REPEAT: 2021, like 2020, was another turbulent year for most people’s finances, but the new year provides the perfect opportunity to set some “financial resolutions”.The guests on Money Clinic are millennial couple Toby and Siobhan and they’re looking for some timeless “fin-spiration” to get their money to work harder. They’ve paid off their credit cards under lockdown, and are wondering where to direct their spare cash. How much could they save if they overpaid their mortgage — and how would th...
Dec 14, 2021•26 min
REPEAT: Claer explores how young people can use the popular tax-free Isa accounts to invest or buy their first property. This week, she meets Ryan, a 22-year-old graduate who confesses he has three Isa accounts, but doesn’t know how best to use them — or how to unlock savings bonuses potentially worth tens of thousands of pounds. Expert and practical help is on hand from Harleigh Reid , who used a Help to Buy Isa to buy her first flat at the age of just 24, and Young Money blogger Iona Bai...
Dec 07, 2021•25 min•Season 2Ep. 214
REPEAT: Putting all of your pension savings in one place to make it easier to manage your retirement plans sounds like a sensible idea — but it’s not necessarily the right solution for everyone. Claer Barrett meets 51-year-old Tina who has spent lockdown searching for all of her old pensions: some have performed better than hoped, but others have had high charges, and she has a gap in her UK state pension contributions due to working overseas. Experts Sir Steve Webb of Lane Clark & Peacock a...
Nov 30, 2021•26 min•Season 2Ep. 213
This week, Money Clinic is having a pay rise takeover - we’ll be pulling apart that big, scary box labelled ‘Asking for a pay rise’ - and unpacking the dos, the don’ts, the tips and tricks for getting the salary you think you are worth. Visiting our pay-rise clinic today are three podcast listeners with three different financial predicaments: Natalie keeps getting knocked back when she asks for a raise; Max knows that he could get paid more elsewhere, and Charlotte is trying to negotiate a bonus...
Nov 23, 2021•29 min•Season 2Ep. 12
Following the COP26 conference in Glasgow, many climate-conscious investors want to know how to match up their investments with their values. The short answer is environmental, social and governance investing — ESG for short. But there are plenty of questions around how ‘green’ this really is. Thirty-year-old Harri appeared on one of the first episodes of Money Clinic last year, and his decision to invest in ESG funds appears to have paid off: he has made a decent return. However, he wonde...
Nov 16, 2021•23 min•Season 2Ep. 211
Many dream of being an elite footballer, but what’s it like actually earning a professional player’s salary? In the second half of this two-part podcast special, Claer Barrett explores the darker side of earning staggering sums as a young player. Unscrupulous financial advisers, risky investments, gambling, injuries and early retirement can all cut short your earning potential - and there are lessons here for all of us. She hears from Gareth Farrelly, a former Premier League footballe...
Nov 09, 2021•25 min
Many dream of being an elite footballer, but what’s it like actually earning a pro player’s salary? Top football players earn staggering amounts of money, but even they are not immune from financial challenges. These range from planning for a career that could end by the age of 35 to teenage players struggling to manage such large financial windfalls. In the first half of this two-part podcast special, Claer Barrett speaks to former England player Sol Campbell and AFC Bournemouth full back ...
Nov 02, 2021•24 min
This is the podcast about doing work differently. Join host Isabel Berwick every Wednesday for expert analysis and watercooler chat about ahead-of-the-curve workplace trends, the big ideas shaping work today — and the old habits we need to leave behind. Subscribe on Apple https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/working-it/id1591925469 - On Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/5vNDHxEOc1pI1acJS7He5e Or wherever you get your podcasts. The wellness industry is a trillion-dollar business, ...
Oct 30, 2021•18 min
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to manage an investment portfolio worth hundreds of billions of pounds? Global equities specialist Malcolm MacColl is one of two managing partners at the helm of Baillie Gifford, the Scottish asset management company, which manages more than £350bn worth of investors’ cash. An early investor in Amazon, Tesla and Moderna, Baillie Gifford’s long-term approach to investing in tech companies has paid dividends. However, its approach is bein...
Oct 26, 2021•25 min•Season 2Ep. 8
Students were up in arms after reading the Financial Times scoop that the UK government is considering lowering the salary level at which graduates have to start repaying their loans. Currently, student loan repayments start when you earn more than £27,225 per year, but the FT has reported this could be reduced to around £23,000 in future. Any changes are expected to apply retrospectively to those who started university courses after 2012, including this week’s podcast guest, 24-year-old g...
Oct 19, 2021•26 min•Season 2Ep. 7
Plenty of people in their 30s, 40s and even 50s have yet to start saving for retirement, and are anxious about how to begin. Today’s show is packed with tips for so-called ‘late starters’ like this week’s guest David, who is 38 and self-employed. Incredibly, David is planning for a retirement that he never thought he’d live to see. As Claer hears, a revolutionary new treatment for cystic fibrosis has transformed his life expectancy. Financial experts Claire Walsh and Moira O’Neill offe...
Oct 12, 2021•25 min•Season 2Ep. 6
Peter McCormack, bitcoin bull and voice of the hugely popular 'What Bitcoin Did' podcast, joins Claer for a Money Clinic Investment Masterclass about cryptocurrencies. Recently back from a trip to El Salvador, the first country to make bitcoin legal tender, Peter tells Claer why he believes the cryptocurrency is the 'best form of money' and why regulatory crackdowns, volatile pricing swings and the divergent opinions of professional investors have failed to dampen his enthusiasm. An investo...
Oct 05, 2021•25 min
How to match your money to your relationship status. Nearly one in four of us live on our own, but dealing with the financial and emotional strain of handling everything by yourself can be difficult. Jenny, 27, from Leeds, is being hit by the ‘single penalty’ and is exhausted trying to find everyday ways to save money. She’s looking for tips on investing in the stock market, whether to try to buy or stay renting and how to ease the worries that come with financial independence. In this Money Cli...
Sep 28, 2021•24 min•Season 2Ep. 4
Forget about being a day trader, you need to let the money come in slowly and take a serious, business-like approach if you want to succeed - that’s the advice of Robbie Burns, better known as the Naked Trader. In this Money Clinic special Investment Masterclass Robbie shares his top tips about getting into trading - from whether you can combine trading with a full time job, why you need to be like a detective, what shares to be careful of and learning from his mistakes. Further reading: - Here ...
Sep 21, 2021•22 min•Season 2Ep. 3
Are you working to live, or living to work? Followers of the FIRE movement (Financial Independence Retire Early) budget carefully so they can invest a greater proportion of their take-home pay. Is a life of extreme frugality worth the extra years of financial freedom later on - and how could you apply the principles of FIRE to your own finances? This week, Claer helps listeners Amy and Rory on their FIRE journey, with expert tips from Mr Money Mustache, AKA the US blogger Pete Adeney, and ...
Sep 14, 2021•31 min•Season 2Ep. 2
In an extra special Money Clinic Meets, Claer Barrett interviews Joe Lycett, the consumer campaigner and TV comedian. As the new season of his award winning show Joe Lycett’s Got Your Back returns to Channel Four, he drops into the Financial Times studio to tell us what he really thinks about the world of finance. Joe shares his own personal money story - including his charity shop thrifting, ESG investments and money rules - and the pair discuss why holding big consumer corporations to ac...
Sep 07, 2021•26 min•Season 2Ep. 1
REPEAT: Have you ever dreamt of starting your own business? It might sound more fulfilling — but being an employee has some perks you might miss. 33-year old Rhiannon set up her first business three years ago, offering virtual PA services. Even though she’s making a profit, Rhiannon is struggling to find a mortgage lender who will help her buy a property. Plus, she’s unsure about whether to leave her savings in cash — or risk tying them up inside a pension. Expert help is on hand from Holly Mack...
Aug 03, 2021•22 min
REPEAT: In this week's episode of the Money Clinic, Claer chats to Naureen about getting started in investing. Naureen had a wake up call when she received her annual pension statement through the post, and saw that her projected income in retirement would not even cover the basics. But with so much information out there on investing, she doesn’t know where to begin. Experts Jason Butler, the FT columnist and Charlotte Brayton, financial planner at James Hambro & Partners join Claer to give ...
Jul 27, 2021•20 min
Would you fall for a £17,000 scam? You might think you are too smart to be duped by fraudsters, but under lockdown, criminals have come up with frighteningly convincing ways of parting us from our hard-earned cash. Claer Barrett talks to 31-year-old listener Jenny about how professional scammers conned her out of £17,000 after she clicked on a text message - and the battle she’s fighting with her bank to get the money back. Bank fraud expert Steven McMillan provides practical advice about ...
Jul 20, 2021•25 min
When 29-year-old Sam found out that his younger brother had made £30,000 trading bitcoin, he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. The self-employed musician decided to put the last £2,000 of his savings into various cryptocurrencies, hoping he could double his money. However, wild swings in crypto valuations are proving a test of his strategy. Presenter Claer Barrett explores the highs and lows of investing in cryptocurrencies with experts Abhishek Sachdev, a professional investor who has perso...
May 25, 2021•30 min
It’s easy to create a budget to manage your spending - but can you stick to it? 32-year old project manager Rosie contacted Money Clinic as she kept making the same mistakes. Despite starting the month with good intentions, online shopping sprees frequently pushed her into the red. Battling with ‘buyer’s remorse’ as she returned her impulse purchases, Rosie asked Claer what psychological factors could be causing her to break the budget? Tim Harford, FT columnist and author, turns to behavio...
May 18, 2021•27 min
Accountant Peter knows that to grow a business, you have to take on debt. But can he apply that same logic to his personal finances? He tells Claer how he is tempted to take out a bigger mortgage against his London flat and invest that money in a buy-to-let property - or even in the stock market. Has he come up with a brilliant shortcut to making some extra money, or is his plan to leverage up a recipe for disaster? Personal finance expert and FT columnist Jason Butler stresses that debt is no s...
May 11, 2021•27 min
Retail is not dead. Brexit could help UK companies. Take a small punt on bitcoin, keep your money invested in fossil fuel companies, and reassess your holdings in expensive tech stocks. These are pretty punchy opinions about the investment world — and they come from one of the FT’s top opinion writers, columnist Merryn Somerset Webb. In this special episode of the Money Clinic podcast, Merryn chats to presenter Claer Barrett about her personal investment strategy — and the forces she believes wi...
May 04, 2021•22 min
If I take a job outside the UK, what are the options for my investments, property and pension? After months spent in lockdown, 31-year-old finance professional Viktoria is longing for a change of scene, and is planning to relocate overseas. She talks to Claer about her desire to escape the corporate lifestyle in London and her concerns about what would happen to her property, pensions and investments if she were to uproot. David Denton, chartered financial planner at Quilter Internat...
Apr 27, 2021•25 min
Anne Boden spent over three decades in the traditional banking sector, watching the world around her being transformed by technology. In 2014, she decided that the time had come for banking to undergo the same shift, and quit her job to found Starling Bank. Since then, Anne has built Starling from an idea into a digital bank with 2m customers. Claer talks to her about making the leap into fintech, the determination needed to turn an idea into a business and how she persuaded investors to b...
Apr 20, 2021•22 min
Making the ‘greener choice’ comes naturally to listener Ros. As more people become increasingly aware of how their daily decisions affect the environment, Ros is wondering if she can make a difference to the planet - and her pocket - through her bank account, pensions and plans for investing. Claer talks to the FT’s Alice Ross, author of 'Investing to Save the Planet' and Bevis Watts, chief executive of Triodos Bank UK. Review clip: Global Ethical Finance Initiative. If you would like to be a gu...
Apr 13, 2021•22 min
Jenny and her partner are planning to have a baby but, beyond forking out for nappies and a pushchair, she has no idea how much becoming a parent will cost. How big a budget will the couple need to cover parental leave, childcare costs, and other unexpected expenses? Claer talks to Tobi Asare, founder of parental finance blog My Bump Pay, and Maike Currie, FT columnist and investment director at Fidelity International. If you would like to be a guest on Money Clinic and chat to Claer about a mon...
Apr 06, 2021•24 min
Last October Claer spoke to listener Lucy who was on the cusp of buying a shared ownership flat with her partner — but was getting cold feet. The shared ownership model enables buyers to take out a mortgage on part of the property, and pay rent on the rest. Lucy was hoping that this would be her first step towards being able to afford to own 100 per cent of her home, but worried about how much it would cost. Six months later, is she comfortably settled in the flat or did the couple stay ren...
Mar 30, 2021•24 min
In this special ‘What happened next’ Money Clinic episode, Claer catches up with US financial services worker Josh. When they spoke last October, he was hiding thousands of dollars in credit card debt from his wife. Under lockdown, the couple had managed to save up enough money to pay them off - but she wanted to use this cash for a deposit on their first home. The podcast experts had plenty of advice about dealing with credit card debt, and what could happen if Josh took on even more debt with ...
Mar 23, 2021•27 min
Claer catches up with 30-year-old jewellery designer Roseanna Croft. When they spoke last October, her small business was reeling from the impact of coronavirus and cancelled weddings. Money Clinic experts advised Roseanna on accessing financial support, and finding a new direction for her business under lockdown. Five months on, has she managed to hammer out her financial issues? The experts were Suli Breaks, the entrepreneur, poet and presenter of the 7even Figures Business podcast , and Andy ...
Mar 16, 2021•28 min
