Topological materials have attracted much attention in recent years because of the promises for spintronics and quantum technology. With the ever increasing number of materials and topological phases it can be helpful to take a step back and look what has been learnt so far. In this seminar I will give an overview of our results obtained for a variety of topological materials with a strong focus on their spin properties as explored by spin- and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (SARPES). Besides directly imaging the topological protection mechanism, the apparent discrepancy between the measured and intrinsic spin polarisation will be explained for topological insulators by the concept of spin interference. Further, systems ranging from a topological Kondo insulator, to various types of Weyl semimetals, higher-order TIs, and triple fermions will be explored. It will be argued that although topology is a magnificent concept for the classification of condensed matter, it is far less exotic as often made to believe.