an instant score, and tailored next steps.
Open tool →Recently added guides
The latest additions — browse any topic for the full set.
Do you actually need life insurance?
Important for some, unnecessary for others. The deciding question is simpler than the sales pitch suggests.
Car insurance explained: cover levels and cutting the cost
Legally required, often overpriced. The three levels of cover, and legitimate ways to pay less.
Home insurance: buildings vs contents, and which you need
Two different covers, often bundled. Knowing the split is how you avoid over- and under-insuring.
Starting a pension late: is it ever too late?
Reached your 40s or 50s with little saved? Later is less forgiving than early — but far better than never.
The three types of UK pension, explained
State, workplace and personal — most people will have more than one, and they stack rather than cancel out.
How much do you actually need to retire?
There’s no single magic number — but there are sensible ways to estimate that beat having none.
Why trust what’s on this page
Editorial policy
How guides are researched, reviewed and corrected — see our About page.
General information, not advice
Nothing here is personalised. See the full disclaimer.
Clear about money
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