I just wanna say thank you so much Lara I’ve just turned 18 and was just wasting any money I got even though I’m unemployed at the moment and making jewellery on the side. After living by your content I’ve saved £60 in 2 weeks which to me is huge so thank you SO much, have a lovely day🧡
I love these videos . I’m 22 and bought my first house 2 years ago through a low buy/ no buy year . Carried on once we moved in but now Im a mum of a one year old , I want to move to the same estate as family but it is so expensive so need to spend another 12 months until we would be in a position to buy a property in a nicer arena . Long story short I am very glad that I follow you as you have reignited my fire to hardcore save again (with a few treats now and then of course) . Thank you and carry on with these videos xx
I'm currently reading 'rich dad poor dad', such a good book, so it was great that you made reference to it. So many points you put forward are also in the book. Thanks Lara!
Amazing well done you x we are 50 and both from banking backgrounds my husband is a financial advisor and we try to help our children (25 & 21) be more savvy and shall share this video with them x budgeting, taxes, pensions and savings should be taught in schools 👏👏
Agree with all these points. ☺ I'd also recommend The Financial Diet RU-vid channel for more money info (though it is American so not all of it is directly applicable to us in the UK but the advise can be adapted). Xx
Love these tips. We can definitely learn from others. It may be worth adding a warning to your description that you can only open one investment account per year in the UK. I’m also looking into investing but keep being indecisive about which to start with! A tip we are currently doing is paying off the smallest loan you have first, then use what you would’ve spent on that loan (once it’s done) to pay off the next etc etc. Also, we overpay our mortgage - by paying a small amount extra per month we are saving over ten thousand pounds and taking YEARS off the mortgage!
I grew up spoilt by wealthy parents, so I grew up very ignorant of money and would spend a lot, never bothered with saving and had no idea about things like credit scores. It's only after I graduated from my home country, immigrated to the UK and having to work, earn and manage all my money myself without daddy bank that I forced myself to learn about money and budgeting the hard way, mostly via internet, youtube and books
This video resonates with me. I feel the same, I wish I knew all these things when I was a lot younger so I started these positive steps a lot sooner! I strongly believe that all this should be taught in school eduction as a mandatory module, because it would benefit so many people. Not everyone have parents or relatives with such insights who could educate. I know saving money is a must and sensible thing to do, but it was not enough - my parents themselves grew up in a poor family background so did not have the in depth knowledge re investments & many other useful financial tips, so I am glad that am able to learn more information about working towards financial freedom, although this year seems like it’s going to be quite challenging ....
Great tips! I couldn't agree with you more. Educating yourself is so, so important, and I always harp on it. There are so many free resources nowadays that there is really no excuse. I would also add Your Money or Your Life as a book recommendation! Thanks for sharing such great tips!
Life changing tip that no one told me: start saving in a stocks and shares ISA as soon as you can, even if it is £10 per month, don't save all of you savings in it, just what you are unlikely to miss and drip feed small amounts in. Do choose a managed platform because you won't know what you are doing initially, this is much easier in the age of internet than when I was that age. Try to find something with low fees. Analysis shows that after any 11 year period in the last 120 years, you would have made money at a higher rate than inflation. Long term, it's the way to go. Also, things like compound interest were taught as part of maths GCSE when I did it on the Midlands exam course in 1998. Maybe stuff has changed since though or is different for different exam boards. MEG no longer exists, that's how long it is since I did my maths GCSE! Oh yeah pension for sure! Also if you can get matched extra contributions from your employer (rare now), definitely do that too! Plan when you will retire and make sure your pension plan is aware if it changes because they allocate your funds differently (to lower risk places with lower earning potential but with less volatility) if you will retire shortly.
Turn a hobby into a side hustle is something anyone can do. Luckily I turned an interest in art & design when I was young and forged a solid career in graphic design for the last 20 years (43 now 😅). My other love is tennis and in my spare time, I give tennis lessons to friends and colleagues and that generates a nice side income.
This was so good!! Just gives a massive insight what the adult life is like haha! I’d love if you could do a New House vs. Old House and what pros and cons there are and what you’re heading more towards and why! Xx
Ah, I am SO envious of your youth!! I really hope this helps you with your financial journey and you don't make the same mistakes as me!! Oooh, that's a good idea for a video, thank you! x
In America a pension refers to a defined benefit of DB retirement p!an. Meaning they pay you a set amount of money each month or year in retirement. In this p!an, the risk of growth and finding is on the pension plan. A 401K, Sep or a Tsp is a defined contribution or DC retirement p!an. This a plan where an employee contributes money each pay period to a personal investment plan. Sometimes or often times an employer will match a certain amount of the employees contribution. For example, I contribute the maximum dollar amount a!lower by Us law but my employer matches the first 8%. Most employers match between 3-5%. In bad economic times many employers will stop contributing any match in a Dc plan an employee owns all the invest!ent that they contributed plus the interest and can walk way at any time with that amount. Usually after a designated time, like a year or two they are fully vested in the contributions that their employer made. Plan investment can be rolled over into IT as or other DC p!an upon leaving the job. While Db plans have longer require!ent and often she requirements to earn the benefit. I have to turn 50 to start being vested in my pension. I will get it in December. My job has a pension and a Tsp. So both a Th and Dc components. This is rare. Most jobs have one or the other or none. I am very lucky.
Totally with you on the credit thing, I had literally no clue about any of it until we started the house buying process, my score was very low and killed our chances at most decent mortgages! Got one in the end but it was definitely a lesson learned.
I completely connect with your thoughts here which has compelled me to ask you this. If your future-you would have shown you this video and shared these thoughts when you were in your 18s and 20s, would you have then paid heed to all this? The reason I ask is because you (and even I) now feel that if someone would have come forward and told us these wise words life would've been different. However, back then you (and even I) would have been in a completely different frame of mind. You know young, wild and free. Probably from that younger perspective all this would have seemed too preachy and boring. I lost my parents when I was 15 so I did my schooling and college on my own, got a job at 18 and since then I have never stopped working, but I spent a lot of my income pampering myself during my early 20s. It is only now that I realize that I wish I wouldn't have done that and save that to secure my 40s. However, I ask myself the same question would my 20s-myself listen to my 40s-myself? Your thoughts please.
Firstly, I am so sorry you lost your parents at 15, that is incredibly sad. Well done for everything you've done in your life to get you to this point. Secondly, it's a great question - I agree I don't think I would have paid heed entirely to the messaging - but I think some of it would have stuck and at least I would have had the knowledge that this all existed for me if I wanted it. I can't regret my choices as I have been very lucky to travel and enjoy life before having our children, but I truly wish I had bought a house earlier in life and had some stability so I could do more now, and invested a lot more of my money when I was younger to get to that sweet compound interest - things I just didn't know about when I was younger. Thanks for opening up the conversation!
I'd love yo buy my own property and save every month but it's such a slow process and I'd love any tips of where to invest for the best profit..willing to invest in isa too x
Hi Lara, thank you for your finance and house buying videos. I am using all my savings every month towards a house deposit fund with the aim to buy in the next few years but feel like that’s time not spent investing as well. But also starting to invest would take away from the house deposit and slow down the process. Did you start investing once you had got your deposit together or do both at the same time? Thanks :)
I wish I had known about compound interest. If I had saved 20 pounds a week since age 20 imagine how much I would have now. I began paying into a private pension in 2019. I only have 19 years to save for my retirement.
I was startled when she said she didn't learn about compound interest growing up. I had to learn about it and how to calculate it in my junior high math class over 20 years ago. Then I forgot about it because it's math class. :D Do they not at least teach what compound interest is in basic math classes? =O
we have children but we do the same, we live mostly with my husband's salary and we save most of mine (at least we do it when I work, we move a lot for his job). I realize it's a luxury not everyone can afford though
Best investment is to always buy your own property...As early and as young as possible. Renting you are just paying someone else's mortgage. Stocks and shares are risky and can fluctuate. Look at Covid, shares have plummeted..But whatever works for you I guess..
Insightful! If you do your own investing, have you ever wondered whether you should turn things over to a financial advisor ? I have been pondering on the same question from stories hanging on the news, how investors earn about $50,000 monthly in passive income.
I wished I had saved the kids child benefit which would now added up to a lot which I could of given them for a car or deposit on a house regret that x
I started saving child benefit when I got a job when my youngest child started school. I also continued paying the same amount when they went to university. I have been able to give them money towards a car and the costs associated with furnishing a house.
I find it so hard to make the extra Passive income with Etsy etc. I have online courses, a book in amazing and a hair extensions line and still takes a lot of work. Seems like no one’s wants to pay anything. I wonder if this book Science of Mind will work for manifesting energetically. I just go don’t understand why my life has to be so much about money.
If you are looking into a side hustle, please DO NOT join an MLM! You’ll get promised the world but honestly you will be worse off than when you started. Please do your research!
Saving 30% of your salary?? Really??! That really is quite a lot. There's no way I could have done that. People still have bills to pay, even when you're young
