Don’t get spooked if your plan wobbles a little. Understand that you’re doing this for the long term and that blips will smooth out over time.

Don’t forget to enjoy life. While extreme saving and frugal living is a way to build wealth, you also need to treat yourself once in a while – but don’t let it become an expensive habit.

While it’s a constant frustration for us to hear people say ‘It’s easy for you, you’re rich’, it’s simply not true. Hopefully this book will dispel that idea and explain what our approach has been and how we’ve done it. I’m aware that there are other approaches to finance, particularly in relation to FIRE, building a BTL portfolio backed by mortgage debt, or the fees some investment platforms charge. Some of those views are expressed quite vocally on social media forums and vigorously defended when challenged. I’m happy with our approach as I know it has worked for us but accept that others may think differently. I’m not inclined to argue – just present our case and let the results speak for themselves. For those who do take a different approach, they’re entitled to their thoughts and welcome to their views. In a couple of months’ time, my view will be one of palm trees and blue sea in the Caribbean and I know which one I prefer.

I sincerely hope that some of the ideas in this book have resonated with you and will help you to start taking a few more confident steps to a more financially stable future.

Epilogue

Having completed my first book and re-reading through the final draft, I do understand that our financial freedom might feel like an impossible dream to many and that we were just plain lucky in what we’ve achieved. Thinking this through, I wanted to share where we were 20-odd years ago and have one last roll of the dice to persuade you that it’s not impossible to change your approach to money and build your financial confidence for a more stable future.

Early in 2003, we were planning our wedding – there were lots of choices, discussions and decisions, not least as we were funding most of it ourselves. Of course we wanted it to be a special day but didn’t have a huge amount to spend, and therefore made some untraditional choices. Unsurprisingly, we spent about a third of the average budget for a wedding at the time. We bought our wedding outfits in the closing down sale at a local department store (a £99 suit for me, a £90 dress for Lou). We were getting married in a small manor house, which was registered for marriages but also had a small chapel in the grounds for a ceremony and a marquee for a reception, so we negotiated a bulk rate at a local hotel for guests and hired a minibus for the day in place of the traditional wedding car. This meant none of our guests had to drive or had the hassle of finding a taxi.

We chose a navy (my suit) and gold/cream (Lou’s dress) colour theme for our wedding and asked all guests to wear similar colours so that our photographs looked coordinated. We asked a friend to take three formal photos – one group picture with everyone, a close family one, and the pair of us with the cake. We also provided disposable cameras on tables to capture guests enjoying themselves. The photo on our mantlepiece is one taken by a relative, a candid shot of us walking into the reception. We decorated the reception with a bulk order of lilies (Lou’s favourite) from the local florist and hired a helium canister for navy and gold balloons. Inflating balloons with helium the day before the wedding was one of the funniest times we’ve had and definitely got rid of any pre-wedding nerves.

We talked about the honeymoon and decided we could have a ‘big holiday’ at any time in the future, so instead we booked two £14 flights to Edinburgh and a five-star hotel for a week from a late bookings website at £100 a night. We didn’t go to the Caribbean but we celebrated our 21st anniversary in Barbados – the first time for both of us.

We also got married on a Friday (cheaper than a Saturday), the day after the Iraq war broke out, when stock markets dived. We were lucky to have some financial gifts from family, which we invested and our first lesson in investment was seeing them rebound a few years later.

So although at times it feels like a lifetime, in reality 20 years ago we were just two fairly plain people with ordinary jobs and a large mortgage. We’ve talked and learned along the way, weren’t too extravagant and made choices based on getting true value for money, making things last and continually drip-feeding whatever we could into investments. We’ve had our ups and downs but still found time for some fun along the way but with our own twist. Lou is fascinated by sharks, so for her 50th birthday we went on a shark-feeding day trip; not in some exotic location but at Birmingham Sea Life centre, followed by dinner with friends. Memories don’t need to cost a fortune and you have to be willing to take bold decisions that might feel uncomfortable or against the accepted norm but financial freedom is achievable and worth it.

So now it’s over to you. Good luck!

Resources

Introduction

Direct Line (5 January 2023) ‘Less than a month to hardship for over six million households’. URL: directlinegroup.co.uk/en/news/brand-news/2023/05012022.

Marcus by Goldman Sachs and the Myers-Briggs Company (26 January 2021) ‘What’s your financial personality?’ URL: marcus.com/us/en/resources/lifestyle/discover-your-financial-personality

Chapter 1

The Deming Institute ‘14 Points for Management’. URL: deming.org/explore/fourteen-points

Green, N (2023) ‘What is a SERPS pension & can I cash it in?’. Hargreaves Lansdown. URL: unbiased.co.uk/discover/pensions-retirement/managing-a-pension/what-is-a-serps-pension

Chapter 2

Rowles, D (2020) ‘The importance of diversification in volatile markets’.

URL: hl.co.uk/news/articles/archive/the-importance-of-diversification-in-volatile-markets

Websites to help you find a financial advisor:

unbiased.co.uk

ifa-direct.com

fca.org.uk

Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (2023). ‘The detail: why do we need the standards?’ URL: retirement livingstandards.org.uk/details

The Deming Institute: The PDSA Cycle. URL: deming.org/explore/pdsa

Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez (1992) ‘Your money or your life’. URL: yourmoneyoryourlife.com

Chapter 3

Martin Lewis, founder of consumer site MoneySavingExpert. URL: moneysavingexpert.com

Which? (2023) ‘Food delivery apps charging double for some supermarket groceries’. URL: which.co.uk/news/article/food-delivery-apps-charging-double-for-some-supermarket-groceries-aaOVM1n9fD64

Houlton C (2023) ‘Shoppers face double groceries cost when ordering from food delivery apps’. Grocery Gazette. URL: grocerygazette.co.uk/2023/06/05/cost-groceries-delivery-apps

Credit rating agencies: Experian and Clearscore. URLs: experian.com, clearscore.com

Mortgage calculator for online mortgage payment breakdown: mortgagecalculator.uk

Finance & Leasing Association (2023) ‘Consumer car finance new business volumes fell by 6% in December 2022’. URL: fla.org.uk/media/news/consumer-car-finance-new-business-volumes-fell-by-6-in-december

UK Car Discount, online car broker: uk-car-discount.co.uk

National Car Finder, second-hand car auction broker and car sourcing service: nationalcarfinder.co.uk

Campbell, R (2022) ‘Car pollution facts: from production to disposal, what impact do our cars have on the planet?’. Auto Express. URL: autoexpress.co.uk/sustainability/358628/car-pollution-production-disposal-what-impact-do-our-cars-have-planet

Ibbetson, C (2022) ‘How confident are Britons in the kitchen?’. YouGov.

URL: yougov.co.uk/society/articles/43386-how-confident-are-britons-kitchen?

Meal cooking packs: simplycook.com

Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) (2017) ‘Valuing our clothes: The cost of UK fashion’. URL: wrap.org.uk/resources/report/valuing-our-clothes-cost-uk-fashion

WRAP: action on food waste. URL: wrap.org.uk/taking-action/food-drink/actions/action-on-food-waste

Office for National Statistics (2023) ‘Family spending in the UK – April 2021 to March 2022’. URL: ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/personaland householdfinances/expenditure/bulletins/ familyspendingintheuk/april2021tomarch2022

Mosley, M (2021) ‘How to cut food waste, help the planet, AND boost your health at the same time!’. Daily Mail. URL: dailymail.co.uk/health/article-10073963

Chapter 4

Dan White, spreading marketing ideas through illustrations: smartmarketing.me/illustrations.html

What Car (2022) ‘25 most unreliable cars’. URL: whatcar.com/news/25-most-unreliable-cars/n17550

Honest John Classics (2015) ‘Top 10: 1970s company cars’. URL: classics.honestjohn.co.uk/top-10s/top-10-1970s-company-cars