Whether it's drink, drugs, overspending or gambling, addictions can have a massively detrimental effect on our wellbeing. 

New research from Oxford University has shone a light on how regular gambling affects wellbeing.* The researchers analysed the banking transactions of millions of Lloyds Bank's UK customers and found: high levels of gambling are associated with a 37% increase in mortality; the top 1% of gamblers surveyed spent 58% of their income gambling; 1 in 10 are spending 8% of their income on the habit of gambling 

Social media, the internet, Nigel from down the pub. None fall short when it comes to dishing out ‘advice’ on how to best manage your finances. However, how much of this is actually reliable is a different story altogether. In my most recent Instagram live, I debunked some of the ten most common money myths you might have heard, alongside certified money coach and good friend, Fanny Snaith. You can still watch the replay on my Instagram or YouTube channel but below is a handy breakdown of what we discussed.

Do you know if your grandparents, parents or adult children would leave a financial mess for you or others to sort out if they pass away or become incapacitated? More to the point, will you leave them with a financial mess if you pass away or become incapacitated?

Television presenter and actress Caroline Flack died in tragic circumstances in early 2020. Media reports suggest that Caroline's estate was worth about £2M when she died. But because she died without a will - known as being intestate - and was unmarried without children, all her wealth will pass to her parents.

A listener of my Real Money Stories weekly podcast, let's call her Chloe, recently got in touch. Chloe asked for my help in dealing with a difference of opinion between how she and her husband handle money. In her email, she wrote:

"My husband and I have totally different views on money. I am motivated by money and have money goals that I would like to achieve. However, my husband has very little financial wisdom. So much so that it was very early on in our marriage that we decided separate bank accounts were the way to go…”

Never in all of history has it been easier to access information. We can watch documentaries and the news on TV and YouTube. Listen to countless radio programmes and podcasts. Access online scientific and research papers, join online forums and watch webcasts. And, of course, we can read or listen to books in order to learn. The world is awash with information.

Why we buy things and the impact they have on our happiness is something that I've been researching for my new book The Money Miracle. I know my friends enjoy owning and driving their expensive cars and that they add to their happiness. But I wonder if they would enjoy them quite so much if there was no one around to notice them or to whom my friends could compare themselves. 

During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, an elderly retired army veteran started a sponsored walk around his garden to raise £1,000 for health charities. Three weeks later, Captain Tom Moore reached his 100th birthday and had raised over £30m.  

Captain Tom's achievement of raising so much money was remarkable but reaching his 100th birthday wasn't.  

Although all my current financial wellbeing talks and discussions are currently online, before the pandemic I spent a fair amount of my time giving financial well-being talks to groups of employees, senior managers and business leaders all around the world. Usually after my talk some people come up to me with a money related question.

I want you to imagine that you are having a get together with your family and friends. It might be just drinks, a dinner or a full-on party. The mood is jubilant, happy and excited. There is laughter, chatter and lots of smiling.  You feel on top of the world.

The music is turned off and you tap your glass to get your guests’ attention.

Money is still a taboo subject for most people. Research suggests that money is one of the biggest sources of stress, anxiety and worry for a lot of people. It can seem scary, complex and emotionally charged.  As such many people find it difficult to talk about money.

In my podcast - Real Money Stories - I speak to people from all types of backgrounds about their money journey and what they’ve learned. My hope is that by sharing money experiences we can all break the taboo of talking about money and use it more wisely, so we worry less and live more.

In late 2015 I bought an empty house in a rural part of Suffolk, which needed totally refurbishing. I was undecided whether to resell it after finishing the works or to rent it out. The work took me longer and cost me much more than I had anticipated. It also sucked a lot of my time managing the project.

A local estate agent valued the property in spring 2016 and this suggested that selling made a lot more sense than letting it out. In addition, I was keen to release my capital, so I could pursue other investment opportunities.

When I give talks about financial wellbeing I sometimes ask the audience this rhetorical question:

“If I could look through your bank statements with you, would you be proud or ashamed of what you’re doing with your money?”

The look of relief on the audience’s faces is palpable when I say that I’m not going to pick on anyone to find out!

Although I hated sports activities when I was at school, I’ve always taken my physical fitness seriously.

When I turned 36, I decided that I needed to add more lean muscle and improve my overall strength. I had no shortage of motivation and was very disciplined about doing my workouts. I read books, watched videos and spoke to some fitness friends about how to improve my fitness regime, but I never seemed to make much progress.

Learning to control your day to day spending is one of the most important skills to master if you want to have high financial wellbeing. And in my earlier post and video – How to get control of ALL your day to day spending – I explain how to do this.

I’m not a big fan of penny-pinching and coupon-cutting, as that promotes a scarcity mindset, but identifying opportunities to spend less on the things that you included in your spending plan make sense.

A few months ago I started looking to buy a car.

A bit of research showed that the price of the make and model I wanted ranged from £18-32,000 depending on model, age and mileage. I set a budget of between £20-25,000 with the aim of trying to spend at the lower end of this range.

My daughter fell in love with Latin when she was just 11 and won her school’s Latin scholar prize most of her later years. When we discussed whether she should go to university and if so what she would study, it became clear that studying Classics would feature in her decision. 

The British Library describes Classics as:

My brother-in-law has a very eclectic and bohemian group of friends. “Mad” Mikey was one such friend who got his nickname because he looked like something out of a Mad Max movie — shaven head, piercings and tattoos everywhere and an enormous motorbike.

Mikey lived with his long-term partner and their two young children in a small rented rural home and he held down a job as a building site foreman. Mikey’s lifestyle was simple and modest, but he seemed happy and he was great fun.

Video interview. I visited Coventry University on 21st March and in between giving several lectures to the students, I gave a short interview. There are several important and timeless messages in this 2 min video, so if you know a young person, ask them to watch it. It might inspire them to greater things.

A role model is someone who you can look to as a good example of who you want to be like. A mentor is someone with whom you have a personal relationship, who offers guidance, advice and a sounding board for your ideas. Most successful and happy people I have met or read about have had role models. Many also had a mentor. I have been fortunate to have had several great role models and mentors in my life, which has helped me to become the person I am today.

My first role model was the landlord of the local public house at which I had a weekend cleaning job.