Five tips to set yourself up for autumn

1) Reset your budget

The seasons are changing, and your spending habits might be too. On the one hand, your social calendar could be quieting down. On the other, you might be planning to offer financial support to a relative going off to university. Or perhaps you’re just keen to prepare your wallet for the festive period and the higher energy bills that could result from colder weather. 

Having a budget, or adjusting your existing one, can help you make sense of your financial situation and even help you save more for your goals. It involves looking at how much money you’ve got coming in each month and what your outgoings are. What will you be spending on food? Rent or a mortgage? Utility bills? 

Once you’ve had a look at your expenses, you can decide what to do with any money that’s left over. Are there any areas where you could cut down on spending? How much will you earmark for different things? You might also want to keep some aside for emergencies.

MoneyHelper has a free online budget planner you can use. 

2) Automate your savings – and consider how to help your money work harder

Automating (or should we say autumn-ating?!) your savings can be a quick and easy hack to get you into the habit of saving. 

Let’s say you have a savings account with your bank. You could set up a standing order to automatically transfer money into it from your current account each month. Or some banks and personal finance apps have tools to move your money into a different account automatically. 

It’s also worth thinking about whether there are ways to help your money work harder for you. MoneyHelper has information about investing and different savings accounts you could consider to help you reach your financial goals. 

3) Don’t leave your pension plans out in the cold

Maybe you’ve booked annual leave to soak up what’s left of the summer. Or maybe you’re about to have some free time, if you’ve got children or grandchildren going back to school. When you have a bit of downtime over the coming weeks, paying some attention to your pension savings can be really helpful.

Pension plans are a tax-efficient way to save for the long term. But if you’ve had more than one plan over the years, do you know where they all are? It’s easy to lose track of them if you’ve changed address or jobs without letting your providers – past and present – know.

The good news is, there are ways to find plans you’ve lost track of. Once you’ve done this, you could consider bringing them together with a ‘pension transfer’. Bringing all your plans together into one can cut down on admin and make it easier to see how much you have in pension savings. But it’s not right for everyone. You can lose valuable benefits and guarantees by transferring, so do check before you make any decisions. You can learn more about finding and transferring plans on our website. 

Find and transfer plans

4) Be tax aware

It’s never a bad time to see if you have any opportunities to save on tax. You can read our article for some tips.

We mentioned that, at this time for year, some people might be helping relatives out with things like university fees. This can be considered as giving a gift to someone. As well as benefitting your loved ones in the here and now, gifting can actually help reduce the value of your estate for Inheritance Tax purposes (IHT). This means your loved ones may get to keep more of your wealth after you die. IHT is complex, though, and it’s a good idea to do your research first. MoneyHelper is a good place to start.

5) Keep an eye out for changes

Although the date hasn’t been announced yet, the Chancellor’s Autumn Budget is due to take place at some point in the next few months. The contents of the Budget haven’t been confirmed. But it’s worth being aware that changes could be horizon, and they could impact your finances. 

We’ll usually keep you up to date with changes that could affect your pension plans on our website. 

The information here is based on our understanding in August 2025 and shouldn’t be taken as financial advice.

A pension is an investment. The value of investments can go down as well as up and could be worth less than was paid in.

Your own personal circumstances, including where you live in the UK, will have an impact on the tax you pay. Laws and tax rules may change in the future.

Standard Life accepts no responsibility for information in external websites. These are provided for general information.