This is Money’s top 50 stories of 2021 revealed

Inheritance and financial disputes, pensions, bitcoin, savings rates and the property market dominated our most read stories last year.

Stories related to pensions claimed ten spots in the 50 most read stories, while financial disputes bagged six slots and, in a sign of the times, bitcoin and crypto-related articles claimed four places in the top 50 versus three for house price-related articles.

Those topics along with savings, mortgages and property were the ones that featured most often in our biggest money stories of 2021.

Top of the pops: We reveal our top 50 stories of 2021 but we also want to know what you want to read more about in 2022 – find out how to tell us below

This was along with a few eye-catching individual numbers, such as How to become an HGV driver and what they earn, Why you should set your thermostat to 19 degrees and Barclaycard slashing loyal customers’ limits.

Pensions was the most featured topic on the top 50, but it was a reader question My late mother cut me out of her will – can I still claim my share?, which was the overall most read, at 279,581 times.

Next up in the top ten were three pensions-related stories: How much the state pension will rise in April, the Chancellor’s plan to use pots for a UK growth fund, and when reporter Toby Walne tried to spend a week living on just the state pension.

The winners (and literal losers) from the bitcoin boom was in at number five on the top stories list, where we spoke to those who made a mint on crypto, including a long-time This is Money reader and podcast listener, who admitted to being more Skoda than Lambo.

Among the rest of the top ten, my picks would two classic reader questions, one a neighbourly dispute and one a household debate:

Can I force my neighbour to pay towards our shared garden fence?

Is leaving the oven door open when on dangerous and energy sapping?

The top 50 list of stories makes for an entertaining read – you can find it below – and highlights both what a broad bunch of stuff we cover and also how readers can just pick up a story that you may not expect to do well and run with it.

There’s a caveat though; there are also some other things that proved hugely popular with our readers in 2021 you won’t find in the list.

In order to get a top financial stories list I stripped out the stories from the Cars & motoring section that we run across This is Money and MailOnline.

They would have claimed five spots in the top 50, with Rolls-Royce’s £20million boat tail, green numberplates, not parking in a garage making insurance cheaper, the blue Ferrari F40 sale and five of the best campervans proving the big hits. 

I also didn’t include stories from the MailOnline Property section that we also carry, where energy crisis tips and tricks, how to add to your home without a large extension, a derelict house and 54 acres for sale near the Yorkshire Shepherdess, a couple who spent £500,000 doing up a church and Craig Revel Horwood’s home for sale were the top five.

Finally, I knocked out our reader tools and calculators from the list. The most popular of these being:

– Our independent best buy savings tables

– The free Power Portfolio investment tracker

– Monthly Premium Bonds winning numbers data

I recommend checking those out, along with our highly popular historic inflation calculator and This is Money’s weekly podcast.

What do you want to read more about in 2022? 

Those were the things you wanted to read about last year, but we would also like you to tell us what you want to read more about in 2022.

What are the subjects you are interested in reading more about, broad or specific, and what are the things we could do at This is Money to better help you?

Email me at editor@thisismoney.co.uk and put the words ‘2022 stories’ in the subject line and we will take a look and see what we can do.

Happy New Year – I hope it’s a prosperous one.  

This is Money’s top 50 financial stories of 2021

(Sorry we can’t link to them all but put the exact title below for each into Google or another search engine and they will come up) 

1 My late mother cut me out of her will – can I still claim my share?

2 State pension rise April 2022: Here’s how much you’ll receive

3 Chancellor Rishi Sunak to raid pensions for UK’s growth fund

4 TOBY WALNE lived on £179 pension and could barely survive a WEEK

5 The winners (and literal losers) from the bitcoin boom

6 The retirement home scandal that is wiping out life savings

7 Can I force my neighbour to pay towards our shared garden fence?

8 How did my ex-husband grab £23,500 of my savings five years after we split?

9 How to become an HGV driver: Training costs and salary expectations

10 Is leaving the oven door open when on dangerous and energy sapping?

11 We claimed £70,000 in grants for heat pump, but it saved us NOTHING

12 How have I earned a £212-a-week state pension after less than 35 years?

13 A house we want to buy was extended without planning permission

14 Can my grandparents pay off a chunk of our mortgage – or could we fall into a tax trap?

15 Why you should set your thermostat to 19 degrees to save money

16 House prices set to fall ‘significantly’ in the coming months

17 Do I have to pay tax on my Bitcoin profits? A tax expert replies

18 The five rarest 50p coins revealed including Kew Gardens and Olympics ones

19 HMRC wants an extra £6,700 in ‘payment on account’ advance tax

20 Can I include in my will that my children sell my house when I die?

21 Beat Rishi’s tax grab: Your essential guide to protecting your wealth

22 Barclaycard tries to defend slashing credit card limits of loyal customers

23 Huge surge in Britons investing in cryptocurrencies like bitcoin

24 Tesco and Sainsbury’s start charging a £99 deposit for those using its pay at pump services

25 Apple’s threat to quit Britain over £5bn patent row

26 Will my husband’s state pension stop now he is moving to a care home?

27 Best stocks & shares Isas: Pick the right DIY investment platform

28 Bitcoin’s days are numbered, warns Bank of England governor

29 The Chancellor mustn’t punish me for saving during pandemic

30 Would you haggle on a house price? We reveal the do’s and don’ts of negotiating

31 My siblings want to keep my late father’s home, but I don’t – can I force the sale?

32 My late ex wanted me to inherit his pension, but the scheme refuses

33 Rare Olympics 50p coins: Do you have one in your home?

34 How is my state pension affected by being contracted out?

35 I’m divorced so can I claim a higher state pension?

36 How will a government-backed 5% deposit mortgage work?

37 The 18-year property cycle tips a house price boom then crash in 2026

38 Banks raid accounts to claw back Covid loans

39 Fund giant Ruffer slashes Bitcoin stake after Elon Musk tweets

40 My Barclaycard limit is back to where it was when I earned £80-a-week

41 New 5% deposit mortgages: Which lenders will offer them and when can I get one?

42 Ebay problems: Buyer opened a return and sent back a different item

43 Rev Richard Coles: I once paid in a cheque for £400,000

44 Is your Santander branch closing? Lender closing 111 UK banks

45 Ban gas boilers by 2025 for net zero but how will we heat our homes?

46 Should I sell my old Premium Bonds and purchase new ones?

47 Royal Mail scams: Beware the latest of 17 fake messages

48 The five best UK towns for retirement in 2021 revealed

49 It’s worst year ever for Japanese knotweed

50 The £2.5m prize draw dream home that could leave its winner marooned

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