Hi, my name is Lauren, a payroll advisor based in the Highlands of Scotland. I have over 10 years experience working with small businesses up to large, multi-national corporations.
Ever wondered why we’re not taught basic personal finance in school? Did you get a shock the first time you received a payslip? Were your parents perpetually working pay cheque to pay cheque too but never really got anywhere? Were you taught that money didn’t grow on trees and that the root of all evil is money? I know I was.
Even as an adult we get blamed for not being able to afford a house because we buy too many lattes and eat too much avocado on toast. The middle class has practically disappeared and the gulf between rich and poor seems to widen every day. We live in one of the richest countries in the world yet thousands of families rely on food banks to feed their children.
Even though I worked in finance, I never really thought much about it as long as my pay covered my basic needs. My dad died at 57 and never saw a pension so I never saved into one either, whats the point?
Unfortunately, in March 2020 the pandemic hit, Brexit happened, the cost of living spiralled out of control then to top it all, I found myself pregnant and pretty swifly single after that. After welcoming my son into the world at the beginning of 2022, I started to worry big time about his future.
I brushed up on personal finance during maternity leave then joined a payroll company when it ended. Desperate to turn my situation around, I paid off my debts, consolidated my old workplace pensions into one SIPP, opened up a Junior SIPP & Junior ISA for my son and built up an emergency fund. I did all this by creating a spending plan that allowed me to focus my money on the things that were important to me, whilst cutting out anything that didn’t serve me anymore.
I get asked a lot about how to invest, how to set up pensions, how workplace pensions work and what tax codes mean. It occurred to me how little most of us know about the basics of personal finance and financial advisors don’t want us to know, so that they can rob you blind over the course of your investments by utilising a % fee basis, every year, compounded. There’s a different way and I want to show you how. If it means seeing one less post from a friend signing up with a financial advisor who has assured them that they are their friend and only have their best interests at heart (ugh), then it will be worth it. NEVER PAY A % FEE, EVER. If you listen to nothing else I say, just listen to that. A 1% fee, over the course of an investment could eat away at as much as 28% of your total money. More than a few measly lattes, that’s for sure. Food (avocado toast) for thought…