Author: mike@learnmoney

My aim with each blog post is to help you move to a better financial future. I believe that there is not enough financial education in the national curriculum and I intend to share anything helpful that I have learned along the way. I am by no means a financial expert. None of the information on this website constitutes financial advice and is provided as general information only. This is my personal finance blog; my marketing blog is over here and I have been blogging there since 2010. I hope you have found this information useful. Thank you for reading.

Best regards,

Mike

Make Money By Being Part of a Focus Group

Why You Should Drive an Old Car and Pay off Your Mortgage Early

This post may contain affiliate links please read our disclosure for more info.

Image credit: https://cars.usnews.com / Car pictured is a 2007 Honda Accord

I get it. Most of us like nice things, especially nice shiny new things that get us from A to B. There is no denying that driving a brand new car sends a signal to the world that we are on the right track and can make us feel good about ourselves, but at what cost? Car payments are often the second or third largest items of expenditure on most people’s monthly household budget. If you are serious about pursuing financial freedom you will need to stop making ego-driven financial decisions.

I have noticed something, lots of people with immense wealth drive extremely ordinary cars. They often pick fundamentally sound cars that have good reputations but then they hold onto them. For them, impressing the neighbours is not a priority. They are more interested in increasing their wealth generating assets.

A Car is not an Asset

Money in the right savings account will be compounding for you, whereas money spent on a brand new car will evaporate day after day as your car depreciates. Let’s be clear, only the rarest of classic cars appreciate; most cars depreciate in value. Whilst you’re busy impressing the neighbours, your money is leaving you.

Similar to savings, property is also an asset that will appreciate over time. In most parts of the United Kingdom and many places around the world, property increases in value year upon year. If you are a homeowner, you can further increase the equity in your property by making additional payments against your mortgage. This means that you will pay off your mortgage in a shorter period and as a consequence will save thousands in interest on your home loan. You will be able to own your home outright many years earlier than originally agreed. Your mortgage provider would prefer that you do not do this because they will lose thousands of pounds. If you can afford them, making additional payments against your mortgage is one of the best financial decisions you can make in your life.

Trade Down Your Car

In many cases, a car is necessary; to get to work, or pick up the children from school, plus all the shopping trips and errands that you use it for. I’m not advising you to make do without a car; simply downgrade the latest model or forego the latest model to focus on your financial goals. In doing so you will be trading down your car to bring you closer to financial freedom. If possible, buy a much older car and pay cash for it. The money you save on car payments can go towards additional payments against your mortgage. You would be surprised how much difference an extra £200 or £300 per month will make.

I realise that for many people this kind of approach will require a mindset shift; choose this approach because it suits your financial goals and stop trying to keep up with the Joneses. You never know, the Joneses may be up to their necks in unsecured debt. By being disciplined, you will soon be far ahead of them anyway.

Making extra payments against your mortgage will increase your net worth. You should be tracking your net worth on a regular basis, this post explains the why and how, Why You Should Track Your Net Worth.

Have you considered buying an old car? Have you made additional payments against your mortgage? Let me know in the comments section below.

If you have enjoyed this post you will also like the following posts:

Save Hundreds on Rent Per Month By Becoming a Property Guardian

4 Obstacles you Will Face on Your Financial Journey

Best regards,

Mike

4 Obstacles you Will Face on Your Financial Journey

Make Money By Being Part of a Focus Group

This post may contain affiliate links please read our disclosure for more info.

Image credit: https://www.peopleforresearch.co.uk/

If you need to make some extra cash every now and then, you should definitely consider being part of paid focus groups. A focus group is a qualitative in person market research session. Companies will often test new products or new product ideas with focus groups to collect consumer feedback. Normally you will be required to attend the venue where the focus group is taking place, then the moderator will lead you through the format of the session and introduce the new product or idea. Focus groups are great for you because you do not need to do any preparation and you are being paid to sit in a room and give your opinion.

How do Focus Groups Work?

Every focus group is not open to everyone, ultimately the research is being commissioned by a company or organisation that has a goal in mind. They will also have a specific target audience in mind; this will be the target audience for the new product or idea when it launched to the public. Each focus group will have a research brief; some will call for stay at home Mums, while others may require self-employed workers. In most cases, you will be required to give up to 90 minutes of your time and for this you will receive between £50-£200. That is pretty good considering all you have to do is give your opinion.

How do you Take Part?

Throughout the United Kingdom and in other countries there are specialist research companies that organise focus groups. I have been contacted by two companies that I will link to in the text. The first company is an American company based in New York called Respondent.io. They are operational in New York, San Francisco and London. If you are interested in participating in their focus groups visit their website and sign up. You will then be emailed focus groups that you qualify for; they also conduct some one to one research interviews via phone.

Another company that organises focus groups is GS Qualitative Research. Their focus groups are usually held at central London locations. Please Google ‘focus group research in (your city)’ to find out the names of companies organising focus groups in your town or city. When you find them, sign up to their email list.

Once you have registered for a few focus group companies, you will begin receiving invitations for relevant groups. You will not be able to control when the events are scheduled, but if you are selected you will earn easy money.

Have you ever participated in a focus group? If so, how was the experience? Let me know in the comments section below.

If you have enjoyed this post you will also like the following posts:

Best regards,

Mike

4 Obstacles you Will Face on Your Financial Journey

Save Hundreds on Rent Per Month By Becoming a Property Guardian

This post may contain affiliate links please read our disclosure for more info.

Image credit: https://www.propertyguardians.com/

Please make sure you are sitting down as you start to read this post. It is possible to save hundreds of pounds per month on rent in central London and some other cities across the UK. You can live in prime locations for just a few hundred pounds a month as a Property Guardian. Across the UK and dare I say it, the world, accommodation is the largest monthly expense for adults. This is an opportunity for those who are flexible to significantly reduce their monthly accommodation expenditure.

What is a Property Guardian?

There are property owners in London and other cities, who have to leave their properties empty for a period of time. Perhaps, they have to work abroad for work or have taken a sabbatical to travel the world. There are also commercial property owners. Whatever the reason this group of people would now need to employ a security firm to oversee the property in their absence and ensure that it is well maintained and free from vandalism and squatters. This is where Property Guardians fit in. Property Guardians are essentially live in caretakers who look after the property in return for a heavily reduced monthly rent.

How Does it Work?

People who are interested in becoming Property Guardian should contact one of the entrepreneurial companies that have been set up in this space. There are over 30 now, some are national whereas others are have a London focus, click here to visit the website of Global Guardians, or here to visit dotdotdotproperty.com . The second company is a Social Enterprise and takes a different approach to the for profit companies.

It Seems Too Good to be True

Well, funny that you should think that, there is a potential downside too. What you are looking for is a clean, convenient space with basic amenities that enables you to look after a property in return for a heavily reduced rent. There are two clear benefits for the property owner, first of all they get a live in caretaker. Secondly, when commercial properties are converted into residential dwellings they can save thousands in business rates reductions.

Unfortunately not all property Guardians have not had positive experiences, there have been instances where some Property Guardian companies have increased rents for Guardians and failed to maintain basic amenities including showers and kitchens.

My recommendation is that you do your own research; if you are flexible and can find a reputable company and good location – go for it! It could be a great way to live more frugally and help you to save money for travelling or some other major expense. I would not recommend Property Guardianship for families.

Have you ever been a Property Guardian? What was it like? Let me know in the comments section below.

If you have enjoyed this post you will also like the following posts:

How to get Value for Money When Buying Foreign Currency

Save up to £500 Per Year With a Sim Only Mobile Phone Deal

Best regards,

Mike

4 Obstacles You will Face on Your Financial Journey

This post may contain affiliate links please read our disclosure for more info.

Image credit: https://renaissanceguy.co.za/

The path to financial freedom is a route that is potentially open to many and yet few actually take it and liberate themselves. Achieving your financial goals and becoming financially free requires discipline and commitment, you will face many obstacles but with the right mindset and financial habits success will come. I have listed four of of the obstacles that you will face below. Consistency of action and your ability to adapt to changing circumstances will be key if you are to make it.

Obstacles on Your Financial Journey

Level of Income Changes

The days when employees could expect to work continuously for one employer for a period of forty years and then retire are long gone. In many cases, you are now more likely to be made redundant and suffer a period of unemployment during your career. The chances of this happening are higher if you are an ethnic minority or a woman. Self employed workers and freelancers are also more likely to experience fluctuations in their income levels. If this happens, you will experience a change in the level of your income which could jeopardise your financial objectives.

What to do:

You should immediately re-visit your monthly budget and assess the impact to your net worth. It is important that you adapt to your changing circumstances; should you look for a part time job while also looking for a new main job? Can you make cuts to your levels of expenditure? Surely, the entertainment budget can be reduced? These are questions that you will need to ask yourself. Hopefully you have an emergency fund that you can use until you secure another job.

Pressure from Creditors

If you are following the steps I outlined in this post, What’s the Best Strategy For Clearing Debts?, you will have a prioritised list of debts to clear. It should come as no surprise to you that your creditors will have no regard for your list. You may receive phone calls, text messages or letters from creditors who are a low priority on your list. They will want you to make payments to them and will not care what your overall plan is for reducing your debts. These communications from debtors are an obstacle to overcome and can put you under pressure. If you need to talk to someone consider contacting The National Debtline.

What to do:

Stay strong mentally and do not change your priorities in terms of debt reduction because you received a specific phone call. Stick to your plan that will result in you getting out of debt more quickly.

Pressure from Friends

True friends and family members will understand the financial journey that you are on and the steps that you are taking to put yourself in a better place financially. However, there will be many who do not understand or perhaps are not in your inner circle, they may continue to expect you to attend expensive social get togethers or go on holidays with them. This will put you under some social pressure.

What to do:

Do not give in to pressure to keep up with the Joneses at all. If an event or purchase does not fit with your financial plan avoid it. If you must attend a wedding or special occasion, plan and budget specifically for the occasion. Recycle an outfit for the occasion rather than buying a brand new one. If necessary, explain your decisions to your friends.

Changes in the Value of Investments

On your financial journey, you will experience many changes in the value of your investments. Depending on the nature of your investment portfolio, these changes could be quite significant. For example, those who have invested in cryptocurrencies during the last few years will have experienced a level of price volatility that can make even the most confident investor think twice.

What to do:

Keep tabs on your investments and prepare to takes steps to rebalance your portfolio if it is no longer consistent with the level of risk you are comfortable with. Avoid knee jerk reactions to market changes and consider the long term at all times.

Having a financial plan and goals is a wonderful position to be in, having the strength of character and determination to stick to it and adapt when necessary is even better. You will face obstacles but it is possible to overcome them. I write from experience, I have faced each of the obstacles I have described and more. I want you to come out the other side and be able to recognise your achievement and smile.

Have you faced any of the obstacles I have mentioned here? How have you handled them? Let me know in the comments section below.

If you have enjoyed this post you will also like the following posts:

How to get Value for Money When Buying Foreign Currency

Save up to £500 Per Year With a Sim Only Mobile Phone Deal

Best regards,

Mike

Make Money Now with These two Referral Apps

This post may contain affiliate links please read our disclosure for more info.

In this post, I want share with you two great ways of earning money for referring people to businesses. When you recommend a person to a business as a prospective customer you are giving a referral. One of the key challenges for all businesses is attracting new customers; this explains why personal referrals can earn you great rewards. In this scenario, a referral will lead to a positive outcome for all parties concerned; the referrer, the referee and the business. The two referral apps that I have listed below are definitely worth you exploring because the referral reward available is significant. Keep reading if you want to find out more.

Make Money With Referral Apps

Referment

The first app that I would like to discuss is Referment, Referment is an app available for download from the App Store and Google Play Store.

How does Referment Work?

Referment is an app that rewards you for recommending people for jobs that are currently available and listed on the app. In a sense, you are taking the place of a recruitment consultant.

For example, if someone you know is a suitable candidate for the role of Software Development Technical Lead and you refer them via the app, you will receive a small reward if they secure an interview and then £1750 if they get the job and pass their probation. The rewards are listed below the roles available, as you can see in the picture above. Your reward may take a few months to arrive because of the probation period, but the rewards are worth the wait. You can track the progress of your reward within the app.

Image credits: https://referment.com/

Referment is open to anyone and there is no fee to download the app.

Refer Square

Refer Square is another free app available for download in the App Store and Google Play Store. Please note, at the time of writing, Refer Square is only available to businesses. The app gives businesses the opportunity to refer prospective customers to other businesses.

How does Refer Square Work?

If you are working with a client that needs legal advice you could refer them to a company registered on Refer Square. If your client starts working with the company after your referral, you will receive a reward of at least £250.

Image credits: http://refersquare.co.uk/

Both of these apps give you an opportunity to earn extra money without having to do a lot. In the past, I have referred people for roles without a reward so if the opportunity presents itself in the future I will use one or both of these apps. I have downloaded both onto my phone. I hope you get the chance to benefit too.

Have you referred people for jobs before? Will you be downloading these two apps? Let me know in the comments section below.

If you have enjoyed this post you will also like the following posts:

How to get Value for Money When Buying Foreign Currency

Save up to £500 Per Year With a Sim Only Mobile Phone Deal

Best regards,

Mike

Do you Have the Right Money Mindset?

This post may contain affiliate links please read our disclosure for more info.

Image credit: https://tableforchange.com/

If you are going to be successful achieving your financial goals it is essential that you have the right money mindset. You may be thinking, what does that even mean? In broad terms, A money mindset is your attitude to money, how do you feel about money? What are your emotional reactions to the subject of money? We are all a product of our environments, if you grew up in a mansion with servants waiting on your every whim, you are likely to have a different money mindset to someone who grew up without wealth or many material items.

Your money mindset is given its ‘default setting’ by your parents. If they struggled with money and always mentioned it in the context of having bills to pay or needing more of it, you are likely to have developed a scarcity mindset around money. You may feel that you never seem to have enough money or that saving for the future is not possible with your current circumstances.

Money Mindset

It’s important that you take time to assess your own beliefs around money. Make a list of any beliefs that you have around money and assess them. The opposite to a scarcity mindset is an abundance mindset. It was Stephen Covey who created the term ‘abundance mindset’ in his book, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People People . People with an abundance mindset believe that there are enough resources (including money) for them and others to share.

Fortunately, money mindsets can be changed, you can transform from a scarcity mindset to an abundance mindset if you work on changing your beliefs around money. This is important because a person with an abundance mindset will be more likely to stick to their financial plans and achieve their goals. Also, they will be less likely to self sabotage.

My objective with this post, is to move you closer to an abundance mindset if you don’t have one already. Following the steps below will help you get there.

Gratitude

Create the habit of expressing gratitude for all that you have, do this on a regular basis. You have a roof over your head and the ability to buy all the food that you need. No doubt you have the love of family and friends and the opportunity to live in a relatively peaceful environment. In many parts of the world, people would love this to be true for them too.

Positive Affirmations

Make a list of positive affirmations that you can recite on a regular basis. The impact of these will be to focus your mind on positivity. You will be able to overcome the obstacles that the day or week may throw at you. For most problems that you face, a positive mental attitude is part of the solution. You must believe in yourself and then act in a way that is consistent with your belief.

Evaluate Wants and Needs

It should be relatively straightforward to evaluate your financial needs and wants. This post will help you, How to Create a Budget That You can Stick To. An abundance mindset does not mean that money will magically appear but that there will be enough for your needs and the needs of others too.

Think Practically About Money Making Opportunities

An abundance mindset should be rooted in the practical, don’t make the mistake of thinking that it is all touchy-feely. Think about practical ways in which you can make more money; perhaps you could sell unwanted items, this post will help you think of ideas, 10 Ways to Make Money Now. If you own a business, you could make more money by finding new ways to attract customers. Hopefully you are now becoming aware of the many opportunities that are open to you.

Personally, I am using this blog to keep me executing best practice with regards to personal finance. We should all become more intentional about our financial decisions and creating an abundance mindset will definitely help us on our journey towards financial freedom. I hope that you will take the journey with me.

One belief that I have had to unlearn was the belief that money has to be earned as a trade off for time. I now know that it if you create massive value for a large number of people you can be rewarded far in excess of anything you could earn as an hourly rate or salary. Good examples of that are authors, musicians or online course instructors. They create abundance for themselves but only complete the work once and then continue to be paid for it. Before they created anything, they had to believe it was possible and to adopt an abundance mindset.

Have you had to consciously change your money mindset because of limiting beliefs? How do you feel about money now? What changes have you experienced? Let me know in the comments section below.

If you have enjoyed this post you will also like the following posts:

How to get Value for Money When Buying Foreign Currency

Save up to £500 Per Year With a Sim Only Mobile Phone Deal

Best regards,

Mike

What to do With a Financial Windfall

This post may contain affiliate links please read our disclosure for more info.

Image credit: https://injuryattorneyflorida.com/

If we are lucky, many of us will be handed a financial windfall during our lifetime; a financial windfall is a relatively large influx of surprise cash. It could be the result of achieving an unexpected bonus at work, particularly if you work in the financial services sector. Alternatively, it could be because you have received an inheritance after the death of a loved one. In addition, you could have won a competition, the lottery or sold a business. Windfalls are potentially life changing for recipients, if you take the right steps you can set up your family and yourself for life. What should you do if you receive a financial windfall?

What to do With a Financial Windfall

Take Your Time

The money should not be burning a hole in your pocket, take some time to review your current financial situation, net worth and future plans before you do anything. You should probably consult with an independent financial adviser and listen to their recommendations. Also, consider the tax implications of your windfall, if there are any. Be discreet about your good fortune, not everyone will have your best interests at heart, some will want to exploit the situation for their own financial gain.

Pay Down Debt

A great first step after reviewing your overall financial situation and net worth is to pay down debt, start with the most expensive debts first. This is likely to be credit card debt. For details of a very effective debt reduction strategy read this post, What’s the Best Strategy for Clearing Debts?

Make Additional Mortgage Payments

As the great Jim Rohn* remarked, it’s not possible to actually buy time; one of the occasions in life when it feels like you can almost buy time is when you pay off your mortgage early. If possible, arrange to make additional payments against your mortgage, in doing so you will save yourself tens of thousands in interest that you will not have to pay. Depending on the size of your windfall, you may be able to pay off your mortgage completely and take a big step towards becoming financially free.

Emergency Fund

If you have not had the opportunity or funds to create an emergency fund, now would be a great time to do so. Put away 3-6 months of monthly expenses that can cover you in the event that unforeseen circumstances prevent you from earning your regular salary.

Add to Savings

Take the opportunity provided by the financial windfall to add to your savings, ensure that you take advantage of the best savings accounts interest rates available to you. This article will help you decide what to do, What are the Different Types of Savings Accounts?

Philanthropy

If your financial windfall allows you to help others financially or support your favourite charities or organisations, please do so; your good fortune can have a much wider impact and make a significant difference to the lives of others.

Have you received a financial windfall? What are you planning to do with it? Let me know in the comments section below. Note, I would suggest that use an email address that does not make your identity obvious.

If you have enjoyed this post you will also like the following posts:

How to get Value for Money When Buying Foreign Currency

Save up to £500 Per Year With a Sim Only Mobile Phone Deal

Best regards,

Mike

* ‘Time is more value than money. You can get more money, but you cannot get more time.’ – Jim Rohn

Why you Should Track Your Net Worth

This post may contain affiliate links please read our disclosure for more info.

Image credit: http://www.astrapefinance.com/

I hope those you who did not already have a monthly household budget, have now had chance to create one. If not, this post will help you, How to Create a Budget That you can Stick to. One stage on from creating a monthly budget is to create another simple spreadsheet that records your total net worth.

Calculating Your Net Worth

Net Worth can be defined as the sum of all of your assets minus your liabilities. For many of you, the thought of creating a spreadsheet with all your assets and liabilities recorded in one place might fill you with dread. If you have large student loans or credit card debts, recording your total amount of liabilities and assets might be a painful process. However, this is a necessary step to track your net worth.

Your personal net worth looks at the bigger picture, it’s not just your monthly income and outgoings. You also get the opportunity to track all of your assets as well as your liabilities. Assets include properties, savings, investment accounts, stocks and shares and businesses owned where applicable; liabilities include, mortgages, student loans, credit card debts and loans.

For the sake of simplicity it is acceptable to leave out all regular monthly expenses that are paid out of your monthly salary or wage. When thinking about net worth I always remember a quote attributed to the mathematician, Karl Pearson.

“That which is measured improves. That which is measured and reported improves exponentially.”

Karl Pearson

Improvements to Your Net Worth

This is exactly why we are doing this! Your net worth will improve. When you complete your first total net worth tracker spreadsheet, it will take some time. By the way, feel free to think of a more exciting title than Total Net Worth Tracker Spreadsheet. 🙂

When you come to update it after a month, unless you have suffered some financial calamity, your total net worth will have increased. For example, if you have made payments to student loans and or credit cards, their totals will come down slightly and your net worth will have gone up. If you are like me, you will find this incredibly motivating! As an aside, do not compare yourself to others, just track your own progress. In time, deficits will turn into surpluses. Money that was originally to pay debts can be diverted into savings accounts when those debts have been paid. Tracking your net worth is an excellent habit and will help you to transform your finances.

What Should you do Now?

Create your total net worth spreadsheet and update it each month. Here’s a downloadable spreadsheet that you can use.

Are you already tracking your net worth ? If so, what has been the improvement in the last 12 months? Let me know in the comments section below.

If you have enjoyed this post you will also like the following posts:

How to get Value for Money When Buying Foreign Currency

Save up to £500 Per Year With a Sim Only Mobile Phone Deal

Best regards,

Mike

Have you Saved Enough into Your Pension?

This post may contain affiliate links please read our disclosure for more info.

Image credit: https://www.finance-monthly.com/

Have you saved enough into your pension? For a large proportion of the United Kingdom population the answer is no. Most people are not saving enough for their retirement. Does your vision of retirement include freedom to travel and time to enjoy a comfortable standard of living? If we all to have the retirement that we aspire to one day, we will need to make sure that we are on track to achieve it. It is time to get serious and work out how much that will cost.

Pensions: Why Many People Are Failing

There are a lot of assumptions built into pension calculations, assumptions that are not true for many people. For example, the assumption that you will work 40 years of continuous employment with your salary continually increasing by X% and you maintaining your pension contributions at 12% of your salary for 40 years. Some of the realities of life such as redundancies, women taking time out to raise a family, individuals starting businesses, part time work, time out for studying and credit credit or student loan debts don’t exist in this Continuous Pension Saving Utopia.

I think when people realise that they are not on track to hit their pension goal, they give up and hope someone other than themselves will solve the problem. Let me be more specific, if you would like to live on a retired income of £25,000 you will need to have a pension pot of £500,000. That is assuming that you use your pension pot to purchase an annuity giving you the annual income of £25,000. Try this pension calculator to work out how much you would need at other income levels. As you can appreciate, £500,000 is a large amount especially when it’s considered that the average pension pot in the UK is around £50,000.

What Should you do Now?

Pension Pot

Work out the total pension pot you currently have, if you have had several jobs during your career you may need to do a little detective work to track down all of your workplace pensions. This article will help you find your pensions.

Up Your Contributions

Re-evaluate your household budget, can you afford to increase your contributions? If you are in a workplace pension then you should maximise the contributions that you make because these will be matched by your employer. If you are self employed, you should also increase your contributions.

Develop a Plan B

It may be that increasing your pension contributions alone will not be enough for you create a big enough pension pot for retirement. If that is the case, you should develop a Plan B.

Property is a great way to supplement your pension savings, you could downsize your main residence and use the profit for your retirement. Alternatively, you could rent out a spare room and earn extra income that way. There are other ways too, they include equity release and property investing. You can read more about these ways via this link.

If you own a business, this could become your Plan B. Depending on the nature of your business, you may be able to sell it and contribute money to your pension savings after the sale.

Don’t Lose Heart

The fact that you are reading an article like this is a positive in itself. You still have time to improve your level of preparedness for retirement and there are a number of ways you can do so.

Are you on track with your pension savings? If not, what are you going to do about it? Let me know in the comments section below.

If you have enjoyed this post you will also like the following posts:

How to get Value for Money When Buying Foreign Currency

Save up to £500 Per Year With a Sim Only Mobile Phone Deal