Laura Purkess
Laura Purkess is a financial journalist and editor who treats money coverage as both consumer protection and system reporting, using investigations, human case studies and policy analysis to show how decisions in politics, regulation and the industry alter mortgages, pensions and everyday costs. She specialises in both personal finance and business‑to‑business finance, drawing on years of experience across national newspapers and specialist trade titles to connect technical changes in the financial system with what they mean for household budgets. Her work stands out for its focus on hidden fees, unfair practices and operational failures, and for the way she uses detailed data and industry sources alongside real‑world stories.
Personal finance under policy and politics
At The i Paper, Purkess covers personal finance questions that sit directly under headline political events, such as what a change of prime minister would mean for mortgage costs and housing security. Her recent coverage there includes explainers on how government policy on borrowing and interest rates flows through to monthly mortgage payments, with a clear focus on practical implications for homeowners rather than abstract market commentary. She has also examined the impact of government action on childcare fees, revealing that nurseries were overcharging parents for funded hours and reporting on subsequent official crackdowns and reviews of the wider childcare market.
Across these pieces she positions herself as a bridge between policy announcements and everyday money, translating moves in Westminster and Whitehall into clear consequences for family finances.
Retirement housing, pensions and long‑term security
Purkess devotes significant attention to the long‑term end of personal finance, including retirement housing and pensions.
In The i Paper she has reported on retirement developments with high monthly service charges and exit fees of up to 30 per cent, arguing that these costs can turn what is sold as peace of mind into a stressful and hostile environment. That work draws on interviews with residents and families who are left paying service charges on empty flats they struggle to sell, showing how contractual small print and opaque fee structures can erode financial security late in life. On the trade side she writes for a specialist financial advice publication about the mechanics of pensions and ISA transfers, including an exclusive on changes to error codes designed to stop minor form mistakes and undefined problems from delaying switches. Her expertise spans pensions, mortgages, insurance, savings, investments, private markets and the financial advice and platform markets, allowing her to connect the long‑term savings system with the products and advice consumers actually receive.
Financial advice market and industry coverage
Beyond consumer‑facing stories, Purkess reports in depth on the financial advice industry and its business dynamics. Her trade coverage includes stories on adviser networks’ profitability, adviser retention at wealth firms and the commercial strategies of intermediaries, all grounded in detailed financial figures and regulatory context. Earlier in her career she held news editing responsibilities at a trade finance publication, covering pensions, investments, tax and the financial advice market, and she has continued to draw on that experience to scrutinise how firms and intermediaries respond to regulatory change.
She is known within the industry for delivering scoops and policy‑focused investigations, and for interviewing influential politicians and business leaders on issues that matter to advisers and their clients.
Consumer campaigns, formats and audience
Purkess’s work retains a strong consumer‑champion strand, particularly in her tabloid and national newspaper roles.
She has run weekly money columns that recover funds for readers, investigate poor treatment by firms and expose loopholes in consumer protection. Her investigations into retirement housing, childcare fees and insurance failures all share a campaigning tone, combining individual case studies with sector‑wide data from industry bodies to push for reform.
She is comfortable across formats – from investigations and long‑form features to explainers and interviews – and writes for both national and specialist audiences. She has also launched a weekly personal finance newsletter for retail investors, which grew to around 20,000 subscribers, demonstrating her ability to build and engage a dedicated money‑savvy readership.
Regular broadcast appearances on national radio stations and podcasts reinforce her role as a public explainer of complex money issues, extending the reach of her reporting beyond print and online.
4 more finance journalists.
Abba Ihonde
Abba Ihonde is a content writer for Guardian Digital at The Guardian whose beat sits where crypto, fintech and mainstream finance meet. He focuses on how cryptocurrencies, trading platforms and digital tools are reshaping business and finance, especially through regulation, crypto policy and their impact on financial services. His explainer pieces follow the practical realities of traders, importers and growing businesses, tracking everyday crypto use in cross-border trade and the turn to stablecoins. He reports on retail trading platforms and market education, drawing on experience in cryptocurrency futures trading and earlier SEO analysis and editing roles to keep finance coverage clear and structured. Abba also writes on business visibility in the digital economy, policy and tax technology, and takes on broader news and lifestyle assignments, from security incidents to celebrity weddings.
Adam Clark
Adam Clark links fast-moving moves in global markets with clear, stock-focused takeaways for investors, combining breaking news with thematic analysis across equities and commodities. He is a reporter at Barron's, covering breaking news and markets, a role he took on in 2022 after five years with Dow Jones Newswires. His beat is how individual stocks, sectors and major indices react to shifts in the economy, monetary policy and corporate strategy, and what those moves mean for portfolios. He covers real-time moves in leading stocks and indices, high-profile names such as Alphabet and Newmont, and themes like technology volatility and gold market resets. He works in fast-turn news and longer market features, drawing on experience as reporter, editor and Insight columnist across print and digital platforms linked to Dow Jones brands.
Alasdair Ferguson
Alasdair Ferguson is a multimedia journalist at The National whose finance reporting is defined by a strong focus on culture, heritage and history. He uses archives, museums and cultural institutions to tell contemporary stories, linking public money and policy to how Scotland understands its past. He covers finance, culture, heritage, sport, arts and civic campaigns, often showing how decisions and events affect daily life and national identity. His work includes pieces on historic conflicts, museum photo releases, lost music, football history, large-scale supporter travel, arts festivals, television industry shifts and grassroots independence campaigns. He reports through news, features and multimedia, including podcast and video interviews. Across formats, he relies on concrete historical material, scholarly research and institutional sources to foreground why discoveries and campaigns matter now.
Alec Whitaker
Alec Whitaker is a senior court reporter for The Westmorland Gazette and also writes for The Mail. He stands out for reporting criminal cases in a tight, court-led way that links offences to fines, bans, compensation and other legal outcomes. His core beat is magistrates’ and crown court hearings, with regular coverage of theft, drugs, motoring offences, harassment, stalking and robbery. He reports on how the justice system turns behaviour into sentences and financial penalties, from short theft cases to serious drug charges. His pieces give the charge, the hearing, the pleas and the final order in plain terms. He also covers inquests and other court proceedings, and his work has included reporting for The Mail, The Westmorland Gazette and the North West Evening Mail.