Sammie from @upthegainsmoney joins me on this episode to discuss how we can achieve financial freedom.

It comes back to our 'FIRE number', the number we need to grow our investment pot to to then achieve financial freedom.

Which is why 'retirement' is a number and not an age.

Sammie introduces a concept called 'the gap'. We all have a gap and in order to reach financial freedom Sammie helps to explain a process of how we can close that gap and reach financial freedom quicker.

Listen to the episode for the full details.

Sammie @upthegainsmoney - https://www.instagram.com/upthegainsmoney/

Sammie's course - https://www.stockmarketschool.co.uk/

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In this video I discuss what will happen to the financial markets in 2025.

First though, it's helpful to revisit what was predicted in 2024. And then what actually happened in reality.

There was a big difference. Including the world's biggest bank getting their prediction wrong by an unbelievable 38%.

In fact, since I started investing back in 2017, I think there has been a 'big crash' predicted every year. Yet, the US and global stock markets are much, much higher than 2017.

You probably know where I am going with this, but it is impossible to know what will happen and it is impossible to time the market, as we discuss during this episode.

The best thing is to start investing and keep investing. It's impossible to predict what will happen from year to year, but by the market goes up slowly over the long term. And by investing you're giving your money the chance to beat inflation and compound.

Listen to the episode for the full details.

Timestamps:

0:00 - Intro

1:11 - Looking Back At 2024

8:08 - What Will Happen In 2025

13:19 - Start Investing Now

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📕 Buy my book Stop Waiting, Start Investing - https://linktr.ee/makingmoneysimple1

💻 My website - https://makingmoneysimple.co.uk

If you would like to get involved in one of my 4-week investing workshops, get in touch and I can let you know when the next one is kicking off.

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In this video I discuss exactly how I invested £17,976 across 2024.

Including the platforms I use to invest and the specific investments I've made down to the penny.

The very large majority of this money went into global index funds and ETFs. That's the investing approach that I personally follow.

I then also invested a little bit of money into crypto.

Listen to the episode for the full details.

Timestamps:

0:00 - Intro

4:07 - Global Fund 1

6:22 - Global Fund 2

10:10 - Crypto

12:30 - 2024 Reflection

14:09 - 2025 Plan

15:22 - Get Started Now

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In this video I discuss the recently announced changes to Vanguard UK fees.

This took me by surprise.

In short, if you have <£32k on Vanguard's platform across your ISA, SIPP and GIA then you will be paying a £4 p/m fee from 31 January 2025 onwards. If you have >£32k then you are not impacted by this. This fee change also doesn't impact Junior ISAs.

In this podcast episode we run through the details of the fee change, the maths of it, who will be the worse impacted, whether you should consider switching or staying, and for those who will switch what platform and/or fund you should switch to.

Two specific platforms are appealing if you wanted to switch and I have linked them below.

Listen to the full episode for all the details!

If you what to sign up to Trading212 and get a free share - www.trading212.com/invite/Fg39FgeY

If you want to sign up to InvestEngine and get some free ££ - https://investengine.pxf.io/LKKVEL

These are both affiliate links, thanks in advance to anyone who uses them. T&C's apply, with investing your capital is at risk.

Timestamps:

0:37 - The Details

5:04 - The Maths

7:09 - Important Points

10:03 - What Should You Do

14:42 - What Platform To Switch To

17:55 - FTSE Global All Cap Equivalent?

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In this video I discuss my brand new book Stop Waiting, Start Investing - that came out on 26 November 2024 - in more detail, run through the investing mistakes I made (of which there were quite a few) and take you on the journey of how I built my portfolio from £0 to £100,000+ over the last 7 years.

To do this I didn't do anything special or inherit any more, and I'm certainly not a genius, but I share what I did - mainly consistently prioritising investing over the years.

Finally, we touch on compound interest. Including the importance of it in building your wealth and a few specific examples.

Listen to the full episode for all the details!

Timestamps:

3:16 - My Mistakes

10:43 - Tangent on Workplace Pensions

12:12 - My Investing Journey

20:34 - Compound Interest

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📖 Buy my book Stop Waiting, Start Investing - https://linktr.ee/makingmoneysimple1

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Monty from @montylanefinance joins me on this episode of the podcast to talk all things investing.

Monty has grown his investment portfolio from £0 to £89,000+ over the last 3 years, spread across a Stocks & Shares ISA and SIPP, and is on his way to a six-figure investment pot.

That's a huge sum of money in a short space of time - so I wanted to find out how he did it.

We discuss Monty's switch from individual stocks to index funds and ETFs, the two investment platforms that he uses, as well as the five specific funds that Monty invests into to build his wealth.

Listen to the full episode for all the details!

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Iain from @IainJGeddes joins me on this episode of the podcast to talk about investing for your children.

If you don’t currently have children, this is useful future information. Even if you don’t want children, you can hopefully pass on this knowledge to friend's children, nephews and nieces.

We have three main options: Junior Stocks & Shares ISA, Junior SIPP, or using part of your own adult Stocks & Shares ISA allowance.

Each option has different pros and cons.

The key with the two ‘Junior’ options is that the money legally becomes your child’s at 18 (Junior Stocks & Shares ISA) or at 55 (Junior SIPP).

If you’re skeptical they may misuse the money, or you just want more control, you can use part of your own adult ISA allowance - assuming you have some left - to invest for your children.

The greatest asset that children have is time. Due to compound interest, even small amounts contributed today have the chance to grow for decades to come.

Listen to the full episode for all the details!

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📖 Buy my book Stop Waiting, Start Investing - https://linktr.ee/makingmoneysimple1

✅ How I can help you - https://makingmoneysimple.mykajabi.com/my-resources

📰 Newsletter - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://makingmoneysimple.mykajabi.com/Newsletter⁠⁠

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In this video I go through everything that you need to know about investing and taxes in the UK.

This includes the 3 main vehicles we can use to invest in the UK - ISAs, pensions and general investment accounts.

And the 3 main 'phases' of investing - before investing, during investing (i.e when we are invested in something) and when withdrawing.

Ultimately, ISAs and pensions have great tax advantages. So if possible, make the most of these.

But, GIAs do have their place in specific situations. Not to mention that for some types of investments (e.g crypto) we can only use GIAs to invest.

Just be aware that with GIAs we may be liable to pay capital gains tax and/or dividends tax.

Capital gains tax arises when we sell, and the allowance is currently £3,000 per tax year.

Dividend tax arises when we earn dividends and this happens when we're investing as most funds pay dividends, and the allowance is currently £500 per tax year.

Listen to the full episode for all the details!

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