The Money Spot™ - UK Personal Finance

#26 Harriet asks: Hi Heather, My name’s Harriet. Thanks for the UK-focused personal finance podcast. I feel slightly worried that I don’t have a will because of the covid-19 pandemic. I have children and some assets and I want to go about getting a will in place in the right way, please tell me what I need to think about so I get my will done correctly from the get-go. ​Thanks a mil. Related resou...

#25 Kimberley asks: Hi Heather, my name's Kimberley. My husband and I have worked hard to build a financial safety net for our family. We both come from modest backgrounds and weren’t taught much about money so we’ve had to figure everything out on our own and made quite a few mistakes along the way. Do you have any tips we can use to teach our children about managing money so that they make far f...

#24 Tsungi asks: Hey Girl! I’ve been trying to get my cancelled flight to Zimbabwe refunded for a month but haven’t made any progress, do you have any suggestions? Tsungi Related resource: https://www.katsonga.com/wealthblog/qa-how-do-i-get-my-refund-fast Ask me a question: https://www.katsonga.com/coach.html Choose a book: https://www.katsonga.com/mybooks.html Support the podcast: In $: https://w...

Part 5 - In this 5-part series, Mark Katsonga Phiri talks us through his life story during the course of a 4-hour road trip. From the first business that he helped his mother with when he was only 11 years old, to his 7th business which went from 0 to a million dollar business in a year. However, it’s actually his 6th business that gave him the profit to start the 7th that I found the most excitin...

Part 4 - In this 5-part series, Mark Katsonga Phiri talks us through his life story during the course of a 4-hour road trip. From the first business that he helped his mother with when he was only 11 years old, to his 7th business which went from 0 to a million dollar business in a year. However, it’s actually his 6th business that gave him the profit to start the 7th that I found the most excitin...

Part 3 - In this 5-part series, Mark Katsonga Phiri talks us through his life story during the course of a 4-hour road trip. From the first business that he helped his mother with when he was only 11 years old, to his 7th business which went from 0 to a million dollar business in a year. However, it’s actually his 6th business that gave him the profit to start the 7th that I found the most excitin...

Part 2 - In this 5-part series, Mark Katsonga Phiri talks us through his life story during the course of a 4-hour road trip. From the first business that he helped his mother with when he was only 11 years old, to his 7th business which went from 0 to a million dollar business in a year. However, it’s actually his 6th business that gave him the profit to start the 7th that I found the most excitin...

Part 1 - In this 5-part series, Mark Katsonga Phiri talks us through his life story during the course of a 4-hour road trip. From the first business that he helped his mother with when he was only 11 years old, to his 7th business which went from 0 to a million dollar business in a year. However, it’s actually his 6th business that gave him the profit to start the 7th that I found the most excitin...

#18 Miriam asks: Hi Heather Can you do an educational post on Life Insurance? A lot of people in our community still depend on donations when there is a bereavement, I think they’d be surprised to find out how cheap it actually is to get life insurance. Miriam Related resource: https://www.katsonga.com/wealthblog/what-is-life-insurance-how-much-life-insurance-do-i-need Ask me a question: https://w...

#17 Alex asks: Hi Heather! I'm 22 years old and I've been trying to get a good control of my finances. I'm still a student so I don't have a regular income. I've set up a LISA account to save for a house but I'd also like to begin saving for retirement. I've looked everywhere online but nothing seems to explain what different kinds of pensions there are, how to open them and how they work. Please...

#16 Reena asks: ​Hi Heather,   My name’s Reena, I’d really like to know what my spending looks like relative to the average person, can you do a blog post or podcast episode on that? Thanks. Related resource: https://www.katsonga.com/wealthblog/qa-do-i-spend-more-money-than-the-average-person Ask me a question: https://www.katsonga.com/coach.html Choose a book: https://www.katsonga.com/mybooks.htm...

#15 Sam asks: ​Hi Heather,   My name’s Sam. Can you talk about financial independence and the steps one has to move through to get there? Thanks Related resource: https://www.katsonga.com/wealthblog/qa-what-are-the-different-stages-of-financial-independence Ask me a question: https://www.katsonga.com/coach.html Choose a book: https://www.katsonga.com/mybooks.html Support the podcast: In $: https:/...

#14 Vivienne asks: ​Hi Heather,   Thank you so much for launching your podcast. I am really enjoying all your advice.   My name’s Vivienne. I’m single and in my late 60s. I receive the state pension and find that I struggle to make ends meet – my saving grace is that I own my home outright but I don’t have any other investments outside of that. Although I would like to work because I get lonely so...

#13 Linda asks: ​Hi Heather,   My name’s Linda. I would like to have a comfortable retirement but I am not sure how much money I need to have saved up in order to achieve this goal. I am not particularly extravagant but I do want to be able to afford at least two holidays a year. I additionally don’t have access to a fixed workplace pension so I need to live within the means of my own investments...

#12 Grace asks: ​Hi Heather, My name’s Grace. I recently started investing in stocks and shares and want to know the type of returns I should realistically expect? I’m especially interested in how long it will take for my money to double in value. Thanks Related resource: https://www.katsonga.com/wealthblog/qa-how-long-will-it-take-for-my-shares-to-double-in-value-the-rule-of-72 Ask me a question:...

#11 Nicola asks: Hi Heather, My name’s Nicola. I’m fortunate enough to still have a job right now, most of my friends have lost their jobs and it’s made me realise that if I had lost my job I wouldn’t be able to survive at all. I have no savings, a few debts and spend all my earnings every month. What do I need to start doing, right now, to ensure that by the time the next crisis hits the economy,...

#10 Edna asks: ​Hi Heather, My name’s Edna. I was wondering if you could talk about what net worth is? Why it matters and how I can improve my net worth? Thanks. Related resource: https://www.katsonga.com/wealthblog/qa-what-is-financial-net-worth-how-do-i-calculate-my-net-worth-and-improve-it Ask me a question: https://www.katsonga.com/coach.html Choose a book: https://www.katsonga.com/mybooks.htm...

#9 ​Angela asks: Hi Heather, Happy new year! I’m a big fan of yours and have been following you for a while. I bought all your three books. I would like to open a stocks and shares ISA for myself and two children aged 16 & 14 but I don’t know where to start due to fear of risk. I want to invest 15% of my income in stocks and also considering real estate. I have seen some recommendations like Vangu...

#8 Wendie asks: Hi Heather, My name’s Wendie. I am a support worker and earn about £1,600. I struggle to make savings due to all my commitments but I desire to start no matter how small. Please advise. Related resource: https://www.katsonga.com/wealthblog/qa-what-are-the-9-biggest-money-mistakes-people-make-that-prevent-them-from-saving Ask me a question: https://www.katsonga.com/coach.html Choose...

#7 Barry asks: Hi Heather, My name’s Barry and I hate budgeting…it’s not so much the budgeting but tracking all my spending; it kind of sucks the joy out of life. I can’t stand having to think through how my money will be spent and not being able to buy what I want just because it wasn’t budgeted for – am I doomed to always be broke because I don’t budget? Do you have any suggestions for me? Relat...

#6 Melissa asks: I’m Melissa. As a full-time entrepreneur myself, I often find a difficulty in deciding how much monthly income to re-invest into my business and not OVERDO IT. This reminds me of why I often lose at the board game "Monopoly", ha! Because I'll spend every last dollar on buying up houses and hotels and when I fall on someone else's property, I don't have the money to pay them. And i...

#5 Chrissy asks: Hi Heather, My husband and I want to buy a house, how can we go about improving our credit score? Related resource: https://www.katsonga.com/wealthblog/qa-how-can-i-improve-my-credit-score-so-that-my-husband-and-i-can-buy-a-house Ask me a question: https://www.katsonga.com/coach.html Choose a book: https://www.katsonga.com/mybooks.html Support the podcast: In $: https://www.buymea...

#4 Flora asks: Hi Heather, Based on the things you told us about investing, my husband and I started putting £125 per month each into our SIPP pension. I hope this isn’t a silly question but what are these savings for? When can we expect to start spending that money and should we try to spend it in specific ways or on specific things? Both my husband and I are 30, we don’t plan on having children...

#3 Denise asks: Hi Heather, I want to earn extra income, however I work as a nurse in the NHS which takes up my time, do you have any suggestions on any investment that can make money. I am also interested in the stock market but don’t know where to start. I am interested in both generating extra monthly cash flow now and increasing the amount of money I have in retirement. Related blog: https://w...

#2 Diana asks: Hi Heather, I just had my first baby. I'm 31 and married. Do you have any tips for how I can think about saving and investing for my baby? Related resource: https://www.katsonga.com/wealthblog/how-to-save-and-invest-for-your-children Ask me a question: https://www.katsonga.com/coach.html Choose a book: https://www.katsonga.com/mybooks.html Support the podcast: In $: https://www.buym...