"Personal Finance is Personal" - Money Management 101 with Savvy Wallet

[00:00:00] Could you share some of your personal experiences? I know so far you've spoken about ETFs, you've spoken about stocks and things like that. Are there any other personal, from your personal experience tips that you want to give to the audience in terms of personal finance? I think you've mentioned, I think you've spoken about one. Yeah, you know where I'm going a little bit more and I'm going to be talking a bit more with like therapists, psychotherapists, psychologists about this. I think it's really, I think it's understanding who you are and what kind of person you are.

[00:00:29] I think in regards to money, I think you have to understand how you kind of feel around that. Because for example, I could say to, you know, I could say to you right now, you know, do budget, I don't know, eat beans on toast every day. And you're like, no, that's, I can't do that. Right?

[00:00:53] So I would say, I think you have to understand who you are, what kind of person you are, right? Like figure out a high level. Is it easy for you to budget? Is it easy for you to be a spender? Figure out, for me, I was a spender, right? So I knew because I'm a spender, I need to kind of put in guardrails to prevent me from spending.

[00:01:13] So one of those guardrails, for example, is okay, I put a certain amount of money in my account, the rest goes into a savings account. Or it goes into another bank, for example, right? So let's say I have two banks, right? Maybe bank A is where my salary goes in. Bank B is where like maybe my spending money goes for the month. So it's about thinking about who you are and then putting in the potential kind of guardrails. So yeah, for me, again, that was one of the spending kind of things that I kind of did.

[00:01:46] Yeah, I do, I've got loads of tips that are things I want to say, but I'm just, what I want to do is I want to be mindful that, again, personal finance is personal, right? So I always want to say to people, whenever I'm saying what I'm saying, you also got to figure out what works for you and what doesn't, because it doesn't work holistically for everybody, right? So for example, I'll speak to somebody two days ago, right? And they were like to me, I'm not doing that budgeting lifestyle.

[00:02:11] Like, yeah, you know what, I'm going to work my job and I'm going to have a business because I like the lifestyle. Like when I say they're not saying that they're going to budget, they do budget, but they're saying that they don't want to lower their expenses. So because they don't want to lower their expenses, they just, they'd rather just make more money, right? So figure out, are you that type of person? Are you the type of person like, you know what, I like that high lifestyle, but I'm willing to work way more.

[00:02:40] I'm willing to have a side hustle. I'm willing to do whatever to finance that and more, right? I think the most important thing is that, you know, you always do have a surplus, right? I think that's like a high level. You need to always have a surplus because that surplus is what's going to enable you to, to build wealth, right? So for me, right, on months where it's not hectic and I'm not traveling for weddings or, you know, holidays and stuff like that. For me, I like to invest. I mean, it's no secret. I like to invest, right?

[00:03:09] And I think that's where you really build wealth, right? I think there's two sort of avenues where you build wealth, right? It's really, if you're not somebody who wants to be an entrepreneur, then your avenue is going to be in a stock market, right? Stock market or property, for example, crypto, if you're risky. Those are going to be your avenues in terms of building wealth if you don't want to be an entrepreneur and you're happy with 9 to 5.

[00:03:32] But you need to ensure that there's enough surplus that you can use, right, to invest in these things, right? Now, if you want to create wealth, not the stock market, not the property route, then yeah, it's got to be an entrepreneur, right? That's another route for you to potentially create wealth. Technically, I'm kind of doing both, right? I've got my 9 to 5, I've got my business in terms of the podcast and I'm still investing. So I'm doing both, right?

[00:04:02] And I think you could do both. I think both is good because it means you accelerate as well. You've got the one that's a bit more long-term, maybe that takes care of you, I don't know, between 40 and 60. And then maybe the wealth you rapidly create now takes you up to 40. I don't know. You have to kind of figure that out for yourself.

[00:04:23] So I think really, again, it's really understanding who you are and then from that always ensuring that you understand how to kind of manage your finances, right? I think it's very important. People don't like the word budget. There's loads of different ways you can call it. It doesn't have to be a budget. You can call it a plan. You can call it whatever you want.

[00:04:44] I think what's important is that you have an eye on what's coming in and what's going out and you make sure there's a surplus for you to put that to work. And, you know, what's crazy is the surplus also does have to be put into the stock market. It could also be used to start a business, right? You know, or used to quit your job to start a business, right? So doing that just gives you the flexibility. That's what you have to see. Having a surplus gives you the flexibility.

[00:05:14] You have to see in that kind of way. So, yeah, for me, it's really mindset. Knowing who you are. You know, if I was to number it, I think really understanding who you are. You're a spender. Are you naturally a saver, right? Are you doing these things of do you have visibility of your finances? If you don't, OK, get visibility of your finances. OK, cool. You've got visibility of your finances. Are you, you know, do you have a surplus, right? Are you making more than you're spending? Cool. OK, what are you doing with the surplus, right?

[00:05:42] And that's how I think if you structure it in that way, you're going to be able to kind of build wealth. And that's how I think about it. Obviously, there are other things you can do. There's loads of things. We've got pensions as well that I would say. And I'll briefly mention it because when I was young, I didn't really take it seriously. But a lot of companies these days are doing matches, company matches. So that's another. A pension is wealth, by the way. I mean, the government, I can't say too much because I haven't read it in debt.

[00:06:11] But the government are going to start going after people's pensions because you can also pass that on as well. It is wealth. So if a company is saying they will match up to 5% of your salary, that's 5% they're giving you for free. So look out for a lot of these free things. A lot of things I did, right? Right. And again, now the more I'm doing it, I'm remembering. I just took advantage of all the free money that was out there. So when I say for my deposit, lifetime ISA, I took advantage of that.

[00:06:41] It was that I got an extra three grand. That's free money. Yeah. Why not? He doesn't want free money. So I was taking advantage of all of these things. I lived in a housing association building, which gave 20% off. I just was using the system. You have to use the system. But also, right? The system won't tell you about these things. So nobody, this, it was intermediate rent. Nobody told me about it. I found it by accident. I was like, oh my God, this is great. Okay. Use that.

[00:07:09] I was like, yeah, well, 20% off the private rent. Okay, cool. I can afford to live on my own. It's a bit cheaper than what it would be normal. Okay. When I say for mortgage deposit. Okay. Free money here. Do you know what I mean? So I think it's taking advantage of that pension. You know, got my employer paying into my pension. So it's taking advantage of all of these things, I think, as well. It's important. I mean, these are more than fantastic tips. These are great tips for at least even a beginner. Honestly, these are fantastic. Thanks for sharing this, Atto.

[00:07:39] And I think all of these tips, I think for someone to take them on, is really going to do a lot for them. Yeah. I hope so. Yeah. But I think I also want to mention that, of course, you're not a financial advisor. I'm not. Yes. I'm not a financial advisor. Let's make sure that. So there's no advice. This is, I wouldn't even say guidance. This is us just talking. Yeah. We're just talking. Exactly.

[00:08:04] I would always say, do your own research, especially when it comes to, you know, whether it's investing, pensions, accounts, all of that stuff. Always do your own research. That's why I say personal finance is personal. Just understand again at high level who you are. And then use podcasts like this to guide you, to find your way, but always make sure it's personalized to you. This is more information. This is information you're talking about.

[00:08:30] So it's no different to like if I saw, I wanted to invest in a global fund and it had the fact, they normally have a fact sheet and it tells you, okay, this global funds invest in this, this, this, and that. You know, that's what this is. This is just pure information. We're not telling you to act on it. You kind of just kind of use it to figure out what you need to do. That's fantastic.