What is buy now, pay later? Credit files and new EU rules
Buy now, pay later is a small loan from a provider such as Klarna or PayPal. Whether it reaches your credit file depends on the country, and often on the provider.
Psychology
Behavioural economics applied to money: the formal study of why you bought the thing you did not need.
Latest
How shops trick you into spending more, and which of it is illegal.
Consumer authorities checked 314 online traders across Black Friday 2025, and only 40% fully complied with the EU's discount rules. Other tricks here are illegal too.
Your stock picks were fine. The trading is what cost you
You picked your broker on about €4 of commission and handling. Currency conversion on a €5,000 US-share round trip is €25 (DEGIRO, September 2026).
Why don't Europeans invest in stocks? Where the money went instead
Caution gets the blame. Add up all euro-area household assets and about €66 in every €100 is property. That is the area's total, not one household's.
How to get back on track after overspending, without starting over
The bad month cost you one month. The nine you didn't go back cost nine times more. Restart at a figure that survives December, and keep the balance.
Should I wait to invest? Five reasons people give
We ran 107,454 windows of European tracker-fund history since 2008. Waiting won three times in ten. Five reasons Europeans give for holding off, cross-examined: three lose, two hold up.
The cost of doing nothing with your money, and what to fix first
Four money lines go stale at once: savings, tariffs, an uninvested surplus, and a pension rate you never set. Here's the ten-year bill, and what to fix first.
The hedonic treadmill: why you get used to being richer
You got the raise. The new flat. The gym upgrade. And six months later, none of it feels like anything. That is the hedonic treadmill.
Money dysmorphia and doom spending: the money anxieties the internet named
The internet named two money anxieties, money dysmorphia and doom spending. What each means, whether either is a real diagnosis, and what helps.
Loud budgeting: how to turn down plans you can't afford without shame
Someone's booked a hen weekend that costs a week's groceries. Loud budgeting is how you say no to it without sounding cheap, broke, or mean.
The psychology of financial goal setting, minus the willpower myth
You don't need more willpower or a nicer vision board. You need an if-then plan and one automatic transfer that fires without asking you.
What is financial independence? Not a permanent holiday
Financial independence is a coverage test, not a wealth level: non-work income covers your costs, so work turns optional. Europe changes the maths.