Presenter: Ed Monk
It's human nature to put things off until tomorrow. But if you want the best seats in the house, you've got to get in the queue early. Leave it too late, and you're going to limit your options, and what you end up with may not be what you hoped for.
Abby
I do sometimes look at our money now and think, could it work harder for us? And I don't really feel like I know...
Sam
Yes.
Abby
... enough about how to make it work harder for us.
Jamie
I think when it comes to investing, some people are put off by the jargon. I think a lot of people find the whole idea sort of a little bit scary, and a bit complicated on how to even get started. But I don't think it has to be.
Lloyd
I definitely felt like the world of investing wasn't really for me. It did feel like something that very rich people did.
Jeremy
I was hugely daunted by the whole world of investments. I think the, the small personal pension provisions I was making continued right up until the point where Lloyd took redundancy. It was only then that I focused on bringing the various small pots that I had together into one place, uh, and making them work more efficiently.
Kristina
I started investing from a really young age. My family helped set up a savings account, and a cash ISA with a bank. As I got older, I realised that the interest rates weren't good enough for what I wanted to do. That's when I found the, uh, stocks and shares ISAs. I was put off by all the jargon and all the terminology. I didn't really understand what it all was. But eventually, once I to making good investment decisions.
Abby
We've already opened an account for [Una]. ..
Sam
Yes.
Abby
... so we've already saved for her. And I think you particularly were quite adamant that we would save for our children.
Sam
I wouldn't want Una to ever fear money. I would want Una to feel like she can accomplish whatever she wants to do, and go wherever she wants to go, and not to be worried about the financial side of it, but to plan ahead, and, "Well, this is where I want to go."
Abby
Yeah. How-- yeah.
Sam
"How much do I need, and how am I going to get that money?"
Abby
Yeah. I mean, we'd never going to want her to think that, "Just do whatever she wants, it'll be funded somewhere." She's got to work out how to do it. But we, we don't want her to be restricted by money. We don't want her to feel held back by money.
Sam
Yes. And also, as parents, want her to feel like no matter what she did, and if she did make a risk and it didn't pay off, that we would be there to help her as well.
Abby
To help, but not to completely pick up every piece.
Sam
[LAUGHS] Dad will help her.
Abby
[LAUGHS] I wouldn't.
Amber
From a very early age, I always had pocket money, so I always had to manage my spending. It wasn't like I was just given money. So, I suppose it was sort of drilled into me from quite a, a young age, that I needed to save.
Jamie
I've sort of always been taught, if you want something, you, you can't just have it now. You've got to work and save, whether it's an item you want, or for something in the future.
Amber
I think we're both aware of the benefits of getting started early, both in terms of being able to put down a deposit, and also being able to retire relatively early as well.
Jamie
Definitely. And I very nearly used to play around with compound interest calculators, working out if I'd save X amount per month, how many years would it take to reach whatever goal it might be?
Kristina
Compounding is essentially a snowball effect, so you get your interest upon interest, and the longer you save, the longer you've got for it to grow. So, it made complete sense for me to have this ISA, and to invest for the long term.
Kristina
It can be frustrating because I can't always go on these big trips that my friends can go on, such as ski trips, or, um, more recently, I've had friends go to Sri Lanka and Bali, and travel around. But I've got to remind myself that I've got to save for a house. That's my priority. But it's not all doom and gloom. I do get to go on holidays, so I'm going to Zimbabwe this, this year, for a wedding. But it's having that balance of what I want to do, what sacrifices I need to make, and still save for all my priorities.
Jamie
I think making a sacrifice in order to, to reach an end goal isn't easy, but when, when you have something, a target in mind, it makes it that much easier.
Amber
I mean, it's like anything else. It's just discipline really. It's like, you know, exercising, or not eating too much rubbish food. It's just about getting into good habits, and I think we've both tried to do that since starting our new jobs by setting up direct debits.
Lloyd
The learning I've taken from my more active interest in, in later life is that I wish I'd addressed these issues a bit earlier on in my career. There may not have been a huge amount of money still to use for, for investing, but I recognize now that, had I done that, I might have been in an even more comfortable position now.
Presenter Ed Monk
Lots of people put off starting to invest. That's a mistake. You might not feel like investing is for you. It might even scare you a bit. But getting started, even in a small way, is habit-forming. This is how you can build a really worthwhile sum over time. Compounding is the key, earning a return on top of your existing returns, and that makes a huge difference over a lifetime of investing.
Whether you're saving on your own or through a workplace scheme, there are simple ways for you to get investing. It's all too easy to let time slip away. But the best time to get started is today.
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