Well, 2020 has been something that is going to go down in History. The way we live our lives, the way we run our businesses, the way to travel is NEVER going to be the same again. It breaks my heart. I remember when I was at school and I was learning about the plague and the devastation it caused, Covid-19 has been our version of it. 

I never thought that the word social distancing would be part of my normal vocabulary and wearing a mask in public places would be mandatory. 

Do I Need To Panic?

Since 2008 our economy has been rocky, to say the least, it had started to recover and was doing really well. Although, by studying economics and knowing how the economy works, I knew a recession was coming as too much money was being printed and the economy wasn’t allowed to hit rock bottom in 2008. Our economy goes through cycles. Since 1900, the UK has had 9 recessions, (whereas the US has had 24, that’s almost triple the amount of the UK), which for the UK averages out at a recession every 13.33 years and according to acorns.com the average economic recession lasts 15 months. The Great Recession of 2008 lasted 18 months which was the longest decline since World War II. 

You’re going to live through at least 6 recessions in your life

Recessions typically happen because of decisions a country’s leader makes or it’s the economy readjusting itself. Recessions are inevitable. 

According to a report on the BBC the number of people claiming unemployment benefits surges to 2.7 million between March – July.  Jobs are still at risk and unemployment is rising. No one expected that the world as we knew it would take such a dramatic turn. However, it did. Some people were lucky enough not to be affected too much by the changes and for others, their whole world came crashing down and sadly, some ended up losing their jobs, their homes and some sadly, their life.

I knew, when the UK was put into a 3-month lockdown there would be consequences. My biggest fear was that the UK would head into a recession. It was bound to happen. You put EVERYTHING on hold, shit is going to hit the fan. It was never just going to pick up where it left off and be ok. That’s ignorant to think that.

So, what would happen if you lost your job tomorrow? Have you thought about what would happen? Are you prepared? You want to have a backup plan and not find yourself in a powerless situation and be ready for whatever life throws at you.

Instead of being a passenger or victim when it comes to your earnings: take control and take action … I know it isn’t as simple as it sounds …. but a few small steps a day will make a huge difference.  

How To Prepare For A Recession

Imagine this:
45 minutes a day working on a side hustle or learning a new skill over 365 days a year would equal 16,425 minutes – which works out at 273.75 hours.  

Imagine how much different your life would look by simply spending 45 minutes a day on building your dream life. Let’s break it down some more, that’s only 3% of your whole day. Sounds less scary and more achievable now doesn’t it?

I have compiled a list of 12 questions to ask yourself that I believe may help trigger some new and inspiring thoughts and maybe, just maybe, encourage you to take action, so when a recession does hit, it will not become a personal crisis for you.

The answers that you write for each of the questions will be very helpful no matter what the answer. It will show you what you need to do next. 

1. What would happen if you were to lose your job tomorrow?
   
   
2. Do you have enough money put aside? Aka an Emergency Fund.
   
   
3. Do you have a backup plan? If so, what is it?
   
   
4. What could you do to increase your earning potential? Ask for a raise? Change jobs? 
   
   
5. Could you learn a new skill to add more value?
   
   
6. How many assets & liabilities do you have?
   
   
7. What is your net worth?
   
   
8. Do you have a budget? Click here to download our Free Annual Budget Planner. 
   
   
9. What positive steps could you make today that’ll help create the life you want? Is there a book you could read, or an online course you could take or even register your services on Upwork or Fiverr?
   
   
10. If there was one thing in the whole world that if money wasn’t an issue you would do?
    
    
11. How could you monetise that?
    
    
12. Do you believe you can monetise it?

In Review

Recessions happen whether you like it or not.

Human beings are living longer than ever before. According to the United Nations, in 2019, a resident of the United Kingdom lives on average a total of 81.3 years, so you can guarantee you’re going to live through at least 6 recessions. So you want to be prepared, right?

Whether there is a recession or not, you want to guarantee you are ready for anything and everything. You want to be proactive, not reactive. Proactiveness comes from a place of strength, reactiveness comes from a place of weakness. 

Do yourself a favour and create a solid plan for yourself. 

Do something today, your future self will thank you for. 

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As said by Robert Kiyosaki “Good debt will make you rich, whereas bad debt will make you poor”

Believe it or not, there actually is something called good debt and what you are told by those who say all debt is bad are from those who are simply bad with money. With a little education you can understand the difference between the two. 

How Good Debt Will Make You Rich

Good debt can make you very rich. The rich use debt as leverage. Leverage is using debt to increase the return of an investment. Having a mortgage on a rental property for example, is leverage. 

This may be a controversial thing to say BUT car repayment could be considered as good debt IF you have plenty of passive income coming in. If you haven’t … it goes into the bad debt category. 

What if the interest for a car payment was 9% APR BUT your investments were bringing in a return of 20% a year … that now, becomes good debt. 

Types of Good Debt:

• A real estate investment – as leverage (a mortgage loan). To learn about leverage click here. 
• A business investment – to grow your business
• A personal investment – to advance your skills or knowledge
• A car loan … wait … before you Dave Ramsey evangelist’s come bite my head off, think about this, you buy a used car for £10,000, you use it as transportation to get you to and from work everyday and allows you to live your life. The cost of running and maintaining the car might be more cost effective. 

Good debt can make you richer and richer

How Debt Can Be Helpful

Good debt can increase your credit score. Having zero amount of debt … like ever … will harm your credit score in the long run. If you decide to buy your own house but have never had a credit card before give the banks no evidence that you can pay it back. To avoid a bad credit score,  you can take out a credit card with a £2,500 overdraft and not use it. If you do use it, use it for things like grocery shopping that you have already budgeted for and pay it off straight away. This shows the bank that you are a trustworthy person.

What if you took out a personal loan to invest in the stock market, in a rental property OR in crypto? The interest rate was fixed for 5 years at a rate of 3.9%. Good or bad debt – you can decide for yourself.

In my very early 20’s, I went to get a joint bank account with my then boyfriend, but because I had never had a credit card and had very little credit history, the bank wouldn’t accept me as a new customer. 

I know in today’s climate that sounds mad, but 15 years ago, I guess that’s how it was. 

How Bad Debt Will Make You Poor

What is bad debt? Bad debt are things like student loans, credit and store cards and car payments.

You have bought your dream house, but have no investments or passive income. Now that’s bad debt. You buy your dream house with plenty of passive income … that dream home now becomes good debt. Do you see the difference?

Types of bad debt:

• Borrowing money to pay for things like holidays, shopping sprees, a new TV are all VERY BAD DEBT.  
• PAYDAY LOANS!! Avoid these are all costs. You will have to pay a ridiculous amount of interest back, you will  never be able to pay the loan back and you will wreck your credit score. 

Bad debt will make you poorer and poorer. 

What Can You Do About Bad Debt?

I saved over £200 per month by restructuring debt. A credit card was coming to the end of an interest free rate, so instead of paying the insanely high interest rate of 19.something % APR, I simply found another interest free credit card and paid a 1.9% transfer fee for 29 months. That extra £200 per month is going to be invested and with an average of 8.5% return I should make an extra £204 within the first year with that – BONUS!

You can also use the Debt Snowball Method.

What is the Debt Snowball Method?

A debt snowball was created by Dave Ramsey. It is a strategy where you pay off the smallest to largest debts you have. 

Step 1: List your debts from smallest to largest regardless of interest rate.

Step 2: Make minimum payments on all your debts except the smallest.

Step 3: Pay as much as possible on your smallest debt.

Step 4: Repeat until each debt is paid in full.

Read about Dave Ramsey’s Debt Snowball Method Here 

The LFRE Reverse Debt Snowball Method

I have a different strategy. I would call it the Reverse Debt Snowball. 

Where you:

Step 1: List your debts from highest interest rate to smallest interest rate.  

Step 2: Make minimum payments on all your debts except the largest.

Step 3: Pay as much as possible on your largest debt.

Step 4: Repeat until each debt is paid in full.

I understand Dave Ramsey’s approach however, I would rather pay less interest overall than have small ‘wins’. Because to me, the biggest win is having more money in my pocket.

Useful External Resources

Experian

The Simple Dollar

The Nerd Wallet

Richdad.com

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The post How Debt Can Make You Rich. Good Debt vs Bad Debt. appeared first on Live Full Retire Early.

When trying to stick to a budget and your financial independence journey, occasions like Valentines Day or even date night can feel a little stressful. You don’t need to cave into peer pressure and do these overly expensive lavish things to show your partner that you love them. A nice meal and a trip to the cinema (including drinks and snacks) could end up costing you over £75.00, plus anything gifts you buy each other. It’s insane.

You don’t need to bankrupt yourself to show others how you feel and if you think you do … maybe you’re not with the best person for you.

Emma Woodhouse

Here are my 19 cheap and frugal date ideas

Going Out

1.Go out for breakfast or brunch. A large breakfast at Wetherspoons will cost you £5.29pp, and that includes a drink. So a meal out for two will only set you back just over £10.00.

2. Rent a rowing boat. It’ll be funny as hell, especially if you end up rowing in circles, which is something I would end up doing, and you can bring a picnic. 
 

3. Go for a walk. Visiting a local park and walking in the country is not only a romantic date idea but also great for your spirit. 

4. Go for a run together. This might sound like an odd one, and I used to think that. My boyfriend told me that he had a running date as the first date with a girl before he met me. If someone asked me to go for a run on a first date, I would say hell no. I can’t look all pretty sweating and gasping for breath. But if you have been with your partner a while, I think it’s a lovely thing to do together. You can encourage and motivate each other. For an added bonus, once you’ve completed your run, you can go out for breakfast together. That’s two ideas in one!

5. Go camping. Need a little quiet time away from the kids? Camping can cost as little as £15 at a campsite per night. 

6. Visit an open garden. Visiting an open garden is a lovely thing to do, especially in the Spring and Summer. You get to walk around a strangers garden for free and get inspiration for your own garden. 

7. Go feed the ducks. Spending time in nature is always good for the soul. You can buy a bag of seeds for as little as 50p.

8. Go to the cinema. Compare The Market offer 2-4-1 cinema tickets for a whole year when you buy a qualifying product through their website. This could be car or home insurance, travel insurance, switching your tv and broadband provider and even switching energy suppliers. There are so many products to choose from comparethemarket.com.  

9. Go out for a meal with meerkat movies (2-4-1). Depending on where you live in the UK, you will have access to countless restaurants that offer 2-4-1 on starters, mains and desserts using Meerkat Meals. Another alternative to Meerkat Meals is buying a tastecard

A quick tip:  if you buy a tastecard through Top Cashback you will receive up to £8.00 cashback. Tastecard currently has a promotion on where you can try it out for 60 days for just £1.00. Imagine all the yummy low-cost meals you could have within that 60-day window. Once the 60 days are over, you can choose to renew or cancel. 

Staying in together

1.Cook your better half breakfast in bed. There’s nothing more romantic than waking up to breakfast in bed. and guys you will get a lot of points from your special lady if you do this … trust me.

2. Make a meal together. Cooking a meal with your better half is a great way to spend quality time together. You can try a new recipe or split who cooks which course and you can surprise each other. 

3. Have a floor picnic. You don’t need good weather to have a floor picnic. You can have one on the floor of your living room. 

4. Make cocktails together. It’s SO much cheaper than going out to a cocktail bar. 

5. Have a BBQ. Weather permitting, depending on where in the world you live.

6. Strip poker. Fun and a little naughty. 

7. Binge watch a series on Netflix or Amazon Prime. Gosh, there are so many series available on Netflix and Amazon Prime. You will have hours of fun readily available for a minimum of £8.99 per month. Already cheaper than going to the cinema.

Quick Tip: To get a 30 day FREE trial on Amazon Prime Click Here (UK)

Double Dating

1.Have a dinner party – Come Dine With Me style cooking or everyone brings a dish. Everyone can either chip in £10.00, and you buy the ingredients and cook, or everyone invited to the dinner party brings a dish for a selected course. You will get a three-course dinner for a fraction of the cost.

2. Play on the Wii, e.g., Wii bowling, golf etc. I do this regularly when other couple friends. It’s such a laugh and a great way to spend a Saturday night. 

3. Play board games. OMG, my current fave is Articulate. We had friends round at the weekend and OMG, it was so much fun. A complete icebreaker as well.

Remember you don’t need to spend a lot of money to have a fun and memorable date night. Remember these suggestions are cheap and sticking to your budget if the number 1 goal. So doing something cheap and fun doesn’t have to be boring. I have offered plenty of fun and guilt-free suggestions.

Looking to start a budget? Simply download our FREE Budget Template or sign up to YNAB if you are looking for another alternative.

Let me know in the comments your favourite low-cost date night activity.

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The post 19 Cheap & Frugal Date Ideas That Are Actually Good appeared first on Live Full Retire Early.

There are so many people searching the internet every month on “how to make money online” (18,100 every month in fact) 

So why isn’t everyone a millionaire? Well, it all comes down to self-belief. The likes of Gary Vee is continuously banging on about how simple it is. We think it’s harder than it is and we tend to overcomplicate matters. That being said, it’s not as easy as people make out, you do have to put the hard work in and occasionally turn down invites from friends or family as you are working on your hustle. 

So what is the difference between being wealthy and being rich?

So for those looking for a get rich quick scheme, then this isn’t the blog post for you. I am going to teach you how to get rich slowly but surely. So if you want to know how to generate a constant passive income, then continue reading. 

Well, think about Ebeneezer Scrooge. He had a lot of money, come on he was rich! However, he lived a small purposeless life. All he did with his life was work, eat and sleep. He didn’t live a full, balanced and enriched life. That was until the ghosts showed him the error of his ways, and he soon changed how he lived his life, only then he became wealthy. Did he start earning more money? Did his numbers come up on the lottery, OK, that was a bit far fetched, but you get what I am saying?

Rich = Rich people have high income and lots of cash such as a world-class basketball player.

Wealthy = Wealthy people own assets that generate income such as a real estate empire that stays in the family.

3 Ways To Make Money Online and Earn Passive Income With Little or No Money

Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate Marketing is one of the easiest things you can do to make money online. Amazon.com (.co.uk) and eBay both have affiliate programmes. You can join networks like Awin that is a global affiliate marketing network. It has 100,000 publishers and 13,000 advertisers.

If you want to start small, you can recommend products on your personal social media pages. However, I recommend you have separate groups/pages purely for your business. Growing your affiliate marketing business will take time but if you had a following of 10,000 people and just 1% of them spent £20.00 each month through your affiliate links with an average of 5% per sale that would equal £100.00 in paid commission every month. Scale that up, and 100,000 followers would earn you £1000.00 per month using the same formula. Imagine if 5% of your followers clicked through and bought from your affiliate link, that would be £5,000 per month if you had 100,000 followers. 

Retail Arbitrage

Retail Arbitrage is what Gary Vee is continuously telling people who tell him they want to make £100,000 per year. He says this is one of the easiest things you can do and I don’t disagree. You can go down to your local bargain store/pound store/dollar store pick up 100 x Colgate Toothbrush Premier Clean 4 Pack from B&M for £1.00 each then flip it on Amazon for £2.19. That’s a gross profit of £119.00 minus fees. 

Sound too easy? It is, the hardest bit is overcoming your own criticisms and self-doubt. 

Write an eBook

We’re all experts on something. Some people are so passionate about their dogs they have written a handbook on how to keep your German Shepherd happy healthy and well behaved, mum’s who have been at their wit’s end have found solutions for new mums to help with their sleepless nights, investors who specialise in specific industries have written beginner guides for those getting into crypto, for example, and others have created products that teach self-defence. You will be surprised what kind of products are on Amazon Kindle, Clickbank and Etsy. 

I created a product on Clickbank called “How To Sell Your House Quick”. It’s for those whose home has been on the market for several months; they aren’t getting many viewings, any offers and they just don’t know what to do. I would call myself an expert in this field. I have viewed, bought and sold many properties. I have seen some great properties, and I have seen some terrible off-putting properties. What I thought was basic and common sense was actually a skill I’d acquired after my many years in the real estate industry. 

It just about having the confidence, knowledge and ability to monetise that information. Clickbank is the perfect platform to sell your eBook along with Etsy, Amazon Kindle Publishing. 

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Twelve months ago today I was driving in my car on the way to work, listening to Les Brown, like I always do this time of year and an idea and the name for my next business came to me “Live Full Retire Early”. When I got to work, I ran the idea past my best friend, and he said it was fantastic.

I’d seen and heard so many people sharing their financial and lifestyle struggles over the past few years and I’d felt frustrated, feeling powerless that I couldn’t help anyone. But then I realised I could help people merely by sharing what was and wasn’t working for me.

So I went onto GoDaddy and registered the domain name and started building the website. I was super excited. I started jotting all the things I wanted to talk about, it was a long list, half of which I still haven’t written about. I felt the name Live Full Retire Early was perfect. It wasn’t just about money and your finances but also how to create a lifestyle that you love (without breaking the bank).

I felt I was doing a pretty good job managing my partner and I’s finances. I wasn’t just managing one account, although at times I wish I did as it can get a bit complicated. But over the years I have refined what I do and how I do it, it’s relatively stress-free, relatively! I manage ALL our investment accounts and 4 of our budgets (mine, his, the property rentals and the personal joint one – all are individual)

Over the past few months, I came to realise that what comes naturally to me, doesn’t come as easy for other people. So in June 2019, I decided that I would coach individuals on how to manage their finances; from figuring out their financial goals, to creating a budget, managing their budget and then what to do next (investing). Like myself, other people have that voice in their head which encourages them to go spend money when they are feeling low, which then makes people feel worse as it pushes them further into debt.

I’ve been very fortunate. Despite being offered a place at university, I declined the offer and got a job in my local town. I started earning money very early on, so I never had any student debt. I didn’t feel uni could offer me any more than the ‘real world’ could. Other than drunken nights out. I changed jobs several times and then settled to one which I’ve been at going on 13 years. This job has allowed me to invest money and buy my dream home.

I still have the self-doubt and inner criticism going on, the voice says “why are you doing this, no one is reading, no one cares, what you are doing, this is pointless”, and sometimes I believe it. But most of the time, I ignore the liar within and continue sharing valuable tools, content and stories.

So, to wrap this short post up. I want to say a big THANK YOU to all my clients, readers and followers on social media. Your support over the past 12 months has been incredible, which encourages me to create more tools that will help with your financial fitness.

My aim for the next 12 months is to help as many people as possible, share my journey some more and make you smile (hopefully I did that in 2019 as well).

The post My 1st Bloggy Birthday appeared first on Live Full Retire Early.

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Welcome to the first installment of what I (Emma Woodhouse) spends in a week. This week includes trips to the pub, a quiet weekend and making lots of new Keto recipes. 

Let’s see how I did …

Monday

Today started off with me nipping to the co-op to get a couple of Pepsi Max’s to drink at work. I bought a 600ml bottle which was £1.55 (rip off) and a 2 litre bottle for £1.50. 

Later that evening my boyfriend and I decided to go for a walk (something that we love to do together) and then decided to go to the pub for a drink (£2.25) and then we nipped to the spar shop to get a couple packs of chorizo and salami to have as snacks throughout the week which cost a whole £2.00. 

Daily Spend £7.30

Tuesday

Today I nipped to B&M to get some toiletries (£19.92), drinks (£1.96) and some items for me to sell on my amazon store (£80.91). I thought about going into town to get the toiletries I needed but I knew that the price would be at least 20% more. Why pay more for exactly the same thing. #shopsmart

Again, my boyfriend and I went for our daily walk and sneaky visit to the pub (I only drink Pepsi Max, don’t worry, I don’t have an alcohol problem, LOL) and that cost £3.38

Daily Spend: £106.17

Wednesday

Today I decided I wanted to try a couple of Keto recipes so my friend and I nipped to Tesco for the ingredients, along with some other extra bits (£17.22). 

On the way to work I had a craving for a Pepsi Max so I nipped to the local shop and bought a couple of small bottles (£2.00).

I also received a refund of some Jeans I bought my boyfriend from Amazon (£19.99)

Total Spend £19.22
(plus a £19.99 refund) 

Thursday

Like most days I had a craving for a Pepsi Max to drink at work so I nipped to the same local shop (I’m becoming a bit of a regular there) and bought another couple of Pepsi Max’s (£2.00), one I’ll save until tomorrow. 

As my boyfriend is going away for work this weekend we decided to go for a lovely walk around our village and have a sneaky drink at the pub (£2.25) before going home to a lovely spicy chicken dinner with peppers and onions, ingredients of which I bought yesterday.

I ordered some equipment to help make Keto recipe videos on amazon for you guys. It has proper changed the way I see ‘dieting’ and have to share my yummy finds (£34.98)

Later that night I attempted to make a second batch of pud in a mug but I wasn’t happy with the sweetener I have been using so I ordered a 1kg bag of Erythritol (£8.50) as it’s extremely low carb unlike agave and Total Sweet. 

Total Spend: £47.73

Friday

I intended on having a no spend day and I was almost successful until 8pm but unfortunately I had to nip to Aldi and do a mini food shop for the next coming week. I bought a roast chicken, steaks, eggs, and lots of veggies (£14.50).

Today I day the day off work, spent time in my soft office (my bed) and worked on my side hustle. #lazyday

Total Spend: £14.50

Saturday

Today was a relatively cheap day. I spent the day hanging out with my bestie. We took both of our cars to get washed (£7.00) then went back to mine and chilled.

We had dinner with what I had bought earlier that week. I made Keto bread for him to try and we watched Celebrity Catchphrase on TV. #rocknrolllifestyle

Total Spend: £7.00

Sunday

Today I had a me day. My boyfriend wasn’t back until 11pm, so at lunch time, I decided to take a walk into my local village (I wanted to get my steps in on my Fitbit)  to the co-op and get myself a pack of Pepsi Max’s to drink for the next few days (£6.04)

Total Spend: £6.04

TOTAL WEEKLY SPEND: £207.96

(and I received a refund of £19.99 which went back into my clothing budget)

So to review the week, I spent:

£115.89 at B&M for my side hustles. 

£42.22 for Groceries all covered by my ‘grocery budget’. Sadly, grocery bills can’t be avoided but by shopping in the right places (aka Aldi) you can bring your weekly spend way down!

£7.88 at the pub, that doesn’t sound too bad upon reflection.

£19.92 on toiletries. Again, all budgeted for and the products I bought will last me a few months. 

£15.05 on Pepsi’s, wow that’s more than I would’ve like to spend.

£7.00 on getting my car cleaned. This is a one off expense really and I probably wont get my car cleaned for another couple of months.

All in all, this wasn’t a bad week. I budget £175.00 per month for my ‘grocery budget’ so I’ve stayed within this weeks budget and the numerous trips to the pub and the car wash came out of my ‘fun money’ budget. 

Despite me spending over £200 this week, every penny was budgeted for. That’s the wonderful things about budgeting, if you set yourself a weekly/monthly budget anything you spend won’t affect your lifestyle for the rest of the week or month. I had fun without putting myself in the red. 

Next week I intend on having at least one no spend day.

How’s your spending going this week? Have you stuck to your budgets? Do you even have a budget? What could you have improved with your spending this week? Let me know in the comments below. 

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Hi and welcome to Live Full Retire Early (LFRE). Here we talk all things money & lifestyle and explore and share ways to live your best life on a budget. Here are our 9 Rules to help you do just that…

Rule 1. You must always talk about Money. 

Money is a bit of a taboo subject, especially for us Brits. We feel talking about our levels of success is a bit of a narcissistic and ugly thing to do, like we are bragging. However, I don’t see it that way. If you talk about your struggles and listen to other people’s successes you might find something however big or small to inspire you into creating a better life and increasing your finances.
 

Rule 2. Set Yourself Annual Targets. 

Think about how much money you intend on saving or investing in that 1 year and then make it your personal mission to hit that goal. 

Rule 3. Learn how to repair, cook and make things whenever possible. 

My friend had to quickly learn how to repair something recently. The ringlet in his favourite pair of trainers broke and as he didn’t have any room left in his budget to go out and replace them, we went to Wilkos (a low budget household chain) and purchased an Eyelet Plier Repair Kit for £6.00.

It was relatively simple to repair the trainers and watched a YouTube video on  How To Repair Eyelets on Shoes.

Rule 4. Always have a side hustle. 

In today’s world, relying on one stream of income is risky. VERY RISKY. Since the recession I don’t think there has been one person not affected by it in some way. Some people have been more unfortunate than others. 

See my blog post How To Make More Money. 51 Lucrative Side Hustles

That leads me onto my fifth rule. 

Rule 5. Start an Emergency Fund. 

For years I never realised just how important one of these was. For a long while I had never even heard of the term Emergency Fund. But now, I preach this rule. So many people live hand to mouth, never knowing what is around the corner. Receiving a high gas bill in the middle of Winter can wipe many people out and it takes months to recover from this. This type of lifestyle scares me. It scares me so much that it drives me to have side hustles and invest hard! 

Check out my blog post of 9 Ways To Create An Emergency Fund

Rule 6. Spend less than you earn and invest the difference. 

For this rule I must give credit to Chris Coney, the co-founder of LFRE and Founder of Cryptoversity. He is the one who taught me this and it has worked for us both every time. 

Rule 7.  Know your numbers & set a budget. 

I was horrified to learn of a friend of mine who has been running his own business for over 5 years told me how much he would like to buy his own house and would like to save up for a deposit. I asked how much he earned and if he could afford to save after paying out all his current living expenses and the reply was …  “I don’t know how much I earn”. I was absolutely mortified. 

How can you have your own business for so long and not know your numbers. How do you know if your business is profitable? It may be more beneficial to get a regular job (still in your current industry) just with a steady paycheck. The business can be a side hustle until it financially overtakes your day job. 

Here is an easy 4 step action plan to help shed light on your current financial situation:

• Gather all your paychecks or self assessments together 
• Write down how much you earn after tax
• Write down all your monthly expenses
• What is the difference? Do you earn enough? If not it may be time to consider a side hustle or a career change?

Just make yourself aware of your current situation. You might realise you need to earn more money to cover all your expenses. That’s not a problem. It’s only a problem if you don’t know your numbers. Now you do, we can figure out how to move forward. 

Rule 8. Plan for the future. 

I know most of us don’t like thinking too far into the future but god willing, we are all going to get old, we will retire and need some form of income to rely on. I’m not necessarily recommending pensions .. we all have our own view on them which I will talk about in another post but we do need some form of plan.

Do you intend on investing in property, stocks and shares and bonds, ISA’s, precious metals, cryptocurrency or yes a pension. 

What is your retirement goal? How much do you think you need to retire on? 

Rule 9. Prioritise and Scrutinise EVERY Pound and Give Every Pound a Job. 

You work bloomin’ hard for your money so let your money work hard for you. You are the boss! You get to decide where every pound (or dollar) goes. 

Here is a very simple 3 step plan to follow:

• Get some money
• Prioritise and Scrutinise that money 
• Give that money a job

Review your energy supplier, are you on the best deal? If there is an early repayment charge, do you still end up saving money long term … the same applies to your mortgage. In the last 3 years interest rates in the UK have fallen, I know happy times right? But the interest rate I went on 3 years ago is 1.34%  higher than the interest rates now. Eek!

The post How To Become Financially Free. LFRE’s 9 Rules of Money & Life appeared first on Live Full Retire Early.

We’ve all had that experience in our jobs, we bust our arse for our boss, stress ourselves out every day for a month, then we receive our paycheck and are left underwhelmed, dissatisfied and a little bitter. Why have you gone through all that stress and emotional pain for peanuts?

We’ve all had that conversation in our head about telling our boss to screw it but had the fear of having nothing to fall back on (check out my blog post, What Is An Emergency Fund and Why Everyone Needs One & 9 Ways To Create An Emergency Fund With No Money) However what if there was another way? What if you continued to bust your arse but were financially compensated for it? Would you still feel bitter?

Today’s article is sponsored by Skillshare. An online learning community with thousands of classes in design, business, photography, tech and many more. Premium membership gives you access even more classes that you can download and watch on the go. No internet connection needed! Future proof your skills and boost your productivity with Skillshare.

Click the banner below and gain access to 2 FREE MONTHS. 

Yes I could recommend you working on a side hustle (which I would) as I don’t think it’s smart to put all your eggs in one basket, however, that isn’t the point of today’s article. Today we are primarily focusing on increasing your income without working a 60 hour week or without investing and living off the dividends. 

Do the job of two people.

So you work for a company, you have gone to your boss and asked for a pay increase, why should your boss give you the increase? Have you put in extra hours without getting paid for it over the last 6 months? Are you doing the job of two people and not being financially compensated for it. You could ask for 25-50% of what your boss would be paying for a second job role. This could be very appealing to your boss, they don’t have to take a risk of employing the wrong person and waste time training someone else.

Increase the companies revenue.

Speak to your boss and come to a deal. This involves some smart negotiating, it doesn’t have to be fancy but simple. If you bring in a new client or increase the revenue from your existing clients, ask for a percentage of the increase (kinda like commission). If you bring in an extra $100,000 per year, ask for a 10% increase. That’s a whopping $833.33 extra per month! Scale that up, what if you bought an extra $250,000 in, that’s an extra $2,083.33 per month!

Add value to the marketplace.

This involves gaining new skills and future proofing your income. Take an online Social Media Management course for example. So many millennial’s find the social media world so easy, it just comes naturally to them compared to their dinosaur bosses. Social media management agencies are charging up to $2,500 per client per month, Offer to do this for your boss for half of the price. You can also advertise your services on platforms like upwork and offer your services for the full $2,500, you can do this in your evenings and eventually the money you earn in your side hustle will make your day job income look like peanuts even with your added pay rise. 

There are over 3,000 different courses on Skillshare on Social Media Management alone. Are you telling me you won’t learn something from taking these courses? Adding that much value to your job/your current position makes it impossible for your boss to refuse you the pay rise.

As advised by the late Jim Rohn’s teacher Mr Shoaff, “you can increase your value to the market by simply working harder on yourself than you do on your day job” 

Ask to be paid in Bitcoin.

At time of writing Bitcoin is in a new bull market meaning the Bitcoin you bought last month is now worth more. If you had been paid say $1,000 for a piece of work 30 days ago and been paid in Bitcoin, today that Bitcoin is worth $1,250. That effectively means you got paid 25% more for doing the same work. Giving employees the option of being paid part of their salary in Bitcoin is becoming increasingly popular.

There are even now companies such as Bitwage (https://www.bitwage.com/for-individuals/) setup to help employers to implement this.

Develop a system.

A system creates leverage which by definition means getting more output with the same input. If you can develop a standardised process with repeatable steps you can greatly increase the amount of work you get done while putting in the same amount of work. Not only that, a system can also be considered a piece of intellectual property that could have a value all on its own.

Like this article? Follow Live Full Retire Early on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for regular tips, tools and inspiration. 

Until next time …

The post How To Increase Your Income Without Working More, Getting a Second Job or Without Investing With 5 Easy Steps appeared first on Live Full Retire Early.

Do not save what is left after spending. But spend what is left after saving.
Warren Buffett

One of the main objections from people who I speak to about beginning their saving and investing journey is the lack of disposable income they have available.

Most people live hand to mouth, pay cheque to pay cheque and when something like job loss occurs in their life their whole world comes crashing down, they scramble to find the next available job, not even considering if this is the right job for them.

I can imagine what you’re thinking right now, “that’s easy for you to say” or “easier said than done, when you don’t have a back-up” An Emergency Fund can help you with this, please check out the blog post: What Is An Emergency Fund and Why Everyone Needs One & 9 Ways To Help Create An Emergency Fund With No Money.

A few minor changes to your lifestyle will help you save over £7,000 per year if not more (depending on your lifestyle)

So you ask “how do I save an extra £7,000 per year without increasing my earnings?”  … simple. I have created a table below of basic items you can cut down on and how much you are likely to save per month.

According to an article published on the BBC website on 18th March 2019 “People spend £69 on average on a UK night out, 15.5% up from a year ago.” That alone works out at £299.00 per month. I am a UK citizen and even this amount baffles me. Spending almost £300.00 on alcohol, meals out/takeaways and taxis home, it’s just like flushing £300.00 down the toilet with nothing to show but feeling rubbish the next day.

WOWZERS! You haven’t had to get a second job, you haven’t had to start a part time business and you haven’t had to ask for a pay increase. You have started exactly where you are right now but made some slight changes to your lifestyle.

Maybe you’re not at the point where you can stop smoking completely so how about halving how much you smoke or, maybe you’re not a smoker at all so you don’t need to include that in your lifestyle analysis. But you get the idea. Have a look at what you spend and how much you spend on them each week. Make a note of everything on your phone as you go about your day then review and analyse your purchases, as I am almost certain that there will be at least 2 things to can cut out or cut down.

Like this article? Follow Live Full Retire Early on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for regular tips, tools and inspiration. 

Until next time …

The post How To Save Over £7,000 For An Investment Without Increasing Your Earnings appeared first on Live Full Retire Early.

WOW how great does that sound? A whopping 33% off any Amazon purchase, why haven’t you heard about this before? Well, if you aren’t into cryptocurrency, then it is highly unlikely.

I don’t know about you but I LOVE a bargain. I’m always on different comparision websites researching items, products and services determined to find the best deal possible. If I find that I have paid more than I should’ve, I feel really frustrated.

Two years ago, my friend introduced me to Purse.

Purse is website that allows you to shop safely and securely, accessing products from Amazon but pay by Bitcoin or Bitcoin Cash for HUGE DISCOUNTS and if there are any issues, they have “World Class Customer Support”. I have used their customer support and I can say that this isn’t just a marketing slogan. The customer service staff are brilliant, they respond to any queries quickly and efficiently and if anyone acts poorly, they endeavor to take actions to stop this happening again.

So since signing up in September 2016, I have purchased countless household items, treats for myself along with all birthdays and Christmas gifts, I have completed over 108 transactions saving over £1,108.59.

I couldn’t be happier and so I had to share it.

Simply follow the 8 step process below to start saving:

1. Sign up for an account on Coinbase. This is a secure place for you to buy, hold and store your Bitcoin.
2. Verify your account and link to your bank account. Once you have verified your account you can now start saving.
3. Buy Bitcoin. Go to “Buy” Bitcoin and select the amount you would like to purchase. Coinbase will complete your transaction and deliver the Bitcoin into your account. (the same applies for selling your Bitcoin) You can choose to buy as little as £10 worth of Bitcoin.
4. Then sign up for an account on Purse. Simply enter your email address, a username and a memorable password.
5. Put your items in an Amazon wishlist and get a shareable link.
6. Import your wishlist into Purse
7. Name your discount. The more you buy the bigger discounts you receive.
8. Start Saving.

Like this article? Follow Live Full Retire Early on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for regular tips, tools and inspiration. 

Until next time …

*please note that some of these links are affiliate links

The post How To Save 33% On ALL Amazon Purchases appeared first on Live Full Retire Early.