"There was no business plan, no forecasting, just a need to pay the mortgage and crack the feck on..."
+ a Substack posts ruins my day
Hi and welcome to The Ladybird Purse, my weekly newsletter about women and money. I’m not a financial advisor and am in no way qualified to give financial advice. I’m just a girl woman, who’s just been to the horrible Asda and got all the week’s meals from the reduced section (the reduced section is the only reason to go to the horrible Asda).
Remember how last week I was feeling chill about money?
Well I’m still feeling (relatively) chill in the present… but yesterday I read this and it pretty much ruined my day:
Specifically this part:
Retirement savings is a pipe dream at this point. When I am no longer able to earn a living, the gig will be up. Literally.
And the woman interviewed is in a much better position than me. She owns her own home. She has retirement savings. Yes, she’s most likely going to have to use them for other things, but at least she has them. I don’t own a home and my pension is currently worth about seven grand. I am… fine? For now? As long as nothing goes wrong. But what are the chances that nothing will go wrong?
I’ve written before about how I’m constantly trying to balance the present and future and always prioritising the present (because I’m bad at delayed gratification and also the future isn’t promised), but the above interview made me realise I do need to work on that.
It’s like when we moved into this flat. I spent days trying to sort out the gas and electric and then, once that was done, I started looking for accent chairs and framed prints for the walls. With my finances, it’s like I’m buying the prints and the chairs in a flat with a gas leak and no lights. I can get the chairs and prints eventually (both in real life and this belaboured metaphor), but I need to make sure the place is safe first.
I’ve just been reading old posts and in this one, from February 2022, I wrote:
You don’t need a lot of money, just enough to live comfortably and be free from anxiety, beyond that it’s just a pile of green stuff without meaning. Your purpose should be to understand how much you have, figure out your expenses, save a reasonable amount for the future and enjoy the rest. There are other essentials for your happiness, you know: concerts, travelling, entertaining, books.1
They are my essentials for happiness! How did she know?! And this is what I want. Yes, ALL the money would be nice. I do want to be a millionaire. But I think I’m going to start there.
I did not start there. I started at the end. With the enjoying, the travelling, the concerts, the books. I really need to set those foundations. And I really hope that if I come across this post in another two years, I will have done it.
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An interview with… Sarah Knight
Sarah Knight is a behaviour changemaker, a business & mindset coach, human skills & leadership trainer & facilitator and an ADHD workplace champion.
An award-winning workplace culture consultant, Sarah is an advanced coach and NLP practitioner bringing behavioural science backed practices and techniques to help businesses and individuals develop and deliver people first strategies building the mindset, behaviours and human skills of the people in the business to supercharge productivity, profit margins; and crucially the mental fitness of individuals.
Sarah has spearheaded, developed and run many ‘Women in Leadership’ programmes determined to help women lead themselves forward in business and break the bias. Sarah also runs ‘Ministry of Midlife’ an online platform designed to help women in midlife bridge the barriers and build a performance mindset for personal and professional development. Her Coach in your Pocket programme provides an on the go, instant access coaching programme for midlife women.
As a regular on the conference circuit and contributor to publications including being featured in Forbes, Sarah is passionate (and vocal) about helping to equip every single individual with the life skills they need to harness success and help all individuals bridge the skills gap regardless of gender, background or belief system.
What is your relationship with money currently?
I have a love hate relationship with money. I worry about it a lot and then I am that person that goes ‘f*ck it, I deserve a treat.’ I’m also becoming all to aware that I’m also 51 and I have no real pension so I’m going to have to start being a bit more of a grown up and looking at the future whilst making the most of the now. (You can’t take it with you as the saying goes and I’ve lost two of my best friends over the years so I’m very aware life is short.)
What’s your earliest money memory?
Oh my word – just had the flashback of the Nat West Piggy Bank Pigs which having just googled was 1984… I think I might have got up to Lady Hilary.
What advice would you give your younger self about money?
That’s a tough one as I’ve enjoyed some very fabulous years and some tough ones (my ex-husband’s business going bump as we were splitting up and then my boiler breaking so me and the kids being without a boiler for four long winter months which was fun).
So I guess my advice would be save little and often – something both my kids are doing now and are proving much better than I was.
And my biggest piece of advice is something I’ve always stood by…earn your own money, don’t be waiting for someone else to earn it for you (one of my friend’s kids said the other day she wanted to marry a popstar or a footballer so she could be rich and it boiled my piss).
What’s the biggest money mistake you’ve made?
Not consistently putting away a little bit every month. Not saving for my tax bill – which my accountant still bollocks me for.
What’s the best thing you’ve ever spent money on?
Having fun, living life. Making memories with my kids. As a single mum for a long time earning and going on hols with my kids (and sometimes putting those hols on credit cards and paying them back over the year – I know not sensible but I would not change a thing).
Do you have a pension? If not, do you have a plan?
A very small one. I’ve been a business owner for 21 years having been made redundant when the business I was working for went bump when I was pregnant with my now nearly 22-year-old. I had to earn, so I set up business. My aim was to pay the mortgage and I didn’t have any disposable income so no pension contributions – and I don’t think there was the education there is today. But I have owned my own house for a long time so my pension is currently bricks and mortar.
Could you tell me more about your business?
I was working for a major telecoms company than floated for about £28m and then went bump when the market crashed. I had to make my team of 50 redundant, write the press statements and make myself redundant. And it turned out that my own bump was not a whole heap of vanilla slices but a daughter.
As I tapped into my old contacts, they all (kindly) told me to get back in touch when the bump had gone. I went to the job centre and they told me (and I quote) ‘oh love, why don't you just sign on sick and take disability’. Anyway I had a mortgage to pay and was panicking so I set up a business which back then was a PR and marketing consultancy.
Six weeks after popping out the daughter (she was also four weeks early) I was running an event with my mum sat in the car outside holding the screaming banshee whilst I ran out in between stuff to clamp her on my boob before going back to work. There was no business plan, no forecasting, just a need to pay the mortgage and crack the feck on...which has mainly been my ongoing mantra.
The business has morphed and evolved through consultancy into contracting going into organisations to help them build social, PR and content teams and then around eight years ago I realised that what I loved was the training and developing of people so I trained as a NLP practitioner and advanced coach and started evolving the business into what it is today - a training and learning organisation with a passion for personal development - because if you focus on your personal development; if you invest in your mindset, behaviours and habits you will supercharge your professional development and your thriving skills in life.
Today, I've spearheaded, developed and run many ‘Women in Leadership’ programmes determined to help women lead themselves forward in business and break the bias. I also runs ‘Ministry of Midlife’ an online platform designed to help women in midlife bridge the barriers and build a performance mindset for personal and professional development.
I've developed The Elastic Culture™️ for fast growth companies helping organisations stretch and grow from owner managed start-up to scale-up looking at people, processes and systems.
And my Talent Development Academy today provides a range of different training, coaching and mentoring programmes suited to different levels of experience and expertise - all based on up-skilling individuals, business owners, entrepreneurs, consultants and, of course, continuing to work with businesses across Europe to develop their in-house talent.
What would you do with £10,000?
Sensible option: overpay the mortgage.
The real me: Go on hols with the kids and husband probably to Thailand.
The not so sensible me: Travel business or first class (it’s a life ambition ; ))
If you were me, what would you want to ask women about money?
How important is money in how you live?
How much does money affect your day to day decisions and life choices?
Read Sarah’s Substack:
Ha yes. I read a money email the other day where a very couple had about a million invested and were wondering if to buy a house I was like...why am I even signed up to this nonsense!?
But then I think that a lot about money advice. Our situations are all so particular to us. For instance, I can't relate to anyone who is living off their husband's income (though good luck to them! I am only a little bit jealous 🤣) so as much as there might be interesting stuff in there, I have to dismiss it because my partner is not a high earner and I have to earn my own way and pay half of everything. And then again, someone who is living alone and having to pay all the bills alone (which I did for many years) might find my situation unrelatable and very fortunate. (I am fortunate, he's ace!)
One thing we can be sure of is it seems like everyone feels like they need more money even if, objectively, that doesn't seem to be true.
Oh no! I didn't mean for that post to ruin anyone's day!