The Vault with Financielle - "I earn £90k and have £87k saved — so why am I terrified to spend it?” |

Episode Date: October 1, 2026

Turns out having the money doesn't switch off the money anxiety… both of this week's dilemmas are from women who've done everything right and still can't bring themselves to spend ���This week’s money dilemmas:💸 "I Earn £90k and Have £87k Saved — So Why Am I Terrified to Spend It?"💸 "I've Saved Every Penny to Clear My Debt… and I Can't Press 'Pay'"Got a money win worth celebrating? Or a dilemma that's been living rent-free in your head? Share it in the Financielle app community or email [[e-mail]] 💌You don't have to figure this out alone. Head to financielle.com for guides on debt, budgeting and money stories 💖💸Connect with our Partners✍️ Write a will for FREE with ⁠Octopus Legacy⁠*(offer ends 31st October 26) 🫶 Protect yourself and loved ones with our friends at ⁠Lifesearch⁠**The above are tracked links, which tell our partners we sent you and may in future result in a payment or benefit to our site.

Welcome to The Vault with Fanon Shell. This is a safe space where we talk all things life and money and no topic is off limits. Good morning. Good morning. I feel like it's just been such a rush today because, you know, everyone's, we're well into, like, routine. And it's been raining and it's autumn in Liverpool. And we had to both re-oh, you didn't restrain your hair. Obviously not, no.

I just looked up. We did not. No, no. It looks lovely. I bought the straighteners in case I needed to re-bend. Do something with it. It looks very nice. In case I needed a miracle.

Mine was chaotic because I brought them. And so I liked doing my hair and makeup a little bit in the studios today. They've got a gorgeous dressing area that we never really use because we just run in, dump our bags and go, let's chat. So I've gone for like, I've gone straight hair today and I've got earrings in that we really had to get in. Helen Skelton on BBC always wears a hell like this. It's like hair back and then earrings forward. I've got big earrings in today. It must have been like we knew.

So you've got a silver droplets. And my earring era. So yeah, it's good to be back. And also, I know we've got like four weeks in now to just the two of us and Lydia here with us as well. So thank you for everyone that message and said, yay, you're back. Because I know we had a little break over the summer and we had some really good old reruns. But we are well back. So thank you for all the support.

We love your messages. any follow-ups to dilemmas, please keep them coming. We're starting to get loads in of those. And so it's really nice to keep you guys updated on how people have done. And we've got some amazing ones for you today. The first thing I want to say, though, is some of you listening to The Vault might not know that we actually have an app. Fran and Shell is an app. And it is an app that Holly and I created back in, oh my God, 2012.

I think we talked about it in 2020. think when Laura, if you followed from like years ago Laura started an Instagram account in 2018 and you had like a bit of a following on there of people where you talk, talked honestly about money. It was probably quite refreshing for people. Now the landscape looks really different online where people are very open about money. Well, some people are very open about money. It's still very much taboo in some like friendship groups and family groups and some of your messages and say we're the only people that know about your money situation. So, but yeah, people talk honestly with you and you were taught back

and then you built like a little community didn't you? So on the back of that I think in 2020 we started to, you really wanted to see people win with money. And it started with a playbook, a digital playbook that we sold to people. Some amazing results came through and Laura was like, this is amazing people telling us that the lives would change but actually I want to see it like I want to see it in the data.

It was the net worth, do remember? I wanted to see this like community net worth graph, which we do have behind the scenes because it's all anonymized. Obviously like it's all aggregated. up and we do need to see we can get into that, like share that data a little bit more. But I wanted to see people paying down debt and increasing the net worth and buying homes and building up investments and it all going up. And so we do, we have an app.

And the big thing about the app is you can track what you want to track. But net worth is such a good thing to track. And it's something that I feel lots of people think I've not got enough money to track my net worth. Or it's a period, like mentally you make it into a big task. You've always said this. You've always like, I will do it, I will do it. And then when you do it, you shock yourself. I message Laura every time and I go, oh my God, I've put off my track of my net worth over the last couple of months.

I've done the hard work in inverted comments because it literally took me five minutes. And I can see like this. It gives me a little bit of a boost because I've shared like a few times I'm in Grow. If you're looking at the stages of the playbook and sometimes it can get a little bit like static. And sometimes I'm like what I'm working towards. Like we always say survive such an exercise. part of the journey because it's like balls to the wall time where you're literally like doing anything to me like you're quite motivate it's very motivating part of the journey so then

and a lot of people in build sometimes come to us and go I'm really bored and build like this stage that I'm going through you have to set yourself little goals and I think net worth is a really good one to keep yourself on track no matter what stage you're in so it actually connects all of us whether you're in survive or whether you're overhearing grow just seeing yourself progress on a money journey and it doesn't have to be my net worth is like tripled it could be I've paid off some debt this month and my net worth has gone up like it's such a positive tool to keep motivated even as well like I like how the net worth donut can show how your assets are split yeah and so for some people you know realizing that they've got savings but actually their investments are quite low yeah

or they don't own a property yet if that's not for them or are you you know for example our, because we do ours together, my husband and I, so ours is quite heavily skewed towards assets because we've got an investment property and we've got our home. Obviously there's mortgage on both of those. But if you looked at our asset dough or not, it's very heavily property.

But we've got a good chunk of emergency cash that we're happy with the amounts or anything excess for us and our budget goes into our investments. But it's just such a healthy thing to check in with. It doesn't really, the number kind of doesn't matter in the beginning. I agree. It's more about are you making progress?

So I did hours recently. So I just thought I'd chat about it today because we do have the app. It's in the app store. Have a little go at the net worth because it's something that really can help your self-esteem and help you see progression. It help you go. I feel fine and shall poor. There's no money in my account.

Yeah. But it's everywhere else. Yeah. And it's growing in the background. And oh my God, I did the thing. I was on the BBC yesterday and I had a new taxagra. driver so what do you think it happened? Did you get lost?

Oh no. Oh, did you asked him, has he got a pension? I did, yeah. As he got one? No. But guess what he's going to do?

Open a sit. Oh, he nearly tried to do it in the car. I was like, well, just take your time and take some advice and slow down. I would literally like, can you watch the phone? No, he'd pulled over and he was like,

who'd you recommend? I was like, well, here's like seven different platforms. No way. And then he said, I think I used to work for Etihad. He was a... Oh, you have one then, surely. So he does. So he didn't, at first, he didn't think he'd had one.

And then he was like, oh, actually, I had one with Etty had. I was like, once in the time he looked at it, it was like, four years ago when they made me a redundant out of COVID. He was a high-end ticket sales. I was like, why? Anyway, he had a lot of lots chat about him. Oh, my God, down a rabbit hole. But he was like, well, I'm self-employed, no, how would I do it?

I was like, well, you know, just mimic what an employed person would do, look at 5% of your earnings and just start there, even if you don't want to direct debit it. I was like, you can carry on with your Royal London one. Yeah. Or you can open up another one. You know, you've got AJ Bell, you've got Vanguard, you've got Wealthy Fire, you've got your banks. Everyone, there's so many, so many sips or stocks and shares I said.

But I was like, but you should do it. People overthink it. Like, it's a travesty how in the UK self-employed people are totally left to their own devices. And I feel so sorry for anyone that's self-employed that no one's gone to them. You must do this. Like, just treat it as a bill. It's not a big deal. You literally go to an online provider.

You don't need to go to a lawyer, a solicitor, an accountant. You can literally go on the internet right now and open a sick. Go and pay the bill. And start either direct debit or contribute whatever you want monthly, depending on your earnings. Well, we speak to a lot of providers about this because, you know, the FCA want to protect people obviously, but there's a big government initiative because we're apparently as Brits really good at saving, but we're just not as good at investing. And so there's loads of different takes on there.

And it's a heavily regulated space because people are very irresponsible when it comes to suggesting people invest, invest in gold or crypto. or single stocks or leveraging their investments. So believe it or not some people, you might listen to it and you may do it, but people borrow to invest. And it's a very common thing on a lot of platforms. But actually, at the heart of it,

on a basic level and on a small level, when you're just starting, people overthinking, you're happy to go to Nando's and you're happy to pay for your Netflix. Why don't you just pay a bill and start there and just do the thing because it's not as hard as you think? So on that, talk to us about it.

How do you feel like what does investing means to you, are you scared to do it? Are you not ready for it? You're putting it off for a different day because we want to know what you're thinking so we can kind of, especially work with providers because we've got loads of really good contacts and some of these big, big brands.

We tell them all the time, like you're not listening to people or you're not quite getting it or have you not thought, you know, it's not that they can't work the platform, you've got to get them to the platform in the first place. Or have we given you a light bulb moment

where you suddenly gone, oh, I might have a pension with someone 20 years ago and go find it. Yeah, and tell us. I love stuff like that. that when people go, oh no, I don't have one. Oh, actually, I did work for, da-da-da. You're like, you'll have a pension.

Someone found 40 grand pension last year. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Someone definitely messaged. They'd forgotten that they'd, they'd forgotten that they'd worked at a place with a really good pension. I think it was public sector. Yeah. That then got moved into a private pension and they'd left 10 years ago.

I'll have to find that out. If it was you, let me know because I'll try and find it. Anyway, that was a lecture for today. So we're going to start with the dilemma. Oh, my God, it's long. We don't like to change. change your dilemma. Sometimes if you've missed a word out or if you misspelled something, we will edit it. We might do kind edits, might be all the dear when it's like,

gentle red pen is it or like suggestions, but we don't re-edit it. And so we don't like to cut them down. And so I read through this one. I was like, can I cut anything out that? No, I couldn't. So this is like story time. Settle in. Let's see if we can help our first listener. I earn 90K and have 87K saved, so why am I terrified to spend it? Hey, all. Ooh, it wasn't a hey y'all. It's hey, all. Yeah, all of you.

See, we don't have it. We're cowboys in this room. Belts and braces, this is a long one, she says this. I just want to start by saying how genuinely grateful I am for the position I'm in financially. I never expected to be earning what I earn, and I know I'm very fortunate to have the salary and savings that I do. That said, money causes me a lot of stress, and I think a big part of that comes from my background. I grew up on a council estate and watched my parents live month to month, deal with debt, and experience the stress and arguments that came with it. That's something I've

clearly carried with me. Recently, this was brought back to the surface when I helped my mum write a letter to the bank asking for support with her debt following a difficult situation. For context, My partner and I live together, and are 25 and 26. We both work, but I'm currently the main earner, as he's made a career change into an apprenticeship, which I fully support. He's much happier, and that's been really positive for our relationship. His income is lower for now, £7.55 an hour, though it will increase after his first year in September to minimum wage for his age.

His wage itself doesn't bother me. We split expenses proportionately, and even on his current income, he's still able to save. Even though I earn a good wage, 90K, and receive a generous bonus, 27.5% this year, I still struggle mentally when it comes to money. It's strange and frustrating because on paper,

everything looks fine. We stick to a budget, never go over it, and always have money left over. Yet it still causes anxiety and has even led to arguments with my partner. He has ideas about doing some things to the house. Get a driveway done and drop the curb. Get furniture for the house. I own the house we live in, which I bought on my own. My partner has signed a deed of trust as the

mortgage and deposit was solely in my name. There is a plan to add him to the mortgage in the future, but at the moment it doesn't make sense financially due to interest rates. At present, I have £87,000 in savings. 18.5K in an emergency fund, working towards 20. 8K in a maternity fund, working towards $15, I'm not expecting, but we want it there already. 17.5k in a stocks and shares, ISA, and 42.7K sitting across various pots, largely because I feel paralyzed about making the wrong decision with it. I know this is a privileged position to be in, but the amount of money actually adds to my anxiety rather than easing it. I've been told I'll receive my bonus in February, and I've already decided that $6K will go straight

into my pension, but beyond that, I feel stuck. My partner encourages me to treat myself, but the idea makes me uncomfortable. I feel a strong need to put the money somewhere safe. I also have a small amount of debt, 4.7K remaining on a HP car agreement and around £400 on a contract. Even so, I struggle emotionally with the idea of using my savings to clear them, even though I know logically it would make sense. I realise that might sound irrational. Any opinions are welcomed and appreciated. Thanks. Wow, what dilemma. So many people are impacted by their upbringing when it comes to money and they don't, she's very, like, insightful and she realizes that it's a result of her childhood and, and it have been lacking financially and that need to, like,

hold money close and be worried that it's going to slip away and all that kind of stuff. But I just have to applaud you, like the financial foundations that you built for yourself. And I actually think even if you were earning 30 grand, you'd still be in a similar situation. Obviously, levels of money wouldn't be as high, but you've got a really good salary there. But I do think that you would still have this wonderful spread of emergency savings, investments, like, you're conscious about putting money into your pension when you're bonus lands. Like, you have got the makings of someone that should feel really financially well. And I actually feel really sorry for that you don't feel like that. And I know so many people will be sitting there

going, what's a problem? Like, and we see it all the time, like we post the dilemma a few weeks go on Instagram and we were looking at it this morning because it keeps kind of picking up comments all the time with someone that earned like 101k and they then didn't get. Oh, people hate the high earners. Everyone's so judgy and I really don't like that. It's really funny as well when she first, she opened it up with like being apologetic about how much money she earns and I know I'm in a privileged position and I'm like,

is that a female thing as well because not one man I know is ever apologetic about how much they earn? Like, I know I should be grateful for this. And like, if you read like the first couple lines, she's basically saying sorry. Thank you for what you do. Yeah. Sorry that I earn so much. Literally.

Sorry that I have saving. She's apologising for merely existing. Like, it's so sad and I really don't hear men ever position themselves as being like apologetic for the salary that they earn. So let's put a red pen to the dilemma right. Imagine if she said, hi. I earn 97K. I have 87K in savings.

Yeah. What should I do? Full stop. Yeah. Just like... Yeah. But it's so deep. She's had to...

She's had to... She's not had to flatter us, but she's open with kindness. Like, this is such a female thing. I see myself in this literally immediately. Making everyone feel comfortable, managing how everyone feels. You know, if you are someone at home,

listening that's triggered by this, there's probably some work that you need to do as well. You know, there's nothing wrong with thinking, God, 87K would be nice. But actually, we've got people in our life who have that. And it brings a little bit of comfort, but it is actually overwhelming. Yeah. It's like a burden almost for some people to have that much money. Like for me, she's got, like I said, strong financial foundation.

She just needs to tick stuff off and move on. So like emergency fund, done, move on. you know, percentage of... Yeah, because she's not quite done the emergency fund. It's like she's 2K off your emergency fund and then you're like, but then I've got a maternity fund and it's like, well, finish... We have to remove the emotion from this.

Like, I, for you personally, because the numbers are so good and you need maybe some external validation to be like, you are in a really good place financially. Like, if that helps you move the emotion away from this, like, we need to tell you doing a good job. If you need to hear that, like, we'll tell you because that is incredible.

There's just some simple, math equation things that you need to remove the emotion on that we can do that will make you feel better. So can we just like go through the list? So she's got 87,000 in saving. She's got 18 and a half K in an emergency fund working towards 20, which she's got 42,000 and 42,000 in various parts, right, immediately, finish your emergency fund and then forget about it. Yeah, done. Can I ask a question? Yes. You may. If you have like income protection, do you need such a massive emergency fund. No, and that's one of the reasons.

Well, her emergency fund's 20, and that might be, that might make her feel good. So there is a number sometimes. For some people, it might be 10. For some people, I don't want this to be 100, but for some people,

they fix it on the emergency fund number. But interestingly, she's got way higher than 18.5 because it's everywhere else as well. So you are absolutely bob-on. Firstly, she needs to pick the number that if I needed to dip into, savings or if I lost a job or if I got poorly or anything, what would I need? But yes,

additional peace of mind would be income protection insurance and our criticalness cover because she would be able to protect the income that she would lose if something happened in terms of if she was poorly. And so if she's someone that inherently wants a high amount of cash, she definitely could do that. So yeah, if anyone thinks that way and also wants to look into that, we have a great partner life search. So go to fancil.com forward slash protection, loads of articles, but just click the banner, go and speak to Chelsea. Is it Gemma as well? Chelsea and Gemma.

There are girls there. They work for us and all our clients go through to them and all our listeners go through to them. And it's just a no pressure chat about what you'd like, how you feel and what things you can do to plug the gaps. So yeah, that's bang on. It's something that she should definitely look into. Especially if you're just inherent cautious person

or a bit more of an anxious person, the more things we can do to kind of... Yeah, what's keeping you up at night and like coming up with it? What would help you sleep at night? what emergency figure, because it might be that she wants, she might feel better with 25 and that's fine as well, but you've got enough savings to do that today.

And then just put it to, you literally, you have to for your own mental peace of mind. Let's write a physical list and literally write emergency fun because we love a list and we love ticking it off and draw a line through it and let it go. And so park it in, so have a look at protection definitely. And then once you've got that number that you want, put it in as high yield growth account that you can that you can access.

Forget about it. You then have an emergency fund, not a problem. So the maternity fund, so you've got money in your 402.2.K, say, again, you've put savings pots, so maybe in your mind the four things, but there's not day-to-day spending or sinking funds that add up to that. So you could definitely also finish your maternity fund and leave it. Again, high-yield accounts. You've got things at all the time.

We're thinking about stocks and shares. We're thinking about icees and allowances. And so especially because in the UK that the cash ice are allowances, is changing from April. We probably need to think about ISA because you've got certain allowances. So just make sure that you're using those because we want to make the best of it. We want tax advantaged accounts. But once you fill your year's allowance of ISA, you know, you can look for regular ones

with high yield. Make sure they're making money, but then leave it. Don't tick that off. So we've done. Emergency fund. And we're doing very well. Next one. Debt.

I feel better already. Yes. So then she's also got 17 and a half in a stocks and shares icer. And part of me is just like, like, like leave. leave that be them for now. Like, great. You don't need to add to it. There's no pressure to add to it from chunks.

So you've still probably got, let me add that. There's 42.7. We've put one and a half in there. So it's like 41. And you need another seven. So we're still at 35-ish. So even if some of those are genuine sinking funds, like it could be a travel fund,

it could be a Christmas fund. It could be whatever it is. Just draw a line on the ones that are genuine. I'm going to need in the next year funds. And then you absolutely should be clearing that debt. clear the 4.7, clear the 400. You did this. Yeah, relative to your income,

for other people listening, they might be like, oh my God, that's such a huge amount of debt. But proportionally, compared to your earnings and the savings that you've got, that's not a large amount of debt

that you can't clear in one go. Like other people, I'd be like, we're going to work through this, we're going to squeeze the budget, we're going to do, do, do. Your bonus alone will clear that. So even if you're on a way,

I don't mind, because you're so well financially in all other areas. If you want to do everything in an hour. Yeah, we don't want to like press you. I'm like, I'd be on the phone. I'm so impulsive. I'm like, it's done. Yeah. If you want to tick it off today with the maternity fund, emergency fund, all the other other other other things that you've got going on, then do it. But if you want to approach it more cautiously,

like, we'll forgive you for that because these are big money decisions and we don't want to force you into a corner to do all this. But you are so strong financially that you can afford to do this. Yeah. And so like, if we start, so like emergency funds off the table, the debt, let's say, is off the table. Yeah. You just start. to reduce the anxiety and things to think about. That's there to sort you out. You've got protection if you go down that route as well. So I think it looks like you've got a great relationship with your partner. And I do agree that there's no point at him jumping on a mortgage and taking on a higher interest rate just because. Think about plan for that. So plan for the next renewal and make sure

he's saving as much as he can in the meantime. And he will have to buy into the right house value at that time. So make sure you get it valued. We're all grown-ups. Get it valued. You can buy proportionately you can get the solicitors to set it up properly. You've already done that with Zed of Trust already so you know what you're doing. But for anyone else listening, like when a partner buys into the property, one, make sure you're completely ready, but two, make it economically fair, you know, until, you know, maybe marriage and stuff down the line. So I agree. I think you should wait with that one. And I think larger, he's got a bit of a point, right, you are, if you're debt-free and you've got that emergency fund in the playbook, you're in-grow.

So you've done survive, you've done build, and you're in grow. And you're in-grow. and grow is about, it actually comes in build a bit more, but releasing your budget a little bit, practicing spending. Spending is not a bad thing. Spending is okay, proportionate spending and mindful spending is actually really important

and sometimes it's spending on... We say convenience, like some people think that when we go, you know, budget is permission to spend, it's just to go out and buy loads of aesthetic stuff. It doesn't have to be stuff. I can buy a designer handbag and all the perfume that I want and, you know, really luxury makeup and luxury holidays. it can buy convenience so things like

if you don't want to do your ironing that way you can pay to get your eyeing done. If there's one thing that you hate in your house, mine is... I like cleaning a bathroom, but I'd rather clean someone else's with. That is disgusting. Is that weird?

I get that. Can you tell you someone else's cupboard? I'd feel all that. Like, I'd be like, I'd love to go and clean someone else's thing, but... You don't want it as an activity. Yeah, because I actually do like cleaning,

but we do have a cleaner, but that's for convenient. So I know that I'm going to come in and my house is going to be clean, and I don't have to spend my evening after work cleaning the house. Like that is a convenient luxury in inverted commas. Yeah. And like what?

So obviously there's conflict because her partner's like, oh, should we do this and should we do that? And it's her house, not his, but they live together there together. And I don't know if she wants to do these things or if she's nervous about doing these things. And if you are nervous about doing these things, if it fits into the budget and doesn't derail a plan, and this is where grow is really important. When it comes to grow, you need a budget that lets you live a comfortable life.

And that includes being brave about grabbing a convenient meal out or delivery service or going on a nicer holiday where you don't, you know, it might be the, you're not scrimping and saving. It might be a jet to holiday where you get a private transfer or not coach. You get the indulgent escape rather than the salting from cheapest to most expensive. Yeah. And so there's little things like that that, and this is important. What we want people to do at Falun Shell is to spend less than they make every payday.

There's an excess cash every payday. in every payday, that excess cash goes to something that grows your net worth. And in the budget, especially when you're in Grow, if you're in Survive, it is lean. It is we're not doing bougie things. We're not renovating stuff. We're not getting rid of the debt or we're saving up an emergency fund. But as we develop and we want to make this sustainable, this is like a health and fitness journey where it's not a crash diet or a crash fitness fad.

Then there needs to be stuff in the budget that does bring joy. And spending can bring joy, whether it's on a convenience or whether it's on a convenience or whether it is on, you know, a new wardrobe, or whether it's on really nice food, or whether it's something to improve, like, you know, you want a driveway, you're parking on the, on the curb and someone keeps banging your car and you get your own driveway. Is it an Uber to the city rather than getting trains on your own for safety and making you feel better? That, if that all fits in your budget, and you can still do the investing, because I think you'd be investing in terms of grow or overpaying your mortgage, then do it. And I think for, this is for

all super savers out there. I think just bear that in mind that the both is possible. The two can coexist. You can be financially responsible and grow money for the future and you can have stuff. The one thing we've not re-picked up on is her relationship with like her past. And that's just so much more complex. But if you tick off all these individual things and you lean into spending and you might have to test yourself with spending, start with things that are small, but you need to spend, you need a spending pot, you need to spend it and definitely spend it. it like put yourself 500 pound in a pot and give yourself a month to spend it you can afford that

it might be someone else might be 50 and then watch nothing unravel I know reflect and review and go she's still living her life as though she's living with a more more yeah like she's still living that old life but I you know do appreciate it is hard to spend when you've lived your life the way that she has or she's grown up in that situation and like a bit of advice could be your boyfriend's like we need to get furniture for this you don't have to buy that furniture in one go if you want to do it slow and steady, you could put space in a sinking fund every single month and it could be £100 and then by the end of the year or six months you go, okay, I didn't splurge. Yeah, I wasn't irresponsible. No, and it didn't all go out of my account and I felt

like there was scarcity. I've, I've done it slow and steady. Like we talk about waterfall budgets, don't me with houses where you pick a project. You don't have to do it all at once. You can go slow and steady with this, but still get the outcome, but it might just take a little bit longer and that's fine because everyone's different. Other people in your situation, it would burn a hole in the pocket and then we might end up at a square one again, whereas with you,

you might just need to take things a bit slower and that's okay too. Take it slow and see that nothing derails. Yeah. Make sure that in every budget or in like bonuses and like pensions a great thing, especially when you're higher owner because it brings you down in terms of reduced the tax you can be.

But make sure you know what your money goal is because once we've swiped up your emergency fund, your maternity pay and your maternity pot and your debt, you don't have a goal. So you need to really sit and think about what you're going to feel a bit lost. And so for some people it might be like, actually, I'm going to invest 10% of my income. For some people it might be going to overpay the mortgage. All those are good things.

And as long as you automate those and know that that's what you're doing, it gives you comfort to know I can spend. And also, you don't have to spend so that don't feel bullied into it. No. Just you're sharing that you're a bit anxious. And sometimes a bit. bit of exposure therapy is not a bad thing, but do it in your own time. And it might be that you don't want the treats that we've mentioned, but I do think living, affording convenience and that is a luxury that being comfortable.

What betters your life? And it might not be the clothes. You might not really be bothered at all and that's fine. But it might be the Uber's or the... It might be the cashmere pyjamas. Meal prep. Is there such a thing as cashmeree pajamas? I don't know.

Would that be hot? We're not, we don't buy them. I don't know. Not the right target market over here. It doesn't, yeah, like I said, it doesn't have to be about how you look, but it could be how you feel and something that makes you more comfortable. When you know that something doesn't derail the whole money plan, things feel a lot better. So good luck and let us know.

I'd love to see your budget every month, by the way. 90K income, potential 27K bonus. Was it a 27% bonus? 27%. So, like, well, tax factors a lot in it. And we just don't know. We can't really just because we don't know how much the mortgage would be where she lives and stuff like that. Proportionate expenses.

I'd love to see it, though. I can spend it for you. It will spend it for you. But like I said on that, I just think that, like Lydia said, having a look at other things that can make you feel financially comfortable, like life insurance, critical illness, cover, income protection, like making sure that your emergency fund is in a place that's earning money. So if you've got money in a random pot at the moment

and it's not on a good interest rate, go have a look on financial.com. We have loads of deals and updates and stuff all the time. it's definitely worth making sure you're optimizing and then let it go. Let it go. Okay, next dilemma. I've saved every penny to clear my debt and I can't press pay. Hi, ladies. First of all, thank you for your amazing blog posts and podcasts.

It makes my week when I see a new episode has been released. Thanks to you all, I have unofficially paid off my debt. I had nearly £4,000 of credit card debt and after following your advice, I now have that money sitting in an account. But this is where my dilemma comes in. I have two cards, both at zero percent interest. One runs out in April and the other in October. So far, I've been paying the minimum payments on both and putting the rest that I can afford into a pot called credit repayments. It's building a tiny amount of interest, but I'm holding off paying the cards off until the 0% periods are up. I'm building my emergency savings up alongside this too

in a separate savings account, I've had a huge fear of paying off my debt, having an emergency, and then having to go back to my credit card again. My cards aren't accessible because I've had a really bad relationship with overspending in the past. Do you have any thoughts

on whether I should bite the bullet and pay my credit cards off now? Or should I continue as I am and pay the full amount off when the not percent periods are due? Any thoughts? I'm so proud of then, so not. You go.

Well done. Yeah. So when people have really diced with debt for a long time, when they've had that overspending, when they've seen the balances go up, and we've seen some very, very high amounts, no not percent's left, very, very stressful. Having savings and managing to save for the first time is game changing. it's something that lots of people have never saved up a thousand pounds before, ever.

Not for it, not to do anything. Like they might have tried to save up for a car or maybe a holiday. Most people don't have a thousand pounds or one month salary sat aside. So for someone to finally do that, for someone to have broken the cycle like she's done and to say I'm not spending on them, I'm putting them out of the way. Imagine saying to that person, get rid of it.

Yeah. Pay off the card. people love a 0% they love it don't it's like a crutch it's a it's like it's okay it's like it's all right

because it's not percent and I'm winning yeah I've got one over on them yeah ha ha ha and they're like like Visa and Mascar

like what they're doing that's what it feels like doesn't it sometimes yeah and the idea it's kind of like it's normalised that don't worry

it's not percent you haven't pitched it like this by the way this is like a general a general comment a wide comment it's still borrowing money that's not yours. It's still buying something with money that you don't have.

So, you know, I'm a fan of not percent debt over high interest debt, but I don't like not percent debt because it's a mentality switch. It's arguably more dangerous, I think, because it's permission to spend. Yeah, and you're like, I'm getting it for free, so it's fine and I'll take my time. And the amount of people I see online, and it's often on TikTok when people are doing their, like, debt-free journeys and kind of sharing, 90% of them will say, I genuinely, we don't know. I've got a balance of like 7K and a 0% credit card. And with a caveat of, and I genuinely couldn't tell you what I've spent it on. You know, it wasn't like, oh, we needed

it for emergency repairs for a kitchen or a roof or whatever it might be where you understand. Thing here. It grows. Literally go, I cannot tell you maybe a pair of trainers leads into kids' clothes, leads into beauty, leads into like a weekend away, whatever it might be. They can't literally tell you what it's been spent on. Not usually. Not usually. I think it's like some people may feel they're savvy with it, and that's fair enough. But it's still debt. And so even though it's not growing, it's sat there. And she's done so well.

She's trying to do the two things at once. So she should be picking, I believe, the emergency fund level that she wants. So this is the mini emergency fund, remember. So it's not meant to be a big one. It's meant to be like one month's expenses. And that's scary. That's not enough. But it's meant to be that way to incentivize you to pay off the debt.

And so if I think if she has money in the credit repayment pot that's not making much money, it could be, but I know why she's done it, it's accessible to you. So you want to be able to use it. But if you're building up emergency savings, then pick that figure, do I ever think it, but pick it. And then all savings are emergency savings. Because they are really. Just because you've labeled them as credit repayments, if you needed to use it, you would use it. Yeah.

So once you've decided what that number is and it shouldn't be too high, once you've picked it, you need to then get rid of that debt and you need to get obsessed with it. Don't think about the not. It doesn't matter when the not percent ends because you're just going to pay it all off anyway. If you are focused on paying off debt, it doesn't matter when the not percent ends, you're going to pay it off. Because you might be able to get it done in like three months. Or she will.

She'll smash it. And you will. It's when you like wait, she only needs to do it by that day. There's no rush in your brain to get rid of this debt because you know you've got a lovely like backstop. Whereas actually, wouldn't it? be nice, like, and it's free on the financial app to go and your goal tracker, or your debt tracker, sorry, and work out how much you can afford each month. I bet that day it's much closer than the, you could do that. Deadline of this not a percent ending. And it's about,

like, it's really pitching, like, once you decide, I'm never going into debt again. And you've already done the first steps because you're like, like, I can't access them. You just want rid. And once it's gone, imagine that day. Imagine that day you're debt-free when you finally don't have to look after your, like, card payments. and the minimum payments and what the interest rate is going to be. Imagine when you're debt-free. It feels amazing and anyone that's done it listening will know what that feeling's like when you finally go two fingers up.

You've got an excess in your budget that belongs to you. Well, exactly because then you then build up your big emergency fund and you will feel more and more just like the person that we, our first dilemma, you can build up things to make you feel better and not have debt and have it in your back corner. and then you can move into grow and move into building and grow. So I, she says,

do you have any thoughts? Should I continue as I am and pay the full amounts off with an option to do? No, but you should build up emergency savings first and then you don't put the credit repayments in a pot,

you pay it off. Every time you get 50 quid, I'm paying it off. Every time I get an excess because I've been paid, I pay it off, I get taxed refund, I pay it off, I take a top back,

free money. Yeah, pay off. We talked about at the beginning with the net worth, like you will see it go. It's exciting. Get rid of it.

And like share, you know, if you, I love it when people create an anonymous TikTok account. Like help me pay off my debt by February or January or the end of the year. Keep accountable. And I love it when you guys put it on Instagram and TikTok. You screenshot the debt tracker because we all get excited and go, oh my God, they're doing really well. Do that. Feel good about it. And then the adrenaline and the dopamine hit that you get from paying off debt will carry on and you'll move back to your savings.

And you'll pay those off. So I think she should do that. I'm so excited. Two very debty ones there, aren't they? I'm different kind of ends of the spectrum, but both cautious about, well, the first dilemma wasn't worried about paying off the debt, but savings and debt sat there. And you went through this. You were there.

You had a car debt and you had cash sat there and you were shitting yourself. Yeah. Well, it takes, like, it's scary to do it because you just feel then vulnerable. But then when you do it, you're like, oh, God, I wish I'd done that soon. I overthought that one, you know, because you just move on so much. quicker. I think you remember I said to you, okay, look at your net worth, assets, less liabilities. If you, how much was it at the time? I can't remember. Was it like 12 or something that was left on the car, I want to say. So if you have 12 grand sat there, but in your cash

savings, but you have 12,000 debt. Yeah. Your net worth is zero. Yeah, literally. And so if you pay off the debt with your savings, you've got zero savings and zero debt. It's still zero. Yeah, yeah. The net effect is the same. But then the month of contributions that I was making towards a car payment, then we're going towards my savings. So then I managed to save that 12 grand like that. Yeah, you did.

Because it's just math is math, darling. That's why personal finance isn't just finance. It's more personal. Yeah, you have to get over that. Good luck with it. Just get it done. Get it gone. Start 2027 with a clean slate.

Who cares about an op-cent? You'll have cash in your bank and better in your pocket than a credit card can make's pocket. it. So right. Well, that is all for today's episode. The Vault is now closed. Just a quick disclaimer. The Vault is a chat on life and money topics. We're not giving financial advice.