Mouthy Money competitions is constantly on the look out for new and interesting personal finance books for our readers to offer as competition prizes.

But we don’t just do book competitions! Keep an eye on the page for other exciting giveaways in future or subscribe to the newsletter to get updated right into your inbox each week.

See the details of current and past Mouthy Money competitions and how to win below.

Current Mouthy Money competitions

Coming Soon

Past Mouthy Money competitions

Here are some of the past Mouthy Money competitions. Keep an eye on our page, or subscribe to our newsletter to find out when the latest competitions launch.

WIN one of five copies of How to Retire by Christine Benz

Mouthy Money readers can win one of five copies of How to Retire by Christine Benz, Harriman House, RRP £14.99.

How to Retire by Christine Benz is a book about retirement at its heart.

Retirement is a complicated thing to manage and prepare for. It really pays to think about it well ahead, and have a clear idea in your mind of what you want to achieve.

How to Retire by Christine Benz is the perfect companion to this process. But this is no identikit guide to how to prepare for retirement. Instead, Christine interviews 19 financial experts to gain insights in detail into the steps for preparing to retire.

WIN one of five copies of The Soul of Wealth by Daniel Crosby

Mouthy Money readers can win one of five copies of The Soul of Wealth, 50 Reflections on Money and Meaning by Daniel Crosby, Harriman House, RRP £14.99.

The Soul of Wealth by Daniel Crosby is a thoughtful look at the meaning behind ‘wealth’ and how a normal person can reflect on, and work towards achieving it

This is all done while decoupling the idea of wealth from the pure numerical hoarding of cash and asset.

WIN a copy of of No worries – how to live a stress-free financial life by Jared Dillian

Readers can win one of 10 copies of Jared Dillian’s No Worries – how to live a stress-free financial life by entering the latest Mouthy Money competition below.

Jared Dillian’s No Worries – how to live a stress-free financial life is an eye-opening look at the way we all think about money. From stockbrokers to hospitality workers – we all have one thing in common: we’re worried about our money

WIN a copy of You’re not broke, you’re pre-rich by Emilie Bellet

Mouthy Money readers can win one of three copies of Emilie Bellet’s fantastic financial self-help book, You’re not broke, you’re pre-rich.

You’re not broke, you’re pre-rich is an unpretentious, informative ride across the personal finance landscape.

It provides useful and easy to understand explanations of key themes, process and ideas for understanding money better.

WIN a copy of Loose Change – Tina Learns to Save by Sonia Rach 

Are you looking for a fun and educational book to spark your child’s interest in financial literacy? Look no further than Loose Change – Tina Learns to Save by Sonia Rach.  

We’re excited to offer a chance to win one of five copies of Sonia’s book.   

Loose Change – Tina Learns to Save is a children’s book that combines storytelling with valuable lessons about money management.  

For a chance to win, complete the form here.

WIN a copy of The Everything Token by Steve Kaczynski and Scott Duke Kominers

Kaczynski and Kominer’s book take an unapologetically positive spin on NFTs. When it comes to any sort of investing, Mouthy Money thinks its readers should view everything through a critical lens – but if you want to understand how the tech works, this book should do the job.

Read our review here.

The competition is now CLOSED and winners have received their copies. You can buy a copy of the book here.

WIN a copy of Freedom: Earn It, Keep It, Grow It by Robert Gardner

Achieve financial freedom with three money habits – earn it, keep it, and grow it. Use this book as your toolkit to make your money work for you. Whether you’re managing debt, saving for a rainy day, or investing in your future, this proven approach to financial planning makes complex money concepts easy to understand.

For the full interview with the author, click here.

The competition is now CLOSED and winners have received their copies. You can buy a copy of the book here.

The post Mouthy Money Competitions appeared first on Mouthy Money.

Do you daydream about a big lottery win? I must confess, despite supposedly being sensible about money, I do.

I even bought a couple of lines for Tuesday’s Euromillions, a reported £140 million bumper jackpot. The fact you’re reading this tells you how that went for me! No one seems to have won, so Friday’s is set for a whopping £158 million.

This column isn’t going to get into the weeds of the odds of winning. We all know its miniscule. We all know it’s a bad use of money that could be generating gains in an ISA etc.

But my personal rule of thumb is it’s fine to do occasionally, and the daydreams are fun too.

I can tell you the contents of my daydreams: I don’t think too hard about the travelling which I’d definitely do (overlanding across Africa in a Toyota Land Cruiser with a rooftop tent), or the nice car I’d probably buy (the Toyota Land Cruiser).

Instead, the thing that gets me dreaming is the dream home I’d buy. I can tell you, with £140 million in the bank, I’d have a nice country manor somewhere in the South West, and probably a nice modern flat somewhere central in London, have to have somewhere to crash after a night at the opera.

But that’s just me.

These daydreams have always progressed into my nerdier financial journalist proclivities though. I start thinking about the practicalities of the whole thing.

Surely that much money would start attracting a lot of tax? My £20,000 annual ISA allowance is suddenly going to start looking a bit…pathetic.

So how do you go about planning for all that money?

I actually got in touch with Allwyn UK, the company which recently took over the running of the National Lottery. Unfortunately, at the time of writing, they have not provided me with any insight about their process when it comes to lottery winners.

I would imagine they do offer winners financial advice and pastoral care. This kind of life changing event can have all sorts of untoward effects.

Fortunately instead, I was able to speak to Duncan Horner, a director at Amber River Premier, part of Amber River Group, one of the UK’s largest IFA firms.

The team there has a great deal of experience looking after high-net-worth (HNW) clients, and indeed has in the past looked after lottery winners. The firm also has experience managing the finances of people who have exited multi-million-pound businesses which have led to major financial windfalls.

Duncan really drove home for me in our chat (which you can catch now on the podcast) actually that winning the lottery isn’t exactly the easiest thing in the world to have happen to you. The daydreaming is all well and good, but the practicalities and implications of winning a life-changing amount of money are pretty vast.

Aside from all the family members and ‘old friends’ who pop out of the woodwork – winners become subject to actual press intrusion. There is a real vulnerability to winning in that sense. Indeed, Duncan told us that a lottery winner client would be considered a vulnerable client from day one.

There’s an often-quoted figure that 70% of lottery winners go broke. Although the research on it is patchy, around one in three (33%) actually declare bankruptcy, according to a financial planning body in the US, the CFP Board of Standards.

And who hasn’t come across a schadenfreude-laden story in one of the tabloids about a lottery winner gone bad?

This I would argue comes not from an inherent weakness in the winner, but the fact that dealing with such an extraordinary change in their financial situation is transformational – and not always in a good way.

At the outset it is likely to generate a lot of paperwork and planning. From a will to trusts, to powers of attorney, all these things need doing. Picking an adviser that is trustworthy and working in your best interests seems a pretty good first move.

Duncan also pointed out winning £5 million is very different to £150 million. These days the former is going to probably ensure you’re ‘set for life’ and can probably manage most of the tax implications with allowances and other normal things that come with financial planning.

Although we’re not talking about the vast majority of Brits, having a £1-5 million estate is not madly unusual these days once you factor in things like property prices, pensions and other assets that well-paid professionals accrue over a career.

£150 million is a different kettle of fish entirely. Managing that kind of sum is a generational endeavour that requires serious planning and even the creation of teams to tend to it for you.

A winner would likely need to engage accountants, financial advisers, lawyers, and all other manner of professionals just to manage the most straightforward aspects.

Set for life?

What a plan looks like will vary on individual’s needs and wants but as Duncan points out in the podcast, people tend to have a ‘fun money’ fund at the start. Then the business of deciding what set for life looks like comes.

The implications for all sorts of things become very weird and interesting. There are not enough banks in the UK to cover financial services compensation (FSCS) deposit guarantees, for instance, so this money will invariably have to be invested straight away into (relatively) safe things such as gilts.

Inflation becomes an instantaneous worry too. 2% inflation seems not a huge deal but 12 months of that for £150 million? You’re talking £3 million of value down the drain in one year unless you have that money growing from day one.

I know this is all very pie in the sky stuff, because most of us will never even come close to considering the implications of winning the jackpot.

My takeaway to this is though, that daydreams are great – but the realities of it are quite different when you really think about it a bit harder. And from the extremities of something like a lottery win we can learn a bit more about some of the common pitfalls of building wealth over a long period of time, and then what we do with that wealth once it is accrued.

When all is said and done, total financial freedom comes with strings attached that will follow you the rest of your life. And it may follow your kids too, you better hope they don’t descend into the depths of trustafarianism.

While most of us will never reach those heights, many of us will do the right thing and build a lifetime of wealth into something we can retire with. Hopefully by thinking about some of the problems people can face when they sit on a big sum, we can consider some of the things right in front of us that are more important than money, and what we truly value in our lives.

Finally, remember that playing the lottery can be a fun activity, but ultimately it is a form of gambling. Personally, I’m not shy of having a very occasional flutter but spending lots of money on it regularly isn’t a good idea.

Please visit gambleaware.org for more information on gambling addiction and how to deal with it if you find yourself or a loved one struggling with it.

The post What you don’t realise about winning the lottery appeared first on Mouthy Money.

Today I’m sharing a sideline opportunity you might not have considered before.

There’s a huge demand for people to appear in TV quiz or game shows – from Pointless to Bargain Hunt, Tipping Point to The Chase. 

A steady stream of contestants is needed for these shows, which in many cases are broadcast daily. And the best news is that the shows are open to people of all ages and backgrounds, and you don’t need any special skill or talent to take part.

Some shows offer the chance of winning life-changing sums (Who Wants to be a Millionaire is the classic example). In other cases the rewards are more modest – but even the chance of winning two or three thousand pounds on a show such as The Chase is not to be sniffed at. And under UK law, cash and prizes won on TV shows are entirely tax-free.

Even aside from the chance of pocketing some cash, being in a TV show can be an exciting and eye-opening experience. You will see what goes on behind the scenes at your favourite shows, and watch them with fresh appreciation in future. And, of course, you will have an experience to remember and tell friends about for years to come.

Researching and applying

You can find out what shows are currently recruiting by contacting the production companies directly. See who makes a show that you would like to appear on and look them up online.

There are also websites that publish contestant calls. BeOnScreen, which recently moved to Facebook, is a great place to start. 

Another useful resource is UKGameShows. This website has a page listing current and new shows requiring contestants. You will also find links here to the pages for applying to popular quiz and game shows such as Bargain Hunt, Countdown, Pointless, Tenable, and so on.

Twitter (now called X) can also be invaluable for keeping up with the latest contestant calls. One account I highly recommend following is Cast Me at @OfficialCastMe. Click on www.twitter.com/OfficialCastMe and you should be able to view their latest updates.

Finally, my blogging colleague Di Coke (also known as SuperLucky Di) has a page on her blog dedicated to contestant calls for UK game shows. This is updated regularly and well worth bookmarking.

Top tips

There’s much to be said for applying for new shows, as the competition for places isn’t as intense as established shows. But there are plenty of the latter that need a steady supply of contestants too, of course.

Another tip is to go for daytime shows, which typically have smaller audiences than prime-time shows. This again should mean less competition from other would-be contestants. But do ensure the prizes are worth your while before applying.

Before you apply for any show, I recommend finding out as much as you can about it. If a particular physical or problem-solving skill is required, try to practise this as much as possible. And if it requires specialist knowledge, bury your head in some relevant books, and then get a friend (or partner) to test your knowledge.

It’s also a good idea to practise your public-speaking skills, especially if this is something that doesn’t come naturally to you. Get a friend to assume the role of the show’s host and ask you some likely questions. This will help prepare you for the show itself, and may also assist you with the auditioning process (see below).

Auditioning

To be accepted as a contestant, you will usually need to go through some sort of audition. These are run by specialist companies who recruit contestants for the shows. They will assess such things as your personality and appearance, your general knowledge, and how well you communicate. They may also check your ability to cope in stressful circumstances.

• One time at a quiz show audition I was completing a pen-and-paper test in the company of five other applicants. Suddenly an alarm went off. We all looked at one another, unsure what was happening. The researcher then returned and assured us there was nothing to worry about. She revealed later that this was a standard test they used to ensure that potential contestants didn’t panic under pressure!

As mentioned above, if you’re auditioning for a quiz show you may be asked some questions to check your general knowledge. If you find them all easy, it may nevertheless be a good strategy to deliberately get one or two wrong. As our American friends say, nobody likes a smartass! And the companies like to recruit contestants with all levels of knowledge and skill, so the watching audience can relate to them as ‘ordinary people’.

One other tip for aspiring quiz show contestants is to try to stand out from everyone else. The researchers are looking for people who will come across on TV as outgoing and interesting rather than dull and anonymous.

This needs to be judged carefully, of course. You don’t want to appear too weird, or the researchers may fear you will be a loose cannon. If (like me) you’re naturally somewhat introverted, though, it will help if you can make an effort to present yourself as a bit more outgoing. If you can manage ‘bubbly’, so much the better! 

A distinctive hairstyle or item of clothing may give you an edge as well. At another audition, a fellow applicant was wearing a clerical dog collar. It turned out he was a university chaplain. You could tell immediately that the researchers loved him, and I saw him subsequently on the TV show in question and many others. He even turned up with a team of other university chaplains on a quiz show called Busman’s Holiday!

On the day

If you’re selected for a show, try to arrive in good time and introduce yourself to the researchers. They are likely to ask a few questions about your family, job, hobbies, and so on. This is to give the host or hostess something to talk about.

Once the show starts, try not to be distracted by the cameras and audience. As far as possible, relax and concentrate on the task in hand. Do your best to succeed, but remember that not everyone can win every time. Smile and be courteous to the host and (especially) the other contestants. This will ensure the audience like you and get behind you, which can help a lot in pressure situations.

Good luck, and I hope the big prizes are heading your way soon!Nick Daws writes for Pounds and Sense, a UK personal finance blog aimed especially (though not exclusively) at over-fifties.

The post Win fame and (maybe) fortune as a TV quiz show contestant! appeared first on Mouthy Money.

Are you looking for a fun and potentially profitable hobby? If your options for side hustles are limited, maybe entering competitions, or comping, is a good option.

It is something you can do from home and all you need is a smartphone or computer. Here’s a beginner’s guide to start comping.

There are many serious compers who win big prizes on a regular basis. In fact, an old colleague of mine, Martin Saiz, was winning a holiday almost every year at the height of his comping efforts.

His last big win was 10 nights in the Philippines, which he gave to his daughter for her honeymoon. He has also had trips to Moscow, Italy, Switzerland, France, Ireland and in the UK. One particularly exciting win was a €9000 weekend on a giant yacht in Ibiza, where his name was picked out live on Facebook.

Di Coke, also known as Super Lucky Di, says that she has won an average of £12,000 a year in prizes since she took up comping in 1997.

Put in regular effort

If you want to be successful as a comper you need to put in regular effort, rather than just entering the occasional competition you come across. Set yourself a specific amount of time to enter competitions.

Martin spends around 60-90 minutes each evening after work, but you could allot your morning bus or train ride to start comping, use your lunch break, or get up half an hour early and to enter whilst you drink your morning coffee. 

If you systematically enter as many competitions as you can as often as possible, you are much more likely to win regular prizes than someone who just goes in for the odd comp.

Before you begin, Di suggests that you set up a special email address, as entering competitions definitely means more spam. Don’t forget to check your inbox daily in case you have won, including your junk mail box. 

How to find competitions

Fortunately, these days it is easy to find competitions. There are reputable comping sites that have hundreds of opportunities every day, as well as competition forums where members share competitions and draws they have come across.

Here are some of the best places:

• Loquax 
• Super Lucky Di
• MSE competitions forum 
• Latest Deals UK competitions
• HotdealsUK competitions

Social media platforms can be a good source of competitions, especially Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Search for the hashtags #win #competition #competitiontime, etc.  Radio shows and their websites also feature regular competitions, such as Heart, as do magazines like Marie Claire and Prima.

Super Lucky Di has a great list of places to find competitions here.

Beware of scams and read the Ts&Cs

Super Lucky Di says that it is best to stick to competitions run by brands that you trust. She says to beware of competitions or draws that require you to hand over too much personal information. Some unscrupulous sites will sell this on and you are likely to be bombarded with spam emails and phone calls. 

The Money Saving Expert forum has a thread where scam competitions are posted. They warn against competitions that say you are a winner but demand money for admin fees, etc.

If you win a genuine competition you will never be asked to pay to get your prize.

Make the best use of your time

It is easy to get swept up when you start comping, meaning that you enter everything in sight. However, to make best use of your time, it makes sense to only enter competitions with prizes you actually want to win. It is pointless taking the time and effort to win something you will have no use for.

Having said that, Martin tells me he used to enter everything, and once won a breast pump! (His kids were grown up at this point…)

Read the rules and follow the instructions, including the terms and conditions, and any time limits on the prize. It would be disappointing to win tickets to an event for a day you aren’t available.

Martin also suggests using autofill whenever you can, as it is a real time saver.

Find low entry competitions

Martin recommends entering competitions with tie-breakers, such as completing a sentence, writing a rhyme or a slogan, as you are statistically more likely to win.

People assume they won’t come up with anything funny or clever enough so don’t bother and entry numbers are lower. He advises that you keep tie-breakers short and to the point, as the judges will need to read through many entries and you want yours to stand out. 

The odds of winning any competition where extra effort is required are better than easy entry comps and draws. Many people can’t be bothered.

Increasingly, competitions run on social media channels request that you submit a photo along with your entry, and the odds can be better on those.

Competitions that are run locally, in newspapers, shopping centres, on local radio and in newsletters can give you good odds of winning, since there will be fewer entries than for national comps.

However, sometimes the same competition is run across all of the newspapers and radio stations within a group, so your chances won’t be as high.

Consider purchase-necessary comps

Di Coke recommends that you consider purchase-necessary competitions as well as free-to-enter ones. She says, “Over 25 years I’ve won thousands of pounds of prizes in purchase comps, including a car and several holidays – the biggest being my 2021 win of £15,000 plus £10,000 of shares in Brewdog! 

“In 2022 my biggest purchase necessary wins included an LG tech bundle worth over £2,500, a £500 Easyjet voucher with Walkers – £1,000 from a Lu biscuits standard rate text entry prize draw at the Co-op, and a £100 voucher with Glade Candles at Wilko.”

Di recommends that you take a photo of your receipt alongside the product in case you lose it. You may need it to validate your win.

Text competitions with an entry fee often have a low number of entries, so if you really want the prize it is worth entering.

Stay motivated

Obviously the biggest way to keep motivated with your comping hobby is to win regularly! If you keep a list of the prizes you have received you can see if your efforts have been worthwhile.

It’s also fun to join comping groups and forums for hints and tips, to make friends and to see what others have won. Di Coke’s Facebook group is Lucky Learners.

Are you start comping this year? Or have you already had some good wins?

Photo by Japheth Mast on Unsplash

The post How to start comping and win big appeared first on Mouthy Money.

Give your views on money and be in with a chance of winning one of four shopping vouchers.

How’s your bank balance looking after Covid? Have you found new ways to earn cash, or maybe paid off your credit cards? Have financial firms been helpful? Or no help at all?

We want to hear your views by taking our quick survey, with the chance to win a £100 shopping voucher from your choice of Amazon, John Lewis or M&S – plus four £20 vouchers up for grabs too.

The survey is now CLOSED. Thanks to everyone who took part, we’ll announce a winner shortly.

Our latest survey will be used to give back insights to readers on stories from normal people on how their lives have been affected by the unprecedented events of past 12 months.

To complete the survey, click the link above. It should only take a few minutes to give us your views and you could win a prize for your time.

Once you’ve completed the survey you’ll get the chance to sign up for the Mouthy Money newsletter and be entered into our prize draw to win either a £100 voucher or one of four £20 vouchers.

Terms and Conditions
Mouthy Money will use the anonymised findings to tell stories online that help our readers better understand their finances. Mouthy Money may use anonymised data to advise financial service providers about the quality of their brand and customer service.

The survey prize draw: (i) is open to all UK residents aged 18 years or over; (ii) shall close at 19 September 2021; and (iii) is not open to employees of Mouthy Money, MRM or anyone professionally associated with Mouthy Money or the survey.

By completing the Mouthy Money survey, you will be given the opportunity to sign up for our monthly newsletter and be entered into a prize draw for a £100 shopping voucher or four £20 vouchers from a choice of Amazon, John Lewis or M&S.

The prize winner will be selected by random draw within a month of the competition closing. Everyone who opted in to the prize draw has an equal chance of winning. Only one entry is allowed per email address. The winner will be notified after the closing of the survey. Winners will have to respond to contact made within 28 days or the prize will be redrawn.

By participating in the prize draw, you consent to Mouthy Money collecting, storing and processing your personal data; in order to run and administer the survey and its prize draw; (ii) for the purposes set out in the Mouthy Money Privacy Policy, available here; and (iii) for any other purposes (e.g. marketing) which you expressly consent to from time to time.

Newsletter subscribers will also be given the chance to participate in future Mouthy Money surveys or forums on an ongoing basis, if they wish.

If you do not (or no longer) consent to Mouthy Money collecting, storing and processing your personal data in accordance with the above, you must inform Mouthy Money of the same in writing via email to editors@mouthymoney.co.uk, or via the process set out in the Mouthy Money Privacy Policy.
 
The winner of the prize draw will be chosen at random, on or as soon as reasonably practicable after the survey closes. Mouthy Money will notify the winner by email, using the email address given. After such notification, the winner will have 28 days to claim their prize. If Mouthy Money doesn’t receive any response from a winner within 28 days of the notification that they have won, Mouthy Money can choose to offer the prize to the next eligible participant chosen from the remaining valid entries. Each participant consents to Mouthy Money publicising its name and city of residence for the sole purpose of announcing the winner. The prize draw is subject to a minimum survey participation of 100 respondents.

All participants agree to be bound by these Terms and Conditions and that the decision of Mouthy Money is binding. To the extent permitted by law, Mouthy Money will not be liable for any claims, losses or damages of any kind arising out of or in connection with participation in the survey or its prize draw. Mouthy Money reserves the right to alter, withdraw or amend the prize draw offer at any time, if in Mouthy Money sole discretion, it is reasonable to do so, without financial liability. Mouthy Money shall not be liable for any loss or damage suffered from entry into the prize draw, acceptance of, delays in, or the arrangements surrounding the prize, or from any event beyond the reasonable control of Mouthy Money. In the event of any fault, mistake, misunderstanding or dispute concerning the operation of any part of the prize draw the decision of Mouthy Money shall be final.

The prize draw and these Terms and Conditions are governed by English law and the exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts.

Promoter: Mouthy Money, 14 Buckingham Street, London, WC2N 6DF.

Photo by SHVETS production from Pexels

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