Money Tips Podcast

• Stamp Duty holiday ends, long live tax on property buyers!

• Wednesday 30 June is the deadline for most European Union (EU) citizens to apply to live permanently in the UK as settled residents.

The Stamp Duty exemption for homebuyers paying tax on properties which cost £250,000 or less is coming to an end, much to my solicitor’s relief! He will need a real holiday!

Wales temporarily raised its threshold for land transaction tax (LTT) during the pandemic from £180,000 to £250,000, in line with other UK governments.

The exemption, originally to March 2021, was extended to 30 June.

Some homebuyers have saved thousands by completing sales within the deadline, but others are set to miss out for various reasons including legal or mortgage delays.

From 1 July, stamp duty will be charged above £250,000 at the following rates:

• £0-£250,000 = 0%
• £250,001-£925,000 = 5%
• £925,001-£1,500,000 = 10%
• £1,500,000+ = 12%

On 1 October 2021, rates are due to return to normal. That means the point you to start paying stamp duty will revert to £125,001:

• £0-£125,000 = 0%
• £125,001-£250,000 = 2%
• £250,001-£925,000 = 5%
• £925,000-£1,500,000 = 10%
• £1,500,000+ = 12%

You can use the government's Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) calculator to find out how much you would pay.

Will there be a slump in the market? 

In truth, nobody really knows when the property, or stock market, will peak, but we do know that bull runs usually last 10-12 years and we have already passed that deadline. Governments around the world printing trillions of dollars have prevented a slump and recession, so far. An estate agent friend of mine, who has just had her best quarter ever, said she is concerned that people who wanted to buy this year have done so already.

EU Settlement Scheme Deadline

The take-up of the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) has been huge - but there are serious concerns that thousands of people have still not sought to register. Anyone who is not registered loses their legal right to live in the UK.

What is the EU Settlement Scheme?

The EUSS was launched in March 2019 to register EU citizens as settled residents in the UK.

This is a follow-on from Brexit, which ended freedom of movement and the right of people from the EU to come to the UK - and for UK citizens to go the other way.

More details - https://how2cometotheuk.blogspot.com/2021/06/eu-settlement-deadline-30-june-2021-how.html

By the end of May 2021, 5.6 million people had applied for the scheme - far more than expected (it was estimated in March 2019 that there were 3.7m EU nationals in the UK).

How will this affect UK residents?

The BBC reports that a shortage of skilled trade workers has developed as European Union migrants leave the UK and demand for home improvements rises, according to the founder of Homeserve.

Chief executive Richard Harpin said the shortages were "pretty bad" across the country, not just in construction but in other trades too. He wants the government to put more trades on its jobs shortage list. 

The hospitality sector is also experiencing staff shortages, so you might have to wait a little longer for your latte.

In the long run, importing cheap labour does not help the economy and we should be investing in more training to upskill the resident workforce, especially if they are unemployed and drawing benefits. 

The laws of supply and demand dictate that when there is a shortage, prices rise. We will all be paying more for trades people, and the price of materials has also shot up.

It has become almost impossible to find handymen, plumbers, builders, electricians and other workers since the lockdown when thousands of EU workers handed back the keys to their landlords and flew home. With so many people moving, everyone is busy, which is exactly what the government wanted to achieve with the stimulus.

Would you like to get into property, but have no money or don’t know how?

Learn Multiple Streams Of Property Income AT Free Event 2 – 4 July

The UK’s Brightest Property Experts Will Share In-depth, Practical Knowledge Of Buy-to-let Properties, Raising Finance And How To Build A Mighty Portfolio From The Ground Up.

Register HERE FREE LIVE TRAINING- - https://bit.ly/3hmHnFX

At the Multiple Streams of Property Income event we reveal the many ways you can quickly make large sums of money and secure your financial future. Our skilled trainers will reveal proven, successful methods for you to cash in on right now, even if you have no previous experience and little to no finance. Our trainers have all ‘been there, done that’ and you can relax in the certainty that you are getting the expert help you deserve! Your just need to take that first step...

What You Can Expect At The Multiple Streams Of Property Income Event

• Multiple proven investing strategies
• You will be guided through the most effective cashflow and equity growth strategies that are working right now in 2021
• Learn how to get UNLIMITED finance to build your portfolio (hint: you can do this WITHOUT using either a mortgage company OR a bank)
• You’ll hear from other property investors who are experts in buy-to-let, property trading, raising finance and other ways of building a property portfolio from scratch into a multi-million pound business

Benefits of MSOPI

• Earn 10x the income with only 10% of your personal time
• By the end of the event you will have a clear strategy to start or add to your cashflowing property portfolio.
• Make new connections that will last a lifetime including potential JV partners
• Learn how to make more money from ONE simple property deal than you make in 6 months of paid work.

Register HERE - - https://bit.ly/3hmHnFX
Speaker Line-up

Kevin McDonnell | Rent-To-Rent Property Investing Expert & Author of the Bestselling Book No-Money-Down Property Investing

Kevin Poneskis |Serviced Accommodation Property Investing Expert, Over 28 Years of Property Investing Experience

David Siegler | Property Deal Sourcing & Packaging Expert, Over 15 Years of Property Investing Experience

Toni Gargan | Business & Property Investing Expert, Over 5 Years in Property Investing Education

Register HERE for this FREE Training

FOLLOW LINK TO JOIN - https://bit.ly/3hmHnFX

If you enjoyed this and found it helpful, please like and share with your friends and follow me on social media to give more people free value.  

I’m offering a free Wealth Accelerator discovery coaching call to three people this week - CLICK HERE TO BOOK YOUR FREE CALL https://bit.ly/3zJ21GY

In March 2021 Artnet News reported the sale of a piece of NFT digital art by Beeple’s which sold for $69 million at Christie’s auction. The artist, whose real name is Mike Winkelmann, jumped to number three on the list of most expensive living artists at auction. 

An NFT, or Non-Fungible Token, is a type of digital asset, like a representation of piece of physical art or music, that you can own and trade, typically for between $40 and $200. A fungible asset in economic terms contains units that can be readily interchanged - like money. A non-fungible asset is a unique one-of-a-kind asset, like a work of art.

NFTs are bought and sold online, often with cryptocurrency, and they are encoded with the same underlying blockchain software technology as many cryptos.

So why would anyone want to own a digital asset, effectively a photograph of a piece of art, when they could take a photograph themselves?

Firstly, this new creative enterprise goes far beyond owning a photo of a painting. And let’s face it, millions of people buy prints, which are copies of original art, to hang on their wall. 

Entrepreneur and influencer Gary Vaynerchuk said NFTs and the blockchain technology around them as something that will influence everything we do on the Internet.

Gary compares blockchain technology to the early stages of the internet when people thought that it was just a search engine or an online encyclopaedia. 

I remember about 15 years ago reading an interview with Lord Sugar, who made his fortune manufacturing Amstrad computers, describing ordering something online as a waste of time and commenting that it would be quicker to go to the shop and buy it!

In the future, Gary predicts people will carry around digital wallet containing digital assets, ID and personal records and currency. 

One wonders how many people will be left behind by the pace of change. Governments are concerned about the number older and poorer people unable to access essential services because they are not online or do not own a smart phone.

With the growing demise of the traditional High Street travel agent, it will soon be difficult to book a fight unless you have internet access. 

Banks are trying to phase out cash and Sweden is one of the first countries to move towards a cashless society. Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) are already being planned in major countries and the EU.

The increase in speed of new developments in technology means we have to continue to study and keep ourselves up-to-date. This doesn’t mean going back to school or university, although I would recommend formal or vocational study if you want to change careers, and you could just involve 30-60 minutes a day reading online, listening to podcasts or researching videos on YouTube.

I read a statistic many years ago that only 10% of people do any further study after leaving school or university. Is it a coincidence that those who do study tend to be in the top 10% income bracket? Brian Tracy said that reading for 30 to 60 minutes a day will make you an expert in your field within six months and could get you to degree level within 2 to 3 years. 

If you enjoyed this and found it helpful, please like and share with your friends and follow me on social media to give more people free value.  

I’m offering a free Wealth Accelerator discovery coaching call to three people this week - CLICK HERE TO BOOK YOUR FREE CALL https://bit.ly/3zJ21GY

With low interest rates and high rents, it has long been assumed that it is cheaper to buy than rent. But the tide has turned thanks to soaring house prices and lower rental demand, especially in the city centres.

According to leading estate agents, Hamptons, it has become cheaper to rent a property than buy a home for the first time in more than six years.

The estate agency research reveals that prior to the pandemic in March 2020, people buying with a 10% deposit would have been £102 a month better off than renters.

Last month, figures showed that the average private sector tenant was paying £71 a month less in rent.

This applies across the UK apart from four areas where it is still cheaper to buy than rent: the North East, North West, Yorkshire and Humber, and Scotland.

In May last year, rental demand dropped as younger adults and European workers returned to live with their families during the pandemic and work and leisure restrictions made city living less attractive.

Back in early 2020, it was cheaper to buy than rent in every region in the UK.

London's sees the biggest shift since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

Hamptons reports a 7.1% rise in average rents over the past 12 months, but also a strong house price growth coupled with increases in higher loan-to-value (LTV) mortgage rates have added to the cost of buying and owning a home.

This means a typical first-time buyer will find it cheaper to rent than buy on a monthly basis, with a monthly average of £1,054 spent on rent compared with £1,125 on mortgage repayments - the first time since December 2014 that renting has been cheaper than buying a home.

Plummeting rents there mean a buyer putting down a 10% deposit on a property in the capital will have gone from being £123 a month better off buying in March 2020, to spending £251 a month less on rent in May 2021, the report said.

There are many other financial and practical factors which potential first-time buyers will consider when deciding to rent rather than buy, or vice versa, which are not captured in this research. 

In the long term, it is nearly always better to buy than rent. Rents will rise over time, whereas mortgages are paid off with ever devaluing paper money.

Buyers do pay for repairs and maintenance, but will benefit from long term growth and future equity in their property.

One major reason private renters want to buy is the long term security of tenure. Fear of buy-to-let landlord eviction, for instance when they want to sell the property, is obviously stressful for tenants.

Where and by how much is it cheaper to rent, than buy?

• Greater London - £251 cheaper
• South East - £54 cheaper
• South West - £108 cheaper
• East - £117 cheaper
• East Midlands - £98 cheaper
• West Midlands, £35 cheaper
• Yorkshire and the Humber - £5 more expensive
• North West - £4 more expensive
• North East - £72 more expensive
• Wales - £11 cheaper
• Scotland - £130 more expensive

Source: BBC, Hamptons

Property Investing Secrets - Discover the ultimate beginners' guide to property in 2021 With my friend and property expert Kevin McDonnell.

Complimentary Property Training - next session is on Wednesday 23rd June, and Kevin can't wait to see you there!

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Well I'm going to promise you this:

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New investors must be increasingly strategic when it comes to spotting good opportunities, and knowing how to jump on them quickly (without worrying about finance roadblocks or having a little black book of contacts).

This free, live online training will provide you with knowledge, tactics, and strategies for identifying great deals, knowing which of the easy strategies to use, and getting the cash profits out fast - both now and every year!

Join Kevin on Wednesday and learn how to overcome the most common beginner mistakes in investing. Click HERE TO JOIN - http://bit.ly/3eMDgRLFREETRAINING.

Action Fraud figures show that victims of investment fraud lost at least £657m in 2020, as scammers preyed on financial vulnerability caused by the coronavirus pandemic.   

There are different types of investment fraud, the most common involve shares, bonds, cryptocurrency and commodities such as wine, fine art and diamonds. Fraudsters contact you unexpectedly, promise generous returns and may say that the opportunity is time limited. They downplay the risks to your money. They call you repeatedly and keep you on the phone a long time in order to build your trust, stop you speaking to other people or having time to think about the offer.

The second stage of these frauds is known as a Recovery Fraud where victim details are passed onto other fraudsters who try to take yet more money.  They say that they have been appointed to help and ask for a refundable upfront fee. They often use the details of cloned companies ie genuine companies whose details have been hijacked, in order to reassure investors.  Reports of ‘clone firm’ investment scams increased by 29% in April 2020 compared to March, when the UK went into its first lockdown.

How to avoid investment scams

Reject cold calls. If you’re called about an investment opportunity, the safest thing to do is just hang up.

Check an investment opportunity using the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) Warning List online tool.

Check that the investment company is on the FCA Financial Services Register.

Don’t feel pressurised or rushed into making a decision. Always seek advice before investing, ideally from an Independent Financial Adviser who is authorised by the FCA.

If you’re not sure whether a scheme or investment offer is a scam, contact the Citizens Advice consumer helpline on 0808 250 5050 for advice. Report a fraud to Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040.

A increase in cyber-fraud across the world means that we all need to learn how to spot and avoid different types of fraud and cybercrime.  

An emerging tactic used by fraudsters is the ‘spoofing’ (cloning) of telephone numbers. A decade ago, anyone receiving a suspicious call could look up the number that was calling them to check its legitimacy. No longer is this sufficient advice.

Fraudsters can now clone numbers used by legitimate organisations, your local bank, HMRC, or even local police station, to make it look like that organisation’s genuine number is calling you.  The fraudster claims to be from that organisation and tries to convince you to do what they say.  This means you cannot rely on your Caller ID display to tell you who is calling you.

Protect yourself:

Beware unexpected phone callers, whoever they claim to be. If in doubt, never divulge personal details over the phone to someone who has called you. The more you say to a fraudster the more information they have. Don’t be afraid to hang up. Contact friends or family for advice.

Don’t trust your caller ID display to verify a call, contact the genuine organisation using a number that you have independently researched. Before doing so, ensure the call has ended and the line has cleared, wait five mins (Some scammers can simulate the sounds of lines clearing to dupe you into dialling while the line is still live), or make the call via a separate phone line where possible.

Institutions such as HMRC, police and banks will never call you to tell you that you/your money is under investigation; nor would they ever ask you to transfer or hand over money/assets for such a purpose.

Report all scams online to www.actionfraud.police.uk or call 0300 123 2040 giving as much information as possible.

The baby boomer and millennial generations are facing an uncertain future with job insecurity and drastically reduced state and private employer pension benefits.

How can you avoid ending up living your retirement days in poverty?

There are a number of steps you can take, but it starts with your mindset and habits.

Change your spending and saving habits.

How? Changing a long-held habit is easier said than done, right?

Not something you can easily do by yourself.

The answer is to get help and guidance instead of trying to do it all alone.

Take a course or programme, get a mentor or a coach.

What’s the most effective, proven way to lose weight?

Join a weight watchers’ class or group. Why, this will give you education, support and accountability.

What’s the most effective, proven way to quit smoking, drinking or drugs?

Enter into a programme, class or group.

Millions of people ‘try’ to lose weight, quite drinking or gambling on their own, but most fail and go back to the same old habit.

That’s why organisations like Alcoholics Anonymous and Gamblers Anonymous have been going for so long because they have helped millions of people change a habit through a combination of coaching and mentoring and learning.

Want to get fit or a six pack? Get a personal trainer.

Want to improve your golf swing? Get a coach, like all the best players do.

Do you want to improve your financial situation?

Do you want to stop making the same mistakes that got you to where you are today?

Do you want to be financially free and retire early?

Get a Money Mastery Coach.

A Money Mastery coach can help guide you through the financial maze and show you a clear path to financial freedom without the pain of trial and error.

These 3 Money Secrets Will Make You Wealthy Without Working Any Harder

Are You Fed Up Struggling Financially?

Firstly, I just want to thank you for taking the time to join me today. Money problems are one of the biggest causes of stress and relationships breakdowns. I can remember my parents having some almighty rows over money!

I’m Charles Kelly and for 25 years I worked as a Financial Adviser helping thousands of people solve their money problems. I was successful, but it wasn’t until I discovered the secrets to mastering money that my clients started achieving amazing results.

I’m also the author of three books including, “Yes, Money Can Buy You Happiness” and “Borrow and Grow Rich”.

I’m going to uncover 3 money secrets and a simple system for truly mastering money to help you start building real wealth and ultimately live the life you truly deserve.

Secret 1: Your Money Mindset has got you where you are today – not the economy, the government or your parents.

It’s far more about what’s in your head than in your pocket.

Most people have been programmed to think that “money is scarce” and hard to come by, that you have to “work hard for money” or you “need money to make money” – Not true!

Some of us are programmed from an early age by our parents. My dad would say things like “we can’t afford it”, “money doesn’t grow on trees” and “do you think I’m made of Money?”!

This language creates a ‘scarcity mentality’ which can stay with us for the rest of our lives unless we take action to change our mindset, our language and habits.

In my early life, I constantly struggled with money. I was making a good salary, but no matter how much I earned, I never seemed to have enough!  

I would fall behind on my bills and have creditors chasing me. Being broke is no way to live, which is why I wrote Yes, Money Can Buy You Happiness.

Then I discovered a mindset shift that turned my finances around. Once I learned this, I started accumulating money and have never been broke since. 

So, it’s not how much you earn, but how you manage it that counts.

Making a lot of money alone will not make you rich!

I’m sure we all know people who have made and lost fortunes, as I discuss in my book.

Secret 2: You can’t improve what you cannot measure. 

The next step is to take stock of where you are right now. Most people have no idea of how much they spend.

Think of yourself as a business, even if you are an employee.

Make a list of all your current commitments, income and regular and variable outgoings. Then list your assets and liabilities – your balance sheet – to calculate your ‘net worth’. You can do this on a spreadsheet or on a notepad. Then, repeat this every month and start balancing the figures monthly like any solvent business should do.

Secret 3: Focus on building your net worth.

The rich buy assets, which appreciate in value, and build their net worth over the long term.

The poor spend their money on liabilities, which go down in value, and rarely if ever build assets and net worth. I haven’t got time in this short presentation to cover everything - which I go though in my book and SMART MONEY MANAGER courses in more detail.

But I hope these simple mindset shifts and steps alone will open your mind and set you on the road to prosperity.

If you enjoyed this and found it helpful, please like and share with your friends and follow me on social media to give more people free value. 

I’m offering free discovery coaching calls to three people this week. Message me if you’re interested or email [email protected]

In these uncertain and rapidly changing times, it is important to choose an occupation which gives you some guarantee of a long-term future.

In the UK, the Home Office publishes an official list of ‘shortage occupations’, for which a qualified and experienced overseas migrant may qualify for a Skilled Worker visa.

The list includes jobs such as, Health Service and Residential Day Care or Domiciliary Managers, various scientists and engineers, web development professionals, nurses and senior care workers. 

The official government list for working visa qualification, only covers a fraction of the huge labour shortages in the UK.

According to the report by Luminate, the following industries experienced a particularly large number of hard-to-fill vacancies at professional level:

• architectural and engineering activities

However, both of these lists contain glaring omissions- green jobs. In order to meet climate change targets, industry will need hundreds of thousands of skilled workers to fill new ‘green’ jobs.

For instance, is estimated that 23 million gas boilers will need to be replaced in the UK, but there are not enough trained engineers to do the work. There is a shortage of 100,000 boiler engineers right now!

Boiler engineers will have jobs for life replacing old boilers with electric and hydrogen boilers and servicing the new boilers.

Millions of petrol and diesel cars will have to be replaced as governments around the world tax them out of existence. This will create a huge number of new skilled jobs.

China is investing massively in new technology and green energy, as is the UK. The US could be left behind in what’s being called China’s century.

The 20th Century was America’s, after Great Britain’s empire started to unwind following the German led First and Second World Wars.

China is effectively colonising the world’s resources through trade rather than war.

If you exclude the disastrous Chairman Mao century, China was one of the leading economies in the world in 18 of the last 20 centuries? 

The UK government recently announced a massive retraining programme to reskill millions of workers whose jobs have become redundant due to new technology.

The important word is “skilled”. Tens of millions of unskilled, as well as many skilled and technical jobs in accounting and law, will disappear in the next decade, so prepare yourself.

Self-driving vehicles, AI and robotic technology are already here!

Education is key to your future. Not just formal education, but also relevant vocational and on-the-job training in which you can ‘earn while you learn.

An increasing number of people prefer to quit the rat race and start their own businesses, which is great. 

Caution. Don’t fire your boss until you can replace your salary with your new business and do not spend all your savings or borrow to set up an expensive physical business like a shop.

An ideal way to start is to set up a part-time online business, which you can run from home with little or no capital.

With this in mind, I’m offering 3 free coaching calls sessions to anyone who is prepared to take the time and effort to learn and master money and business. Check the link in the next 24 hours on my Charles Kelly Marketing Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/CharlesKellyMarketer.

Most property investors and landlords are proactive when it comes to ensuring the safety of their tenants and properties, which is also in their own interest. 

Under the latest Regulations, landlords must have the electrical installations in their properties inspected and tested by a person who is qualified and competent at least every 5 years. Landlords also have to provide a copy of the electrical safety report (EICR) to their tenants, and to their local authority if requested.

The Regulations came into force on 1 June 2020 and apply from 1 April 2021 in England in cases where a private tenant has a right to occupy a property as their only or main residence and pays rent. This includes assured shorthold tenancies and licences to occupy. 

Landlords who fail to comply could face fines of up to £30,000 or even criminal charges in the case of negligence.

This does not cover PAT testing, which is still required. In most cases, it is cheaper to throw away perfectly good electrical appliances (most of which ends up in landfill) than calling in PAT testers and waste a day filling in forms.

The changes to rules and regulations on gas, electrical work, building and a whole raft of red tape every few years are a bonanza for the sectors and create plenty of non-productive jobs. But the costs are ultimately passed on to landlords, tenants and taxpayers. Thousands of civil servants and various people in sector bodies and quangos are employed to constantly change rules and create more red tape to self-perpetuate their own jobs! 

The same fate awaits perfectly good cars, which have the “wrong engine” this year! The will eventually be taxed out of existence ad end up on the scrapheap of throwaway society.

For full details and government guidance see

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/electrical-safety-standards-in-the-private-rented-sector-guidance-for-landlords-tenants-and-local-authorities/guide-for-landlords-electrical-safety-standards-in-the-private-rented-sector

Other News

• Plummeting central London rents hits landlords.
• Renters move into the city to take advantage of falling rents.
• Landlords face more arrears as unemployment soars.
• 500,000 renters likely to be pushed into arrears.
• Pandemic disproportionately hits younger lower paid workers.
• Self-employed grant recipients shunned by mortgage lenders.
• Peer-to-peer websites to be closed by FCA following a series of collapsed firms
• Beware of dodgy insulation which could render your home worthless
• Pension scammers target 8 million people

Free Wealth Coaching Session for 3 people – limited offer

Boris has an unsatisfied CCJ at 10 Downing Street!

I was a financial adviser for 25 years, but became frustrated with the focus on only being regulated to offer products for the financial services industry. For instance, I could advise a client to invest in a Prudential Property Bond, but could not advise them to invest in a buy-to-let property themselves. I am no longer registered as an industry financial adviser, which means I cannot give specific advice on how to invest your money, but I can offer a wealth of guidance and tips on managing your money more effectively and building wealth over time. I am also the author of the book, , Yes, money can buy happiness, in which I cover the 3 R’s of Money Management, the Money B.E.L.I.E.F System and much more. Check it out on Amazon http://bit.ly/2MoneyBook.

With this in mind, I’m giving away 3 free coaching calls sessions to anyone who is prepared to take the time and effort to learn and master money. Check the link in the next 48 hours on my Charles Kelly Marketing Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/CharlesKellyMarketer

See also:

95% Mortgages are back in the UK

Property buyers overpaying to beat the Stamp Duty Holiday

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Mortgage lending reached £11 billion in March – the highest since records began in 1993 - as a result of the mad rush to beat the stamp duty holiday, which ends in June.

The Bank of England reported that there were 80,000 mortgage approvals in March, up from 73,000 from the previous year, buy slightly down on February’s figure.

Although the property market has boomed in the last few months, there are signs that some areas are slowing down. I’m seeing a lot of London prices fall sharply, as Estate Agent send me emails every day offering price reductions of up to £50,000 or around 10% of the asking price.

We have almost reached the point where it would be extremely difficult to buy and complete with a mortgage purchase before the end of June if you have not started the legal process already.

Another word for mortgage is ‘debt’. We have seen debt spiralling all over the world as government’s borrow or print trillions of dollars to prevent the economy from going into recession.

Whilst people in work are paying down credit card debt, there are signs that thousands of people are getting deeper debt, according to UK debt advice charity Step Change.

Sometimes this can be as a result of a catastrophic change, like a job loss or divorce. In other cases, it’s purely down to mismanagement of money.

Debts can creep up on you like a disease and before you know it’s too late and you are in too deep.

If this happens to you, take professional advice and do not bury your head in the sand hoping it will all go away. It won’t! In the UK, you can talk to charities such as citizens advice and Step Change

Once you talk to recognise charity, interest and penalty charges on your debts, as well as legal action, can be frozen for 60 days. This gives you breathing space and a chance to put together an informal debt repayment plan.

I was clearing out some of my old files for shredding yesterday from my financial advisor business. I came across several clients who reminded me of the importance of saving and investing.

One particular client first sought my advice 20 years ago when she had been through a lot of financial problems. To cut a long story short, we put a plan together and I arranged a mortgage for her to buy a second property by re-mortgaging her residential home.

At the time, houses were cheap and you could buy a three-bedroom property just outside London for around £80,000.

She had absolutely no money and I remember listing her non-property assets on my fact-find form as “£200” in the bank, and that was it. However, she some equity in her property, a mortgage and some consumer debt.

She used that equity to fund a deposit for a second property and a couple of years later did the same thing again. 

She continued repeating this process over the following 20 years.

As I said, she started with £200 in the bank. In fact, she had several other personal debts so was actually in the red.

When she unfortunately passed away last year in her late 50’s her estate was worth around £1 million.

Not bad for someone who started with £200 in the bank.

Almost all of her wealth was due to her buying properties and holding them. Don’t forget that she was holding his properties during the 2008 financial crash, but they bounced back.

She never bothered very much with Pensions or the stock market because she said she did not understand them and prefer to invest in something she did understand like property.

3 Key Takeaways

1. She did start taking money seriously and stopped using expensive consumer credit to buy consumer products which went down in value. Instead, she borrowed cheaply to buy assets which went up in value and put money in her pocket.

1. She built her wealth using other people’s money. Could she have saved £1 million in her lifetime from after-tax income? No way. In Robert Kiyosaki‘s classic bestselling book, Rich Dad Poor Dad, his rich dad asked Robert, “how long would it take to earn $1 million?”. He then asked “how long would it take to borrow a million dollars and invest it to make more money?”

1. She bought and held for the long term, despite the 2008 downturn.

You can learn to do the same thing.

I’ve seen countless examples of people building wealth over time through investing wisely and patiently. Some in property, others in business or the stock market. The principles and skills are the same and are learnable by anyone who makes the effort.

I’m giving away 3 free coaching calls sessions to anyone who is prepared to take the time and effort to learn and master money. Look out for the link in the next 48 hours on my Charles Kelly Marketing Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/CharlesKellyMarketer