make your money work for you
Cardi B is always chatting about #MoneyMoves - so why aren’t you? this week the FGC Team collabed Wealthsimple to talk personal finance & investment. we chatted; incomes, investment, money journeys, wealth hacks, and the gender disparities in all of this. get a tenner (£10) ready as by the end of this post you’ll be investing it
michelle | Wealthsimple
Michelle Keller-Hobson works in Wealthsimple’s UK division spreading the word on how their investment services & how their tech & team can make funds go further. Michelle has been keeping her finances in check from the start of working life since thanks to her dad making her filer her own taxes - props to pops!
Emma | MOney Girl
Emma Flaherty (& her three friends ) started Money Girl so we can all make more money, girl! Through workshops, online communities, & events, they are starting conversations on cash to help change how women think about & use money. Emma got cash smart when she wanted to make her dreams of owning a home (driveway & garden included) a reality - which she did!
Sharmadean | ENTREPRENEUR
With 2 businesses under her belt, Sharmadean Reid knows how to make money work for her. Shar’s spending went from bougie to budget around the age of 23 when she was taking a humble income to start her salon & support her son. In reading (BOOK) Shar realised that ‘money doesn’t discriminate’ so see it as a tool to overcome systematic & social obstacles.
The eve began…with the FGC fam catching up & grabbing food from our pals at Kings Kitchen. FUELED up, Michelle started class with investment 101 (read more here + WATCH IT HERE)
What is investing?
Allocating money in to a fund or financial product in order to get interest (more money) on that allocation. Business you invested in are called holdings.
How do you do it?
Through a wealth management firm (like Wealthsimple) or bank. They provide a financial products or operate funds aiming to place your money into businesses &/or industries that are expected to go up in value to generate you interet.
What is interest?
Interest is money you earn if your investments/holdings go up in value. E.g. If you invested £X in Apple Inc in 2004 you would now have £X + interest since more people demand what they provide increasing Apple’s value & thus your holding in it.
Think of investing as putting trust in a company’s future success & interest being the reward for that faith in them.
The companies & funds you have allocated money to is know as your ‘investment portfolio’.
What types of investing are there?
There is passive & active investing.
Passive: Money is allocated to business/industry that will certainly increase in value such as the 100 companies in the UK (a.k.a FTSE 100).
This approach provides a smaller of interest rate as they are less risky. To benefit requires a ‘buy-&-hold’ trusting the overall increase in value even in turbulent periods (e.g. economic crashes)
Active: Holdings are bought & sold often to make the most of short term increases in business/industry value such as Bitcoins or stocks.
To benefit, this approach requires a lot of research & confidence. There is no 100% certainty if these investment will become valuable or how long for, plus hype/speculation of other active investees can skew the values
WHERE IS MY MONEY GOING?
In to companies are suspected to generate you interest, so basically could be anything! However, there is a growing demand for SRI - Socially Responsible Investment. Increasing wealth management firms are providing this as an option & therefore will only invest you money in to enterprises they deem socially responsible - this deduced through positive or negative screening. Cleantech is an example as is prioritising investment into female founded firms (no guessing we’re a BIG FAN of this xx)
5 top tips
1. Start early
“Compound interest is man’s’ greatest invention’ - Albert Einstein.
Alby is right! More time, means more returns. As interest is allocated in % terms & applied regularly (usually annually) meaning you get interest on interest.
Have a play around with what you could be earning with THIS compound interest calculator. A humble interest rate is about 2% allocated yearly.
2. Don’t pick stocks
They’re high risk, need a lot of research, take a lot of vidulence - and even then they might not provide returns
3. Keep costs low
Regardless of how you invest, you’re going to pay fees to the entity managing your investment. What you need to watch out for are high fees.
4. Diversity
We know not to put all eggs on one basket, the same goes investment. Spread your risk as no economy or industry is entirely safe
5. Drown out the noise
Have the discipline to sick to your plan. Confidence, speculation & hype does affect what you do
ur turn
wealthsimple.com/promo/fgc
Wealthsimple hooked us up with a discount! Pop this in your browser & lets start getting stacks xx
now we know how 2 invesT, Emma & Shar joined Michelle to discuss how best to divide your dough & where women are at in the world of investing (WATCH them HERE)
HOW 2 spend ur income
50% Needs
30% Wants
20% Save
for ur pension take your age, half it, and that’s the percentage you should take
EXPERIENCES
“women are too rational that they don’t do those riskier investment their male counterparts do “ - Michelle
“You can’t get compound interest on £0 but you can on £1. Save it all and that includes those daily coffees from Pret” - Shar
I physically didn’t have a card. Like, I couldn’t go into my bank and ask for £14.99 for that impulse clutch bag from New Look - obv I then wouldn’t do it” - Emma
“Money is a journey. As much as it can come, it can go.” - SHAR
“..in a lifetime, women will earn 18% less than men. At the current trajectory, we wont overcome this gap for 130 years” - Shar
How to negotiate a pay rise
Know the person your discussing with
Check the market, what do others in your position get paid?
Ask after you do some amazing work
They said no to the request?
Ask what you need to do to earn it?
Firmly book in a follow up
THAT’S A WRAP
Another WICKED event with a sick turn out! Lovely seeing all 200 of ya & than for those who turned in online! Oh yeah, thanks for all the Tweets & Dm’s of gratitude - honestly the best reward we get from hosting events & doing what we do xx
Ooooh and while you’re online reading, we really recommend you start a convo with your pals on your personal finance or add to what’s being said on our Facebook page. GET THE BALL ROLLIN’ & YOUR MONEY STACKIN’ GIRL
lots of love Emily Chapps x
