About Investing Desk
Plain-English guides to investing in the UK. We explain how ISAs, pensions, funds and investment platforms work, check every figure against official sources, and show you the date we last checked it.
Why we exist
We think people make better decisions when they understand how things work first: what an account is for, what it costs and what the risks are. Every guide starts there, and anything we earn money from is clearly labelled.
Who we are
Tom Ashby, Editor. Self-directed UK investor for 14 years, writing plain-English guides to ISAs, pensions and investing costs.
Our editor writes under a pen name to keep their investing writing separate from their day job. Everything we say about their experience is true.
What we cover
Our guides cover the decisions most UK investors face: which account to use, what it costs, what to hold in it and how the tax rules work. Each topic has its own section:
- Investing for Beginners: Start investing in the UK with plain-English guides on how investing works, the risks, what it costs and the tax-free accounts you can use.
- ISAs Explained: How ISAs work in the UK: the annual allowance, the different types of ISA, the tax rules and how cash ISAs differ from stocks and shares ISAs.
- Investment Platforms and Fees: How UK investment platforms charge: account fees, dealing charges, fund costs and currency fees, and how small percentages add up over decades.
- Funds, ETFs and Index Funds: What funds, ETFs, index funds and investment trusts are, how they differ, what they cost and how to read the key numbers on a fund factsheet.
- Pensions and SIPPs: How UK pensions and SIPPs work: tax relief, contribution limits, when you can access your money and how a SIPP differs from a workplace pension.
- Compound interest calculator: see how regular investing and fees play out on your own numbers.
We write for people in the UK, so figures, allowances and rules are the UK versions for the current tax year unless a guide says otherwise.
How we check our facts
Every allowance, limit, rate and date in a guide comes from a primary source: GOV.UK and HMRC for tax rules, the Financial Conduct Authority for regulation, the Financial Services Compensation Scheme for protection limits, and MoneyHelper for government-backed guidance. Each guide lists its sources at the end and shows the date we last checked them. When the rules change, as they will when the cash ISA limit falls for under-65s in April 2027, we update the guide and the date.
Worked examples and charts are calculated in code from the figures stated alongside them, so the numbers you read and the numbers in the charts always match.
What we don't do
We don't give personal financial advice, tip shares or predict markets. Our guides explain how things work so you can make your own decisions or have a better conversation with a regulated adviser. If you need a personal recommendation, MoneyHelper explains how to find an adviser and what it costs.
How we work
Read our editorial policy for how we research and fact-check, our risk warning, and how the site is funded. No provider can pay to change what a guide says.
Spotted a mistake?
Email info@investingdesk.co.uk with the page and what you think is wrong. We check every report against the source, and if we got something wrong we correct the guide and update its fact-checked date.
Company details
Investing Desk is published by Dailotte Consulting Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales (company number 15601872). Contact: info@investingdesk.co.uk.