
UK Money Book
This book is a practical simple guide for people living in the UK who want to keep more of their current income without living on the bread line. It addresses your feelings about money and aims to help you set and manage simple longer term financial plans without a business degree or loads of spare time to sit in front of a spreadsheet.
The collection of strategies contained in these few short pages will assist you in maximising your income, minimising waste in your expenditure and putting other people’s money to work for you – basically getting out of your money muddle!
It is not a get rich quick book or a guide to investments, nor is it a copy and paste job from a few hours of google searching. It’s a set of methods that I’ve personally developed over many years to make the best out of what I have without penny pinching, or working myself into the ground (too much!!).
In this book, personal finances are addressed through 4 distinct areas; income, expenditure, debt and savings, each one containing examples of how you could structure your bank accounts and management systems to get the most out of your time and your money. It provides you with some simple ways to make a bit of extra cash on the side as well as save money or get cash back on what you spend already. It will provide you with some ideas to get away from expensive debt and how you can use cheap debt to actually make money.
I wrote this book because I want to help normal people living in the UK get out of their money muddle and keep more of their hard earned money in their pockets. What you choose to do with it after that is your business, I just hate to see so much of it thrown away on expensive debts, unnecessary taxes or poorly managed mortgage and investment products.
Remember; it’s not so much the money that you get that matters, it’s the money that you keep!!
If any of the advice contained within these pages helps you to feel better about your financial situation, and is able to take away some of the fear that you may have around managing your money; I will be a very happy bunny!
This book is available in 3 formats: Audible, Paperback and Kindle – please click through to Amazon for a closer look or to complete your purchase – I even made it onto goodreads – take a look HERE
Not sure you want a Simple UK money Guide which is actually FREE with Kindle unlimited and very affordable on the kindle app?
Below is an extract from the first couple of pages to this book ……..just to see if you like it!
But just before we dive into that, after writing the book I started to think that people might also like some practical help with money management so I have started to develop a tool kit with calculators and spreadsheets to help with debt management, budgeting, and basically just staying on track with money management. Right now these are free so grab a copy HERE.
Money Muddle Overview
- This book is for you if you like money and wouldn’t say no to a bit more than you currently have.
- It might not be for you if you have more than you can shake a stick at and don’t quite know what to do with it all.
Still with me?
Cool!
So my aim for the next 100 pages or so is to help you to maximise your income, minimise waste in your expenditure and put other people’s money to work for you.
This book is a practical guide for people who want to keep more of what they have, without living on the bread line, and set long term plans for getting and keeping yet more of that lovely money stuff in the future.
For me, money is choice. It’s the freedom to choose the level of !**?!* I have to take from the guy (or gall) who is paying me. I enjoy my work the vast majority of the time, I enjoy it even more when I know I have enough security to walk away if I really need to. This massively reduces work stress and I think it increases my productivity because I’m working as much though choice, as I am through necessity, and of course constantly working to create a tip towards the “not needing to at all” side of the scales, but that will be another book entirely I think!
I realise that this is might not the most inspiring start to a book you’ve ever read, but if you’re still reading, then you’re not looking for the next get rich quick scheme or a few hundred pages on how you should really have started all this a long time ago (and if you’d bought some index funds then; you’d be laughing!). This book is for normal people with normal lives that know deep down that they could manage what they have soooo much better without just being told to spend less and stick to a budget.
I don’t profess to be an expert but I do all the stuff in this book and I read; A LOT! I also apply what I learn where I think it’s worthwhile, so the contents of these pages are based for the most part on my experiences, not just theory. I am still very much a work in progress financially as I have yet to hit millionaire status, but there are a few things I do that you might find useful.
This book is deliberately short and to the point with plenty of links for further reading at the end and on the accompanying website: www.moneymuddle.co.uk . I really do hope you find that it adds value to your life and I’d be really grateful for your feedback on amazon if you do.
Before we start, I realise that some people want to run and hide at the mention of money, but let me just say that money is not scary, it’s exciting! Honestly it is! Getting the same stuff for less money and having a fab life whilst making plans for a financially free future is brilliant! Please don’t be scared and if you are, deal with it because the chances are that since you’re reading this book; no one else will do this for you. To be honest, even if they want to, keep hold of your own reigns please, this is really important!
In the following pages I will explain without too much jargon how you can make the money that you have go further and a few tips on how to add a little extra into the pot if you have the time, need and inclination to do so.
I don’t really like budgeting; I think that forced restrictions have the opposite effect in general (i.e. you get really sick of it and end up spending way more than you would have done normally!). You should know however, in as much detail as possible, where your money is going and be absolutely sure what the REAL costs of things are before you buy them. I will go on to explain a few things that I do with managing my debt that makes me money every year. It’s not illegal or immoral or even particularly exciting but it’s a bit of free money that’s better in your pocket than the bank or credit card companies.
So Why Should You Listen To Me?
Well, that’s a damn good point and maybe you shouldn’t. I’m not financially certified in any way though I do have and MBA in business and finance if that comforts you at all, though given the substantial number of very intelligent people that I have met who freely admit to being horrendous with money, I’m not entirely sure it should!
What I am though is a planner and a strategist. I’ve been running my own management consultancy business successfully for almost 6 years now and have worked at various levels in multiple types and sizes of business for over 25 years including construction, logistics, freight, banking, insolvency, health care and public health. I’ve also spent many years as a private landlord and a single mum! The common thread with pretty much everything I’ve done has been organisation and planning, I love fixing things and for me money fits quite nicely into this pattern. It’s a real shame that I can’t transfer it to my chocolate addiction with any consistency though!
I’ve developed a number of ways that I manage my money and my debt, I’m not saying they will work for you necessarily but you may at least find one or two nuggets that you feel able to apply to your finances that will help you keep a bit more of what you earn, or earn a bit more from what you have. I hope too that my learnings from the many finance books I have digested over the years adds to my own experience and gives you a decent springboard for your future financial health.
My life as a rate junkie (or credit card tart if you prefer) started many years ago in the good old days when 0% transfers didn’t charge a fee (some still don’t but they are rare beasts these days) Then it was a simple case of transferring free money to my bank account and depositing it in savings at a decently high %, paying of the balance when it came due and pocketing the difference. It’s a little bit more complicated now but the potential is still there. This juggling act with low cost debt and savings or investments has enabled me to buy houses that were maybe a little bit out of my reach at the time but that have gone on to make me quite a bit of money and despite having a few years of sporadic work due to parenting responsibilities and ill health, I’m still ahead which I’m more than a little happy about.
Throughout this book I will cite ideas that have come from other authors, you tubers and speakers where I think you might find value in their work regardless of whether their advice supports or contradicts my own.
I will do my best to not repeat standard information that you can find on Martin Lewis, The Money Advise Service or Experian to name but a few though I may refer you to them for further reading throughout as their advice will be kept up to date and it will provide far more detail on where you can get professional help that is tailored to your specific needs if you so wish.
Most nonfiction books start with a story of the author’s personal trauma in their early life that set them on a path of discovery towards the holy grail of riches, health or ultimate spirituality. I’m afraid and I admit, rather happy that I don’t have the ammunition to be quite that dramatic.
My childhood was pretty normal really for a middle class northerner, apart from moving house 14 times before the age of 11 and never having any money, it was perfectly fine. Despite this we mostly had nice houses, interspersed with some that were, let’s say a little less than ideal which included having to pack all 4 of us (mum, dad and brother) into the front room of my grandparents two up two down terraced a few times. We also generally had decent cars when we had one at all, so I guess in hindsight, and through the eyes of a child, it was either feast or famine.
I do however remember watching the devastating effect that zero money and mounting debt had on our lives and I decided at a very young age that I would do everything I could to stay in charge of my own money and never be in that situation again. Notwithstanding trying to help a few of the wrong people along the way in my adult life, that’s the way it’s been and I’m pretty sure I’m far better off than I would have been had I not maintained a strong grip on my finances, even when there was very little of them to grip!
Please note that all the advice given in this book is just my opinion and should in no way be considered as legitimate financial advice. Before making any decisions with your money, please consult a qualified financial advisor.
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