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Half of YouTube will tell you financial advisers are a rip-off. What it doesn’t mention is that most people who actually have one are happy with it, and that only around 9% of the country ever gets to find out either way.

Gareth and Chris dig into the advice gap. Far more people would benefit from advice than can get it, and the gap is getting wider.

In this episode:

• Why advice costs what it does: regulation, insurance, levies, and taking on the legal responsibility for your decisions
• Financial advice vs fund management: why people keep mixing them up
• The personal trainer test: you know how to do a press-up, so why pay someone?
• Vanguard’s Adviser’s Alpha research and where the value of advice really comes from (hint: behaviour, not fund picking)
• How one innocent pension withdrawal capped someone’s pension contributions for life
• 31,000 advisers for 54 million adults, an ageing profession and few young or female advisers coming through
• The FCA’s three-part fix: targeted support, simplified advice and a clearer line between guidance and advice
• The bigger problem: an education gap, not just an advice gap
• Could AI fill the gap?

Plus: why only 4% of people in Wales have a financial adviser, compared with 16% in the South East.

Our takeaway: advice isn’t for everyone, and plenty of people can do a lot themselves. But you can’t judge something you’ve never tried. Start by knowing where you are, where you want to get to, and having a plan to bridge the two.

Listen on all apps: https://podfollow.com/serious-money-podcast
Got a question for the show? Message us on Instagram @seriousmoneypodcast or email help@seriousmoneypod.com.

Serious Money is for general information and education only and is not financial advice or a personal recommendation. The value of investments can go down as well as up, and you may get back less than you invest. Tax rules can change and depend on your circumstances. Please seek regulated financial advice before making decisions.

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Andy Burnham has been Prime Minister for about 80 days, and his first Budget lands on 28 October. Chris and Gareth go through what’s been announced so far, what’s being floated, and what they actually expect on the day.

In this episode:

• The “flood the zone” approach: lots of small announcements, from the energy bill cut and £2 bus fares to business rate cuts for pubs, clubs and music venues
• Your First Home: the new low-deposit equity loan scheme, how it works, and whether it helps the people who need it or just pushes prices up
• Why the Chancellor has lost around half the headroom he inherited, and what higher borrowing costs mean for the Budget
• The ideas being floated: a higher personal allowance, a property tax to replace council tax and stamp duty, a flat 10% inheritance tax, and bringing capital gains tax in line with income tax
• The £90k VAT threshold and the £100k income “cliff edge”, and why they hold people back
• Should the country be run more like a business?
• Our predictions for the day

The big takeaway: don’t act on anything you read in the papers before the Budget. Wait for the detail, because even confirmed changes often go through consultation and come with a lead-in period.

We’ll be recording a special episode as the Budget is announced on 28 October, so make sure you’re subscribed.

Got a question for the show? Email help@seriousmoneypod.com or find us on Instagram @seriousmoneypodcast.

This podcast is for general information only and isn’t financial advice. Speak to a qualified adviser about your own situation.

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Pull up your pension. If you hold an S&P 500 fund, around a third of it sits in just seven companies, and even a "global" tracker has roughly a fifth in those same names. Those seven drove about three-quarters of the market's gains from 2022 to 2025. So are we in an AI bubble, and is it about to pop?

Gareth and Chris won't pretend to call it. Instead, they look at what history does to a portfolio this concentrated and how to protect yourself either way.

In this episode:

• The difference between a correction, a crash and a bubble bursting
• Why dot-com took 15 years to recover, and why today's tech giants look different
• Nvidia's paradox: a $5tn company that's getting cheaper as it grows
• The SpaceX IPO, and why you might own it within a week (or never)
• The data centre spending boom and the "capex air pocket" risk
• Is AI actually taking jobs yet?
• Gareth vs Chris: is the S&P right to keep unprofitable giants out?

The real lesson? The danger isn't "AI". It's concentration.

Listen on all apps: https://podfollow.com/serious-money-podcast
Instagram: @seriousmoneypodcast
Questions for the show: help@seriousmoneypod.com

Serious Money is for education only and is not financial advice. Investments can go down as well as up.