People scoff at my cash making trick, however I’ve simply banked £1,000 (and I WON’T pay tax on it). Here’s how one can profit: RACHEL RICKARD STRAUS

Whenever planning a holiday with family or friends I’m always first to pipe up and offer to make the travel and hotel bookings.

And if my husband and I make a joint purchase for the house – say a new dryer or fridge – I’m more than willing to do the online payment.

Not because I’m nice. But because when I make a purchase online I usually get cashback – and it can be pretty lucrative.

This summer’s holiday hotel booking? I banked £68.37. New bed linen? That got me £12.30.

People often scoff when I mention I use cashback websites – even those who manage their personal finances carefully say these sites involve too much faff for the few pence you earn each time you use one. But it turns out it all adds up. I’m just shy of earning £1,000 now. That’s free money. And it’s tax-free. And – because it’s a little bonus – I often decide to spend it on something nice.

By all accounts, I’m a cashback amateur. It’s taken me a few years to earn that sum because half the time I forget to use it.

But website TopCashback says members can earn more than £300 a year on average and 3,000 have earned more than £10,000.

Its highest earner has made a six-figure sum. Enough, it says, to buy a house. I’ve no idea how – it would take a lot more than offering to book group holidays and paying for dryers and fridges.

Just to rewind, the cashback I’m talking about is where you sign up to a cashback website such as TopCashback or Quidco (they’re free to join).

Then, whenever you’re about to make an online purchase, you go to the website to check if it has a partnership with the retailer you’re planning to buy from (if it’s a large one, they usually do).

If so, you click through from the cashback website to the retailer’s own and make the purchase as usual. A few days or weeks later, the cashback that you’ve earned – which tends to be a percentage of the amount you’ve spent – appears in your account and you can withdraw and spend it when you like. You don’t have to buy anything extra – you only use cashback for transactions you were planning to make anyway.

It adds another step when you’re making an online purchase, but only takes a few seconds.

I’m not talking about cashback deals where you have to buy a specific product or open a new bank or other financial account to get a free voucher or a cash reward. Perhaps unfairly, I am generally wary when firms throw in a cash bonus – surely they should have conviction the product they’re offering is enough to entice you on its merits.

So what’s in it for the cashback websites?

When you spend money online, there’s a whole ecosystem of third parties who get a little cut. If you’ve clicked through from an advert and bought something, the website that hosted it might get a tiny fraction. It’s a similar situation if you go on to buy an item you’ve seen on social media. Cashback websites just give back to you part of the portion that they receive for introducing you to a retailer.

Most of us have weird and wonderful ways to save a few pence that to us are no-brainers – and sometimes essential to keep our budget in check – but to others it may seem like hardly worth the bother. Coupons, loyalty schemes, points – not everyone’s cup of tea.

For some reason, I can’t bring myself to switch to a current account with cashback on bills – yes, I see the inconsistency. But whatever works for you, go for it. Just make sure it’s not a distraction.

I know that every time cashback lands in my account I’m tempted to pat myself on the back and think I’ve made a savvy financial decision. But if the gratification of earning a couple of pounds distracts you from doing the things that will make a meaningful difference, that’s a problem.

Psychologists sometimes refer to this as the ‘small victories’ effect – easy wins can be motivating but there’s a risk they keep you from the big ones.

Cashback may make you a few hundred pounds a year. But switching to a better mortgage is worth thousands. Checking your pension and upping contributions can be worth tens of thousands.

Investing some of your savings instead of keeping them in a cash account can be life-changing.

Enjoy the little rewards – but also try to keep your eye firmly on the big ones.

750,000 child nest eggs go begging

Putting money in a child’s Junior Isa is a leap of faith. Millions of parents and grandparents do it to help build a tax-free nest egg.

They imagine it going towards university costs, a deposit for a first home or something else sensible.

But there’s often a niggling fear that the moment the child reaches 18 and can access their money for the first time, they’ll go wild and spend it on something else entirely.

Investing platform Hargreaves Lansdown dug through their customer data for me, and it offers some reassurance. Of the Junior Isas held by 18-year-olds in the tax year 2024-25, 85 per cent still had money invested a year later. One in four of those young adults had even added more money to their pot.

The average value of a maturing Junior Isa on its platform was £21,265 in the year to April – up about 9 per cent in a year.

I’m sure that average will only climb further as family members work to keep their estates out of the inheritance tax net as it snags ever higher numbers.

If that leaves you thinking those 18-year-olds are such jammy dodgers, getting their hands on all that cash, it’s worth remembering some 18 to 23-year-olds might have nest eggs and not even realise it. Child Trust Funds were set up for people born between September 1, 2002, and January 2, 2011, each receiving a government contribution of at least £250.

Government data shows around 750,000 of them – worth an average of £2,200 – are waiting to be claimed.

If you think you or someone you know might have one, go to gov.uk/child-trust-funds/find-a-child-trust-fund.

It takes just a few minutes to track one down. I’d love to hear if you’re successful.