Discount broker Torquil Clark, through TQ Direct, plans an autumn launch for its product, which as e-commerce manager Mike Attree explains will start as a link to the Fidelity FundsNetwork site. "This 'white labelling' arrangement means that we can make use of Fidelity's buying process and technology, though we take care of investor registration, portfolio management and so on; we will also fix our own pricing structure, which will be one per cent lower than Fidelity's," he says.TQ Direct offers some 150 funds managed by nine fund managers on a "high street" basis; Attree says the new launch will bolster that to 400 funds through 23 or 24 providers. IFA Best Investment also plans to link into the FundsNetwork facility.. Welcome to The Independent's 10-part guide to improving your financial health. Our challenge is to make you up to £5,000 a year richer, without having to change employer, take a second job or break the law. Welcome to The Independent's 10-part guide to improving your financial health.

Our challenge is to make you up to £5,000 a year richer, without having to change employer, take a second job or break the law. The key is active personal financial management. Instead of flopping into an armchair at the end of the day, spend a few minutes managing your money. Check those interest rates, move money between accounts, think more about how you spend cash and, of course, read The Independent's Your Money section every Saturday.You might also consider obtaining computer programmes to help balance the family budget. Market leading personal finance software packages include Microsoft's Money, Quicken and Moneyshield. Some banks will provide software free to customers, assisting them to use banks' internet banking facilities, pay bills, transfer sums between accounts and generally manage their finances.ICL provides programmes to Woolwich for use by its customers, incorporating cash flow planning systems to encourage users to put enough aside for pensions contributions and other expenses such as university costs. One intention is to assist families to create several reserves for such things as holidays and Christmas, within a single, high interest bearing account.Other programmes are available specifically to assist with submitting annual tax returns, including that produced by Which? magazine, TaxCalc Lite, downloadable free from www.taxcalc .Over future weeks we will examine opportunities to make major financial gains, by reviewing home mortgage options and looking at the large savings that are possible by carefully shopping around for a range of products including insurance, bank accounts, utilities and even groceries We will consider, too, how to cut costs in running a car.

Just the efficient use and choice of credit cards could save many families hundreds of pounds a year.We will avoid the temptation to cheat. We will not, for instance, include in our calculations possible windfalls that might be available from demutualisations of building societies, friendly societies and mutual insurers. Despite the news this week that Bradford & Bingley building society will convert to a PLC and give members a typical £700 windfall payout, the days of the big building society conversions are probably mostly over - the heyday was three years ago (see chart on this page).There are likely to be further demutualisation attempts (see chart on page 2) focusing more on mutual insurers, though some may fail - like that on Standard Life. The Skipton and Portman building societies also remain conversion targets. But many societies have put effective barriers in place to protect them from carpetbaggers. Nationwide, Britannia, Coventry, Skipton, Portman and other larger societies have changed their rules to make conversion more difficult, by requiring new members to assign proceeds from a share flotation or takeover to charity.At least as important in deterring the carpetbaggers are the significant improvements made in the management of societies that were demutualisation targets, overcoming some of the original grievances of those seeking to change societies' status. The Nationwide is perhaps the best example of a building society that has sharpened up its act.

It is a dynamic financial institution, an intelligent user of new technology, runs smart branches and offers products that out-compete most of its non-mutual competitors.The Building Societies Association calculates that a borrower with a £50,000 Nationwide overdraft will save £250 annually on interest charges compared with similar loans from converted societies. It also claims that a Bradford & Bingley borrower with a typical £80,000 mortgage, will lose their £700 or so windfall in extra interest rates in just two years. What sense is there in voting for a one-off windfall of a few hundred pounds, if the eventual cost is an extra £7,000 over a 20 year mortgage term?Bradford & Bingley borrowers may now want to look at the terms of their mortgages to examine whether they can remortgage with another lender to take advantage of lower borrowing costs. But this is something we will return to in greater detail next week, as our series proper gets underway.Savers are in a different position. While building society saving rates tend to be higher than those offered by most banks, the difference is often marginal and it is easier for savers to move institutions than it is for borrowers. The sensible option for the cynical saver is to vote for conversion and then, once the payout is made, move their money into a different building society offering keen interest rates and the outside possibility of another demutualisation windfall.The Building Society Association's Jennifer Holloway says: "By dint of what has gone on before, and preparations for conversion by the Bradford & Bingley, people have seen their mortgage interest rates rise. Bradford & Bingley have said they have had to raise rates to get ready for conversion You also see branch closures after demutualisations.