Zero Financial Knowledge 2026/27

Zero: Financial Knowledge is the UK personal finance education you were never given. Written for anyone - from first-job starters to mid-career professionals - this book covers everything the education system left out: payslips, tax, pensions, mortgages, savings, insurance, investing, wills, and digital legacy planning.

Updated for the 2026/27 tax year with the latest thresholds, rates, and the new household-based Child Benefit rules.

What you'll learn:

• How your payslip actually works - and the tax traps most people don't see
• Why starting a pension 10 years earlier can double your retirement pot
• How to start a pension for a child from birth - and turn modest contributions into hundreds of thousands
• Mortgage strategies that could save you tens of thousands in interest
• ISAs, Premium Bonds, shares, ETFs, gold - explained from scratch
• The digital legacy problem nobody talks about - and how to solve it

This isn't financial advice. It's financial education - the kind a knowledgeable friend would give you over coffee. Real stories, real numbers, no jargon.

Includes references to the free Zero companion app with 31 financial calculators.

By Darren Sterling - not a financial adviser, just someone who wishes he'd known all this sooner.