Personal finance expert was asked what was the most important thing to get ready in 2026 to make sure finances are in order
Money-saving expert Martin Lewis has issued an urgent warning to unmarried couples living together. During his ITV programme, the finance guru was quizzed on the top priority for getting finances sorted in 2026.
A viewer asked: “Martin, if you had to prioritise, which would you sort first: Will/ Power of Attorney, or pensions/tax/inheritance? And why?” Whilst Mr Lewis highlighted Power of Attorney as crucial, he flagged up a critical concern surrounding marriage and the inheritance risks partners and families could face in worst-case scenarios.
Mr Lewis responded: “That is a tough one. So first of all, let’s say we’ll take inheritance for a second, only about 6% to 8% of the population their estates pay inheritance tax. It’s something far more people worry about than actually affects them. If you’re married and you’re leaving your property to one of your descendants, then if you do it right, you can leave up to £1 million with no inheritance tax.
“If you’re not married, it’s £500,000, so that might not even be an issue for you in the first place. It isn’t for many people. Do some more reading on that.”
The financial adviser has previously discussed marriage’s inheritance advantages on his podcast, cautioning those without legal ties. He described the benefits as ‘substantial’, noting: “When we talk about marriage it applies to anyone who is married or who has a legal civil partnership.”
“But this does not apply to you if you are just cohabiting”A legal recognition of your relationship and civil partnership is also a legal recognition of your relationship without some of the, some might say, paternalistic religious overhang that a marriage has.”
Martin Lewis’ 2 big inheritance tax marriage benefits:
- Assets left to your husband or wife aren’t taxed
- You pass on your inheritance tax allowance to your spouse – which then goes to your children.
Mr Lewis explained: “So the two big inheritance tax benefits. First of all your spouse won’t pay inheritance tax on anything you leave to them. When you die any money, any property, any assets left to your spouse is automatically exempt from inheritance tax.
“An even more important inheritance tax boon of marriage is you can pass on your unused inheritance tax balance to your spouse. So in plainspeak you don’t pay inheritance tax on the first £325,000 you leave when you die. Above that if you’re leaving your main residence to your direct descendents, so your children or grandchildren or step children, you usually get another £175,000 on top. So that’s £500,000 that you can leave without paying tax on it.
“So if you leave everything to your spouse when you die, then you haven’t used any of those allowances and as they’re unused they get passed on to your spouse. That means when your spouse passes away their allowance and yours, which means if you’re leaving the main property, they can then leave a million pounds they can pass on without paying any inheritance tax. That’s a huge benefit.
“And that’s why it’s often worth looking at getting married or a civil partnership which counts in exactly the same way.”
The money guru illustrated this with a scenario involving a couple with £1 million in assets, including property. He explained: “When the first one of you dies if you’re not married you leave everything to the other one. Well you’ve just used, because your stuff is worth £500,000, £500,000 of your inheritance allowance. So you have no allowance to pass on to them.
“Your partner now has a million pounds worth of assets when they die their inheritance tax allowance is £500,000. So if they pass that on to your child that’s £500,000 which would pay inheritance tax at 40 per cent which is a £200,000 inheritance tax bill.
“Let’s contrast that to our married couple who have a million pounds worth of assets. The first one dies, all their assets go to their spouse. Their unused inheritance tax allowance goes to their spouse because they’re passing it to a spouse it didn’t count.
“So then when the second one dies they get to leave the entire million pounds to their children inheritance tax free. Saving £200,000.”
The full podcast is available here. Speaking on the topic of Power of Attorney, Mr Lewis explained: “Power of Attorney says if I were to lose my faculties, then I will nominate other people who can look after my finances and my health and wellbeing for me. I’ve had a Power of Attorney for 15 years even though I’ve got no foreseeability of losing my faculties.
“If you don’t have a Power of Attorney in place, and you were to have an accident tomorrow so you couldn’t look after yourself with your faculties gone, or a severe stroke, and you’re a young person-because people think it’s only for old people, it’s not-then it is frankly a nightmare to go through the process of someone else trying to take over your finances. Meanwhile, they may not be able to pay your mortgage for you, or pay for any treatments for you, or pay for anything you need.
“If you die, intestate rules mean it will probably go to those people you love. Your pension, you’ll hopefully work out. Sorting out tax, it’s important. But your Power of Attorney is the one that tomorrow, if you haven’t got one, God forbid, you could really need. So that’s the one I’d do first.”
