Hi, I'm Pete

When I finally looked at my own UK State Pension, I found gaps in my National Insurance record, and discovered I could fill them from Australia. Nobody had ever mentioned it.

So I did my own CF83, the HMRC form for paying voluntary National Insurance from Australia. I applied online, which involved phoning HMRC in the middle of the night, because their office hours are my bedtime. Then I helped my wife with hers. She couldn't get through HMRC's online identity checks, so hers went by post, and HMRC took four to five months to reply.

Then I asked my UK expat friends whether they'd done theirs. Not one of them had even heard of it. That's a lot of retirement money quietly going unclaimed, so I built this site.

Plain-English explanations and free calculators for the UK money questions expats in Australia actually have: the State Pension, National Insurance, UK pensions, ISAs and inheritance tax. I keep it light where I can, because pensions are dull enough already, but I never cut corners on accuracy.

• Facts are checked against GOV.UK and HMRC, and pages link to the official source.
• Every article shows when it was last updated, and I revise pages when rates or rules change.
• The calculators work out your results in your browser. Your answers are only saved if you join the email list from the calculator, along with your email address.

I'm not a financial adviser, and nothing on this site is personal financial advice. I'm someone who's been through it, read the HMRC small print so you don't have to, and written it up as clearly as I can. For decisions that depend on your own circumstances, check with HMRC or a qualified adviser before you pay anything.

Spotted a mistake, got a question, or want to share how your own CF83 went? Email me at hello (at) poundsanddollars.com. I read everything, though I can't give personal advice.