The Making Money Simple Podcast

In this video I discuss what will happen to the financial markets in 2025. First though, it's helpful to revisit what was predicted in 2024. And then what actually happened in reality. There was a big difference. Including the world's biggest bank getting their prediction wrong by an unbelievable 38%. In fact, since I started investing back in 2017, I think there has been a 'big crash&...

In this video I discuss exactly how I invested £17,976 across 2024. Including the platforms I use to invest and the specific investments I've made down to the penny. The very large majority of this money went into global index funds and ETFs. That's the investing approach that I personally follow. I then also invested a little bit of money into crypto. Listen to the episode for the full de...

In this video I discuss the recently announced changes to Vanguard UK fees. This took me by surprise. In short, if you have <£32k on Vanguard's platform across your ISA, SIPP and GIA then you will be paying a £4 p/m fee from 31 January 2025 onwards. If you have >£32k then you are not impacted by this. This fee change also doesn't impact Junior ISAs. In this podcast episode we run thr...

In this video I discuss my brand new book Stop Waiting, Start Investing - that came out on 26 November 2024 - in more detail, run through the investing mistakes I made (of which there were quite a few) and take you on the journey of how I built my portfolio from £0 to £100,000+ over the last 7 years. To do this I didn't do anything special or inherit any more, and I'm certainly not a geniu...

Monty from @montylanefinance joins me on this episode of the podcast to talk all things investing. Monty has grown his investment portfolio from £0 to £89,000+ over the last 3 years, spread across a Stocks & Shares ISA and SIPP, and is on his way to a six-figure investment pot. That's a huge sum of money in a short space of time - so I wanted to find out how he did it. We discuss Monty&#39...

Iain from @IainJGeddes joins me on this episode of the podcast to talk about investing for your children.  If you don’t currently have children, this is useful future information. Even if you don’t want children, you can hopefully pass on this knowledge to friend's children, nephews and nieces.  We have three main options: Junior Stocks & Shares ISA, Junior SIPP, or using part of your own...

In this video I go through everything that you need to know about investing and taxes in the UK. This includes the 3 main vehicles we can use to invest in the UK - ISAs, pensions and general investment accounts. And the 3 main 'phases' of investing - before investing, during investing (i.e when we are invested in something) and when withdrawing. Ultimately, ISAs and pensions have great tax...

It's no secret that I am a fan of global funds. I am largely just a global index fund investor. Why? Because it keeps my approach as simple and as diverse as possible. Across my various investing accounts, and there are a lot of them (as we go through in the podcast), I usually solely invest into the lowest cost, most globally diversified fund I can find. And I recently passed a huge milestone...

Thomas (@thebankengine) joined me on this episode to talk about how he makes extra income each month - specifically a whopping £1,912 across April and May 2024. Not just in the last two months though, Tom the bank (or tank 🚂) engine has been making thousands of additional pounds across the last few years. This is all through extra income streams/extra side hustles that he has, some completely pas...

This is exactly how I invested £6,505 so far in 2024. In this podcast I run through the exact investing platforms I use, the exact investment accounts I use and the exact investments I've been making. Like always, zero gatekeeping! As you will see, and if you don't already know, my approach is unbelievably simple. Primarily, this is automatic contributions into global funds every single mo...

Jasper (@jasperinvests) joined me on this episode to talk about FX rates and how they impact us as UK investors. A very important topic that most aren't aware of. First, we discussed the S&P 500 returns for US investors compared to UK investors. Surprisingly, and we dug into the historical data, the returns can vary massively in any individual year. There can be huge swings and differences...

Emma from Bee Money Savvy (@beemoneysavvy) - a previous winner of Best Money Saving Blog - joined me on this episode to talk about two things. 1) Her blogging journey, where she now makes more money than her day job and 2) three key money saving tips that you should implement. First, we talk about Emma’s blogging journey and how she turned her side hustle into a money maker, all whilst continuing...

Tej from @tejtalks joins me on this podcast episode to discuss all things branding (check out the timestamps further below in the description to see what we cover). Branding is everything. From the perspective of a personal brand or a business brand. We discussed the importance of branding and where to start, before moving on to how to actually build a brand and stand out. Towards the end of the p...

Laura Ann Moore from @laura_ann_more joins me on this special audience answered podcast episode. I asked my audience on social media 'what is your biggest financial mistake' and got a number of responses - some funny, some serious, some sad, some relatable. Laura and I go through a number of these responses (all timestamped below if you want to jump around) where we discuss them and provid...

100% mortgages are back. In this episode, I give you all of the information that you need to know. 100% mortgages were already available, but you needed a guarantor/financial backing from friends or family. The 100% mortgage referred to in this episode is a new product from Skipton Building Society, with no guarantor/financial backing needed. In this episode I go through everything that you need t...

Tom from @TomTalksMoney_ joined me on this episode of the podcast to discuss all things matched betting. Unbelievably, Tom started matched betting and then took it full time for 4 years, the perfect guest for this episode. First, we discuss what is matched betting and how we can actually get started, including the best platforms to use. You can get started from as little as £50, but ideally if you...

In this episode I’m joined by Brian from The Frugal Spender to discuss the difference between being frugal, being cheap and being tight. We went through what these terms actually mean. All of them have some negative connotations, but being frugal is: using your resources in the most efficient way possible to maximise your personal benefit. This sounds pretty good and what we want to aim for, as op...

In this episode I’m joined by Sarah from @altstproperty and we discuss what will happen to the property market in 2023. It's always hard, and nearly impossible, to predict what will happen to the markets. But we tried out best! First, we discussed what happened to the property market in 2022 and more broadly over the last few years. Second, we delved into discussing what could happen to the pr...

In this episode I’m joined by Kate from @moneymindsetmother and we discuss how to effectively manage your money as a parent. Kate is a mum of 3 and is very experienced at managing her own money and her families money so is the perfect guest for this episode. First, we discussed the transition to managing money from a non-parent to a parent. One of the most important things is to know your numbers...

Richard Brown from @thepropertyvoice joins me (again) on this episode to share some property wisdom. This time on some of his 'Property First Principles'. This includes: The 18-year property cycle - what it is, how you can use it to your advantage, and when the next crash might me. Leverage and 'other people's money' - how property can accelerate your wealth building path. Bein...

Richard Brown from @thepropertyvoice joins me on this episode to discuss how we can turn our own homes into an investment or an asset. It is worth saying that it is contentious as to whether a home is an asset or a liability, each person has a different opinion. But, a general definition is that an asset 'puts money into your pocket' and in this podcast we talk through how you can do exact...

Inflation is currently at 9.1% in the UK (a 40-year high) and is a large concern for many people as everyday items becoming increasingly more expensive. In this podcast episode I cover everything that you need to know about inflation. Starting with the basics of what it is and how it is measured. Before moving onto why governments actually want inflation, how they attempt to control inflation, and...

Ola from @allthingsmoney_ joined me on this episode of the podcast all about the current cost of living crisis. First, we discuss what the 'cost of living crisis' is and why we're in this position. There are a number of factors that have contributed to the position that we are currently in. Next, we talked through what this means for us. In short, due to the cost of living crisis and i...

In this podcast episode I run through 13 tax-free allowances that we should know about in 13 minutes. This is just in time for the end of the tax year on 5th April and for the start of the new tax year on 6th April. The majority of these allowances are 'use or lose', so if we don't use them up they do not rollover and are lost forever. We then get a fresh, new set of allowances wheneve...

Josh from @becomingfinanciallyfree_uk joined me on this episode of the podcast to discuss everything NFTs. First, we went through the basics of NFTs and web3, what they are and what they actually mean. Second, we discussed the reasons why NFTs could be a good investment, but also why they are an incredibly risky investment to make. Third, we went through the 3-step process to start investing in NF...