The Vault with Financielle - Save for the Future or Enjoy Life Now? | The Vault Episode 52

Episode Date: February 20, 2025

Send us a textIn Episode 52 of The Vault, we discuss this week’s controversial opinion, “People are too obsessed with retirement” before diving into our listener dilemmas:💸 "My car finance journey was NEARLY over”💸 "Do I really need a financial advisor for my pension?”We celebrate a listener paying off her credit card, gaining confidence with her money and booking a dream trip to Sicily - completely within budget and without any financial stress! Brava! 🇮🇹🍕🍝If you’d like to share your money win, head to the community in the Financielle app or email [e-mail] your (totally anonymous) money dilemmas to [e-mail] and we may feature yours on a future episode 💌As a Vault listener, you can get a whopping 25% off our digital course, The Money Playbook. This is a step by step guide to being financially well. It has 101 lessons where you'll learn how to budget, ditch debt, build savings and grow wealth. Use this offer code at checkout: VAULTCheck out The Money Playbook course here  💸Chapters:00:00 Introduction01:52 The Babycino Incident11:32 Controversial Opinions on Retirement20:05 Dilemma: Car Finance Journey22:37 Understanding Balloon Payments and Car Value22:50 Insurance Settlements and Finance Payments25:10 Emergency Savings and Financial Security25:39 The Importance of Emergency Funds26:33 Car Finance and Financial Freedom33:21 Community Wins and Financial Success38:08 Setting Up a Pension for Business Owners44:30 Final ThoughtsThe Vault is an entertaining yet thought provoking podcast that answers our community’s dilemmas and confessions surrounding women and money.Visit https://www.financielle.com to download our app.Watch the podcast on YouTube.Follow Financielle for more:▶︎ TikTok▶︎ InstagramAbout Financielle:Financielle is a female focussed finance app helping women to take back control of their money, ditch debt, increase savings and invest in their future.Recorded and Produced by Liverpool Podcast Studios▶︎ Web ▶︎ Instagram▶︎ LinkedIn

Hey everyone, it's Holly here. Before we get into the episode, I want to share something exciting. That's right. If you're looking to take control of your money, the financial app is your go-to tool. With the app, you can track your spending, create realistic budgets, and hit your money goals faster than ever. In fact, did you know our premium community members save three and a half times more than our free users? That's incredible. Plus, you'll be part of an amazing community where we all support each other on our money journeys. Whether you're starting to pay off debt

or planning for your future, the app has everything that you need to make it happen. So what are you waiting for? Download the Financial app today and start your free trial. Trust us, your future self will wish you did it sooner. Welcome to the vault with Finite Child. This is a safe space where we talk all things life and money and no topics are off limits. Happy podcast day.

Happy podcast day. How are we doing today? How are you doing today? I'm quite sleepy. We threatened to get Lucy a monster as Lydia suggested from the corner shop, but Lucy gets a jitters from a cup of tea. A sniff of coffee. A sniff of coffee. So we won't be given a monster

because we don't know how it would go. Social experiment. I've yet to have a caffeinated coffee in 2025. What? And I'm gonna make it the whole year. Wow. What are you replacing it with? You used to have a coffee every morning, didn't you?

I used to have a coffee every morning, didn't you? I used to have a coffee every morning. Okay, this is what I'm having at the moment. And it's basically a baby chino, but it's just... Right, so I hate protein shakes, like cold protein shakes. And I'm like, well, I could just put my milk and my protein in my milk frother. Cause that's what I do with my coffee anyway. So I make like a little protein coffee and I'm like, well, I'll just in my milk frother. Cause that's what I do with my coffee anyway. So I make like a little protein coffee

and I'm like, well, just do it without the coffee. And yeah, it's like a little vanilla milk. It's a milkshake. Oh no, milkshakes are cool. Talking of baby chinos, Neil dragged me and the kids, it was your child actually, out of Starbucks the other day

because we went in and ordered a baby cheat, kind of two baby chinos, da da da. The person put one baby chino in, was it five pounds or something? Or is that too much? No, no, it wasn't. I think it was like 375 or something. You're joking.

It was 375. I think it was, yeah, over 350, 375. And he saw it go on and then they put another one on. And Neil was like, excuse me, I've asked for a baby Chino. It was like, is that how much are they? 3.75 each. And the guy was like, yeah. And he was like, this is ridiculous.

All right, kids, we're going, we're going to Costa. So you look, and then just left me at the till speaking to the man. So then I felt guilty and awkward. So bought two gingerbread biscuits for the kids of which were like two2.50 each. So because I felt awkward, that Neil just walked off. And then after I do, and then the guy was like,

we don't make the prices. I was like, oh God. How much are they in Costa? Are they like 80p or something? I have no idea. I thought they were free. I've never ordered one. No, I think they were about less than a pound.

Less than a pound. £3.75. Be more Neil. What do you want to drink that? Would Albie? Would she have drunk it? Yeah, she would have done. Maybe it'd take them three days, but than a pound. 3.75. Be more Neil. What do you want to drink that? Would Albie? Would she have drunk it? Yeah, she would have done. Maybe it'd take her three days,

but she'd have drunk it. I just Googled it. Go on. Milk Baby Gino in Costa, it says three pound 40. No. It's definitely not, because my mom takes all the kids for them.

Maybe they gave you a cheeky one. Yeah, but mom would pay that. No. She definitely would. No, I've been in it. I've been in it, it's not that. Trish, we know you're watching. I know it.

I want to see the receipts, because you get a lot of Costa Pints. No, because I think I told her about the Starbucks one, and she was like, no way,, it's not that. I know you're watching. I want to see the receipts because you get a lot of cost of points. No, because I think I told her about the Starbucks one and she was like, no way, it's definitely not that. Maybe sometimes, she could give you like a nice one. If you're already buying coffees and stuff. Because we've got the evidence. On the cost of website.

Yeah, on the cost of website. It's just froth. What's Starbucks? Ridiculous. Well, anyway. I'd have given it for free when I worked in a coffee shop. It's been long enough now that I can admit that. Yeah. What's Starbucks? Ridiculous. Well, anyway. I'd have given it for free when I worked in a coffee shop. It's been long enough now that I can admit that.

I'm not going to get cancelled. I think we've told this story before, but one of Holly's friends used to give, if people asked for skimmed milk, she'd give them full fat and vice versa. If they asked for full fat and she felt they might have needed a skimmed, she used to give them skimmed, which thankfully doesn't have an allergy issue because we've got a whole heist of issues. This was like 20 years ago. She obviously felt very self-righteous. The power of the barista. You want the skinny milk? No problem.

Full fat cream. Pretty and thin. I'm getting crazy. Literally. I think that's what it was. Pretty and thin, You're getting whole milk. I was safe to say I was safe. No threat to anyone. Yeah, so Neil stormed out over a baby chino. Oh my God. Literally, and the man was like,

we don't make the prices. Okay, I'll give you money. I was like, throw money at the problem. I'll have two of those, tiny, that big, no word of a lie. Swing onto the Palm Bay. Gingerbread men. And Neil's like, there's a Greggs there. I was like, oh God, I've paid the man now.

I'm not returning. Imagine. Oh my God. Husband's had him to return these biscuits. I'd rather die. I'm not into that confrontation in the shop. No. I'll find my way out of the problem.

I would do the same. It's funny that limit of what's acceptable. What would you just tap a card in? What's been like your biggest, like Dubai's, we talked about going to Dubai on holiday when it's like 16 pounds for a glass of wine. And this was eight years ago even with Teddy when we first went, maybe a bit less.

It was a little bit. What's the question though, is it, what's the one that like, What's one that stings? It may feel stings, but you're like happy to do it, or one that you, I don't know. I mean, mine's always been the Paris drinks. Like I'll never forget the Paris drinks on my 30th,

like 45 pound for a little bottle of beer, tiny bottle of beer. For two. For one. 45 pounds for one? 45 euros, sorry,. Which was pretty much. So we went to, I can't remember if I've told you this story before, so sorry viewers, viewers, listeners if you've heard this before, but for my 30th went to Paris with my husband and my amazing

friend Anjali told me about, there's hardly any rooftop bars in Paris because it's quite old as a city, like they didn't have them back in the revolution. It wasn't like the thing. And so she was telling me there's only a couple, but there's a really good one that only opens for eight weeks a year in basically all of August, maybe a week in July, a week in September at the Shangri-La, which has an amazing view of the Eiffel Tower and the Trocadero and stuff. So it's absolutely fabulous. So up a hill and you go into it and she, I walked in and I was like, and they said, oh, can we help you?

And I was like, oh, you know, when you're like pretty woman moment, like I'm not a prostitute and I do belong here. And then, and I was like, oh yeah, have you got the roof to bother you? They were like, oh yeah, no, I'll take you. And I was like, oh, that's nice. You could have just directed us.

So this guy's got a card key and he's taking us up the lift and down a corridor and left and right and left and right. And this is where you're like, is he the bellboy? Like is he the doorman, sorry, in the nice outfit or is he going to murder us? Because where are we going? I was like, I can't come back to the toilet. I can't find out where I am. And then he puts a key in a door to go in a bedroom. So I'm still like, he's going to kill us. But again, we don't say anything like, we're too polite. We're English, the French. I'll go first. Yeah. Don't worry. I'll suss it out for us all. So we walked in and we were going in a room. So we walked

and there's a bathroom on the left with a bath in it. And I'm like, okay, there's a bathroom. And we walk into the main bedroom. And where the bedroom was or is meant to be is a bar. So they turn into a bar and it's got a terrace. And basically this bar can fit about 20 people in inside and outside. And I walked out onto the terrace and the Eiffel Tower was there in front of us. So I was paying anything. I just didn't. So there was no prices on menus. So I was like, I'll have a glass of rosé. And my husband said, I'll have a beer. And I got a glass of rosé and he got a beer and it was, I don't know what scent,

like what scent it was, but a little bottle of Heineken or something tiny. And the bill came, it was 90 euro before it's it. And so I was thinking the wine, like I've just obviously picked a really expensive wine. I'll have a beer. Two more beers please before we go. Two more beers.

No, no, every drink was 45. Oh my God. And the ending of that story, apart from the fact that I always talk about it, it was definitely worth it. It was like gulp to pay for it. That's like a ticket. You paid for a ticket.

We just paid for access to like, under the tower when it sparkles. You can't see it as a drink. You got free drinks. You paid for a ticket. We paid for a ticket for the VIP experience. What's it called? Rue de Thérèse in Paris.

And the drinks were free. The closing point was we then walked to go under the tower for the next time it was sparkling. And there's loads of men selling buckets of five beers for 10 euro. And it was the same Heineken, just a bit warmer than we'd had, it was the same size. And we got five for 10 euro and it was the same Heineken, just a bit warmer than we'd had, it was the same size and we got five for 10 euro. So then we drank warm ones underneath.

So it evened itself out. But sometimes, again, it really, really helps when, imagine if like, you've not got the money, we had the money for all that trip, it was budgeted. When there's something out your budget and it's just going to blow the whole thing. Like what'd you do? Did you hand the money over? Did you not? Cause I always talk about how expensive that was, but it wasn't that expensive in the context of a Paris trip. And I loved it. Like what would you do if black-sided?

It's not my story to tell, but she will be listening. So she'll laugh when I see her at the hairdressers. One of our hairdressers, I'm not going to say who it was, went into a shop and saw like her dream coat. And it was, she dresses so well. She's got such a good, cool fashion sense.

It was like a furry blue coat and it sounds like magic. Yeah, but she looked amazing, like the picture in it, it's amazing, it's the coat, it's just like a statement piece. And she was just like, I'm gonna have that. And then took a view on everything else. And I know the shot that she's talking about,

guessing ahead how much it would be because of how she knew that the jumpers tend to be like 30 quid, the t-shirts tend to be under 20. Like she kind of- Yeah, benchmarked it a little bit in the shop. Yeah, she was like, so in her head, she was going like, maximum 100, could be 75, maybe 80. And she was like, I'll get it.

Didn't even look at the price, put it on. I think it was 170 quid. And I was like, so obviously you said, oh, sorry, it's just not on my budget. And she was like, nope. She was like, I felt so awkward that I bought the coat. I think she wore it twice. It's almost better to get it and then return it

and be like, oh, yeah, just a few minutes. I was like, so did you take it home and try it on and then go back and return it? She was like, no, I just couldn't. I was just, you feel the mortification yourself, but the other person has no idea that you're in that predicament. So sometimes you have to just suck it up and be like,

oh no, sorry, it's out my budget. I thought I read it wrong on the tag or something, but it was so British. I felt any other culture would be like, 170 quid, are you joking? You're like, they'd have that conversation. Where she probably threw sunglasses on and went, I love them as well. Yeah.

Well, if anyone can pull it off, it's her. Who would talk about you? Antonina. I expect to see you in it next time. She might be disappointed that I didn't alter, but. If I know her, she might have vinted it already, to be fair. And I think she's told that, when I saw her,

not long after, a few months after, I think she was doing a clear out and she was like, I'm, I'm just gone. She was like, it's a mental stain on my brain. The moral of the story is there's two points. If it's absolutely worth it and it's in the budget, just like talk about it forever like I did, but don't worry.

Or be more Neil and say, nope, come on kids, storm out. We're going, woo hoo. Make an exit. My name's Chino. Storming out like the Von Trapp family. I just did the equivalent thing of all the people to leave in an awkward situation. It's not your wife, Neil.

You still bought gingerbread. I bought my way out of the problem. Okay. Time for controversial opinion. I feel like this is controversial. People are too obsessed with retirement. And I've put in brackets here. It's okay to enjoy life now and worry about the future

later. I'm obsessed for like a chill time of my life where you don't work and you exercise and you go for coffee with your friends and I'm obsessed with that time of life. I can't think of many retired people that do it. Maybe not preparing for retirement. Apart from my mom. She's having a great time. Well, she's still working.

She's just retirement age, but she's not retired. Yeah, when I think about what retirement used to look like. But I think the question is about, I've derailed that really, because you meant people are obsessed with preparing for, like save for later rather than like live your life now. There's quite a few examples. for, like save for later rather than like live your life now. There's quite a few examples. I've chatted to people in the past couple of months, really,

especially in the run up to Christmas, who've lost people young. I don't mean obviously like young, younger, as in like way younger than they should have passed away. You know, we're talking whether it be like 30s or 40s or early 60s, completely healthy. And then, you know, and that's happened obviously for decades, but it makes you reassess if you're that person, what's the point?

Like, you know, they see, they use a loved one who have saved or invested or just done all these things all these years, done everything right, done everything that everyone said they should have done. Ticked all the boxes. Ticked all the boxes in there and then they don't live to kind of enjoy that. I do think that today's society has got a lot better at this concept of balance where, you know,

you still get busy, you're still stressed, but that time's going and you should enjoy life now. Don't slog away and think that there's then a sudden moment because actually lots of people hit retirement and they do really struggle. They miss work, they miss social. They have to have, you have to pack your day and actually a lot of people at the moment

can't even afford to do that. So you can understand why people go, what's the point? It's a long way off and I might not even get there anyway. I might as well make sure I've enjoyed myself. You tend to find a lot of people that have that mindset though, or ones that haven't got any of the shit together. So I feel like the self preservation, like I've not got a pension, I've not got this.

And I think you should be worried about it. You should be putting something in place because you're either going to pass away early, which wouldn't be the ideal thing. So then you don't have to worry about it. Or you're going to be living through retirement, really struggling and not living a life that is reflective of all the hard work that you've put in years before because you're kind of living for the moment. And I think people do use that as a bit of an excuse, like, oh, live, laugh, love, like

we will laugh about it all the time. People just use that as an excuse to buy things that is putting them out of affordability or whatever it might be. But yeah, retirement, I think it is self-preservation when people say, don't worry about it. It's like, oh, what's your pension look like? Oh, I haven't got one because I'm self-employed.

Property's my pension every time me and Laura are like. Yeah. What do you guys think? Because you're younger than us and, you know. Seems so far away. Yeah. Yeah, I always say that, but when I talk with Alex, I'm like, like I'm 25 and I'm like, my dad is, I don't know, 53, 54 I'm going to say.

And I'm like, he's going to retire in the next two years. And I'm like, that's not far away. I take all of the advice that older people tell me. I'm like, I do take this seriously. Everyone's like, it comes around fast. And I'm like, I know it will come around fast. So I think not being obsessed with it, I think the whole like fire movement, like just working to literally like retire and like then scrape by. I don't like that. But have you heard of fat fire?

No, what's that? Fat fire. So, so fire obviously, financial independence, retire early. The way that most people end up being able to do that is just as you've described, they have an incredibly lean lifestyle, no fun, super frugal, like there's blogs and stuff about how frugal you can get with it so that you invest, invest, invest, invest. And then you pot that can sustain you then when you stop work, it's usually quite lean, so you have to continue that lifestyle, but you don't need to work.

Fat fire is, I want to live a comfortable life. So fat fire is, yes, you might go without a little bit earlier on, but what it means is you're building the bigger part because you're not willing to then get there and still struggle. So I like the concept of fat fire. I prefer that. Yeah, I do like tripping means to end, that shouldn't it?

Whereas, like you said, carry on that lean retirement. Yeah. Like everyone always dreams about taking bucket list trips. And I always think, how do people actually do that? All the people we know when they get to retirement and the dreams that they have when I retire, I'll, and then they end up just kind of going through the motions. I used to think my granddad was a golfer.

Like that was his job. Pro job. Because he's obviously just retired and golfing and also going on all of these crazy trips. And I used to say, literally, like when I was in primary school, people would say, oh, would you want to be on your own these crazy trips. And I used to say literally like when I was in primary school, people would say, Oh, would you want to be on your own? I retired. Cause I thought that was just like, I think.

Cause you were watching. So that is someone that lives out a good retirement. What did you used to call the bungalows? The pensioners? Oh, pensioners. Pensions. Or bungalows. She's come a long way. I'm fine. I'm sure Lucy, because she first thought that bungalows are pension. I think that literally every time I go home, I drive past them all by my dad's house, I'm like, there's all the pensions.

The pensioners live in the pensions. Also, credit to your dad, the number of people who are able to retire if they want to so early. Like that now is no age, is it? Well, he's literally been on the same job since he was like 16. Wow. And a good employer that does contribute a lot to a pension. I think this is the math game that not everyone understands or gives consideration to. Your self-employed builder right now is not

getting the benefit. They might be getting some benefit, they're on business and tax efficiencies and stuff, flexibility, but your dad worked for a big employer, worked there a long time, pensions were really good a few years ago, even if they've tailed off later. So I didn't say, like, literally, has not worked any harder than other people, no offense, dad.

But circumstance. So to be said, I think we've had that, either dilemma or the controversial opinion before where we're about staying in a job and everyone's like, oh, you should move around, blah, blah, blah. Your dad's like, no, you shouldn't because I'm literally about to retire in a few months.

It's like the content creation dream. So when you're on the internet, especially social media, when you see people going, I left my job and became a content creator and I can help you become one too. And I was like, hmm, so that's how you make money, you actually sell courses or something, not actually helping generally.

But content creation, they go, you know, on one post, I can make, that was my wage. Just how often do people genuinely go like for like on the numbers and go actually, that's the post, that's gross, I need to pay tax, I need to pay national insurance, which everyone are. And when I was always, they'll go,

so I'm tax rate, I'll put my tax aside. I'm like, well, national insurance is like, almost as much, not as much as tax, but on the lower end, it's quite a chunky amount. What about your pensions? What about any extra benefits? Then telling me like for like, I'm not definitely against being self-employed

and being independent and a freelancer. I love it, I love it when people can really make it work for them. But do the math because it's- How many hours are you working? I always like, I'm so interested to see how the whole content creator lifestyle will span out because it's obviously such a new industry.

And it feels saturated, like every other person is like, how would it help you become a content creator? And it is like, everything that ends up being like a recruitment business, it always comes back to pyramid style MLM. It's digital marketing. And everything comes back to that. At least if you become a freelancer in your particular field, whether it's like media

or marketing or tech, whatever it is, you'll hopefully have gotten into it with more of a regimented, like I put this away and I do this. It's more when it's like glamorized and, oh, I've never done this before. I'll have a good go. But yeah, a lot of those people and how flexible the workforce is right now aren't preparing for retirement. I like it when retirement's prepared for kind of accidentally, at least at first,

and you load into it later so that you do feel like you live in your life. Yeah, I feel like it's balance. It is balance. Just with everything, isn't it? Yeah. OK, time for dilemma number one. Yeah, I feel like it's balance. It is balance. Just with everything, isn't it? Yeah. Okay. Time for dilemma number one.

My car finance journey was nearly over. Hi girls. I discovered financial via the podcast and I'm a very new member of the community. Me and my husband managed to save for a house and get married in the last four years, but the last year has been really financially difficult due to a lack of emergency savings. I was in a car accident recently. Another driver pulled out of a junction and drove into my driver's side door and sadly the car is a total loss. This car was on finance. I had one year left of the finance plan ending in September 2025 and we had planned on saving the balloon payment of £4,000 to be free of car finance.

My insurance is covering the finance and I will have around £3,000 left over from the payout. I have a relatively small mini-emergency fund of £1,000 but no other savings, as me and my husband have spent the last year trying to pay off a £5,000 loan for essential house repairs. Since finding the app and the podcast, we've both committed to being debt free and have recently paid off and canceled credit cards. These weren't huge debts,

we were just using them to live beyond our means. My husband has a car that we fully own and we have been sharing this. However, due to me needing a car as part of my work, sharing a car isn't a long-term solution. I've made a personal injury claim for bruising and whiplash from the crash, but I'm yet to find out if I will be given any compensation.

If I did get any money, I would add this to the £3,000 from the insurance. I feel lucky that my injuries weren't more significant. However, I'm feeling frustrated that my car finance journey was nearly over and now it feels like I'm going to have to take out another finance agreement. Any advice on how to navigate this? Or do I just have to accept that I need to take another car out on finance? Also, just correct me if I'm wrong, I'm looking at Lovah because she's the car finance queen. The money that she got from the insurance, she's not going to get another car out. Like

the car's gone. No, and this, yeah, exactly. So this, we're being a bit presumptuous, but this helps to highlight that when you buy a car on finance, you pay way over the odds. Especially if it's brand new, you get no discount. There's no deals, it's never 0%, like I've said, less than 5% of car finance deals are 0%. So if you imagine it not being a car, but a handbag,

you've paid full price, plus a premium, plus this, it is the most expensive thing, way that you could possibly have bought it because there's no discounts whatsoever. And you've financed that. And then what clearly has happened here is, so the finance like debt kind of comes down a little bit. You've got this balloon payment at the end that obviously we're close to, but the car's dropped too much in value. So all an insurer would do is give you like face value for that car, typically what it would cost to replace. And so what's happened is she's been given a settlement

which sounds like of around seven. So it sounds like they've thought the car's worth seven, you have four, it's a little more than that because it sounds like she's got a year left of finance. Think about that. She's got a year left of finance payments and then she was going to be paying four. So that's like five. Let's say it's like six.

Let's say that's six and then there's another three that they've given her as well. So it's like the value of the car at nine, if I'm understanding this correctly. So forgive me if I don't. But what it means is she's been given that to go buy another car, but she didn't own that car. Obviously it had finance on it. So she, if she'd have owned the car outright, and this is the more important example to show someone,

she'd have nine now. If the car was worth nine and it isn't drivable, you get a nine payout, you go buy one for nine. Problem with finances, the value of the car is completely not connected to the money that you owe. So she's left in a situation where she's got three. But fair play, you've been doing really good. So the remaining money is gonna be put aside

to pay for that balloon payment that was coming, but she's not your car. I think it's covered. The balloon payment's been covered in the payout. I think what she's saying after, because she said the payout settles the finance, so it could be worse, but I think it settles the balloon as well. She's left with nothing.

She's got three. She's got three. And that's not going to buy, I get the impression that she's going to have to. She says it won't, it will do if she wants it to, like I could go get a car for three going today. That's what I was thinking, so she could, I know she said I'm going to have to take another finance car, but from that I'm feeling like she doesn't need to. She could buy a secondhand car.

It'd be tough. It sounds like you can definitely get a car for free. And build a sinking fund in the background to buy a new car when the time comes. So it sounds like they were doing perfect playbook because they might have had, may or may not, and it'd be good to know if they had a mini emergency fund of maybe one month's expenses,

because that might be a little bit of extra money to top up the car fund with. Yeah, they had 1,,000 mini emergency fund. Perfect. And that is mini mini, I would say, especially if we'd want that a little bit higher. What's your minimum one month's expenses? Often people start with a thousand, but nudging it up, but they could put that with the three if they've got that option. Her husband has a car, so they've got, and it doesn't talk about how old that is or how reliable, but there is another one and she needs one.

So she's just highlighted the right thing, which is if only I'd have had emergency savings. Like the peace of mind that having chunks of cash brings you, I know it's like sounds obvious. But it's not, none of us were brought up to, everyone saves for something, we always talk about it. It's like you saving up for a house renovation, a holiday, a kitchen, something tangible.

Whereas having emergency savings for something that you don't know is gonna happen, that pulls a rug from under you, that makes you rely on credit. Yeah, it's unmatched. Like I think you were talking to Tolu on one of your Unlocked pod episodes. And she was like, and I tell everyone,

don't, like I did it the wrong way around because she had to then dip into credit when she needed to bridge the gap on something. She was like, that feeling of dipping into emergency savings when you've never had it before is unbelievable. And I remember when we were talking about, and a couple of episodes ago, our Starling fixed ones maturing

and I was DMing a couple of people and I like it when people forget they've got stashes. I know I've got an emergency fund, but because they're activating these rates and they're spreading it around, that's why your net worth is quite important. Because sometimes you might go, oh, shit, I've got an extra five grand. That is the goals. And that's where this like, you know, Daila Meur writer is gonna get to because she and her husband just sound so focused. What's happened is life's hit them just at the end of the car finance journey.

But this is not the moment to go back into car finance. It's gonna set you back. If anything, it's a sign for you to not. Yeah, that's so true. This is your sign. It's really exciting. I would definitely like, like three grand from the insurance company, hopefully another thousand. That's so true. This is your sign. It's really exciting. I would definitely like,

three grand from the insurance company, hopefully another thousand, that's four. Go out to market with four and see what you can get because you could even set yourself like, this is a six month car, do some work and find out what's a good car that doesn't, a four grand car's not gonna drop much in value. I reckon in six months you could probably sell it

for four grand if you look after it. You know, get someone to check it out with you if you're unsure. But get one and then the next six months, you hammer that savings because you've no car finance payment going out. So your excess is going to go up and you build it up and build it up and build it. And that's your emergency fund because that's what you have to build up first. And then in six months time, if you believe that this is still classed as emergency view and you're not happy with the foreground car and you wanna move up in car again, use the emergency fund to upgrade again.

I can guarantee you will be like, I'm not spending more money on a car. So if this car might break down, then I will build up a sinking fund for servicing, for new tires, for all those wonderful things, because that's gonna be much less than it is to save up for then a brand new car again. And you've still got, it sounds like a little bit of debt to pay off. Yeah, a little bit.

Yeah. I feel like this car is going to get a name. Yeah, we're going to love the car. You name cars of this age. You're going to get fluffy dice, and you're just going to embrace it. Eyelashes. Yeah. People are like, ey'll listen on the headlights.

But yeah, embrace it. Like, I love it when people use their cars as like a badge of honour to the debt-free journey. Like, no, it's fine. Like, I mean, a big trick, a big trick. This wasn't intentional, but I have a personalized red John mine and it's a good car. It's an Evoque. It is a 2014 model.

Looks, I mean, they come out now and they're really nice, it's an Evoque. It is a 2014 model. Looks, I mean, they come out now and they're really nice, but I'm like, fine. It looks good. Do you know what I mean? Like no one looks and goes, that's an almost 11 year old car. No one like, does anyone care?

No, I can't even tell. Alex goes, oh, it's a 25, please. And I'm like, Neil's so proud of it. He's so proud of his vintage car. Like his friends make fun of him and he's like, what's not vintage like classic, it's like old. Like, it doesn't care. I love it.

Like the first car I get, I want it to be the worst car on the road. Like, because it's always better to do that than get like a middle of the range car. Like I want to go on your car, but I think we go with cash. We should film it Lydia. Like I've got it all planned out. It's gonna be like we buy any car but live

and we're gonna kick tires. Even though we don't know what that means. That feels fine. What treads that tire? Is that what they say? Well hopefully a legal tread. Windscreen wipers are nice. And I'm gonna have like a fluffy.

Oh no. I didn't know what it's called. A stereo. Jesus. I mean, we've not done that theory, don't we? We will be taking it all with us. We'll do our theory test, aren't we? But when I picked my L-class from rugby training the other day and she was like, wouldn't it be good if we could, because my mum's got the same car but hers has a TV in it, but

mine is like absolute bog standard one. I was like, no, mine doesn't. She said we could put DVDs in. I was like, okay, well, how do you know what a DVD is? And she was like, I've seen them before. And I was like, no, no, it doesn't do that. And she pressed a few buttons and she was like, see, DVD.

So I think my car has had a DVD. And I've had it like seven years. Of all the children that have been in Laura's car. Of all the years we've done long trips and everything, Ava's gone, yeah, yeah, you could just put, we could watch, she loves Dr. Who at the moment, so we could put Dr. Who in, I'm like, excellent. But again, who knows?

I don't care, it's a car. And so yeah, I think you're doing amazing. I love this dilemma. It's helped to highlight exactly what she said. She's doing the right thing. She doesn't need to go back into finance. The one, if someone, now now I never say go into debt, but if this answer was I've got one grand,

even two, and actually practically you just don't think that's gonna get you the car that you need. And I'm not talking about going into 10, but look at four or five I think you can do. Get a column for the difference is the way that you do it. Is that the match? If you've got two.

Because you're not tight. Well, so firstly, what you've done there, this is a crucial part of understanding what's wrong with car finance. You've divided up the car purchase and the finance because when you tie them together, you buy something more than you can afford. When there's separate things,

when you look at, I am willing to pay four grand for that car. I need a loan for two. You know, we've talked, I've talked about it on BBC recently, credit unions and really accessible loans that don't need to be crazy prices, interest rates. Then you've made a conscious decision to buy that level of car. The minute you get into car finance,

look at the monthly payment. Don't look at them. Bring me the Audi, bring me the BMW. You're so right, so many people have written in the community over the past few months, get a car loan, I got a car loan instead. And it's much more freeing because you're like, I'm just knocking down that debt.

Whereas I think car finance is shrouded in mystery. Yeah, Dragon, you know, say I want to go and buy a car right now. And I wanted something and it was like 250 pounds a month. Would I, throughout that whole process from me like driving out in this car, would I be told like the full price that I would pay? Do you think?

It'll be buried somewhere on a really long document. With all the paperwork's like 20 pages, sign there, sign there, sign there. Because they have to set out the cost of finance and so it will show you. And like I said, people used to think that you'd get a discount if you were paying in cash. And they're like, no, no, no,

we actually want you to pay in finance because we make more. But they make markup on the car. But then, so say we'll do BMW, because BMW have their own financing company. So let's pretend you've got BMW, I've got cars, a 20% margin in it, that's five grand profit for them, that's BMW. BMW finance, then I've got cars, a 20% margin in it. That's

five grand profit for them. That's BMW. BMW finance, then go, do you want a loan to buy that car? Yeah. Okay. And they go, cost of loan, dah, dah, dah. It's this. This is our profit. They might make another five because they've doubled it because they've priced up the car and made a profit. And then they've done the finance. We, we've not done unlocked on it. I've just suddenly realized we were talking about unlocked yesterday and about things to do. And I don't think we've done the finance. We've not done unlocked on it. I've just suddenly realized we were talking about unlocked yesterday and about things to do. And I don't think we've done a car finance. Because like I said, it's shrouded in mystery with the, when we talk about phone and phone contracts

and paying for the head for the piece and then paying for the finance contracts. They have to do that now, don't they? And I just don't think that car finances has as much clarity and people are in a hell of a lot of debt. We talked about COVID and people got the cars sat on the drive and they're paying out, they don't really have a mortgage on cars

and they're working from home. Like we have to sort it, we're all doing unlocks in it. It's essential. Essential. Okay, community win time. I just wanted to say a huge thank you to Finite Gel and the community here. Since joining, I've successfully paid off one of my credit cards and I feel so much calmer about my money situation in general.

I feel like I'm in a much better place and it's really helping my mental health. I also feel more confident about planning for the future, knowing what I can and can't afford. So today me and my friend booked a bougie holiday to Sicily. It's the bougiest holiday I've been on for years and totally within my budget. Paying for it won't keep me up at night or put it on another credit card, which will make it so much more fun. Oh, you're going to enjoy that holiday. Fresh pasta. Yeah, with glasses of wine.

Knowing that you paid for it is like a flex. I always forget when it's payday. Only then I get excited about doing the budget, when I'm doing the budget. fresh pasta. Yeah, with the best holiday. Big glasses of wine. Knowing that you paid for it is like a flex. I always forget when it's payday. Only then I get excited about doing the budget. When you are actually in quite a good space, and I always say that for people like, I want you to not be desperate for payday,

other than you're excited to kind of do your budget and stuff. So when payday came around this time, the end of the last month, so the last big payday. And the community pops off and in the app, you have to be a premium member to access the community. And you could be free at one stage, but technically it was really difficult

to verify everyone coming in and not have a load of absolute- Spam, we don't need to be spammed. So I'm really sorry, we did try. And so you have to be a paying member of the app, which is absolute pence across the year to be in there. But when you're in there, you get notifications and on payday that weekend, it goes boom, boom, boom, boom.

And what it is, is everyone going, I've paid off a debt, I've paid off a debt. Because you forget that what people are doing is working all month. They're sticking to the budget, they're waiting for payday. And then when payday comes, they're putting four, five, six, 700 pound off credit card debt, and then they're sharing it. And I just keep thinking for all the people that aren't sharing it, there's probably three or four

doing it and reading but not sharing. If ever you want a dopamine hit, just enable notifications around. Because you just go, oh my God, you people are amazing. And it's that feeling, that kind of epitaph of debt. And yeah. Do you know what, I agree with you on the payday thing where you're not waiting for it,

but I actually am at the moment because my goal for this year was to invest more. And because I'm excited for it to grow. Like I'm like, the longer it's in my bank account. Longer it's in my bank account. And it's such a big mindset and something that we've never done in my bank account, and it's such a big mindset and something that we've never done in my whole life, the longer it's in my bank account, it's going backwards.

I'm like, it needs to not be in my, I've got Halifax Current account, God knows what it is, because I don't use it for anything. Our fixed expenses go out of it. I'm like, it needs to make money. Where am I putting it? And I'll look at the money deals blogs that come out and I'm like, which is the best saver?

And we've got cash ice is here and we work with trading two on two there. And the pension, I've put more in my pension this month, I've topped it up officially. So I used to do it sporadically. I would always pay into it, but now we've upped it. And I'm like, no, no, that's staying in the budget now. And it's just so exciting.

Payday can be exciting. It doesn't have to be. I know it's exciting for different reasons. It's exciting for financial. Like everyone's like, this is our day. But not like, oh thank God I was in my overdraft. It's a when we're gonna move on my money. Yeah, and wouldn't it be nice to be like that

because anyone that I've ever worked with in our old jobs and stuff, payday was exciting because it was, I can go and spend my money again or I've been eating beans on toast for the last week and I'm stressed. You know, my daughter plays sport and there's just, what's that, there's always money needed,

and I always under budget for it. So you're always trying to find that extra bit of money. And we have to be so delicate, like some people are saying, I get paid on Friday. Can I pay then? You won't be getting the money till then. And you know full well, that's not from bougie-ness, that's we are getting to payday.

And so, you know, if anyone can shift and eventually move to that point where, you know, you get to payday, it's amazing, but to then be able to get to payday and pay off credit card and stuff, amazing. It's chaos in that community. Good win, yeah. It is chaos.

If you'd like to tell us your win, head to the community in the app or email it to the vaultolt.financial.com. Time for our final dilemma today. Just a quick one, Laura here. If you're wanting to take back control of your money, ditch debt, make better decisions and build wealth for the future, the Financial app is for you. With Financial, you can track your spending on the go, hit your money goals faster and

create a realistic budget that you can actually stick to. Not to mention, you'll be part of an exclusive money community who share tips, offer support and celebrate your successes along the way. Click the link in the description to download Financial and start your free trial now. This is your sign to take control of your money today. Okay I'm done, let's go back to the vault. Do I really need a financial advisor for my pension? Hi team. I was hoping you could help me with a bit of financial wisdom.

It's relating to the business I started this time last year and pensions. I'm looking to set up my pension and pay into it from my business bank account before my financial year ends. And I've left it a little late. I spoke with a financial advisor and he was lovely but we didn't really gel. He said he could find me a pension with a 0.4% yearly fee and his fee would be £400. I've looked online and it looks like I can easily set up a pension for myself with a fee of 0.25% and a choice of risk levels. With this in mind, my question is, do I need to use a financial advisor or should I save myself 400 pounds and set up a pension myself? I'd be looking to transfer 20,000 pounds into it. Does that have any

impact? Could I set up a pension myself now and then use a financial advisor towards the end of the year to see if there are better options? I'm a first time business owner and would love your advice on this if possible." Love that, just asking this question. It's very different as a business owner actually. The first thing that came into my mind actually is also speaking with your accountant. Small business accountants are fabulous for that bridge between personal finance and accounting, because when you effectively, like a solo printer, like when it's just you, when you're kind of just working for yourself,

she doesn't say that, but typically- I don't get the impression that she's got staff- Yeah, because otherwise she'd have to do it for them as well, to be fair. But there's a balance here between personal finance and accounting finance, and there's a couple of different ways that and accounting finance. And there's a couple of different ways that you can pay into a pension as a self-employed or as a business owner.

You can pay via the business and it goes into, you know, you still set up a personal pension, really. You wouldn't set up a business employee scheme if you don't have employees, but you can do it via the business and the business pays into it, or you just take your wage and you pay in yourself. And that's kind of the same effect for your pension. There's no difference typically for your pension. You can ask your accountant though on things like employer contributions, would this be appropriate for employer contributions or not? Again, it depends how your business is structured. But the other thing is, paying out of the business can sometimes reduce corporation tax.

So again, this is all stuff that wouldn't be relevant for the financial advisor. The financial advisor wants to work with the money that you pay yourself. That's how they would structure it. I don't know many that would lean into the business finances, really. It's much more about, okay, the cash that you've got,

where should we put it and how should we grow it? So my inkling would actually be to sit down with an accountant, small business accountant first. I'm sure she's got one if she's a year in. And navigate that first, how am I gonna pay into my pension? I'm gonna do it for the business, I'm gonna do it for me. What's the most effective way?

Because if you do make a really good profit, it can be a way of reducing that corporation tax. So once she knows that, you then sit there and go, okay, where shall I put it? So then when we think about, do I need to, a financial advisor? Not at the levels she is thinking, but there's a couple of points to make here.

One, she said she didn't gel with him, so no, like we're not vibing. This is like a hairdresser conversation. We want points to make here. One, she said she didn't gel with him, so no, like without vibing. This is like a hairdresser conversation. We want you to be able to find a financial advisor that you know, like and trust, that you can pick up the phone. And what I don't know is if this is 20 grand in savings, like it could be because it's 20 grand

in the business account or whatever, again, you need to work out how to get that out of the business. Or if it's a regular amount, like that's a pretty hefty amount to put in, you might wanna pay 400 pound to sit down with someone to do that session and to know where it goes. And actually sometimes you can pay for help and then not put it where they say,

you can put it into your own SIP. So you could find a 0.25% platform or even less than that sometimes, but I've had the advice, so there's that option. Or if you're pretty confident, most of the self-invested personal pensions that the SIPs on most of the big platforms would guide you through the risk.

And again, for me, it's all about how you feel. Sometimes it's better paying for that help from once. Peace of mind, yeah. Just doing the right thing. Get the accountant, get a financial advisor. Does this all work in the right, like am I doing it in the right way? And then you're done. And like I said, you don't always have to put money with the financial advisor, does this all work in the right way? Am I doing it in the right way? And then you're done.

Like I said, you don't always have to put money with the financial advisor. You can put it wherever you fancy it. But I'm just glad a business owner's finally saying, what should I do with my pension? Because I just have so many that don't. Accountant point, great. And we do have employees,

so we do have an accountant that helps us. But definitely on the pension front, they help us set all that up. So I would say for now, it doesn't feel like you need a financial advisor until like Laura said, if there's significant wealth coming to you as an individual, then you would,

because you don't want to be missing out on a trick and you could be missing something, and we would hate for you to kind of miss that opportunity if you felt like you needed it. But if it's from purely from a, do I need to set up a self, like a SIP? You could probably speak to your accountant about that and then self-serve even, or they could help you.

Depends on your needs, there's two reasons. There's one that it's like a volume of wealth, either at either a chunk or a pace that it's going in, that it really, or you've got a particular circumstance that it merits proper planning from a qualified person, or you're unsure. I'm happy paying more if I'm unsure. Do you know like a regulated person

that can walk me through it, that's like my fee. I'm gonna, just like how you wouldn't go to a PT that doesn't know what they're doing that you've just found like on Facebook, you're gonna go do some research and find someone that knows what they're doing that's qualified, you pay for it. But I like the point, the ongoing point about fees

is interesting, sometimes it's still worth paying the higher fee to be looked after. but it's normally that much more. Point four's not bad, too bad actually. Sometimes you get like a point four or point five and then you get a percentage fee as well going forward. It's not like a 400 one-off. So it doesn't sound like a good deal, but she didn't vibe with him.

He had a different one. Yeah. You've got to go with who you vibe with because you want to be transparent, open, share your worries. Yeah. They have to pass the vibe test. They have to pass the vibe test. You need to be able to be vulnerable with that person. Say anything vulnerable without judgment. You know what I mean? Like, you know, it's a very British thing. We've talked about a lot of British stuff on this program. And there will be ones out there, like we know some really good financial

advisors that would be amazing for people. So you have to vibe with them. They're a few, we'll tell you who they are. No one can tell. Okay. Any final words? Not today, I don't think. The car finance point, we'll come back. We'll come back with more content on that.

We'll circle back. We're very car back on that one. We could go forever on car finance and I always talk about people just go, how am I on TikTok? Cause I've got one and like the very, bit catty to be honest. Just gonna put it out there. Catty comments and the catty comment people. We'll get some comments on this one.

The catty comment people are all on car finance and they don't like to be told that they might not be in the best financial situation cause they think that they've done the research and blah, blah, blah. but it actually, you're wrong. Or you might be, we'll see, we'll debate it out. That's all for this episode. The vault is now closed.

Just a disclaimer, the vault is just a chat. Our life and money topics, we are not giving financial advice.