Laura Whateley, author of Money: A User’s Guide, offers tips on how to make the most of what you’ve got

People who don’t put in the legwork get charged more. Savings accounts often give a better interest rate for the first year, then it drops dramatically, because they want you to just sign up and forget about it. With mobile phones you pay off the handset within a couple of years, but keep paying a higher fee because you haven’t shopped around. Put a note in your calendar for when subscriptions and contracts will end, because you always pay more when they automatically roll on. Lots of people opened a bank account for the free student railcard, and 30 years later they still have it. But there is a switching service – it may feel like an annoying piece of admin, but you could save a lot of money.