What Can We Learn From Playing Games?

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My best friend from school, Leslie Scott, invented Jenga.   You have probably played it, you will almost certainly have heard about it.   I was Leslie’s accountant and you can read that story in Leslie’s book called About Jenga. Leslie loves games.   Generally, I hate them but we don’t let it spoil our friendship! I do love Jenga obviously, its fun.   And another one of hers is Ex Libris and I enjoy this even more and its for you especially if you love books and words.   Check out Leslie’s Oxford Games site for Ex Libris. Educationalists would, I am sure, tell me about […]

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Questions About Money, Savings, Investments & Debt

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How do I stop impulse spending? Set yourself a budget. Do various tricks like giving your credit cards to a trusted friend to take care of for you. Once a member of my accounting staff gave me hers and I remember hiding them in a jigsaw puzzle box where they remained happily and unused for more than a year. I’ve heard tales of people freezing their credit cards which means  you have to defrost them before you can use them. That can slow down  your spending! Another way is to write down what you want to buy in a little […]

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Some Thoughts About Pensions and SIPPs

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Until 2002, when I began my journey to financial freedom, I thought I would have to work until I dropped down dead. And if I had to rely solely on my pensions, then that’s still the situation I would find myself in, even after nearly a decade of improving my own financial intelligence.   Someone wrote to ask me about SIPPS earlier today when I had already planned to write on this topic. That’s life for you, isn’t it? Pensions. Is that the dullest and most unsexy word and concept on the planet? I thought it was until I was in […]

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Forty Tips for Making or Saving Money

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1. Read Money Week www.moneyweek.com for free daily emails and first 3 magazines free. Invaluable and only 1 hour a week 2. Write an e-book around your expertise and sell 20 copies online 3. Promote someone else’s products, earn affiliate fees 4. Review your insurances – remember the insurance industry preys on our fears. 5. Trade in endowments and learn to do something more powerful with the money 6. Only contribute to a pension where your employer matches your contribution. Self-employed? Get a SIPP (ask me). 7. Stop emotional spending and retail therapy;  cease medicating your pain with shopping 8. Cut out takeaways, limit designer coffees, bribes, treats and […]

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Entrepreneur Radio: Today’s Entrepreneur is Mary Waring

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Did you catch my radio show at 9 GMT today?   If not, you can listen again to Mary Waring, UK mortgage adviser, buy-to-let landlady and property expert, IFA in training.   Is there no end to this woman’s talents? Listen to Mary as she describes why corporate life wasn’t for her and what caused her to finally quit and start up on her own, how she ran the London Marathon and how that enables her to remember she can get out of her comfort zone and do anything. Mary is studying for her IFA exams and will qualify on the fast-track […]

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An Entrepreneur’s Alphabet: F is for Focus

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So my advice is to pick your best idea and focus on it to the exclusion of all else until you have launched it and are drawing a regular income stream from it. Only then should you go on to begin to focus on your next idea. In The Money Gym, we call this Serial Focus!

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Check the Performance of your Pensions and Investments

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  I received a phone call from an old friend and colleague last week.   He’s now part of an IFA which will check your pension policies and investments in such instruments as PEPs, ISAs, unit trusts, bonds and oiks (OEICS, not I dont know what they are either) for free.   It’s an independent free review. If your policies are doing great, they will tell you so and you can put the paperwork back in the file and relax. If they are not doing so great, they will give you some advice about what to do about it, that’s also free – they […]

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