Latest / A Little Bit Richer / Money on Tap: Why Easier Isn’t Always Better

Transcript

Money on Tap: Why Easier Isn’t Always Better · A Little Bit Richer

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: This series is brought to you by LNG, helping you
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: build a future that's a little bit richer.
• 0:06
  Iona Bain: Hello and welcome to A Little Bit Richer, brought to
• 0:09
  Iona Bain: you by LNG with me, Iona Bain. In today's digital
• 0:13
  Iona Bain: world, our culture has shifted from cash to cashless and
• 0:17
  Iona Bain: it's affecting how we manage our spending and future finances.
• 0:21
  Iona Bain: Today, we want to talk about the role of cash
• 0:23
  Iona Bain: in society and what we can do to put some
• 0:25
  Iona Bain: friction back in our finances when our money is increasingly
• 0:28
  Iona Bain: digital. Here with me to discuss all this is friend
• 0:31
  Iona Bain: of the show, Emmanuel Asuquo. Emmanuel is a financial advisor,
• 0:36
  Iona Bain: TV presenter, motivational speaker, best-selling author with 15 years experience in financial consulting.
• 0:44
  Iona Bain: Welcome back, Emmanuel.
• 0:45
  Emmanuel Asuquo: Hey, Iona. How are you?
• 0:46
  Iona Bain: I'm good, thank you. Eman, we're seeing a lot online
• 0:49
  Iona Bain: now about people returning to cash.
• 0:52
  Emmanuel Asuquo: Yes.
• 0:52
  Iona Bain: Why do you think that's happening and what are the
• 0:55
  Iona Bain: benefits of using cash?
• 0:56
  Emmanuel Asuquo: Yeah, I think the reason I'm seeing people return to cash
• 0:59
  Emmanuel Asuquo: is just the fact that contactless is such a disconnect.
• 1:04
  Emmanuel Asuquo: One of the hardest parts about money is the fact
• 1:06
  Emmanuel Asuquo: that every day you step out of your house, somebody's
• 1:09
  Emmanuel Asuquo: trying to take money from you, not in a bad
• 1:11
  Emmanuel Asuquo: way, but just, " Here's a service that you can take," or, "
• 1:14
  Emmanuel Asuquo: Here's a product that I think you'd like." When you
• 1:17
  Emmanuel Asuquo: can tap that away, you have all the access to
• 1:19
  Emmanuel Asuquo: all your money. Money just continues to go, and I
• 1:22
  Emmanuel Asuquo: always tell people, " Money flows. It comes in and it
• 1:24
  Emmanuel Asuquo: goes out." If you don't find blockers or you don't
• 1:27
  Emmanuel Asuquo: find ways to put your money in certain places, it
• 1:29
  Emmanuel Asuquo: will just leave your hands no matter how much you
• 1:30
  Emmanuel Asuquo: make. If I have 50 pounds and I'm only using
• 1:34
  Emmanuel Asuquo: cash, I can only spend the 50 pounds I have.
• 1:36
  Emmanuel Asuquo: No matter how much I want to spend 100, I
• 1:39
  Emmanuel Asuquo: have access to 50. It helps you stop yourself when
• 1:44
  Emmanuel Asuquo: that impulse comes in because you're limited. Then, if you
• 1:46
  Emmanuel Asuquo: want to go and spend more, you have to go
• 1:47
  Emmanuel Asuquo: to the cash machine. When it's just tap, it just
• 1:50
  Emmanuel Asuquo: so simple, so easy, and it goes so fast. That's
• 1:54
  Emmanuel Asuquo: why so much more people are coming back to cash
• 1:56
  Emmanuel Asuquo: as a way to fill that connection to money because
• 1:58
  Emmanuel Asuquo: there's a pain. There's no pain when you're tapping away.
• 2:01
  Emmanuel Asuquo: I think that's why people are coming back to cash.
• 2:04
  Iona Bain: Do you think that that shift in mentality can also benefit
• 2:06
  Iona Bain: you if you're shopping a lot online? What you were
• 2:08
  Iona Bain: describing about leaving the house and having commercial pressures, you
• 2:11
  Iona Bain: don't even have to leave your house now. It's all
• 2:14
  Iona Bain: there in your pocket on your phone, constant inducements to
• 2:17
  Iona Bain: spend money through social media and internet shopping.
• 2:20
  Emmanuel Asuquo: 100%. I do this thing with my clients where I
• 2:23
  Emmanuel Asuquo: tell them, " Look, we've got a 48- hour rule," so even
• 2:25
  Emmanuel Asuquo: if you see the thing you want to buy and it's
• 2:27
  Emmanuel Asuquo: on sale and you're just like, you got to wait
• 2:29
  Emmanuel Asuquo: 48 hours. Do you know that with my clients, something
• 2:31
  Emmanuel Asuquo: like 75% of the time, they do not end up
• 2:34
  Emmanuel Asuquo: buying it when they're back in their right mind. There's
• 2:37
  Emmanuel Asuquo: something about when you're online and you're spending and the
• 2:40
  Emmanuel Asuquo: deals are there and you think about, " Oh, I'll do
• 2:41
  Emmanuel Asuquo: this there and I'll do this there," and when you
• 2:43
  Emmanuel Asuquo: walked away and come back, you realize, " I got something
• 2:45
  Emmanuel Asuquo: similar in my wardrobe already," or, " I don't actually need
• 2:48
  Emmanuel Asuquo: that," but in the moment while the adrenaline is pumping,
• 2:51
  Emmanuel Asuquo: you feel like, " I need this now. I can't live
• 2:52
  Emmanuel Asuquo: without it." Just giving yourself that gap. You could go
• 2:55
  Emmanuel Asuquo: to every shop you want to go to without ever
• 2:57
  Emmanuel Asuquo: leaving your house, and it becomes dangerous. There needs to
• 2:59
  Emmanuel Asuquo: be a delay. We've got more stuff than we actually need.
• 3:02
  Iona Bain: Delays are good for us sometimes.
• 3:04
  Emmanuel Asuquo: Exactly. There needs to be a delay. There needs to
• 3:06
  Emmanuel Asuquo: be a pause to actually say, " Do I need this
• 3:08
  Emmanuel Asuquo: right now, or am I just buying this because I
• 3:10
  Emmanuel Asuquo: have the ability to?" Again, sometimes we are emotional spending.
• 3:13
  Emmanuel Asuquo: It's the, " I don't feel so good today, I'm going
• 3:15
  Emmanuel Asuquo: to buy myself something." " I've had a great day. I'm
• 3:17
  Emmanuel Asuquo: going to buy myself something." Whatever mood you're in.
• 3:19
  Iona Bain: Spending is the answer.
• 3:21
  Emmanuel Asuquo: Yes.
• 3:22
  Iona Bain: Two things that have really helped me in terms of controlling
• 3:24
  Iona Bain: my online spending. One is not having a digital wallet,
• 3:28
  Iona Bain: at least for a period of time. If I have
• 3:31
  Iona Bain: Apple or Google Pay, then it just makes spending too
• 3:34
  Iona Bain: easy. Whereas, even if it is a case of having
• 3:36
  Iona Bain: to get a card out of my purse, that puts
• 3:39
  Iona Bain: a bit more friction into my finances. Then, the second
• 3:42
  Iona Bain: thing is removing automatic credit card details. When you are
• 3:46
  Iona Bain: shopping online, the way it just fills all the forms.
• 3:49
  Iona Bain: You know what?
• 3:50
  Emmanuel Asuquo: Magically.
• 3:51
  Iona Bain: Yeah. Magically. Oh, well there we are, and there's no
• 3:53
  Iona Bain: reason not to spend now. Not ticking that box to
• 3:56
  Iona Bain: also fill my credit card details has definitely made a
• 3:58
  Iona Bain: bit of a difference.
• 3:59
  Emmanuel Asuquo: Yeah, I'm the same. I'm a big fan of using
• 4:02
  Emmanuel Asuquo: my chauffeur service through an app that I'm not going
• 4:04
  Emmanuel Asuquo: to mention, but also, I use that app for eating
• 4:06
  Emmanuel Asuquo: as well. If I know I've ordered a bit too
• 4:09
  Emmanuel Asuquo: much, then I'm going to uninstall for a period of
• 4:11
  Emmanuel Asuquo: time, so I have to get back on the bus,
• 4:12
  Emmanuel Asuquo: back on the train and back cooking in the kitchen.
• 4:17
  Iona Bain: Yeah. Do you think that also there's a correlation here between
• 4:21
  Iona Bain: cash, helping you keep on top of your budget and
• 4:24
  Iona Bain: being on a low income in the first place and
• 4:25
  Iona Bain: really having to watch every penny? It's interesting. When I
• 4:28
  Iona Bain: go to my local discount supermarket, the queue for the
• 4:32
  Iona Bain: manned checkout is always really long, and that's because it's
• 4:34
  Iona Bain: the only checkout that accepts cash.
• 4:36
  Emmanuel Asuquo: Cash. Yeah. I think businesses are missing a trick. I
• 4:39
  Emmanuel Asuquo: get it. It feels great. You can go and just scan it and
• 4:42
  Emmanuel Asuquo: pay and go, but the reality is that for a
• 4:44
  Emmanuel Asuquo: lot of people, especially when money is tight, I can't
• 4:47
  Emmanuel Asuquo: afford to pay the wrong amount. I need to make
• 4:50
  Emmanuel Asuquo: sure that what I'm spending is I can actually afford.
• 4:53
  Emmanuel Asuquo: I need to give myself a budget. I think we don't
• 4:56
  Emmanuel Asuquo: think about it in that way, like you said, watching
• 4:58
  Emmanuel Asuquo: every penny. I've seen my mum pour out her purse
• 5:01
  Emmanuel Asuquo: and count 5 Ps and 2 Ps to make up enough
• 5:05
  Emmanuel Asuquo: to buy what she needs to buy because that's all
• 5:07
  Emmanuel Asuquo: the money she has. Sometimes, when you're tapping, you don't
• 5:10
  Emmanuel Asuquo: have that and then now, with overdrafts and all that, you're just
• 5:12
  Emmanuel Asuquo: getting yourself into more trouble and actually, coming back to
• 5:15
  Emmanuel Asuquo: cash and limiting yourself, it can feel negative, but actually
• 5:19
  Emmanuel Asuquo: can have a much more positive impact because you are
• 5:21
  Emmanuel Asuquo: living within your means. I think we have to go
• 5:24
  Emmanuel Asuquo: back to get into a society where actually it's okay
• 5:27
  Emmanuel Asuquo: to say no.
• 5:28
  Iona Bain: It is hard using cash now. A lot of shops
• 5:30
  Iona Bain: won't accept it. You can't pay your bills with it.
• 5:33
  Iona Bain: You can't save and invest with it. What are the
• 5:35
  Iona Bain: difficulties of using cash?
• 5:36
  Emmanuel Asuquo: It is so hard to use cash. I mean, I
• 5:40
  Emmanuel Asuquo: used to be a cashier in a bank. People would
• 5:42
  Emmanuel Asuquo: come in, they'd have their energy bill, they'd write how
• 5:45
  Emmanuel Asuquo: much they're going to pay, and we'd scan it through.
• 5:47
  Emmanuel Asuquo: We'd take the cash and pay their bills. Now, everything
• 5:50
  Emmanuel Asuquo: is direct debit. Everything is online. Again, you can't keep
• 5:54
  Emmanuel Asuquo: that control.
• 5:55
  Iona Bain: There are some big drawbacks to cash and I think
• 5:57
  Iona Bain: you're going to feel very passionately about one of them,
• 5:59
  Iona Bain: which is that sometimes people will say to me, " Well,
• 6:02
  Iona Bain: can't I just put my money under the mattress," because
• 6:05
  Iona Bain: that's clearly the safest thing to do, and yet people
• 6:09
  Iona Bain: will be missing out on growth. Talk to me about
• 6:11
  Iona Bain: why cash can't be the answer to all our financial problems.
• 6:15
  Emmanuel Asuquo: Exactly. If you've got your life savings under a mattress,
• 6:17
  Emmanuel Asuquo: I totally understand that, but if you do get burgled
• 6:21
  Emmanuel Asuquo: or if there's an accident, all of a sudden, all
• 6:24
  Emmanuel Asuquo: your money's gone. No security, no safety, there's no protection
• 6:27
  Emmanuel Asuquo: on that. Whereas if it was in a bank account,
• 6:29
  Emmanuel Asuquo: you have protection. You have people that you can talk
• 6:32
  Emmanuel Asuquo: to say, " Look, this is my money and something's happened
• 6:34
  Emmanuel Asuquo: to it." That's number one. Number two, inflation. We all know that 1,
• 6:38
  Emmanuel Asuquo: 000 pounds five years ago is probably around 600 pounds
• 6:43
  Emmanuel Asuquo: today. If you would've left it under the mattress, you
• 6:45
  Emmanuel Asuquo: might have gone back and said, " I've got 1, 000 pounds,"
• 6:47
  Emmanuel Asuquo: but money is only valuable when you use it, and
• 6:50
  Emmanuel Asuquo: I don't think people understand that concept. What we do
• 6:52
  Emmanuel Asuquo: is we look at money and say, " I've got 1, 000
• 6:54
  Emmanuel Asuquo: pounds today. Five years later, I've got another 1, 000
• 6:56
  Emmanuel Asuquo: pounds. I still got 1, 000 pounds. I haven't lost anything,"
• 6:59
  Emmanuel Asuquo: but actually if I go to spend that money and
• 7:01
  Emmanuel Asuquo: I can buy it less, then I've lost money in
• 7:04
  Emmanuel Asuquo: real terms. If we think about it, 50K used to be how
• 7:08
  Emmanuel Asuquo: much to buy a house. 50K is now not even
• 7:12
  Emmanuel Asuquo: enough for a deposit in some places. If I've gone
• 7:14
  Emmanuel Asuquo: from a place of being able to buy and own
• 7:16
  Emmanuel Asuquo: a house to now only having enough for a deposit,
• 7:19
  Emmanuel Asuquo: I've lost money in real terms.
• 7:21
  Iona Bain: It's really hard for people to get their heads around
• 7:23
  Iona Bain: that concept though, because it's quite abstract.
• 7:25
  Emmanuel Asuquo: Exactly.
• 7:25
  Iona Bain: Once you grasp it, actually, you can never unknow it.
• 7:28
  Emmanuel Asuquo: Never ever know it, and you just see it all
• 7:30
  Emmanuel Asuquo: the time. Then, like you mentioned, interest. Again, banks pay
• 7:34
  Emmanuel Asuquo: you interest for leaving your money with them so you
• 7:36
  Emmanuel Asuquo: get that growth.
• 7:37
  Iona Bain: How can we manage our money better when it would
• 7:41
  Iona Bain: just be otherwise so easy to tap our money on
• 7:44
  Iona Bain: that card reader and see it leave our account?
• 7:47
  Emmanuel Asuquo: I think the main thing is your money mindset. When
• 7:49
  Emmanuel Asuquo: we talk about money being the root all evil and all that,
• 7:51
  Emmanuel Asuquo: it's people. It's all us as human beings, how we
• 7:54
  Emmanuel Asuquo: use money. Money is not the problem. Money is there
• 7:57
  Emmanuel Asuquo: to be used. It's how we use it that becomes
• 7:59
  Emmanuel Asuquo: the problem. For me, it's about understanding your money mindset
• 8:02
  Emmanuel Asuquo: and how you look at money and dealing with your
• 8:05
  Emmanuel Asuquo: money trauma and the things that you've been through and
• 8:07
  Emmanuel Asuquo: how you express yourself when it comes to money. That
• 8:10
  Emmanuel Asuquo: is the first place that people really need to work
• 8:12
  Emmanuel Asuquo: on themselves on in regards to how they look at
• 8:14
  Emmanuel Asuquo: money, how they use money, what is their attitude to
• 8:18
  Emmanuel Asuquo: money, and that's really, really important. Then it's about budgeting
• 8:21
  Emmanuel Asuquo: and for me, one of the best ways to budget,
• 8:23
  Emmanuel Asuquo: I know we've got all these online banks. For me,
• 8:26
  Emmanuel Asuquo: envelopes, I don't care what anyone says.
• 8:29
  Iona Bain: Really?
• 8:29
  Emmanuel Asuquo: Going back to the envelope is the best place to
• 8:32
  Emmanuel Asuquo: get started. I have clients today that I made envelope.
• 8:35
  Emmanuel Asuquo: You have X amount for this week because you've got
• 8:38
  Emmanuel Asuquo: to teach yourself the discipline. Money is a habitual. If
• 8:42
  Emmanuel Asuquo: I build a good financial habit, that will continue.
• 8:45
  Iona Bain: You mean to say, withdraw cash, put it in an
• 8:47
  Iona Bain: envelope that you need for that particular area of your
• 8:49
  Iona Bain: life that week, and that's it.
• 8:50
  Emmanuel Asuquo: That's it.
• 8:50
  Iona Bain: Right.
• 8:50
  Emmanuel Asuquo: That's it. If you've got 100 pounds for the week.
• 8:54
  Emmanuel Asuquo: If on Monday you decide to spend 80 pounds, it's
• 8:56
  Emmanuel Asuquo: going to be a tough week. Do you know what
• 8:58
  Emmanuel Asuquo: I mean?
• 8:58
  Iona Bain: Yeah.
• 8:59
  Emmanuel Asuquo: You need that experience. That's how I learn money. People ask, "
• 9:02
  Emmanuel Asuquo: Well, how did you get this mindset about?" No, I
• 9:04
  Emmanuel Asuquo: learned the hard way. I come from struggle. I come
• 9:07
  Emmanuel Asuquo: from not having a lot and having to look after
• 9:09
  Emmanuel Asuquo: it. It's one of the things I always worry about
• 9:11
  Emmanuel Asuquo: with my kids is that now they live a life of
• 9:13
  Emmanuel Asuquo: privilege. How do I make sure they understand the importance
• 9:15
  Emmanuel Asuquo: and the value of money? For me, having the envelopes,
• 9:18
  Emmanuel Asuquo: now again, once you've done that, you can evolve. A
• 9:21
  Emmanuel Asuquo: lot of these other accounts now allow you to have
• 9:22
  Emmanuel Asuquo: pots and all of that, and that can be great, but
• 9:25
  Emmanuel Asuquo: until you can do it in the physical, I don't want you to do it in a digital.
• 9:29
  Iona Bain: Right. I see. If we follow the envelope approach and
• 9:33
  Iona Bain: we can stick to only spending 100 pounds a week
• 9:36
  Iona Bain: and we've passed that test, Eman gives us a big
• 9:39
  Iona Bain: tick, then we can progress and graduate to digital ways
• 9:44
  Iona Bain: of putting friction back into our finances.
• 9:46
  Emmanuel Asuquo: Yes.
• 9:47
  Iona Bain: Have you got a few favorite strategies here?
• 9:49
  Emmanuel Asuquo: My favorite is splitting your accounts up. One of the
• 9:51
  Emmanuel Asuquo: biggest mistakes I see people is that they have all their money in
• 9:54
  Emmanuel Asuquo: one account. It is a problem. It's a nightmare because
• 9:58
  Emmanuel Asuquo: Friday night, you look at your account, it's fit and
• 10:00
  Emmanuel Asuquo: healthy, and you think, " I'm going out. I'm going to have a good
• 10:02
  Emmanuel Asuquo: time." Monday morning, the direct debit's come out and you've
• 10:05
  Emmanuel Asuquo: messed yourself up, and it repeats every month. For me, have
• 10:10
  Emmanuel Asuquo: an account for your bills. Number two is that there
• 10:12
  Emmanuel Asuquo: are banks that will pay you cash back for paying
• 10:15
  Emmanuel Asuquo: your bills from those accounts. You can actually make money
• 10:17
  Emmanuel Asuquo: paying your bills, and that way you can monitor. What
• 10:20
  Emmanuel Asuquo: I do with my bills account, every six months I
• 10:23
  Emmanuel Asuquo: go in, I love football, and I renegade. I list
• 10:25
  Emmanuel Asuquo: them all, and the bottom three, I either get rid
• 10:28
  Emmanuel Asuquo: of or I call them up and ask for a
• 10:30
  Emmanuel Asuquo: better deal where possible.
• 10:33
  Iona Bain: That's a pretty ruthless approach you're taking there.
• 10:35
  Emmanuel Asuquo: The thing is, what I've realized is that a lot
• 10:36
  Emmanuel Asuquo: of the time you have these subscriptions, I'm actually using it.
• 10:40
  Emmanuel Asuquo: I'm actually getting value from it. Why do I still
• 10:42
  Emmanuel Asuquo: have this? I might have a subscription, especially with kids.
• 10:45
  Emmanuel Asuquo: I might have a subscription. They used it for that
• 10:47
  Emmanuel Asuquo: period of time, but they're not using anymore. Because it's
• 10:50
  Emmanuel Asuquo: five pounds and it comes out monthly, I don't feel
• 10:51
  Emmanuel Asuquo: it. I don't see it. It's just coming out. Actually,
• 10:54
  Emmanuel Asuquo: that's 60 pounds a year.
• 10:55
  Iona Bain: Whereas if you had to actually hand over that fiver,
• 10:58
  Iona Bain: would you do it?
• 11:00
  Emmanuel Asuquo: You wouldn't. You wouldn't, and you would've realized a long time ago. It is
• 11:03
  Emmanuel Asuquo: really important to look at your subscriptions and have an
• 11:05
  Emmanuel Asuquo: account for that. Then, I have a second account where
• 11:08
  Emmanuel Asuquo: I put myself on a budget. I have an account
• 11:11
  Emmanuel Asuquo: and I say, " Look, this is how much I have
• 11:12
  Emmanuel Asuquo: to spend," because one of the biggest problems with money
• 11:15
  Emmanuel Asuquo: is when you have access to all of your money.
• 11:17
  Emmanuel Asuquo: When you have access to all of your money, you
• 11:19
  Emmanuel Asuquo: are causing yourself problems. What I do is I only give
• 11:22
  Emmanuel Asuquo: myself access to a portion of my money that I
• 11:24
  Emmanuel Asuquo: know that that's for me. I know my bills are
• 11:26
  Emmanuel Asuquo: paid, and then I have a savings account that I've put my
• 11:29
  Emmanuel Asuquo: savings in. Now, I can spend this money guilt free.
• 11:33
  Emmanuel Asuquo: One of the biggest things about budgeting is we feel
• 11:34
  Emmanuel Asuquo: our budgets restrict you. Actually, a budget sets you free
• 11:37
  Emmanuel Asuquo: because I can spend this money however I want and
• 11:40
  Emmanuel Asuquo: know I've paid all my bills, I've saved for my
• 11:42
  Emmanuel Asuquo: goals, and now I'm free to spend this money and
• 11:45
  Emmanuel Asuquo: using the online bank. Either on Monzo or Starling, one
• 11:48
  Emmanuel Asuquo: of those types of banks where they're rude. They'll text
• 11:51
  Emmanuel Asuquo: you and tell you, " Oh, you spent more on takeout
• 11:53
  Emmanuel Asuquo: this month." Nobody asked you, but thanks anyway. You can keep
• 11:57
  Emmanuel Asuquo: an eye on it, and it makes it so much easier for
• 11:59
  Emmanuel Asuquo: you to be able to be in control of your money.
• 12:01
  Iona Bain: Well, that's good because you don't then have to take
• 12:04
  Iona Bain: all that responsibility on yourself. You're almost outsourcing the accountability
• 12:08
  Iona Bain: to your bank.
• 12:09
  Emmanuel Asuquo: Exactly, to your bank, and that's important. More and more banks are understanding the importance
• 12:13
  Emmanuel Asuquo: of their role as well. That's really important.
• 12:15
  Iona Bain: What are your feelings on having spending limits? I mean,
• 12:18
  Iona Bain: would you advocate having a spending limit per day or
• 12:21
  Iona Bain: per week? What are the pros and cons?
• 12:23
  Emmanuel Asuquo: Yeah, I think spending limits are good for people who
• 12:27
  Emmanuel Asuquo: are impulse spenders. If you are someone that knows that
• 12:30
  Emmanuel Asuquo: if you walk into a shop and you smell certain smells
• 12:33
  Emmanuel Asuquo: or you see a yellow sticker, you're gone. Then, you
• 12:36
  Emmanuel Asuquo: need a limit how much you can spend because you're going to
• 12:39
  Emmanuel Asuquo: overspend. If you are someone that's in more control, then
• 12:42
  Emmanuel Asuquo: maybe you just have a limit for the week or
• 12:43
  Emmanuel Asuquo: the month or whatever it may be, but also to
• 12:45
  Emmanuel Asuquo: understand that life happens. As much as you might have
• 12:48
  Emmanuel Asuquo: spending limits, there might be an opportunity. For example, if
• 12:51
  Emmanuel Asuquo: I know I want to go on holiday and then
• 12:52
  Emmanuel Asuquo: there's a really good deal, does it make sense to
• 12:55
  Emmanuel Asuquo: me saving all the way up to the holiday and
• 12:57
  Emmanuel Asuquo: paying the higher price if I can get a 0%
• 12:59
  Emmanuel Asuquo: credit card and pay that now at a discount price
• 13:02
  Emmanuel Asuquo: and then pay that off? We've got to be wise
• 13:05
  Emmanuel Asuquo: in our spending, but know that if I'm spending this
• 13:07
  Emmanuel Asuquo: now, what are the other sacrifices that I have to make?
• 13:10
  Emmanuel Asuquo: If I'm not prepared to give it up, then I'm
• 13:11
  Emmanuel Asuquo: not prepared to spend.
• 13:13
  Iona Bain: I have a theory that financial technology was once judged
• 13:17
  Iona Bain: on how easy it could make everything. I think in
• 13:20
  Iona Bain: the future, we will want financial technology that actually makes
• 13:22
  Iona Bain: everything that little bit harder and will allow us to
• 13:26
  Iona Bain: put these boundaries and this friction in place. Do you
• 13:30
  Iona Bain: see financial technology evolving in that direction?
• 13:33
  Emmanuel Asuquo: Yeah, I definitely do. We've seen with people having different
• 13:36
  Emmanuel Asuquo: accounts and pots that they can't get access to. You have
• 13:38
  Emmanuel Asuquo: a direct debit from your account into a pot, but
• 13:40
  Emmanuel Asuquo: you can't access that pot and it won't show up
• 13:42
  Emmanuel Asuquo: on your online banking. We're seeing it already that actually,
• 13:46
  Emmanuel Asuquo: we have to hide money from ourselves because we naturally
• 13:49
  Emmanuel Asuquo: want to spend it, but we benefit from it because
• 13:51
  Emmanuel Asuquo: when you then look at it 12 months down the
• 13:53
  Emmanuel Asuquo: line, you're like, " Wow, I saved that much." It is
• 13:56
  Emmanuel Asuquo: really important. That's another hack that I always tell people,
• 13:58
  Emmanuel Asuquo: have a standing order on payday to your savings account,
• 14:02
  Emmanuel Asuquo: so you pay a like a bill.
• 14:04
  Iona Bain: Because actually, it has never been easier to save. That's the upside of all this.
• 14:07
  Emmanuel Asuquo: Exactly.
• 14:07
  Iona Bain: You can really make it work for you in terms of
• 14:11
  Iona Bain: how accessible this technology is, I mean, a good example
• 14:14
  Iona Bain: is yesterday morning, I woke up and I saw within
• 14:16
  Iona Bain: my banking app that there was an easy saver account
• 14:19
  Iona Bain: available, paying 4%. I opened it within a minute.'.
• 14:22
  Emmanuel Asuquo: Yeah.
• 14:23
  Iona Bain: Hey, Presto, I'm a saver.
• 14:25
  Emmanuel Asuquo: Wonderful.
• 14:26
  Iona Bain: I'm not saying that's the first time I've ever saved money.
• 14:28
  Emmanuel Asuquo: No, of course not.
• 14:28
  Iona Bain: Just in case anyone's wondering. It was just remarkable how
• 14:32
  Iona Bain: easy it was to do that.
• 14:33
  Emmanuel Asuquo: Yes.
• 14:34
  Iona Bain: How can we use these technologies to actually help us
• 14:37
  Iona Bain: save money?
• 14:38
  Emmanuel Asuquo: Yes. Like we're saying, it makes it easier to save, but also
• 14:42
  Emmanuel Asuquo: to invest for the longer term. Now, it's never been
• 14:45
  Emmanuel Asuquo: easier to open up a pension or stocks and shares
• 14:47
  Emmanuel Asuquo: I saw or invest in stocks. Using the technology has
• 14:51
  Emmanuel Asuquo: made it easier for us to invest as well longer
• 14:53
  Emmanuel Asuquo: term. Just embracing it means that now, we are able
• 14:56
  Emmanuel Asuquo: to do things that maybe before we'd have to go
• 14:58
  Emmanuel Asuquo: to a bank to do or so forth, but we
• 15:00
  Emmanuel Asuquo: can now do ourselves and be in more control.
• 15:03
  Iona Bain: A good example of that is round up savings, right?
• 15:04
  Emmanuel Asuquo: Yes.
• 15:04
  Iona Bain: If you spend 98 P and you have two P rounded
• 15:08
  Iona Bain: up into a savings or investment pot, two P in
• 15:11
  Iona Bain: and of itself is not going to add up to
• 15:12
  Iona Bain: a lot, but over time it might make a bit
• 15:14
  Iona Bain: of a difference.
• 15:15
  Emmanuel Asuquo: No, definitely. And it's all about the habits. I always tell people sometimes it's not
• 15:18
  Emmanuel Asuquo: about getting rich. I think we think about, we've watched
• 15:20
  Emmanuel Asuquo: Wolf of Wall Street and all these other films, and
• 15:22
  Emmanuel Asuquo: we think, oh, we've got to invest this. Actually, just
• 15:24
  Emmanuel Asuquo: building up that habit. If I know that two P, 10 P, 15
• 15:27
  Emmanuel Asuquo: P, every time I spend is going in there, it's
• 15:30
  Emmanuel Asuquo: a habit. Once I built that habit and I've seen, okay, wow, I've
• 15:33
  Emmanuel Asuquo: put in 20 pounds this month, and now that 20
• 15:36
  Emmanuel Asuquo: pounds is worth 25 pounds. Imagine if I had 100
• 15:38
  Emmanuel Asuquo: pounds in there. Now you've got more confidence to say, "
• 15:41
  Emmanuel Asuquo: Actually, I can put a more regular amount in there
• 15:43
  Emmanuel Asuquo: because I see that this works over time." It's about
• 15:46
  Emmanuel Asuquo: building those habits. Technology has made it easier. Before, if
• 15:49
  Emmanuel Asuquo: you wanted to invest, there was a barrier to entry.
• 15:51
  Iona Bain: Yeah.
• 15:51
  Emmanuel Asuquo: Those barriers have been taken away. We've got to embrace
• 15:53
  Emmanuel Asuquo: the technology and start to make it work for us.
• 15:56
  Iona Bain: Brilliant. Well, let's end with three tips on how you
• 16:00
  Iona Bain: can use the digital world of money to build your
• 16:03
  Iona Bain: own wealth.
• 16:04
  Emmanuel Asuquo: Great question. I'd say number one is to really understand
• 16:07
  Emmanuel Asuquo: your money. As we talked about, embrace the technology, understand
• 16:11
  Emmanuel Asuquo: where your money's coming in and out of, because people
• 16:13
  Emmanuel Asuquo: always tell me, " What's the cheat code? How can I
• 16:15
  Emmanuel Asuquo: make more money?" There's only two ways. You either make
• 16:17
  Emmanuel Asuquo: more money or you cut your costs. That's all we're
• 16:19
  Emmanuel Asuquo: ever talking about really. You've got to, number one, understand
• 16:22
  Emmanuel Asuquo: where your money's coming from, where it's going, and then
• 16:24
  Emmanuel Asuquo: utilize the tools that are available to you. Number two
• 16:27
  Emmanuel Asuquo: is saving. Make sure you're getting the best on your
• 16:31
  Emmanuel Asuquo: savings. The money that you are able to save, make
• 16:33
  Emmanuel Asuquo: sure you're getting the best rates on your money and
• 16:35
  Emmanuel Asuquo: review that regularly. That's really important. Number three, feel free
• 16:39
  Emmanuel Asuquo: to limit yourself. I think we are in a society
• 16:41
  Emmanuel Asuquo: that has no limits. We all want to have no limits, and
• 16:44
  Emmanuel Asuquo: we want to live life to the maximum, but actually
• 16:47
  Emmanuel Asuquo: embrace the fact that you can limit yourself and make
• 16:49
  Emmanuel Asuquo: it a bit tough. Make some friction in your money
• 16:51
  Emmanuel Asuquo: so that you can keep more of it.
• 16:53
  Iona Bain: Fantastic. The three tips are to build a better picture
• 16:57
  Iona Bain: of your finances, try to save what you can and get
• 17:00
  Iona Bain: that friction in your finances.
• 17:02
  Emmanuel Asuquo: Love it.
• 17:04
  Iona Bain: That was so helpful. Thank you, Emmanuel. Next time, financial
• 17:08
  Iona Bain: advisor and friend of the show, Bola Sol will be
• 17:11
  Iona Bain: back to help us manage finances with our partners. I'd
• 17:15
  Iona Bain: love it if you could follow the podcast, leave us
• 17:17
  Iona Bain: a review and help others get a little bit richer
• 17:20
  Iona Bain: too. You can keep up with the show on YouTube,
• 17:22
  Iona Bain: TikTok and Instagram at Legal & General. Until next time, see you soon.