In this inspiring podcast episode, we explore the remarkable story of Jon, a true financial maestro who has maintained an annual budget of under £7,000 since 2009.

What makes his journey truly extraordinary is not just his modest income, but his ability to achieve financial independence. If Jon were to cease working today, his sustainable living wouldn't falter.

So, how does he work this financial wizardry? Jon's secret lies in his meticulous tracking of expenses, not income. He openly admits to occasional years where his spending exceeded his earnings. However, his steadfast indifference to material desires, such as fashionable attire and dining out, allows him to keep his spending at a minimum. His rent, a mere £280 monthly, and a thrifty weekly food budget of around £20, all while maintaining a health-conscious, predominantly plant-based diet, highlight his financial prowess.

In this episode, we explore the many reasons to admire Jon's simple yet financially savvy lifestyle. Join me as we uncover the inspiring lessons from his journey to achieving financial independence before the age of 40, all by reigning in his expenditure...

Ask me a question: www.katsonga.com/coach.html

Support the podcast:

In $: www.buymeacoffee.com/TheMoneySpot

In £: www.patreon.com/TheMoneySpot

Your way: www.paypal.me/katsonga

To include the State Pension or to ignore the State Pension, that is the question…when you’re retirement planning.

If you’re a millennial (born between 1981 and 1996) or later, I’ve come to a bold conclusion: it’s best to assume you won’t receive a State Pension, when you’re planning how much to save for retirement. Let me explain why…

While it's likely that some form of State Pension will persist, I believe there’s a good chance that it will become much less generous or that the state retirement age will increase even further. It is also possible that it will become means-tested so only the least well-off will receive it. Because the UK population is ageing and, as a result, the cost of the State Pension is increasing, one or all of these possibilities is almost inevitable.

Listen to this episode to discover why it's most prudent for your financial plan to assume a State Pension will not materialise...

Get resources and comment on LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/state-pension-sustainable-so-assume-you-wont-get-when-heather

Ask me a question: www.katsonga.com/coach.html

Support the podcast:

In $: www.buymeacoffee.com/TheMoneySpot

In £: www.patreon.com/TheMoneySpot

Your way: www.paypal.me/katsonga

Retirement is a dream shared by many of us, but achieving it requires careful planning and early action. In this article, we’ll delve into the world of retirement savings and reveal exactly how much you need to save each month to retire comfortably. So, if you're aiming for financial independence but are possibly thinking it’s a pipe dream, buckle up and discover the key to retiring early!

A little teaser: if you start saving at 22, to have £1 million by the time you are 68 you only need to save £195 each month if you're single...how much do you need to save each, if you're part of a couple and how much if you don't start until you're 55? Well listen to the podcast or go straight to the resources to find out.

Get resources and comment on LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/you-wont-believe-how-little-need-save-retire-start-heather

Ask me a question: www.katsonga.com/coach.html

Support the podcast:

In $: www.buymeacoffee.com/TheMoneySpot

In £: www.patreon.com/TheMoneySpot

Your way: www.paypal.me/katsonga

Have you heard about the FIRE movement? It's an acronym for Financial Independence Retire Early. While many people interpret it literally, there's more to this movement than meets the eye. In this episode, we delve into what FIRE truly means, dispel some common misconceptions, and explore the different aspects of achieving financial independence (or FI) and retiring early.

Contrary to popular belief, the FIRE movement is not a cult or a race to become a millionaire overnight.

FIRE is also not about living close to the poverty line so that you can save every penny possible – in the process depriving your family of positive life experiences such as holidays.

FIRE is about gaining control over your financial life and having the freedom to choose how you spend your time without worrying about money. Many attribute the beginnings of the FIRE movement to Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez’s 1992 book, ‘Your Money or Your Life’.

This episode breaks down FIRE into its key components: financial independence, retiring ‘early’, and what retirement means in this context.

Read more and comment on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/whats-fire-movement-ultimate-guide-financial-retire-heather

Ask me a question: https://www.katsonga.com/coach.html

Support the podcast:

In $: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/TheMoneySpot

In £: https://www.patreon.com/TheMoneySpot

Your way: https://www.paypal.me/katsonga

Investing 101 – HOW TO START INVESTING: where to put your money, how much to invest and what to invest it in?

I receive a lot of questions about “how to start investing” and this month alone I’ve fielded quite a few, so, as a belated birthday present to myself I decided to get this all out into a simple blog.

Any tax rates and thresholds mentioned in this post will be correct as at the time of writing but tax is something that gets tinkered with all the time so this could get dated pretty quickly but using figures will help you understand how it all currently works in principle.

First things first, everything I share here is information not advice. Once you decide to actually start investing you would be well advised to:

a) do some further research yourself; and

b) speak to a fee-only all-of-market independent financial advisor.

Fee only means they don’t charge you a percentage of what you have to invest (that is, they charge a fixed fee) and all-of-market means they can offer products from a range of institutions..

Ideally, you should only invest money that you will not need for at least 5 years. This is because share market prices move up and down and if you need that money before five years is up, there is more chance that you might have to sell at a loss.

Investing is a long-term game, the longer the time you can wait, the higher the probability of being up. Over a 20 year period, the S&P500 has returned a positive return 100% of the time. While the future may turn out to be different, you are generally well advised to leave money invested as long as possible.

While my aim is to make this discussion as simple and as unintimidating as possible, at times it will feel really complex not because investing is hard but because we invest within the context of a very complicated and convoluted tax system. But you have to get to grips with our tax system to get ahead with investing…anyhow,…I’ll divide this into four parts, feel free to skip ahead to the part that you need:

- Part 1 is all about what sort of investment account to put your money in;

- Part 2 lays out what to think about when deciding which institution to invest your money through;

- Part 3 helps you think about how much to invest over time;

- Part 4 provides pointers regarding what you should invest in. Part 4 is very much based on how I choose to invest and this is the area where you may want to talk to more people about including your chosen IFA.

Feel free to jump to the part that is most relevant to you...

- Part 1 - 04:54

- Part 2 - 19:14

- Part 3 - 26:35

- Part 4 - 30:22

RESOURCES

Resources and all links mentioned in episode: https://www.katsonga.com/wealthblog/investing-101-how-to-start-investing-where-to-put-your-money-how-much-to-invest-and-what-to-invest-it-in

Call me: https://clarity.fm/heather

B School for Kids and other books:

https://www.katsonga.com/mybooks.html

Ask me a question: https://www.katsonga.com/coach.html

Support the podcast:

In $: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/TheMoneySpot

In £: https://www.patreon.com/TheMoneySpot

Your way: https://www.paypal.me/katsonga

Hi Heather,

Here’s my questions.

I'm a single first time buyer, I have just under £10k deposit and i can borrow up to £200K based on some mortgage brokers.. is there any way I can borrow more money to buy a bigger house? What are your thoughts on the "helping hand mortgage" by Nationwide. Are there any other schemes for first time buyers?

Second question, my plan is to use the house hacking method to save up faster in order to invest in more BTL properties. What’s your advice on house hacking and is it legal, do i need to inform the lender and would that make them more inclined to raise my interest rate?

Third question, do I generally need both council and lender permission to change the structure to the house? Such as extension or loft conversion..etc? And how do I go about it.. where do I start? And are there any zone-ing regulations here in the UK as there is in the US?

Finally, I am a foreign national here in the UK on a skilled worker visa, I've lived here for just over 5 years including a year in university, my credit score is very low due to the fact that I am not eligible to register for voting! I spoke to the council and they said they can't do anything. Is there anything I can do..? That's the only reason why my credit score is low.

Thanks, Ahmed

AND

Hi Heather, I want to get into property investment but have very little capital. Is there any advice other than save to help buy properties with little to no capital? Your help is much appreciated. Shahid

RESOURCES

Tips on improving your credit score: https://www.katsonga.com/wealthblog/qa-how-can-i-improve-my-credit-score-so-that-my-husband-and-i-can-buy-a-house

Investing basics: https://www.katsonga.com/wealthblog/how-do-i-save-into-a-pension-if-am-not-employed-or-self-employed

Call me: https://clarity.fm/heather

B School for Kids and other books:

https://www.katsonga.com/mybooks.html

Ask me a question: https://www.katsonga.com/coach.html

Support the podcast:

In $: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/TheMoneySpot

In £: https://www.patreon.com/TheMoneySpot

Your way: https://www.paypal.me/katsonga

Related post on my website: https://www.katsonga.com/wealthblog/how-can-i-borrow-more-and-house-hack-my-way-to-a-buy-to-let-property-portfolio

Amrita owns a buy to let property and is a renter herself. She has been renting for over a year and wants to buy a home to live in. She wonders if she will have to be pay the extra 3 per cent stamp duty tax on the purchase of her new home. In addition, if she is subject to the extra 3% tax, she asks if she can she avoid it by buying her home through a limited company?

That’s what we answer in this short podcast.

If you need advice for your own situation, please contact a mortgage broker or personal financial advisor.

RESOURCES

Call me: https://clarity.fm/heather

B School for Kids and other books:

https://www.katsonga.com/mybooks.html

Ask me a question: https://www.katsonga.com/coach.html

Support the podcast:

In $: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/TheMoneySpot

In £: https://www.patreon.com/TheMoneySpot

Your way: https://www.paypal.me/katsonga

Related post on my website: https://www.katsonga.com/wealthblog/im-renting-and-own-a-buy-to-let-property-will-i-pay-the-extra-3-stamp-duty

I always say that if you get nothing else right in your financial life, at least own where you live outright by the time you hit retirement and ideally much earlier. Well that’s not quite right, the other thing you need to make sure of, is that you qualify for the full UK state pension.

Currently, when I am 68, for so long as I have 35 qualifying years, I will get £185/week in state pension until my dying day. That’s about £800/month or £9,620/year. This is not an insignificant amount and if you live with someone, i.e. your partner, a sibling or friend, it’s double that as you would each qualify separately.

My calculations suggest that if you’re living on your own, that amount of state pension would at least cover all basic utilities (water, energy, council tax) and food.

You can check how many qualifying years you have and whether you can boost them here: https://www.gov.uk/check-state-pension

If you’re self-employed, to qualify for the full state pension later on, make sure you’re signed up to pay Class 2 national insurance and if there are any gaps in your national insurance record, pay for them asap as you can only fill gaps going back 6 years:

https://www.gov.uk/national-insurance/national-insurance-classes

As the state pension is unlikely to be enough, it’s helpful to contribute towards a personal pension (aka a self-invested personal pension or SIPP) as pension contributions get tax relief such taht every £240/month contribution equates to £300/month into your pension pot.

Based on a 7% gross growth rate of your pension pot (and keeping in mind the historic average return of the S&P 500 is 10%)

• if you contribute £240 into your SIPP from age 20, you would have £1.6m at age 65.

• if you contribute £240 into your SIPP from age 25, you would have £1.1m at age 65.

• if you contribute £240 into your SIPP from age 30, you would have £790k at age 65.

• if you contribute £240 into your SIPP from age 40, you would have £370k at age 65.

• if you contribute £240 into your SIPP from age 50, you would have £155k at age 65.

RESOURCES

Call me: https://clarity.fm/heather

B School for Kids and other books:

https://www.katsonga.com/mybooks.html

Ask me a question: https://www.katsonga.com/coach.html

Support the podcast:

In $: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/TheMoneySpot

In £: https://www.patreon.com/TheMoneySpot

Your way: https://www.paypal.me/katsonga

Related post on my website: https://www.katsonga.com/wealthblog/pension-sos-for-women-and-the-self-employed

When you’re at one point in your life it’s often nearly impossible to imagine having much more than what you’ve got – or maybe that’s just my lack of imagination – anyhow, in this podcast I recount the steps we went through to move from our £385,000 beautiful terraced home to a £1.1m detached bungalow in the same neighbourhood.

We did all this in 2020 but, even as recently as in 2017, when I walked past the homes on the street where we now live, I thought actually living in one of them was pure fantasy for us and at that point, it was.

It took getting a proper second income, a stamp-duty holiday and an all-time low 5-year fixed interest rate of 1% to achieve this, oh, and a few consumer loans for a short period.

Was it worth it, 100%.

One thing I forget to mention in the episode is that one of the key drivers was I saw already expensive properties getting more expensive and mid-priced (like our terrace) to low-priced properties appreciating very little in value or even falling in price – how does that work? I am not sure but I figured there was some kind of bifurcation in the property market with average incomes driving prices on the lower end and something bigger at play with bigger, more expensive properties – they tended to be owned by business people not restricted by average incomes, some people with inheritances and hence large sums to play with and people with much larger incomes…whatever it was, I wanted in.

The funny thing is, if we sold our new house right now, we would be in a position to buy our old house mortgage-free AND still have £200,000 to £300,000 in change ALTHOUGH our old house has gone up by about £30-40k!

Listen to the episode and let me know if you have questions.

My property course on Udemy: https://bit.ly/3OPLebT

RESOURCES

Call me: https://clarity.fm/heather

B School for Kids and other books:

https://www.katsonga.com/mybooks.html

Ask me a question: https://www.katsonga.com/coach.html

Support the podcast:

In $: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/TheMoneySpot

In £: https://www.patreon.com/TheMoneySpot

Your way: https://www.paypal.me/katsonga

If you’re looking for ideas on how you and your partner can split the household bills without arguing about it, I have a few ideas for you.

Obviously what you ultimately go for depends on your own specific circumstances, e.g. whether you’re married or in a civil partnership or not in either, employment status, differences in income and personal beliefs, however, you can either:

1. Split bills fairly – this can mean equally, i.e. 50-50; or in proportion to your incomes.

2. Approach finances with unity – i.e. all money earned belongs to the household regardless of who earned it and is managed in a unified way. This can work whether your salaries are paid into personal accounts or a single joint account.

This is all food for thought, not advice, if you want advice based on your own circumstances, speak to a personal financial advisor.

RESOURCES

Call me: https://clarity.fm/heather

B School for Kids and other books:

https://www.katsonga.com/mybooks.html

Ask me a question: https://www.katsonga.com/coach.html

Support the podcast:

In $: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/TheMoneySpot

In £: https://www.patreon.com/TheMoneySpot

Your way: https://www.paypal.me/katsonga