Education before advice is the first of our four pillars, and it is not a marketing line — it is the order we do things in. You cannot weigh a financial decision you have not been helped to understand.
The Learning Hub is where our advisers write up what they explain to clients every week, in plain English, so you can read it before you speak to anybody.
We are writing the first articles now. Rather than publish thin content to fill a page, we would rather publish fewer pieces that actually answer the question — each one written by the adviser who explains it for a living, and checked for compliance before it goes up.
The first titles are listed below. There are no articles behind these links yet, and we have deliberately not given them invented publication dates or reading times.
First articles
Life cover or income protection — which do I actually need?
The two do completely different jobs, and most people meet them in the wrong order. Life cover protects the people who depend on your income if you die. Income protection protects you if you cannot earn but are very much still here — and still have a mortgage. We will set out which risk is larger at which stage of life, and why the answer for a single first-time buyer is usually the opposite of the answer for a family with one main earner.
What "serious illness cover" actually pays, and what it does not
The least well-understood product we advise on. We will explain what severity-based payment means in practice, why two policies covering "cancer" can pay very different amounts for the same diagnosis, what is typically excluded, and the questions to ask before you apply rather than after you claim.
First-time buyer: the whole process, in order
From what you need saved, to what a lender looks at, to why a mortgage offer is not the same as exchange. Including the point most first-time buyers are never told: the moment at which your protection needs to be applied for, and why leaving it until after completion can cost you the ability to get cover at all.
Remortgaging: where the money actually is
Coming off a fixed rate is the single biggest opportunity most homeowners get to change what their mortgage costs them — and the moment most people handle by doing nothing and rolling onto their lender's standard rate. We will cover the levers available, what each is worth in real numbers, and which ones save you money now versus over the whole term.
Self-employed and applying for a mortgage
What lenders count as income when you work for yourself, why two lenders can reach very different figures from the same accounts, how long you need to have been trading, and what to do in the two years before you apply to put yourself in the best position.
Three rules we have set ourselves. Every article is written or reviewed by an adviser who does the work, not by a marketing writer. Every factual claim and every statistic is sourced, and the source is named on the page. And no article ends by telling you to buy something — it ends by telling you what to think about, and offers you a conversation if you want one.
Where to get impartial information now
While the Hub is in preparation, these free and independent sources are genuinely good, and we would point you to them even once ours is live:
- MoneyHelper — free, impartial guidance backed by government, from the Money and Pensions Service. Strong on mortgages, budgeting and debt.
- Citizens Advice — free help on money, housing and benefits, including face to face.
- FCA consumer information — including how to check a firm is authorised before you deal with it.
- GOV.UK benefits — worth knowing what the state would actually provide if you could not work, because that is the starting point for working out what protection you need on top.
None of these pay us anything for the mention, and none of them are affiliated with us.
Or just ask a person
Reading is not the only way to understand something, and for a lot of people it is not the best one. If you would rather have the conversation, our advisers will talk you through any of the above with no obligation and no charge for the initial conversation — including in one of seven languages.