The Meaningful Money Personal Finance Podcast (Pete Matthew)

We’ve all heard the classic mantra that good investing should be boring. And that’s true: buy-and-hold, long-term, index-tracking investments are the best option for the majority of people, the majority of the time. But today we’re going to balance that by talking about having some fun with your investments. Some of them, anyway!

This series we’re talking about Building Wealth. But with interest rates at record lows for more than eight years, and with share markets seemingly more volatile than ever, how do you build wealth in a reasonable timescale? Today I’m going to sharing some practical steps to building wealth in a low-return world.

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Sponsor Message

This podcast is brought to you with the help of Seven Investment Management, a firm of investment managers based in London. They specialise in multi-asset investing, bringing institutional investing techniques to ordinary people like you and me. 7IM put their name to my show and to my site because they believe in what I’m doing, trying to get decent, easy-to-understand financial information out to the world. I’m very grateful to them for their support. You can see what they’re up to at 7im.co.uk

Building wealth in a low return world

Plenty of people will try and sell you a get-rich-quick scheme. And plenty of folks, including me, will try to suggest that the best way is to build wealth slowly. But none of us want to put our lives on hold for fifty years while we scrape enough together to retire on. Is it really possible to save out of income and put enough aside to become financially independent?

I think the answer is a resounding ‘yes’ but we may need to think a little bit laterally to achieve our aims.

In this session, you'll discover:

• That no-one builds wealth by saving money in a bank
• The tools that successful investors have at their disposal
• The miracle of compounding and how to harness it
• How to stay focused on your wealth-building
• Why you shouldn't take too little risk
• Why it is important to look for total return
• The best way to use gearing
• Why you should be prepared to think outside the usual investment box
• And the one aspect of your wealth-building that you can really control

Resources mentioned in this show

Podcast: Risk, Volatility & Timescale

Podcast: Risk Tolerance and Risk Capacity

Podcast: Cashflow or Capital Gains, with Buck Joffrey

Risk Profile: myrisktolerance.com I

nvesting Course: Learn How To Invest

Audible audiobooks - Click here

Join the conversation

I love to read and respond to your comments, so please do join in and share.

Question: What strategies are you implying to build wealth in a low return world? Share in the comments...

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If this show is of any use to you, it would help me massively if you would take the time to leave me a review on iTunes. This has a huge impact on keeping me near the top of the rankings, which in turns helps more people to find the show and to subscribe. Just click the button below:

The first of my three steps to financial success is to spend less than you earn. Sounds straightforward enough, though we all know it isn’t always easy. But there are two ways to spend less than you earn - spend less, and earn more. I spend lots of time here on MeaningfulMoney talking about budgeting and cost control, but not enough on making more money. Today’s show aims to redress that balance.

Every week I ask people to leave me voicemail questions so I can answer them on the show, and hardly anyone does so. But this week, I answer two voicemails that came in within a couple of days of each other. Voicemails, it seems, are like buses, you go for weeks without any , and then two show up together…

Podcast: Subscribe in iTunes | Play in new window | Download

Sponsor Message

This podcast is brought to you with the help of Seven Investment Management, a firm of investment managers based in London. They specialise in multi-asset investing, bringing institutional investing techniques to ordinary people like you and me. 7IM put their name to my show and to my site because they believe in what I’m doing, trying to get decent, easy-to-understand financial information out to the world. I’m very grateful to them for their support. You can see what they’re up to at 7im.co.uk

Listener Questions Answered

OK, two questions answered this week, the first is from George & Clare, who are getting married, and the other from Matt who has a questions on pensions tax relief.

In this session, you'll discover:

1. The single most important mindset shift towards money, when you're about to get hitched
2. How to make sure money is never a reason for separation
3. Why you might need to have a conversation about a pre-nup
4. Some quick ways to optimise your finances as a couple
5. How pension tax relief works for employees, and
6. How salary sacrifice extends that process.

Remember, you can have your question answered by clicking the green bar over on the right hand side of the page, or by going to the Ask Pete page!

Resources mentioned in this show

Join the conversation

I love to read and respond to your comments, so please do join in and share. Question: If you're in a couple, how have you organised your finances?

Share the love

Hugs and kisses to dacgw and Elliot Gardner for their reviews this week - much appreciated folks!

If this show is of any use to you, it would help me massively if you would take the time to leave me a review on iTunes. This has a huge impact on keeping me near the top of the rankings, which in turns helps more people to find the show and to subscribe. Just click the button below:

Hardly anyone talks about building a foundation which supports building wealth for the future. Maybe it's because talking about life insurance, critical illness cover, income protection and emergency funds isn't all that sexy? But these things are SO important, that without them, everything else we talk about can be wiped away in no time at all, so why would you leave that to chance? Today folks, it’s the Ultimate Guide to Wealth Protection.

Today we’re continuing in our Real Stories season and we’re going to talk about Protection - talking about the life insurance, critical illness cover and income protection that underpins any financial plan.

Shownotes: https://meaningfulmoney.tv/RS4 

Building wealth is the sexy part of personal finance. It’s where you get to invest and take risks and watch your money grow. But there is a vital step to take first to make sure that your wealth can’t be swept away in a heartbeat thanks to an unforeseen event. We need to talk about life protection.

At my financial planning firm we are seeing a marked increase in the number of clients wanting to invest in line with their beliefs and outlook on life. The catch-all term for this is ethical investing, and today I chat to an expert to help us understand how it all works.

Listener Matt asks if he should continue offsetting his mortgage with cash in the bank or invest that money instead?

We’re back with another Q&A show, with a bit of a DB Pension tilt this time, though we even get into a question on equity release. We cover lots of ground, as always - hope it’s useful!

Shownotes: https://meaningfulmoney.tv/QA5 

00:55  As you made a request for questions I thought I'd pose this (apologies in advance for the length, feel free to trim as required):

I am single, mid-forties, with no dependents (I do have some family I plan to pass wealth on to, but when they need it rather than leaving it in my estate). I'm aiming for the mystical die with zero.

As a home owner, and given I'm not worried about passing it on, would it be a good idea to start drawing on the capital locked up in my home via drawdown equity release (using say home reversion) before the investments in my pension and ISAs given this is the most illiquid and concentrated of my assets?

Downsizing isn't really an option to release capital (it's a two-bed semi so property doesn't get much smaller). That said equity release looks to offer rates well below the market value (apparently they want to make a profit), certainly if you're on the younger end of the eligibility spectrum. It's far from the case of selling 50% of the house and getting that amount, even spread over a number of years.

I could sell the house myself and rent instead, using the released money to pay the rent (and if the money is invested, provided my rent doesn't rise egregiously, it might even stay ahead of that cost). Though there are potential issues with that approach, certainly over the long term.

Are there any other ways to unlock the capital tied up in my property?

Regards, Lee

10:20  Hello Pete and Roger.

I work in public sector and have a decent DB pension, larger part being final salary and lesser part CARE. I will be able to commute up to 25% with a commutation factor of about 24:1. Which will give me about £180,000 depending on when I leave.

Upon retirement I will seek to move most into a 100% equities investment wrapper, I’m fairly happy with proportionate risk, as my DB pension will provide a life long index linked safety net, and I will also build a bit of cash ladder of declining risk.

I have recently watched your ISA v Pension comparison with keen interest. It was fascinating to see that even though a pension is taxed, the tax relief going in, offset the tax going out, and the option of having both works particularly well in terms of tax efficiency and retirement planning.

I had been putting a modest amount into a S&S ISA each month for the last few years, but recently opened a SIPP and am now sending the spare cash that way for the extra tax relief. It’s very satisfying seeing the “free money” coming in each month..

I can potentially retire in 2 years at 55 with an actuarial reduction or continue working until 60, or retire sometime in between. I also have a preserved DB pension that I can take at 60 from a previous employer.

In the mean time I want to keep saving and investing, and will try to ramp it up for next few years.

My question is – It was pretty clear from your numbers that those with a DC pot are best with both ISA & SIPP in terms of tax efficiency and flexibility, but given that my DB pension will use up all my personal tax allowance, does that swing the momentum on where to invest back in favour of an ISA over a SIPP, as other than the 25% tax free element, I would pay basic rate tax on all my SIPP drawdown.  I’m sure other people with either a modest DB pension or secondary passive income could find themselves in similar quandary.  ( I’m aware all could change after the next budget. )   I live up north, houses are cheap as chips, therefore IHT unlikely to be a major concern in terms of decedents.

Chris

16:47  Loving the sultry combination of the north and south tones! I’ve been listening to the podcast for several years now, and you’ve given me loads of practical tips that I’ve been able to take forward. However, I’ve recently received an ADHD diagnosis, and while I earn a good salary, my impulsivity often leads to overspending, and I’m finding it difficult to maintain control over my finances. I have a monthly planner that I check regularly with the bills, so they are ok, but on spending it is always difficult, and I often dip into credit card usage.

I would really appreciate any advice or practical tips you could offer for someone like me, who struggles with impulsive spending with a disability. Things like “just don’t spend money” just don’t work! Are there any specific strategies, tools, or approaches that can help someone with neurodiversity, particularly ADHD, to manage their money more effectively? Thanks again for the amazing content you put out. Looking forward to any guidance you can provide.

Best regards, Ian

22:53  My question / suggestion relates to listeners with Defined Benefit (DB) pensions.

Although they’re becoming rarer, there is still a sizeable minority of people who have DB pensions. I suspect the majority of them are (or have previously been) employees in the public sector – but they’ll run to quite a high number.

For instance, there are 1.5 million current employees in the NHS, half-a-million Civil Servants, half-a-million teachers, Police, Fire Fighters etc etc. Double that to allow for all the former employees, plus those with DB pensions in the private sector, and you’re talking decent numbers.

I’ve learned a lot over recent years from your Podcast, but there have been a number of occasions where you’ve alluded to the fact that financial planning advice might differ for folk with DB pensions.

One example might be the topic of opening a separate SIPP (in addition to the DB pension) to supplement retirement income (or to fund early retirement) or to move money outside the person’s estate.

Another example might be the balance of ISA versus Pension: with some DB schemes, the benefit of “topping-up” is reduced compared with those in DC pensions. In many cases the employer isn’t adding “free money” to your pot, so for many there may be more reason to lean towards ISA contributions.

Another difference might be the topic of investment risk – if someone with a DB pension has a guaranteed inflation-proof income in retirement, might they be wise to consider higher risk investments? And certainly without the dreaded “profiling”.

Another example (as alluded to earlier) might be in Estate Planning: with a DB pensions, there’s no “pot” of invested money lying outside one’s estate, so there’s no IHT advantage.

I realise this might amount to more than just a 5-minute topic for your Q&A edition, but I think you’d have enough listers to make a whole episode for DB pension recipients. What to you reckon?

Thanks for all the great advice.
Best wishes, Dr Pete

29:43  Thank you for all of your support over the years through the podcast and YouTube.

I work for the NHS which is very tough at the moment but it does give me the benefit of a defined benefit pension when I get there. I am 35 years old but am wanting to make sure I am saving enough for retirement but also to make sure that I have enough for my children to support them through university and starting life! My wife is a fantastic stay at home Mum. We are aiming to have the “comfy” level of retirement at £58000 that you have previously mentioned which should give us some capacity to support the children!

I earn £58000 plus about £7000 as a side hustle. I save into my NHS pension, save about 50% of the side hustle income into a SIPP, and save around £400 into a S&S ISA and £200 into cash savings each month.

There are lots of examples about how much you should save but I haven't found anything when you are part of the NHS/other DB pension. Am I saving enough, or too much? I don't want to miss out on life now by over saving!

Thanks, Alex

36:13  Enjoying listening to another excellent podcast where I heard the shout out for questions. One I had is “what’s the best tax efficient way to save for kids futures? I started going down the path of saving into JISA’s, but then didn’t like the idea of being unable to access the money on their behalf, or them to do so before 18. I contribute to premium bonds, but theoretically that will be capped at £50k (here’s hoping!). Any other obvious good suggestions?”

Thanks & keep it up, continue to love the show.

Cheers, Chris

Listener Stuart asks whether he should invest his bonus all in one go now with, you know, the whole Brexit mess on the horizon, or hold off for a while.

Today we’re rounding off Season 27 by covering the last of our big ideas - and it’s one of the raisons d’etre of Meaningful Money, that most people don’t need advice.

Shownotes: https://meaningfulmoney.tv/BI10 

After a life spent first building and then enjoying wealth, if there’s anything left we will probably end up thinking about how best to pass that on to the next generation, or to the causes we care about. We’re talking now about leaving a legacy when we’re gone and the choice we make can have massive repercussions for our families - this is important!

This week I am playing into the podcast feed some chapters from the Audible version of The MeaningfulMoney Handbook, which is released by Harriman House this week.

This week, I answer a listener question about preparing for self-employment. You may also recall the session from a couple of weeks ago about adding a sideline income - this week’s show will help with that too…

Podcast: Subscribe in iTunes | Play in new window | Download

Sponsor Message

This podcast is brought to you with the help of Seven Investment Management, a firm of investment managers based in London. They specialise in multi-asset investing, bringing institutional investing techniques to ordinary people like you and me. 7IM put their name to my show and to my site because they believe in what I’m doing, trying to get decent, easy-to-understand financial information out to the world. I’m very grateful to them for their support. You can see what they’re up to at 7im.co.uk

In this session:

Regular listener Andy wants to know what he might need to put in place before going self employed, particularly bearing in mind that he may not be able to draw a regular monthly income at least in the early stages of his business. In this session, you'll discover:

• The easiest thing to forget when you're preparing for self-employment
• The one thing you'll need to to do to survive as a self-employed person
• Why it might be best to start with some money behind you
• One big decision which will dictate your tax situation
• Why it is so important to keep good records form the start
• Some things you should be sure of if you're working from home
• The insurance you should think about
• What you need to know about pensions, and...
• Why you need to register with NICO.

Resources mentioned in this show

• Book: Emyth Revisited - Michael Gerber
• Accounting software: FreeAgent
• Accounting software: Xero
• Podcast: Auto-enrolment
• Website: Gov.uk - registering as self-employed

Join the conversation

I love to read and respond to your comments, so please do join in and share. Question: Are you preparing for self-employment? If so, what steps have you taken?

Share the love

No reviews this week due to recording a couple of shows in quick succession.

If this show is of any use to you, it would help me massively if you would take the time to leave me a review on iTunes. This has a huge impact on keeping me near the top of the rankings, which in turns helps more people to find the show and to subscribe. Just click the button below:

Welcome to another Inbetweenisode where my guest is a senior member of the team at LifeSearch - Alan Richardson. This will be super-useful episode for anyone who has a business of any kind.

Shownotes: https://meaningfulmoney.tv/session509 

Today we’re going to be discussing a this or that choice which, on the surface at least, might present something of a conflict for us, but we’re not ones to shy away from challenging subjects! Should you seek advice from a professional adviser like us or whether you should go it alone.

Investing is a long-term game. And over a long time, things can happen, which means you need to keep an eye on your investments as the years go by.

Today we’re going to be talking about preparing for death, which doesn’t have to be as morbid as it sounds! But we have to face it, and preparing well for the day we shuffle off this mortal coil is an important part of being intentional about our finances.

Shownotes: https://meaningfulmoney.tv/RS6

So far we’ve covered budgeting - the thing that underpins it all, and also the essential emergency fund - putting a buffer between ourselves and whatever the world can throw at us. It might seem logical now to go on to talk about paying down debt, but according to the UKPF Flowchart, there’s a step before that, and we absolutely agree that this is in the right place - we need to talk about PENSION CONTRIBUTIONS

Show Notes

UKPF Flow Chart

Today I'm chatting with one of my absolute favourite personal finance YouTubers is Damien Talks Money. Today, he and I talk about the finance creator space, the dangers of it and its opportunities.

When Rob Dix, one half of the Property Podcast duo Rob & Rob, approached me and asked if I would have him on to talk about his new book, How To Be A Landlord, I wanted to do it because I owe those guys quite a lot. But more than that, I knew Rob would bring amazing value to the thousands of you listening who are, or who aspire to be property investors.

Podcast: Subscribe in iTunes | Play in new window | Download

Sponsor Message

This podcast is brought to you with the help of Seven Investment Management, a firm of investment managers based in London. They specialise in multi-asset investing, bringing institutional investing techniques to ordinary people like you and me. 7IM put their name to my show and to my site because they believe in what I’m doing, trying to get decent, easy-to-understand financial information out to the world. I’m very grateful to them for their support. You can see what they’re up to at 7im.co.uk

How To Be A Landlord

Rob raises an excellent point in my conversation with him that once you buy a rental property, you not only become a property investor, you also become a landlord. There’s loads of information on the former, but precious little on the latter, and Rob’s new book is aiming to fill that void.

In this week's value-packed show, you'll learn:

• Why adding property investing into your overall mix is a great idea, and why it might not be
• Why understanding your responsibilities as a landlord might make or break the success of your property investment
• How to go about finding tenants, and how to reference them correctly
• The importance of a good tenancy agreement
• How to have a happy relationship with your tenants
• How to deal effectively with things that go wrong
• The pros and cons of managing your property yourself or hiring a managing agent
• How to find a good agent if you opt for that route

 Rob then suggests going through his checklist for all the above to make sure you're doing the right things. You can get the checklist by clicking that massive yellow button just below. See it? Yep, that one...

Resources

Firstly, there's the book itself, How To Be A Landlord, which you can get from Amazon by clicking the image to the left Podcast: Property Geek Website: Property Geek      

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If this show is of any use to you, it would help me massively if you would take the time to leave me a review on iTunes. This has a huge impact on keeping me near the top of the rankings, which in turns helps more people to find the show and to subscribe. Just click the button below:

Today I’m chatting with Dave Sawyer, author of a book called RESET. A few of you have mentioned the book to me, and asked me to get Dave on. His book has received high praise indeed from none other than Monevator and also Brad and Jonathan from ChooseFI.

Experienced investors need to understand leverage in all its forms, and today we’re going to be talking about what it means to apply leverage to your own wealth-building.

Today we’re going to look at some real stories around pension planning, but not your usual run-of-the-mill pension planning! We’re going to look at SIPPs and SSASs and how we’ve used them to move our clients’ financial plans forward.

Shownotes: https://meaningfulmoney.tv/RS7 

Last time we talked about strategies for giving money to your kids towards the end of life, this time it’s helping them as they grow up and become adults; things like getting them through university and helping them on the housing ladder.

Last week I had a great conversation with Abraham Okusanya about the vital subject of investing in retirement. We covered a lot of ground, and mentioned lots of practical stuff. This week I want to pick out the main points and give you the actionable steps you need to take.

Podcast: Subscribe in iTunes | Play in new window | Download

Sponsor Message

This podcast is brought to you with the help of Seven Investment Management, a firm of investment managers based in London. They specialise in multi-asset investing, bringing institutional investing techniques to ordinary people like you and me. 7IM put their name to my show and to my site because they believe in what I’m doing, trying to get decent, easy-to-understand financial information out to the world. I’m very grateful to them for their support. You can see what they’re up to at 7im.co.uk

Managing Cashflow In Drawdown

If you haven’t listened to last week’s conversation with Abraham, I strongly suggest you do that now. Abraham is super-passionate about the subject of investing in retirement, and the serious effects of getting it wrong. His passion is backed up with data, and he covers a lot of that in last week’s show.

If you have listened to that show, stick with me now as I cut to the main things you need to DO (Consider last week as what you need to KNOW)

In this session you will learn:

• Why it is important to map out the first few years' drawdown
• What planning your withdrawal strategy really means
• Why planning round the tax allowances is all-important
• Why I believe you should NOT increase your risk in retirement
• When diversification isn't really diversification
• Why you should keep cash, and how much to keep, when
• The importance of ongoing review
• The power of a long-term view

Resources

Podcast: How To Choose A Multi-Asset Fund

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If this show is of any use to you, it would help me massively if you would take the time to leave me a review on iTunes. This has a huge impact on keeping me near the top of the rankings, which in turns helps more people to find the show and to subscribe. Just click the button below:

Over the past six years I have built up quite a body of work here on MeaningfulMoney. And that’s especially true when it comes to how to invest. In today’s show I am going to bring together some of the best investing resources on the site and try to fit them into a path to take you from zero to elite investment skills.

Podcast: Subscribe in iTunes | Play in new window | Download

Sponsor Message

This podcast is brought to you with the help of Seven Investment Management, a firm of investment managers based in London. They specialise in multi-asset investing, bringing institutional investing techniques to ordinary people like you and me. 7IM put their name to my show and to my site because they believe in what I’m doing, trying to get decent, easy-to-understand financial information out to the world. I’m very grateful to them for their support. You can see what they’re up to at 7im.co.uk

How to invest

With 303 videos and 149 podcasts here on MM it can be hard to find what you need, though there is a very efficient search system. I am in the process of designing and building a new home page which will hopefully help new visitors find their way round, but until that is done, this post should help you navigate the best stuff when it comes to investing.

Of the resources listed, more are podcasts than videos. Many of the videos are somewhat out of date now, and while I am redoing some of them, the podcast is generally where the meat is.

Ready? Here are eight steps to become and investing ninja:

Step 1 - Get into the right mindset

Video number 246 talks about getting into the savings mindset. You need to start form a good place, as the changes you will make need to be deep-seated to last for a lifetime. This involves being future focused, getting mad at the financial services industry, and committing to taking control of your own future.

Step 2 - Get started

For those who are right at the very start of their personal finance journey, and are looking to pay off debt and begin saving for an emergency fund, I have a dedicated index page just for you. If you have done those things, and you're looking at how to invest, what's next? Podcast session 6 was a chat with the erstwhile Justin Urquhart Stewart of my sponsors, Seven Investment Management. In that show we agreed that investing should be dull, above all. You should understand your risk tolerance (more in a minute) and understand what makes a core investment portfolio. Then in Podcast session 10 we looked at Asset classes, or things you can investing, and a little bit about how they interact. And we followed this up with Podcast session 11, where we covered the platforms, wrappers and funds that these assets are held inside. this is the basic architecture for investing success.

Step 3 - Understand Risk

It has been proven beyond doubt that risk and reward are related. Risk is a multi-layered subject, as I discussed with my friend Richard Allum in Podcast session 16. Much later, I chatted to Paul Resnik of risk measurement firm Finametrica in Podcast session 119, and looked into the science of risk tolerance, and whether or not it changes in response to external factors. Finally, video number 300 covers the three main ways in which investment risk can be managed by ordinary folks, such as you and me.

Step 4 - Educate yourself

We're better at most things if we learn something about them in advance of diving in. The same is true for investing, which is why this site exists, and why you're here. You need to learn how to invest, before you start to invest. Podcast session 76 was a chat with journalist Robin Powell who created a documentary called How To Win The Loser's Game. Listen to the show and watch the film; it'll set the scene. Then I embarked on a four-part investment masterclass covering:

• Asset Allocation
• Risk and return
• Setting realistic targets
• Understanding costs

Those four podcast sessions will give you a superb grounding of education and equip you to make good choices.

Step 5 - Get practical

Armed with all that good information, it is time to get your hands dirty with some practical investing. Back in Podcast session 41, I took listeners through how to build a portfolio from scratch, exactly how I would do it. I then chatted subsequently with Mark Polson of platform consultancy the lang cat, in Podcast session 75. If you're going to go it alone and not seek professional advice, there are plenty of online systems to help you invest in various ways, and Mark's guide helps you decide which is best for you. Once a portfolio is built, it should be reviewed. In Podcast session 96 I cover what to do when you sit down each year to look at the year just gone and the one coming up. What should you be looking for? What should you ignore?

Step 6 - Learn about behavioural finance

We are so often our own worst enemies. While investing is a science, as humans we are driven by emotion, and as such we can make some very bad decisions. Half the battle with learning how to invest is understanding why we make mistakes and putting in place a framework to minimise these. Back in Podcast session 43 I covered nine classic investing mistakes that I see people make over and over again. Then, in one of my favourite conversations I have had for the podcast, I chatted to Greg Davies from Barclays Wealth over two shows, session 108 and session 109. Greg is the UK's foremost authority on behavioural finance and gives us some very practical tips on how to make good investing decisions. Finally, I make my own attempt to give some practical tips for making smart decisions in Podcast session 118.

Step 7 - Get things in context

As I often say here on MeaningfulMoney, money is never an end in itself, but a means to an end. It is there to serve your life goals, and to enable them, never to be a goal in itself. It is therefore vital to invest with this context in mind. In Podcast session 48 I asked some important questions, crafted by the father of financial life planning George Kinder. These three questions will help put money in its proper place. I then interviewed my good friend Tina Weeks in Podcast session 85, and she shared her approach for putting money into perspective.

Step 8 - Take things to the next level

Finally, for those plucky few who make it this far, there is the opportunity to level up, and take your investing to the next level. In Podcast session 81, I cover some advanced investing techniques, and in Podcast session 24, I talked about some lessons we can learn from how the super-rich manage their wealth. I chatted to financial guru Todd Tresidder in Podcast session 123, and asked the question: How much do I need to retire. Todd himself retired at 35 or something incredible, so he's a good man to learn from. And then in Podcast session 113, I covered ways to put your finances on autopilot, so you can grow your wealth while you sleep.

Summary

Phew! I think that is plenty for most people to be going along with. If you can apply the information about how to invest contained in these podcasts and videos, your financial success is pretty much assured.

Join the conversation

I love to read and respond to your comments, so please do join in and share. Question: Which of these resources has benefitted you most, and why?

Share the love

If this show is of any use to you, it would help me massively if you would take the time to leave me a review on iTunes. This has a huge impact on keeping me near the top of the rankings, which in turns helps more people to find the show and to subscribe. Just click the button below:

You’ve spent 40 years saving and investing towards your retirement. You’ve got pretty good at putting together and maintaining an investment portfolio. That’ll just carry on into retirement, right? Not so fast - we’re going to go deep today…

Listener Andy asks whether he should take out his student loan (which he doesn't need to live on) and invest it.

It's fair to say that retiring is a big deal for lots of reasons, but not least because there can be a lot to sort out. Today we want to look at the practical elements of preparing for retirement and also the less tangible stuff, like working out what you're actually going to do with your time!

It might seem disingenuous to say that living longer is a challenge for Millennials. Of course it is likely to be a blessing first and foremost, but when it comes to affording to live longer, there are somethings that we need to consider, as early as possible, to give ourselves the best chance of making the best of a long life.

I’m always excited to see the emergence of services that look to help more people take their financial planning in hand through the power and economies of scale that the internet provides. My guest today has launched a service called Finimize which seeks to both educate customers and also to help them with their financial planning, at least at a high level.

This week we continue our series answering your burning questions, as submitted by you in my 2017 listener survey. I had 250 responses, and you asked some corker questions, including one about the point where it makes sense to seek advice rather than DIY, and how to get that advice without it costing a fortune. Fortunately, I know a woman who can help!

We’re going back to first principles, looking deep into the fundamentals of personal finance success. And if we're going to do that, then we’d better start by defining what personal finance success actually is. Not an easy task, but I’ve never yet shied away from a challenge on this show!

Welcome to a brand new season here on MeaningfulMoney. I’m excited to bring you this season because I believe that it will help every single listener to this show. Today’s session will be introducing the season and helping you get ready and excited for it. Don’t worry though, it ain't just fluff - there will be some action points to take as well.

Podcast: Subscribe in iTunes | Play in new window | Download

Sponsor Message

This podcast is brought to you with the help of Seven Investment Management, a firm of investment managers based in London. They specialise in multi-asset investing, bringing institutional investing techniques to ordinary people like you and me. 7IM put their name to my show and to my site because they believe in what I’m doing, trying to get decent, easy-to-understand financial information out to the world. I’m very grateful to them for their support. You can see what they’re up to at 7im.co.uk

The Personal Finance Audit

OK, I am calling this season of MeaningfulMoney the Personal Finance Audit. I battled with myself over what to call it. Is ‘Audit’ too dull a word? Too forensic? Will everyone understand what it means?

In the end I opted for the word audit because I want this to be a pretty thorough look over various areas of our personal financial situation, to help us identify areas which might need refining or improving. All with the aim of reaching our goals as quickly and efficiently as possible.

So today I want to outline the nine areas of your personal finances we’re going to be looking into over the coming weeks so you’re well prepared for what’s to come.

Resources

Book: Enough, How Much Money Do You Need For The Rest Of Your Life? Website: Envision Your Money

Transcript

As always there is a transcript available for the entire show. you can get it by clicking the huge blue button below:

Share the love

If this show is of any use to you, it would help me massively if you would take the time to leave me a review on iTunes. This has a huge impact on keeping me near the top of the rankings, which in turns helps more people to find the show and to subscribe. Just click the button below:

Today we’re continuing our tip-toe through the UK Personal Finance Flow Chart, and specifically, we’re talking about paying off expensive debts. This is an essential part of getting your finances on a firm footing so that you can build for the future.

Show Notes: https://meaningfulmoney.tv/OS5 

UKPF Flow Chart: https://ukpersonal.finance/flowchart/ 

UPDATE: Voluntary National Insurance deadline for filling gaps since April 2006 has been extended to 5 April 2025.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/deadline-for-voluntary-national-insurance-contributions-extended-to-april-2025 

Last week we covered, very much in outline about income in retirement. This week we need to dive deeper, and get even more practical, and talk about securing an income in retirement.

Podcast: Subscribe in iTunes | Play in new window | Download

Sponsor Message

This podcast is brought to you with the help of Seven Investment Management, a firm of investment managers based in London. They specialise in multi-asset investing, bringing institutional investing techniques to ordinary people like you and me. 7IM put their name to my show and to my site because they believe in what I’m doing, trying to get decent, easy-to-understand financial information out to the world. I’m very grateful to them for their support. You can see what they’re up to at 7im.co.uk

Securing An Income In Retirement

When I talk about securing an income in retirement, I use that word carefully. I mentioned last week the difference between secured and unsecured income in retirement. I want to dive in and look at the subject of securing an income in retirement this week and address unsecured income in a couple of weeks' time...

Resources

Website: Find an adviser at Unbiased

Website: Money Advice Service Annuity Comparison site

Website: Check your state pension

Website: Pensions Advice Service page on annuity types

Share the love

If this show is of any use to you, it would help me massively if you would take the time to leave me a review on iTunes. This has a huge impact on keeping me near the top of the rankings, which in turns helps more people to find the show and to subscribe. Just click the button below:

I’m joined today by Jinesh Vohra from a company called Sprive, and their tagline is Mortgage Free, faster - which immediately piqued my interest.

This week’s encore episode is from September 2017 and comes from Season 7 - Life Stages. This episode focuses on the Empty Nest, a stage I’m heading towards in the next few years! This stage very often coincides with our peak earning years, so it’s important both to enjoy the extra cash in the present and also to store up some serious wealth for the future.

Today we’re going to talk about Equity Release, and contentious subject for some but a useful tool in financial planning for older folks who are asset-rich, but cash-poor. We’ll recount a couple of real stories from our own experience as advisers and then go over what you need to know and do about using Equity Release for your own financial planning or for your older family members, perhaps.

Shownotes: https://meaningfulmoney.tv/RS9 

In today’s episode, we show you how YOU CAN learn to invest. Honestly, it’s easier than you think!

Shownotes: https://meaningfulmoney.tv/YC2 

Everything You Need To Know

01:21  What is investing? Swapping your money for assets that grow in value, produce an income, or ideally both.

05:46  Why do people think it’s hard?

08:14  What you really need to know? Asset classes that matter - equities, bonds and property.

Everything You Need To Do

29:48  Build a foundation first.

32:58  Start with money you’re probably already investing.

42:27  Open an ISA/LISA/Pension

48:40  Choose a fund - You want a global multi-asset fund.

52:25  Watch and learn - Commit to doing NOTHING for at least a year.

56:02  Don’t…

58:05  Podcast Review

59:20  The Meaningful Money Retirement Guide is due out on 6th May 2025

Long-time listeners will know that I’m fascinated by the whole area of behavioural finance. Today I’m joined by previous guest Daniel Crosby who has written what might just be the definitive book on the subject written so far.

There’s a reason lottery winners and Premiership footballers sometimes go bankrupt. If you’re spending more than is coming in, you’re getting poorer; and as you prepare for retirement, you’re going to need to really get a grip on your cashflow.

Today we’re going to look at the big mistake of Being Too Cautious, or to put it another way, taking too little risk. Obviously we’re talking primarily about investing here, and we want to talk about why risk is your friend and the impact of taking too little risk on your future outcomes. Should be an interesting discussion!

Shownotes: https://meaningfulmoney.tv/BM4 

As you can imagine, financial education is a subject close to my heart. It is, in fact, the very reason for the existence of MeaningfulMoney. So when a good friend of mine suggested I chat to Erik Porter of The Money Charity, a body dedicated to financial education, I couldn’t really pass up the chance.

Today we thought we would take stock of where we’ve come in the season and also to help you with reviewing the transition points of the flow chart, as they apply to your life. A regular review is essential for being intentional with our finances, and it’s at those review points that we can take a look at where we are and see if there’s anything we need to change.

Shownotes: https://meaningfulmoney.tv/OS9 

Last week we asked some searching questions in a bid to know ourselves a little better when it comes to our relationship with money. This week I want to look at some common money mistakes and how to avoid them. That way, we might have a chance of seeing these mistakes coming, and maybe just side-step them before they derail us.

Podcast: Subscribe in iTunes | Play in new window | Download

Sponsor Message

This podcast is brought to you with the help of Seven Investment Management, a firm of investment managers based in London. They specialise in multi-asset investing, bringing institutional investing techniques to ordinary people like you and me. 7IM put their name to my show and to my site because they believe in what I’m doing, trying to get decent, easy-to-understand financial information out to the world. I’m very grateful to them for their support. You can see what they’re up to at 7im.co.uk

Seven Common Money Mistakes

If we want to make the best financial decisions possible, it makes sense to learn from others’ mistakes. No sense in reinventing the wheel if someone else has been there and done it. So this week I want to look some common money mistakes that I have seen all too frequently during my time as an adviser. The longer I do this job, the more convinced I am that a large part of my job is to coach people not to make these mistakes!

The seven common mistakes I see all too often are:

• Taking either too little or too much interest in your finances
• Getting lulled into a false sense of achievement
• Underestimating longevity
• Procrastination
• Coming over all emotional
• Making investment decisions based on news flow
• Rushing into retirement

Listen to the show to see how I suggest you avoid each of these...

Join the conversation

I love to read and respond to your comments, so please do join in and share.

Question: Have you made any of the mistakes listed here? If so, what was the outcome? And what would you do differently next time?

Share the love

If this show is of any use to you, it would help me massively if you would take the time to leave me a review on iTunes. This has a huge impact on keeping me near the top of the rankings, which in turns helps more people to find the show and to subscribe. Just click the button below:

Over the past couple of weeks, we’ve covered the ultimate guide to investing. We need to finish that off and talk about some of the important mechanisms of investing, the accounts we use: pensions, ISAs and all the rest!

Today I get to bring you what is easily my favourite interview in my nearly ten years of the MeaningfulMoney project. It was my privilege to chat with JL Collins, author of The Simple Path To Wealth, which is quite simply the greatest personal finance book ever written.

With tens of thousands of investment funds available it is hard to know where to start when building a portfolio. Understanding Investment Sectors is a good place to start, and that’s the subject this week’s show.

A reminder of the basics is never a bad thing. No matter how advanced you are with your personal finances, and no matter what Lifestage you’re in, it’s always a good idea to review the basic truths about money.

In this season we’ve covered the financial first principles, fro defining what wealth means, through compounding, inflation and last week looking at how our behaviour affects our wealth-building efforts. Today I want to bring it all together under the title of COHESION.

Today we begin a new season which will be a bit different, because we’re going to cover some real stories from our years in the financial advice profession. The idea is that the first part of each episode will be going over one or more examples of real client situations and in a particular area of financial planning - all anonymised of course - and from those we can draw some lessons and other salient points for your information and action.

Shownotes: https://meaningfulmoney.tv/RS1 

Yes, it’s a brand new season. And over the next few weeks I’m going to be looking at eight different life stages. Yep - eight! Believe it or not, I’ve identified eight distinct phases of life which come with unique financial challenges, and I want t

It’s session number 103, and for the first time ever, I’m bringing back a guest who isn’t Justin Urquhart Stewart! You may remember Abraham Okusanya from session 74, the most downloaded episode of all time. Well, I’ve brought Abraham back on to talk about the dangers of what he calls pound cost ravaging on portfolios in retirement. Stay tuned for more…

Today we look at how to keep the finances ticking over nicely in retirement by conducting regular reviews. Specifically, we’ll be looking at when and how.

Show Notes: https://meaningfulmoney.tv/OS13 

In this season so far, we’ve talked a lot about the practicalities of managing your personal finances. But what is it all for? Investing, saving, paying into pensions, taking out insurance - all this should be done towards a defined goal. But sometimes those goals fade, sometimes they change, sometimes they need to be abandoned and sometimes brought back to life. Your plans, like all the practical stuff sometimes need to be looked at closely, and that’s what I’m going to be talking about this week.

Today we’re going to talk about the DANGER ZONE
That’s period of time from when you retire to when all your available income sources are coming in, usually the time of your state pension. This is the period where you’ll have the best health, so you’ll want to enjoy that and spend your money accordingly.

Show Notes: https://meaningfulmoney.tv/OS12 

Last week we spent some time getting current with all our amassed pension plans investments bank accounts and insurance policies. Today we need to decide what we are actually going to do with all that information…

This whole website is dedicated to giving you enough information that never need to take financial advice. But there are points during all our lives, when the money spent on getting good quality advice will be worth many times the cost of advice. What are those triggers that let you know when to seek financial advice, and how do you recognise them?

Podcast: Subscribe in iTunes | Play in new window | Download

Sponsor Message

This podcast is brought to you with the help of Seven Investment Management, a firm of investment managers based in London. They specialise in multi-asset investing, bringing institutional investing techniques to ordinary people like you and me. 7IM put their name to my show and to my site because they believe in what I’m doing, trying to get decent, easy-to-understand financial information out to the world. I’m very grateful to them for their support. You can see what they’re up to at 7im.co.uk

When to seek financial advice

Increasingly these days I’m getting emails from listeners suggesting subjects for podcast sessions. That’s excellent, because it saves me from coming up with them! Tony from Reading is one such listener who wrote:

Is there a rule of thumb we can use to teach us when to use a professional and when to make our own decisions ?

e.g. If I am switching a stocks & shares ISA from one provider to another - what to look out for that indicates the need for professional advice ? Or can I just go for it ?

e.g Pensions.  Is it OK to simply switch pensions provider to get a more flexible product, a better deal or better service ?  What are the watch outs - and when should we call an IFA ?

That’s an excellent question, and a good one to get my teeth into!

In this session, you'll discover:

1. The three steps that everyone needs to take to succeed with money
2. Why you don't need to seek advice
3. When you should consider it
4. When you really, really do need to seek professional advice
5. Which professionals to see, and when - it's not all about IFAs you now!

Thanks to Tony for the idea for this session; I hope it clarifies things for him, and for all of you!

Resources mentioned in this show:

Course: Learn How To Invest

Podcast: Session 75 - Direct Investment Platforms with Mark Polson

Website: Morningstar

Website: MoneySupermarket.com

Podcast: Session 22 - All About Trusts

And of course, there's always the transcript for this show, which you can get by hitting the big blue button below:

Join the conversation

I love to read and respond to your comments, so please do join in and share. Question: Can you think of any other times when you should or shouldn't seek advice? Let me know in the comments...

Share the love

If this show is of any use to you, it would help me massively if you would take the time to leave me a review on iTunes. This has a huge impact on keeping me near the top of the rankings, which in turns helps more people to find the show and to subscribe. Just click the button below:

I get an email or a message at least once a week asking for clarity on the NHS pensions scheme. It is a complex beast with different tiers, different attributes and lots to get your head around. Fortunately, when it comes to the NHS scheme, my guest today is one of the country’s leading experts…

In the long journey towards financial independence, life sometimes happens. When it does, you’re going to need to adjust, deal with the challenges and refocus. Today I want to help you do just that.

This season is called One Big Thing, and the idea is that I have a guest on each week and we discuss something that they’re passionate about, annoyed about, or that is their specialism. I have some great guests lined up for you, starting this week with my good buddy Andy Hart from the Maven Money podcast.

Andy and I are going to talk about risk. It’s an important subject to say the least and it’s fair to say that Andy has some strong views on the subject, as do I.

Let’s say you have some extra money available each month. Should you pay down your mortgage more quickly, or invest that surplus? Or maybe you have an inheritance coming - should you pay off your mortgage or invest it? It’s a question which isn’t easily answered, because maths and emotion are often at odds.

Budget 2016

So, up until a couple of weeks before this budget, we were expecting pretty swingeing changes to the pension system. George backed off from that, at least for now. But he had some other announcements up his sleeve and we’ll take a look at those today,

I’ll be sticking to the personal finance related stuff, rather than messing about with duty on fags and, at the other end of the scale, with the macroeconomic stuff.

1 – Savings and Pensions

Firstly, the ISA allowance will be increased to £20,000 from April 2017, while staying at £15,240 for the coming tax year (16/17)

The big new announcement was the new Lifetime ISA (presumably to be called ‘LISA’) which will be introduced form April 2017.

It will be available for those aged between 18 and 40 on April 6th 2017. These people can contribute up to £4,000 per year, and this will be topped up by 25% by a government bonus at the end of the tax year. This is similar to pension tax relief for BR payers, but a bit different.

One can contribute to a LISA up to age 50, so maximum of 32 years from age 18.

32 years x £4,000 = £128,000, plus £32,000 of bonus, plus the growth on both – a useful su of money.

The £4,000 limit will be included within the £20,000 overall ISA contribution limit, but you can transfer from other ISAs into a LISA to fund the £4k limit. Only one LISA per year is allowed per person.

Withdrawals can be made with no implications for:

• house purchase deposit up to £450,000 or,
• for retirement planning after age 60.

The LISA will be accessible at other times, but government bonus plus the growth on it must be returned, and a 5% exit penalty too – pretty swingeing.

I can see the LISA being a forerunner of a new kind of pension, with limited tax relief and some limited access before retirement – we’ll see.

There’s a really good factsheet here, produced by the Government, all about LISA and how she’ll work.

2 – Small business

Some good news for small business owners: Corporation tax is reducing to 17% by 2020 from the current 20% rate.

More importantly, Small Business Rate Relief is being overhauled from April 2017. Where the rateable value is less than £15,000 businesses will pay no business rates (the threshold is currently £6,000). The higher rate threshold is also rising from £18,000 to £51,000.

According to the Chancellor, this means that 600,000 businesses will pay no business rates, and 250,000 will pay less than they currently pay.

A small fillip for the self-employed too: Class 2 National Insurance contributions will be abolished (flat rate £2.80pw) from 2018

3 – Tax

There will be new rates of Capital Gains Tax introduced from April 2016. these will be 10% is the taxable gain falls in the Basic Rate Tax band, and 20% if it falls within the Higher Rate Tax band.

BUT, George said that “The old rates will be kept in place for gains on residential property and carried interest. That’s an 8% surcharge for residential property, clearly designed to encourage investing in companies over property.

If you’re wondering, carried interest is a share in the profits of alternative investments e.g. Private equity and hedge funds.

Summary

Of course there were many other announcements, but these are the key things for those interested in personal finance I reckon

Join the conversation

I love to read and respond to your comments, so please do join in and share. Question: What do you think of the Budget announcements? How do they affect you?

In my 20-odd year career as a financial planner, I have worked with many bereaved clients who have lost spouses, partners, parents and other loved ones. Obviously, the emotional impact is profound, but this is often compounded by the additional pressure of having to go through someone’s financial and other affairs to get things straight.
This process is always made so much easier if the person who has died was organised beforehand.
And essentially, that is what the company Once I’ve Gone are helping people to prepare, but I’ll let Ian Dibb, Founder and CEO of the company explain more.

Regular listeners will know that I’ve been reading and learning a great deal about behavioural finance over the past 18 months or so. It has had a profound effect on the way I think about investing and the way I deal with my clients. Today I get to speak to the man who has written, for me the most accessible and actionable book on the subject, The Laws of Wealth, by Daniel Crosby.

Podcast: Subscribe in iTunes | Play in new window | Download

Sponsor Message

This podcast is brought to you with the help of Seven Investment Management, a firm of investment managers based in London. They specialise in multi-asset investing, bringing institutional investing techniques to ordinary people like you and me. 7IM put their name to my show and to my site because they believe in what I’m doing, trying to get decent, easy-to-understand financial information out to the world. I’m very grateful to them for their support. You can see what they’re up to at 7im.co.uk

The Laws of Wealth

I’m splitting my conversation with Daniel Crosby into two parts as it is nearly 50 minutes long, but don’t worry, I’m releasing both parts simultaneously so you don’t have to wait a week for part two! In part one, we take a look at a few of Daniel’s ten laws for behavioural self-management. And here in part two, we look at why those rules are not enough, and how he is helping his clients invest in such as way that some of the rules can be automated.

Resources

Book: The Laws of Wealth on Amazon (affiliate link)

Website: Nocturne Capital

Twitter: Daniel Crosby on Twitter

LinkedIn: Daniel Crosby on LinkedIn

Competition

Head over to part one of this conversation to enter the competition!

Share the love

If this show is of any use to you, it would help me massively if you would take the time to leave me a review on iTunes. This has a huge impact on keeping me near the top of the rankings, which in turns helps more people to find the show and to subscribe. Just click the button below:

It's time for another listener Q&A! This time we cover paying off student loans, old pensions, alternative to pensions and ISAs and much more.

Shownotes: https://meaningfulmoney.tv/QA2 

00:40   Sophie - My question is that I am about to start earning a lot more than I thought I was as a graduate. I have always been told to ignore my student loans by my parents as it's essentially a tax, but looking at some calculators I would pay it all off in 25 years before it gets cleared and pay more than double the £45,600 in interest. I'm thinking of trying to overpay it off more quickly than that as it seems very big to have especially with 7.3% interest rate. I'm not sure if I should prioritize this, as I could start now, but as I'm starting work I'm still very uncertain of what to save and how I should treat this debt. Or should I not worry about it this early on?

06:55   Ellie - My partner recently traced a pension from an old employer. When he contacted the company they told him the pension was all paid out to him when he left the company, 9 years ago. He was 28 at the time. Is that possible? I believed it wasn't possible to access pensions until 10 years before state pension age. The exceptions I'm aware of (certain types of job/illness) aren't relevant here. I can't believe this pension would have had particularly special properties. It was while he was working for Experian. He doesn't remember receiving a lump sum, and is checking with his bank (it's too far back to see online). Did the person he spoke to just make a mistake? He is reluctant to go back to them without anything concrete, and it is hard to trust what they say. Any advice on what to do next?

12:15   Joanne - I am a higher rate tax payer and contribute to a SIPP on top of my employer pension (very generous DB scheme) to keep my earnings underneath £100k so that I can benefit from free childcare hours and about the 60% tax trap bracket between £100-£125k. However, I am now breaching the annual £60k pension allowance and so end up paying significant tax on the additional pension contributions in my self assessment. I am so aware that this is a privileged position to be in and want to contribute my fair share of tax but I wondered what other channels I should be exploring to be as tax efficient as possible please (I have never dabbled in VCTs!)

18:44   James - How do I weigh up the relative value of AVC on my DB pension rather than investing in a LISA or S&S ISA where I retain my capital?

22:25   Giles - I have fallen into the 60% tax trap on a number of occasions, to mitigate this I have tried to top up my pension to get my earnings below 100k to reduce my tax bill. Being the main earner and with 2 very expensive teenagers I don’t have enough spare cash to do this easily so have taken the money out of a S+S ISA in the past. I know this shifts the balance of my assets massively into pensions but it seems worth it to reduce tax. My question being is this a reasonable plan? Is it a good idea to do this or am I better keeping retirement options more flexible with a larger ISA pot?

Here we are with a brand new season of the MeaningfulMoney podcast, all about the run-in to retirement after a life of building wealth. Today I want to ask an important question right at the start - What is retirement?

The days of a job for life are long gone, even for me, and I’m unfortunately too old to call myself a Millennial. Now more than ever, the employment environment is more fluid than it has ever been, and once again, this provides both challenges and opportunities...

Regular listeners will know that I’ve been reading and learning a great deal about behavioural finance over the past 18 months or so. It has had a profound effect on the way I think about investing and the way I deal with my clients. Today I get to speak to the man who has written, for me the most accessible and actionable book on the subject, The Laws of Wealth, by Daniel Crosby.

Podcast: Subscribe in iTunes | Play in new window | Download

Sponsor Message

This podcast is brought to you with the help of Seven Investment Management, a firm of investment managers based in London. They specialise in multi-asset investing, bringing institutional investing techniques to ordinary people like you and me. 7IM put their name to my show and to my site because they believe in what I’m doing, trying to get decent, easy-to-understand financial information out to the world. I’m very grateful to them for their support. You can see what they’re up to at 7im.co.uk

The Laws of Wealth

I’m splitting my conversation with Daniel Crosby into two parts as it is nearly 50 minutes long, but don’t worry, I’m releasing both parts simultaneously so you don’t have to wait a week for part two! In part one, we take a look at a few of Daniel’s ten laws for behavioural self-management. And in part two, we look at why those rules are not enough, and how he is helping his clients invest in such as way that some of the rules can be automated.

Resources

Book: The Laws of Wealth on Amazon (affiliate link)

Website: Nocturne Capital

Twitter: Daniel Crosby on Twitter

LinkedIn: Daniel Crosby on LinkedIn

Transcript

Competition

You can win one of five copies of The Laws of Wealth by leaving a comment below, and telling me:

• Your biggest takeaway from my conversation with Daniel, or
• What you have enjoyed most from all my content on behavioural finance, or
• What difference learning about behavioural finance has made to you.

Share the love

If this show is of any use to you, it would help me massively if you would take the time to leave me a review on iTunes. This has a huge impact on keeping me near the top of the rankings, which in turns helps more people to find the show and to subscribe. Just click the button below:

It’s a new season here on MeaningfulMoney and we’re going to be building on the previous two seasons and talk about how to build wealth the right way, that is for the long term. I work with clients every day who have been carefully building wealth over many years, and have done so without living like monks along the way. I am seeking to emulate those people and in this season, I want to try to impart what I am continuing to learn and apply.

Podcast: Subscribe in iTunes | Play in new window | Download

Sponsor Message

This podcast is brought to you with the help of Seven Investment Management, a firm of investment managers based in London. They specialise in multi-asset investing, bringing institutional investing techniques to ordinary people like you and me. 7IM put their name to my show and to my site because they believe in what I’m doing, trying to get decent, easy-to-understand financial information out to the world. I’m very grateful to them for their support. You can see what they’re up to at 7im.co.uk

Building Wealth

OK, so we did a whole season on investing, back in Season 2, and talked about decision-making in Season 3. When I talk about building wealth, I’m not just talking about investing and the mechanics of doing that, but about bringing together all the necessary disciplines to increase your net worth, and your sense of financial wellbeing. Today I want to lay the groundwork for the season. Not sure how many episodes there will be, but it will be at least seven, maybe more. I’m excited to get started…

In this session, you'll discover:

• Why it's important to define wealth correctly
• My preferred definition of what it means to be wealthy
• That there's no 'right' way to build wealth
• Why it's important to use all the tools at our disposal
• The fundamentals which must be in place before you even think about building wealth
• Why you should create a vision for your future to hold on to

Resources mentioned in this show

Book: Robert Kiyosaki - Rich Dad, Poor Dad

Blog: The Definition of Wealth

Podcast: Cash Flow or Capital Gains, with Buck Joffrey

Video: Harnessing the power of compounding

Podcast: Informed Choice Radio

Join the conversation

I love to read and respond to your comments, so please do join in and share.

Question: Do you have the basics in place? If not, what are you goign to do about it?!

Share the love

If this show is of any use to you, it would help me massively if you would take the time to leave me a review on iTunes. This has a huge impact on keeping me near the top of the rankings, which in turns helps more people to find the show and to subscribe. Just click the button below:

People fail to engage with their money for lots of reasons: fear, worry, ignorance, boredom, even! It’s up to the financial services world (of which I am a part) to help people to break through these blocks and make money less boring! Today I’m chatting to Holly Mackay, founder of a new website called Boring Money, about her reasons for setting up the site, and what can be done to help more people engage.

Today we want to cover a topic that is very subjective to each individual’s circumstances - whether you should take out insurance for a given risk, or whether you should use some of your own money in case that risk occurs.

In this season we’re looking at the first principles, the fundamentals of good financial management. This week, I want to look at the aspect of managing your money which puts you in the hotseat - CONTROL.

We’re carrying on our season of Big Mistakes and today we’re covering the mistake of not planning for later life, which is truly a big mistake. There’s lots to think about in later life and too many people leave it too late, causing problems for themselves and their loved ones.

Shownotes: https://meaningfulmoney.tv/BM5 

Today’s guests are giants in the FI/RE community. Their podcast and blog is massive and deservedly so as they communicate a clear passion for their subject and inspire others to follow them on their journey. Today I’m speaking with Brad Barrett and Jonathan Mendonsa from ChooseFI

Confirmation bias is an insidious threat to our future wealth by keeping us closed against alternative views of investing and wealth-building approaches. In this week's Five Minute Friday, I offer three tips to keep it at bay.

This week I share three-ish top tips for winning with your budgeting

In recent weeks we’ve covered behavioural finance from various angles. But we haven’t yet covered off some practical steps to save ourselves from ourselves; strategies for making good investment decisions. So that’s our mission today - stay tuned for some easily applicable tips and tricks to stay safe in the big bad world of investing.

I get a load of request for people wanting to come on the show, but today’s guest asked the opposite - could she use my resources at her live events? I emailed back to find out what those events were, and I was impressed by her passion and mission so I invited her on to the show. Today I’m chatting with Tara Gillespie of Best Intentions

Hindsight is a wonderful thing. Except when you’re investing, when it tries to trick you. Constant Vigilance!

Today we kick off a new season which we’re calling Big Ideas. The thinking is that we’ll deal with some of the big, overarching principles of personal finance, and show you how to put them into practice.

Shownotes: https://meaningfulmoney.tv/2024/01/24/big-ideas-businesses-and-bricks/

Following on from part one of my interview with Greg Davies, this week we’re bringing you the second part, and this week we get nicely practical in helping you make good decisions…

Sponsor Message

This podcast is brought to you with the help of Seven Investment Management, a firm of investment managers based in London. They specialise in multi-asset investing, bringing institutional investing techniques to ordinary people like you and me. 7IM put their name to my show and to my site because they believe in what I’m doing, trying to get decent, easy-to-understand financial information out to the world. I’m very grateful to them for their support.

You can see what they’re up to at 7im.co.uk

Beeswax & Ropes: A Framework for Good Decisions

Greg Davies is the founder Centapse, where he will further develop the approach to behavioural finance that he has spent years studying. his new firm works with the financial services industry to make investing decisions easier. I think you’ll enjoy this chat with Greg if you haven’t listened to it before. If you haven’t listened to last week’s show, I suggest you do that first…

In this show, you’ll learn:

• What Greg means by anxiety-adjusted returns
• his view on the classic investor profiles and the behaviours of each
• Whether better investment decision-making frameworks be learned
• About the concept of anchoring and its effect on financial decision-making
• How can ordinary investors be aware of their own decision making tendencies and adjust if necessary?
  • Three things to look out for and do
  • Three things to look out for and NOT do

Resources mentioned in this week’s show

Book: Daniel Kahneman’s Thinking Fast & Slow

Website: Greg Davies’ company: Centapse

Website: Investment philosophy website at Barclays

Today I am joined by repeat guest and financial planning legend, Chris Budd. He has a new book called the Four Cornerstones of Financial Wellbeing and it’s a very helpful read for anyone struggling to keep money in its place, or with the effects that money can have on our mental health.

Shownotes: https://meaningfulmoney.tv/session533 

It a sad fact of getting older that we become increasingly aware of our own mortality. And eventually, for those of us who are in a long-term relationship, we have to face the spectre of losing our partner, or of them losing us. Obviously, if we're old enough to be in retirement, then this is even more of a factor in our minds, and like everything else, we should plan for it.

A point of clarification after some feedback received about this point. I believe that anyone can build wealth effectively on their own. But you'll make fewer mistakes, save money and build wealth faster if you do work with a professional financial planner...

This New Year 2020 I am announcing the public launch of Meaningful Academy - Financial Foundations, a brand new course to help you set your finance off in the right way.

Today we begin a new season of the MeaningfulMoney podcast where each episode will be strategies for dealing with a certain financial situation. Today we start with Strategies for managing the pension Lifetime Allowance…

In researching for this season on Millennial finance, one of the biggest messages that comes across is the likely significant reduction in the number of young people who will be able to buy a house. That may well be true, but I have a sneaking suspicion that, like many of the challenges faced by millennials, this may be another one which can be addressed with some discipline, good habits and laser focus.

It’s another Q&A, and this week’ we’re talking Lifetime ISA withdrawals, whether you need life insurance and the NHS pensions scheme, among other things!

Shownotes: https://meaningfulmoney.tv/QA8 

01:08  Question 1

I just wanted to start by thanking you so much for your podcast. I'm probably one of your younger listeners, having started listening to you when I was 26. I feel very fortunate to have discovered your podcast at such a young age, as it means I will hopefully have years, if not decades, to put your excellent advice into practice.

I have a quick question that I was hoping you could help me with. I currently have a LISA that I was planning to use as a deposit for a house. However, I am now planning to move to Australia permanently with my Aussie fiancée. I have separate savings that I can use for a deposit now, but since ISAs are not recognised in Australia while UK SIPPs are, would it be wise to take the 25% hit by withdrawing the money from my LISA and transferring it into a SIPP to benefit from higher rate tax relief and continued tax advantages?

I understand you cannot offer specific advice, but I would be interested to hear if there are any general pitfalls or advantages in this plan that I should be aware of.

Many thanks!
Simon

04:40  Question 2

Will try to keep this brief but is challenging.

Do we need life insurance?

If I die whilst employed my wife gets a lump sum which will cover our only debt the mortgage through my DB pension scheme.

If I retire aged 60-65 my lump sum will cover any mortgage remaining if still have one.

My wife has no such pension / cover if she were to die (currently between jobs).

I have emergency fund / Overpay into pension for tax relief & child benefit purposes / and recently opened stocks and shares ISA for myself and  2 children. Age 39 trying to build for future but started late :)

Many thanks
Lee

09:55  Question 3

Many thanks for all the ongoing information and discussion, I’ve been listening for years, but still learning and trying to put into practice all positive behaviours (just like with diet and exercise, knowing and doing are rather different!).

A question and a thought.

Question; (apologies, after I typed it, it turned out to be very long and NHS specific so feel free to ignore, but I think the point about revising tax returns after submission when new info comes is more generally applicable).

I’m in the NHS pension scheme and am awaiting my RPSS after McCloud judgement. They were due by October. It’s November and I haven’t had mine (many others say the same). I believe they are prioritising those with who have definite AA charges and I doubt my NHS figures trigger that as I was part time for much of the relevant period.

However, I also contributed to a private pension every year, the amounts varied, but were usually calculated quite closely using the AAPSS that I had at the time to maximise residual allowances - so basically I think I may now have Annual Allowance issues that I didn’t at the time, but am not being prioritised by the NHS pension scheme for a new statement because they don’t know about my extra contributions.

Added to this I have already submitted my 23-24 tax return before I realised there might be a problem. Others have added a comment to theirs essentially saying ‘watch this space for more information’ and apparently have 12 months to amend them once their RPSS arrives.

So, the question is, can I still change my tax return (submitted on behalf by my accountant if that’s relevant) if new information becomes available after Jan 31st (or even in the new tax year)?

Do you have any advice for those waiting documents from the NHS pension scheme or insider knowledge re. Timescales for remaining documents?
Anja

13:28  Question 4

Thank you so much for an amazing podcast!

My question…

After 7 years of a long distance relationship, I’m  talking to my partner about moving in together.

Apart from checking your significant other listens to the podcast (mine does - phew) what are the most important areas to cover when thinking about joint finances, particularly if you haven’t talked much about money before?

Thank you!

Elizabeth

19:07  Question 5

Hi Pete and Roger!

Thank you so much for the show. I’ve been listening for the past 6 years and have gone from saving for a house to learning about pensions and now actively pursuing building my pension and ISA pots so that I can be ‘work optional’ as soon as possible (hoping to be there in 5 years and would not have known where to even start if it wasn’t for your podcast).

My question is how does the actual mechanics of drawing down from a pension work? Is there an equivalent of PAYE for pension draw downs? How is income tax calculated and collected? Would a tax return need to be done?

Thanks so much!!

Gavin

24:07  Question 6

I am approaching the Lifetime Allowance (used 91.43%) but my Armed Forces Pension tax-free amount I received was less than the 25% for the amount of LTA used ( 58.96%). I have a Transitional Tax Free Allowance Certificate to ensure I am still able to receive the maximum tax-free amount (£268,275).  I have currently received £168,932.69 as a tax-free amount.  In order to realise the maximum tax-free amount I will need to exceed the LTA by £259,143.76. Finally, I am still able to max out my contributions each year at £60,000 to help reduce my tax bill.

If I continue to max out my contributions each year and exceed the LTA to realise the tax-free amount, what are the implications of this or should I consider paying the money into other investment accounts?

Regards, Martin

Today we’re going to be covering Helpful Basics in the area of self employment and side hustles. We’ll be talking about what you need to know and what you need to do if you’re planning on going it alone in business or supplementing your income in some way…

Shownotes: https://meaningfulmoney.tv/HB6

What You Need To Know

01:55 What is self-employment?

04:08 What is a side-hustle?

09:18 How tax works as a self-employed person.

 
Everything You Need To Do

20:37 Start as you mean to go on.

26:44 Register for self employment.

29:22 Start a pension.

31:07 Think about insurance.

34:03 Plan for the future.

39:25 E-myth Revisited book.

 
40:40 Review of the podcast

In any sphere of life, there are things which are big news one day, then fade away the next, and then there are the timeless things which stand the test of time. This follows in personal finance too, and today I’ll be looking at some financial fads and fashions, as well as some timeless truths for those looking to increase their wealth.

Podcast: Subscribe in iTunes | Play in new window | Download

Sponsor Message

This podcast is brought to you with the help of Seven Investment Management, a firm of investment managers based in London. They specialise in multi-asset investing, bringing institutional investing techniques to ordinary people like you and me. 7IM put their name to my show and to my site because they believe in what I’m doing, trying to get decent, easy-to-understand financial information out to the world. I’m very grateful to them for their support. You can see what they’re up to at 7im.co.uk

In this session:

There is so much marketing in personal finance, and so many conflicting voices telling you what you need to know and what you need to do, ahem, that it can be hard to know what is true and permanent.

You want to avoid these short-term financial fads and fashions, and I’m here to look at some examples and show the timeless alternatives which have stood the test of time, and crucially, how to tell the difference.

In this session, you'll discover about financial fads and fashions, and:

1. What constitutes a 'hot' investment and why they come and go
2. We we often fall for these marketing messages
3. The difference between a legitimate tax-saving scheme, and one which will be scrutinised by HMRC
4. My pet-hate funds of the moment and why they're not delivering on their promises
5. The two common-sense rules of thumb which will help you avoid being taken in
6. Why it is essential that you know what you're really invested in

You are responsible for your own wealth. You might hire an adviser - a good idea - to help you make big decisions, but it’s your money at the end of the day and you have to take ownership. Do your homework and take you time with all decisions. If you’re concerned about anything - either email me or  leave a comment below.

Join the conversation

I love to read and respond to your comments, so please do join in and share. 

Question: Have you invested in any of the fads and fashions I talk about this week?

Risk is a subject so inseparably attached to wealth building that I had to include it as one of my first principles. Trouble is, it’s a subject that I have dealt with at some length before, so how will I find something new to say? We’ll see…

Benjamin Franklin apparently said that there are only two certainties in life, death and taxes. Today I want to look at the tax you may be paying, and how to make the best of the various tax allowances available.

Pound cost averaging - is it about maths and investment success, or is it about human emotion and behaviour?

With rising house prices and tight mortgage lending criteria, it can be harder than ever for first time house buyers to make that first step onto the housing ladder. Fortunately, Her Majesty’s government is riding to the rescue   This week I’m going to be talking to listener Simon Hancock, who knows this market inside out, having recently gone through the process himself…

Podcast: Subscribe in iTunes | Play in new window | Download

Sponsor Message

This podcast is brought to you with the help of Seven Investment Management, a firm of investment managers based in London. They specialise in multi-asset investing, bringing institutional investing techniques to ordinary people like you and me. 7IM put their name to my show and to my site because they believe in what I’m doing, trying to get decent, easy-to-understand financial information out to the world. I’m very grateful to them for their support.

You can see what they’re up to at 7im.co.uk

Getting on to the housing ladder with shared ownership

Right, let’s crack on! Simon Hancock emailed me suggesting that I might do a session on the various schemes that are available to help house buyers, well, buy a house. It was so clear from the email that Simon had done the research and that he knew his onions, that I fired one straight back and asked if I could interview him. He kindly agreed, and this session is the result.

In this session, you’ll discover:

1. The different methods which new homebuyers can get help from the government
2. The pros and cons of these shared ownership schemes
3. The mechanics of how they work, and what to watch for
4. Which options might be suited for which people
5. How you can prepare for owning your first home, and the financial side of doing so.

I’m grateful to Simon for his input, both in coming up with the idea for the show, and for doing the homework so I didn’t have to! And also for putting up with a pretty ropey Skype connection…

Resources mentioned in this show:

Website: Gov.uk site on shared ownership

Join the conversation

I love to read and respond to your comments, so please do join in and share. Question: Have you used a shared ownership scheme to buy a house? What was your experience?

Share the love

If this show is of any use to you, it would help me massively if you would take the time to leave me a review on iTunes. This has a huge impact on keeping me near the top of the rankings, which in turns helps more people to find the show and to subscribe. Just click the button below:

In this encore episode, I revisit my chat with Andy Hart all about financial forecasting, a powerful process that divines the future of your finances, using mathematical software. 

Shownotes are at http://meaningfulmoney.tv/session79

You’ve heard me talk several times on this show about having a strong foundation for your financial plans. In practice, this means having some insurance in place so that if the very worst happens, your plans need not be washed away. In today’s show, I’m going to look at the different kinds of insurance, how much you need and what you should look out for in the plans you already have.

Podcast: Subscribe in iTunes | Play in new window | Download

Sponsor Message

This podcast is brought to you with the help of Seven Investment Management, a firm of investment managers based in London. They specialise in multi-asset investing, bringing institutional investing techniques to ordinary people like you and me. 7IM put their name to my show and to my site because they believe in what I’m doing, trying to get decent, easy-to-understand financial information out to the world. I’m very grateful to them for their support. You can see what they’re up to at 7im.co.uk

Audit Your Insurance

So let’s talk about a foundation. When building anything, the foundation absolutely has to be right. If you build a house without an adequate foundation, at best you’re going to get some unsightly cracks, and at worst the place will fall down.

Life throws things at us which we don’t expect. Some of those things are worse than others. Some have a greater financial impact than others. But a prudent person takes some steps to ensure that if some or all of these things happen, then the longer-term financial security of you and your family need not be compromised.

Resources

Here's the cheatsheet I've put together to summarise the things I talk about in this session: Podcast: Session 7, Protecting Your Future Podcast: Session 22, All About Trusts

Share the love

If this show is of any use to you, it would help me massively if you would take the time to leave me a review on iTunes. This has a huge impact on keeping me near the top of the rankings, which in turns helps more people to find the show and to subscribe. Just click the button below: