31. Rob Gardner Learns to Earn, Keep and Grow his Money

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This week I speak to financial services entrepreneur Rob Gardner.

Rob’s story starts with him growing up in South America, generating cash from collecting returnable soft drinks bottles, trying to buy food before prices rose while he was in the shop, and rushing to change his father's salary from the local currency to US dollars before it fell in value.

Nearly losing all his family's holiday money by leaving his money belt in a hotel room taught Rob an important lesson on the importance of keeping hold of money. 

Surreptitiously working while at boarding school allowed him to buy his first car at 18, but a too good to be true cheap motor insurance policy taught Rob another very important money lesson.

Learning to live modestly and adopting what Rob calls his 'artificial horizon' rule for his cash buffer, are the cornerstones of how he has built his wealth. Taking a calculated risk to shake up the sleepy world of pension investment consulting ended up being very rewarding.

And through his charity Red Start, Rob aims to teach at least 1 million how to effectively budget, save, and invest their money.

This episode is so full of wisdom you might want to listen to it twice, and make sure you share it with people you know and care about. They'll thank you for it.