The Vault with Financielle - UNLOCKED: Modelling Your 2026 Money Goals – Real Plans, Real Numbers

Episode Date: January 5, 2026

Send us a textToday, we’re turning goals into plans.In this final episode of the Unlocked series, Laura models real 2026 money goals live using real submissions from the Financielle community to show what goal modelling actually reveals, and why numbers are the difference between wishing and doing.We start with a quick refresher on why modelling works:It shows whether your goals are realisticIt highlights what needs to change to reach themSmall routine tweaks compound into massive resultsYou need a plan that fits into your everyday lifeThen Laura walks through multiple real-life scenarios, including:A single mum with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to buy her home with a gifted 10% deposit, and how to balance that against consumer debtA 25-year-old torn between maximising her LISA for a first home and starting long-term investingA listener navigating a debt-free journey while saving for a wedding, and how to balance progress with joyAlong the way, Laura talks through trade-offs, priorities, risk, mindset, and why “perfect” plans aren’t the goal, sustainable ones are.Takeaways:What goal modelling really revealsWhy most money goals fail (no numbers behind them)Why now is the time to model your own goals before JanuaryIf you’re enjoying the Unlocked series, subscribe to The Vault, leave us a review, and tell us how you’re resetting and rebuilding in the comments or the Financielle App community.#moneystory #goalsetting #Financielle #TheVaultUnlocked #moneygoalsConnect with our Partners*🫶 Get life insurance with our friends at Lifesearch. Speak to a female advisor here.🏡 Meet our Financielle approved Mortgage Brokers.💸 Get cashback that reduces your mortgage interest with Sprive (£5 extra for you using code: FINANC)*The above are tracked links, which tells our partners we sent you and may in future result in a payment or benefit to our site.The 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

Welcome to the Vault Unlocked with Fanon Shell. You're here with Laura and we are going to dive into episode five of the five-part series that we've been doing for the Vault Unlocked where we want to help you hit your sustainable money glow-up goals. So we've talked about loads of different elements of goals, how to start a bit of fresh without it being too New Year's resolutionary where it can be sustainable, it can be something manageable. And crucially, last week we really did dive into goals. and I shared with you what my thoughts are on our family goals and couple goals when it comes to money this year. And I learned into talking about the lifestyle that I want, which was a bit more generic, but making sure my budget actually matches that. And I also talked about two

specific financial goals. And I talked a little bit about how I would automate some of those and how that worked for me in the past, but also how I'm going to do some a little passively, so I'm like in a bit more of a fun way. So check that. episode if you missed it and that's what we've gone into. Today I am going to be modeling your 2026 money goals live using some real community submissions. Lucy's prepare this for me. I am reading this live with you. So bear with me if I'm kind of going flying by the seat of my pants literally. But I'm so excited. What I want to take, what I want you to take from this is, firstly we're going to be modeling them, obviously not with like spreadsheets and budgets and

stuff, but showing how personal finances basically is basically. you on a personal level how you think how you feel what you want and then the maths and the maths is only 10% of this but it is important and so many times people go I'd like to do this but then I'd like to do this and I kind of go well model it you know model doing it one way model doing it another and see kind of what you get out of that because sometimes the answers in front of you it's not as hard or difficult as you think sometimes we're willing it to be a different option and we're willing it to be one way but really like if the numbers don't add up then something else has to change to enable that and so I often say to people when they've got a big financial

decision oh I really want this car I go model it you know put it in the budget see what it does how does it impact your investing how does it impact your mortgage affordability or I really want to quit that job and get that job or I really want to work for myself and I'm like model it like don't just like want and wish it put the put your money where your mouth is literally like put the numbers down and is that possible and if it's not possible right now it doesn't mean to be that it will never be possible but then you have to build a bridge and build a plan to get to it being possible so I'm a big fan of modelling both in like a thinking way and in a financial way and a number's way and modeling really just helps to show whether your goals are realistic

how close you are to them and if not again as I just said what needs to change in order to reach them and tiny routine changes can add up to massive results when it's compounded over a year you know you need a plan that fits into your every day we're busy we don't sit and dream about our goals every day um you know maybe stephen bartler does but he's got a lot of people helping him out doing that you know we we have to have these small little changes that don't feel overwhelming that don't feel massive but over time they do add up to you know a big change especially when compounded and that's what today is about it's about giving your 2026 goals, a blueprint. So we're going to dive in. This dilemma goal model, whatever I'm going to call

it, that Lucy has prepared for me is titled, it's about debt-free journey versus saving for a house for one of our community members. So we're going to get ready and I'm going to read it out. Hi, Laura. Hi. I'm in a really unique situation and would love your help modeling my goal. I currently rent my flat through Winchester Housing Trust and this time next year they're going to gift me a 10% deposit to buy it. Wow. I'm a single mum to two boys, eight and 11. Oh my God, well done. And owning a home is something I never thought would be possible for us. The flat will likely be around £200,000 so the gifted deposit would be roughly £20,000. A mortgage advisor has told me I might to be able to get the mortgage on my own, especially since I've just had a pay rise

from £27,000 to £42,000. The only thing holding me back is my debt. It goes against the playbook to buy a home before becoming consumer debt-free. But this feels like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I also already live in the flat so I'd save on moving an estate agent fees. I'm working hard, looking at picking up freelance marketing work and hoping to receive or hoping to start, receive maintenance for my ex at some point. The flat becomes available to buy in September 2026. And if I can't do it, then I'll get another chance in five years. I would love to make it happen in 2026, but is it too ambitious?

Thank you to our contributor for providing that's quite a vulnerable goal to share. And I'm just in awe of you, you know, what you've been able to do. and being a single one to two boys, running a house in of itself is so hard. And I understand that owning a home is a pipe dream for so many people. Also, well done on the pay rise. Going from 27,000 pounds to $4,000 to $2,000 is no mean feat. So well, well done on that. And what we did ask and what Lucy's been able to provide for me here is screenshots of

things like some consumer debt, things like her budget. So yeah, it's super, super awesome to see the numbers. In terms of debt, we have 21,850 pounds in debt. That's made up of 850 on a credit card, a £10,000 loan and car finance of £11,000. So that's a consumer debt. And we've got a very diligent playbook user who is obviously concerned about doing this and still having consumer debt. Now, we take a step back.

One of the big reasons that we say that people should be consumer debt free before they buy a home is it is overwhelming buying a home. The general and typical costs that go with it are astronomical. We talked about moving costs, sometimes the stamp duty, sometimes there are exceptions. The estate agent fees, the solicitor and conveyancing fees, you move into a home and you suddenly might need carpets and you might need a new roof. I know we talked about a flat in this arrangement, but just generally you just don't know. what you will need. You've usually moved up in cost, not often if you've moved from rented to

be fair, but generally you're moving up in home and you're going bigger and better. And so to move when you have lots of payments going to finance puts you under so much stress financially that so many people, if they do it, they come back to them and they go, oh my God, I had no idea. I just didn't want to think it would be an issue. And sometimes it really impacts people for affordability as well. it's a real thing like if you have all these you know car payment and some credit car payments and an overdraft and then you try and go and apply for a mortgage all those you know that they're fixed expenses that you are responsible for so there's good reason for it being there um but we are going to workshop this because i even though the playbook is a methodology and we can convince ourselves of

anything by the way so lots of people listening to this may take what i'm about to say next as an excuse or a reason to unwind it to fit your current situation. So please take it with a pinch of salt, but listen to what I have to say on this. I think this is a gift that, yeah, is only going to come again in five years time and it's available for you now. And it's specifically from the trust to you. Like if it was a gift from family, I would be saying, So use that to pay your debt off and then build up your deposit. Like I would not be saying, okay, if a family member gifted you a deposit, use the deposit and keep all your debt.

But this is a particular niche scenario, which is a great opportunity for you to buy the home that you are in right now. And I just think this is a gift that you should be snatching off with two hands if it all works out. A couple things to bear in mind, couple of caveats. Firstly, congratulations on the pay rise. And are you in a place where that is sustainable? Is this risky? Is it bonuses or is it a basic? Can you absolutely rely on this income?

Because what you do not want to do is take on a mortgage on an unstable income or on an income that may be coming down or that, like, how risky or not is your employment? Because you do not want to be in a place where the mortgage suddenly isn't affordable. And on that basis, making sure that you have the right income protection policy in place and or critical illness cover so that if you got poor, or if you couldn't work for a period of time, your mortgage would be covered. So just really bear that in mind if you want to look at more good to financial.com forward slash protection.

We've got loads of articles on there and we've got a really good partner that we work with that do like free insurance reviews and walk through your situation, especially when you're getting a mortgage and help you out and get the right policy for you at a price that's right for your budget. So well done, but make sure that that salary is where you're going to be at because that's a lovely big chunky jump. So then I want to do. come back to September 26 and you don't need to build a deposit and you don't need many extra

fees you might need a little pot of fees so I'll probably total up what fees you may need in a year and also have a little think about the window like do you have to tell them in September is it September to December you know do you have a little bit more lee there leeway there so then I want you to think well could I be debt free by them so this isn't definitely an either-or you are having a big jump in salary, you are managing on 27 right now, what could you overpay that 21,850 pounds of debt with to try and make it go away? I mean, if we're doing the rough maths, it's less than £2,000 a month between, I know it's September and we're later on in the year now, but let's pretend it's a year's worth that you need about, you know, $1,750

quid, $1,800 per month to pay off that debt. What does the budget look like? and how much can you overpay already? That's one thing to bear in mind. Secondly, you have talked about maintenance and freelance work. And if I thought that I had a goal to pay off, you know, 21, 22 grand between now and next September, I am going all in. I am going to be an animal.

I am going after that figure. If that's the thing that I'm going to, I want to do for myself before I jump in and buy that house, nothing is going to stand in my way. I'm going to make sure I've got an emergency fund and I'm hoping you have one already, a mini one given you kind of in a debt payoff phase. So making sure we've got that mini emergency fund

and also having one eye on, okay, what would like a moving cost pot look like? How much will I need? But outside of that, I am going after it. What am I entitled to maintenance-wise? What can I negotiate with my former partner to make sure that I am getting the money I need to help contribute to the household income so that my children don't go without.

He doesn't, he or she, but they don't need to know, it's none of their business what it's for. They don't need to know whether it's for overpaying debt. They don't need to know whether it's to put towards a new house purchase. It's to run the household and you need that income. And if you're legally entitled to that income, I really want you to treat that like a job. Go get that money in the nicest and most pleasant and most agreeable way that you can. But if you're entitled to it, no messing.

go get it. Make sure that you're not missing out on any extra benefits as well. Do the benefits checkers on the government website, citizens advice, turn to us have a great benefits checker. But just check everything. Are you getting everything that you possibly can because this will all help go towards

this goal? You've talked about possibly doing some freelancing. Have a good look at that. Really think about whether that's going to be something that can help your income. If you can make £500 a month, $1,000 a month, doing some freelance marketing, or two, three, four clients around your home life on your phone looking after your kids when

they're in bed, then that is game changing for this. This is, there's an absolute massive potential for you to be able to hit paying off $21,000. I know it's a huge amount on a single household, but things have changed a lot for you more recently. You do have an excess. You've shown me a budget. And I know it's not huge. I know it's coming out about 10%.

So I feel like you might have like maybe three, 400 pounds a month. and that does look like on new salary, not the lower one. But I want you to have a little think about that, like what's changed because you've had a pay rise. So is that budget as lean as it could be? Also, have a little think about the car finance. So you have 11,000 pounds to go on the car finance and the total was 12. So I don't know if this was really, really recent.

I don't know if it's just what it was when you started. You had 12 left because that could be it. Carl, my husband, drives a $4,000 car. Like, we are proud of the fact that he does. We, it was 40 last year, and I said to him at the time, we could have a look to upgrade your car, or you can have a party and we'll go on holiday. Anyway, holiday.

I hadn't even finished the sentence. For a while, leading up to his 40th, I think he had thought, oh, you would fall into that trap that we all do. Like, oh, by this time, like, I thought I'd be driving a nicer car and it's important to me, and maybe it's about time we upgrade. And oh, my God, if we upgrade in one, it's going to be his, like, mine's probably not worth much more than that. either. But we don't care. And I know that as long as I've got a good emergency fund and a good

car maintenance and king fund, it is going to need help. I've got breakdown cover. I've got all the things I need it because it's going to need it. In fact, it just passed its MOT team. Absolutely flying. Loved it. My car and his did. His is this week. We'll see. It may need stuff. But at the end of the day, inclusive of like motorway driving and needing to be safe, it's a safe, car. I'm saying this I'm touching wood, but we have two cars that are worth way less than a lot of our friend's cars

and a lot of, you know, other people's cars and everyone's different. Like, people have more money than us. So I'm absolutely comfortable with people having nicer cars than us because we have different goals. And so I was, you know, I wouldn't have minded either way. If Carl had said I really wanted a nice car from my 40th,

we would have, it would have been new to him, not new, but we may have looked at an upgrade, but he very quickly I went, no, I literally like, I work from home. I drive to work here and there. And, you know, we go, we drive it to France and stuff. Like, we take it on trips. But have a little think about that £11,000 car finance.

Because if you could, like, drop that to a four, $5,000 and you've just knocked five, six thousand pounds off that debt target. And you just downgraded in car. So have a real think about that. Because that's, I literally answer what I would do if I was in your scenario. And that's literally what I would. think so I think you do buy the home and I think it's for the reasons that I've said and I even think that if you haven't cleared your debt by then which I think you can but I think if you

haven't I think it's okay to pause that debt pay off as you get a little bit close to it make sure you've got a little bit of money set aside for the move the transfer like literally buying the property and not physically moving but the costs involved involved make sure it's affordable because you do not want to stretch yourself. So making sure it's like not more than 30, max 35% of your take home pay, the mortgage payment, make sure you can afford it and then go for it.

So congratulations. It is a niche answer, but I hope that people listening to it can have understood the methodology. So well done. The next goal, investing community member. Hi, Laura. I'm trying to model my next big goal,

but I'm torn between two priorities and I don't know which one should come first. and 25 live at home finally feel like I am in a stable place financially. I've built a £4,000 emergency fund, cleared all my consumer debt and I'm saving consistently every month. Wow, well done. My main goal is to buy my first home in 27 and I've already had a lifetime I said that I'm paying into. I'd love to max it out each year to get the full government bonus. But at the same time, I really want to start investing for long-term wealth. The more I learn, the more I realize how important it is to start early, even with small amounts.

My budget won't stretch to fully max in my Leyset and investing meaningfully at the same time. I can either put more into my Leyset to speed up my house deposit or start investing into a stocks and shares ice at each month to build long-term wealth. I don't know which is a smarter move right now. How do I balance the short-term goal of buying a home with the long-term goal of building wealth? would love your help modeling this so I can create a clear plan for 2026, Sophie. Sophie, you legend, that's absolutely amazing, well done. You're 25 live at home and you're in a stable place financially. You've got a $4,000 emergency fund and you're debt-free.

Honestly, you are absolutely killing it and I know lots of 25-year-olds would love to be in your position. You've got such a great, great foundations to build on. and I absolutely admire the goal or the desire to want to build long-term wealth because as you will know, the nature of compound interest means time is the biggest factor in all this. You can, you know, potentially grow a portfolio worth millions by contributing small, small amounts regularly from the age of 18, 19, 20, versus putting thousands a month in later, you know, in your 30s and 40s and not having those extra 10 to 20 years compound.

now it's never too late so no matter what age you are listening to this do not think that it's too late to start investing and or to build up savings but you've got to you just can't do as much as the young guys can it's unfortunate but we you know I've done some calculators with some 18 19 year olds and shown them my you know if I started now or what I need to do and so it's it's definitely something that's possible but starting early is admirable so well done do the thing that you haven't mentioned but I do think might be happening is is that you may be already investing through a work pension. So when I look at things like take home pay,

it makes me think that sounds like your salary. And so if so, and if you are auto-enrolled, then you're already investing. And it's something that often when I speak to people about and I might be doing like a physical workshop, which we do from time to time with like a big team. And I say, oh, do you hands up if you're an investor

and about, you know, quarter of the room might put the hands up. and then I'll say who has a pension and I'm typically in a workplace. You know, I'm not necessarily with a lot of entrepreneurs or business owners, self-employed people. And everyone puts the hands up because many are auto-enrolled into pension and don't opt out. And they don't think that's investing. And so, firstly, you may already be investing. You may be investing because you may be contributing to your workplace pension. The government will be contributing to some money in some tax money will be going in.

You're already doing it. so don't if you are don't feel like you're not doing anything at all um so then that aside and if you are doing it then you're ticking that box it might not seem as exciting because it's for pension age and you're not scratching that it where you can kind of get hold of that money earlier um fair enough but you are doing it if you're not it is one thing that we do say in the playbook in the early stages is if you are self-employed or if you've opted out, really consider going back in because it is really good practice to, first, they invest obviously little and often for a long time. You leave your money on the table because if you are employed, then you get the employer

match. Obviously, if you're self-employed, you don't. But either way, you also get the tax benefits from it. So it's something that I'd hate for people to just get all the way through life and then later not have anything when they could have opted in and just have. happen to have to live on a little bit less money that I'm really passionate about. So if you are someone at the moment who's listened to this and you have opted out your pension or yourself employed and you haven't started it yet, lots of very wealthy people or well-paid people over-invested into their pension. And you may think that's like a luxury because that's fine for them. They've got enough. But we can always spend what we get. We can always spend up to the

limits. And so it is a very good practice to make sure that you're investing in that pension. So if you are you're already doing it and if you're not then maybe look at your budget and see if you can start to contribute into a pension it's not as sex as the I say because you can't get hold of it earlier I get it um but you've said that your goal is to perhaps buy your first home next year and if that's the case then we have found where people focus on one thing and they go all in and they absolutely hammer it they achieve it um not only the more like like it to achieve it, but they achieve it so much more quickly, and that makes mathematical sense, but there's something about the motivation and the intensity and the intention to go towards that

goal. And so, you know, I do think that you, if you decided to split money into a house deposit pot and then divert some to investing in a stocks and shares I say, I think that is devaluing your home ownership goal. I think it's bringing it down. And again, that's okay. we have lots of people. Lucy's the prime example when I think of Lucy. She is building up savings and she's investing. And she's not kind of formally decided I'm buying a home. She thinks she may at some point, but she's purposely decided not to list that as the goal and to name it and to because when you are, you have to be intentional about it and you have to go all in at the moment. She's not sure when, where how. So cash is king. She's building up savings and she's got savings.

but she is embracing investing, and she's doing her automated investing through her pension, so she's doing stocks and shares, Issa investing. I think she's shared that on the pod a few times. And all is okay, but if you want this goal to happen, a specific goal, and you've said home ownership, that's your first goal. And it becomes, it comes before the long-term goal of building wealth. The danger of splitting between stocks and shares investing into an ICER and home ownership is that you kind of don't make good progress with either.

And so whilst you're ticking the compound interest box on the ICER, you kind of not going quick enough on the home goal, and that gets pushed further away. And then, you know, we can get disincentivised and we can get strained with the goal, and we can get bored of it because it is quite an intense period. I really enjoyed saving for my house deposit, and it definitely was something that whilst I was investing at the same time,

through my pension, nothing else mattered. I'd paid off my consumer debt. And again, that was something that I did at one. once we've talked already on this show about, you know, not necessarily saving for a deposit, but going all in on paying off debt and just making it so intentional that this thing happens. So I think it's a really good question and I think you were in an amazing place and it's admirable. So don't get distracted right now. We can have everything but we can't have everything at the same time. So you can switch quite quickly to building

long-term wealth with steady investing over and above your pension investing if that's what you're doing. Once you've got the home, big tips for me out, buy a home that's affordable that does not stretch your budget too much. The big thing I see is people go way, way above what they should be buying. They just go to the max of what they could borrow. Give themselves all sorts of different levels of stress. Maintenance on a bigger house or more expensive house is tougher. But there's no room in the budget to do extra investing. So what I want you to picture is when I've got that house, what else do I want, you know, what is the affordability for me to be able to then also do some extra long-term investing, invest in the stocks and shares, I say,

and also, you know, enjoy that house and spend some time at the house and enjoy time with friends and travel. That's what having that lifestyle budget is all about. And so bearing all those things in mind when you do your modelling and hopefully what pops out is the ideal home, the ideal price, the ideal house deposit total that you need. And hopefully you're already doing some pension investing so the minute you're ready to switch and jump back into ICER investing you can and just a quick one on that you know you can then switch to you can stick with a lisa once you've used it for a house and if you qualify for the criteria you can then use it also for retirement investing as well so um you can put four grand in and the government

at the moment will put an extra thousand pounds in and um it doesn't have to be your stocks and shares Issa, well, like just a nicer. It could be stocks and shares, Lyser. Nice little confusing bit at the end there for you, but well done. You're doing amazing. Okay, this might be the last goal that we're going to work through. It says, hi, Laura. I'm really hoping you can help me model my goals because I feel like I'm being pulled in two different directions. Right now, I'm working hard to pay off just under £10,000 of consumer debt, not including student loans. It's spread across two credit cards, the result of moving from a student overdraft to a naught percent money transfer product, but not changing my spending habits at the same time. I'm finally in a better

place mentally and financially and I'm determined to break the patterns that put me here. A lot of my mindset comes from growing up in a horder household where money was chaotic and spending wasn't planned. I'm trying really hard to undo that now. At the same time, I'm saving for a small wedding in August, something I'm so excited about and don't want to be overshadowed by guilt or financial stress. I want to become debt-free and enjoy this milestone, but I'm struggling to figure out the right balance. I'd love your help modelling this. Specifically, should I pause or reduce my sinking funds so I could throw more at my debt? How can I avoid delaying my debt-free date too much while still paying for the wedding? And how do I rebuild a healthy mindset so I'm not

repeating old habits. Thank you so much. The podcast has already helped me more than you know, Emily. Emily, you absolute legend. Thank you so much for sharing your goal with us and sharing your thoughts and feelings. And I think so many people listen to this will relate to it. We get it in the vault at a lot. We get a lot of, not contradicting goals necessarily, but like concurrent goals. And it's a timing thing for lots of people. Some people, it's like wanting children and trying for children as well as wanting to travel as well as wanting to get married as well as wanting to buy the house or renovate the house there's so many like competing goals that it can can be difficult and also you've mentioned that you know your debt i think you said

it's 10,000 pounds yes it is this debt you know came from student overdraft time and i just want to call that out like that is something so normal and so just accepted in our society I think it's whilst I appreciate that cheap credit being offered to students can be a lifeline like with the cost of living crisis I don't know how students are affording what they do you know not only is like actual education eye-wateringly expensive but running a house and living away is really expensive as well but so many people do not treat university anymore like an investment decision it is an investment decision but it's a financial one as well that as a career one and there are certain careers if you want to pursue your dream and you

want to do it great but you have to fund it you know it just comes at a cost but on a financial level you understand it pays out and so you kind of have short-term debt and short-term student stress and student loan stress but then it kind of comes full circle but other people just go to university like it's like a right of passage or like it's something that you're meant to do they don't they just pick a course they like there's no real investment consideration to it there's no real career structure and then they kind of come out of it and like you know the world's changing all the time so it's expensive and I appreciate that and your cheap credit and overdraft is a lifeline for lots of people but it also turns into this like um lifetime debt that people it starts

so there's an overdraft and then it turns into a graduate overdraft and then suddenly there starts to be percentages charged on it so then people you know switch it and send it to um to a loan and it becomes a credit card, it becomes an opt-cent transfer card and it just follows you around. And so you are not alone. This is something very, very common. It is so frustrating that so many people have to spend so long after graduating to, you know, ultimately pay off, pay-off debt. And also I want to say, you know, well done for navigating what was quite a chaotic money past. You know, this is something that impacts lots of us for different reasons, like how our parents, how our family handled money, what happened at home.

can have a positive and or a negative impact on us. And, you know, you talked about coming from a horde of household. You've had to break patterns. You're in a better place now, but money was chaotic and spending wasn't planned and you're having to undo that. And it's funny, actually, I was a quick story, but I was in a cab on the way back from the BBC this morning. And this cab driver was chatting to me about money.

We were talking about it. It often comes up. And he was talking about how it's quite good with money. And I said, you know, why is that? he said do you want the honest truth i was like yeah this is i'm here for this did not expect him to say what he said next he said my dad was a bank robber and i just you know you like it was a bit noisy on the most way and it was a black cab and i was like did did he just is that what is that what he said yeah my dad was a bank robber and you know it was in the 70s and he said 10 grand would just

be brought and dumped on the table and things were good for a period of time um but then it would be spent on everything his dad was quite a drinker spent a lot of money was always out of the house until they ran out of money and then he was awful when the money had gone was very very abusive they went the mum like held the family together four five kids yeah I think five kids I think he said he had four brothers and just absolute chaos when it came to finances and his mum literally like had to scrimp and get by and yeah I just was like oh okay I did hear right um your dad was a bank robber but it even on such an extreme level this guy had had to navigate that and learnt what he didn't want from um he didn't want to take from

one parent and did want to take from the other parent the other parent that you know navigated the finances and made sure that they ate and made sure that they had heating and stuff whilst um his daddy and may have been on a bit of a bender or may have not been around or may have gone to prison which he said he did do um extreme example but it may be go oh wow yes there are so many different examples of a learned experience and or a lived experience that impacts us. And so I think, Emily, you've done amazing to get to the point where you understand that you need to be in control of your money. You have to watch your spending. You have been a spender in the past. And so even when you've moved money around when people do this, they do it

with like debt consolidation all the time. It's not as simple as consolidating the debt and moving it and then it's suddenly being easy to pay off if our mentally our habits are still very, very real for us, it is very difficult. And so anyone that goes on this journey to change how they manage money and change spending habits, it's so admirable and it's to be applauded and that's what our community is for. That's what we're there for. And we're here to help you do it. And so many people have managed to do it. This is not an outlier. This is something that absolutely can be done. So congratulations on being engaged and looking forward to an August 26th wedding. So when it comes goals and the goal of your balancing like having to wanting to be debt free and paying off debt

but also the wedding is I think the way I look at it is making sure things are proportionate so I absolutely think that you should be getting married and that you should be having a wedding and what it sounds like and you've been very specific in your wedding that you're going to have a small wedding in August and I love that I mean we've talked about this on the vault all the time about how we are adoring these small, beautiful, intimate weddings where we don't cater to everyone on his dog, but we do what we want. And we're definitely big fans of that. And we'll all be following Lucy's journey closely because she got married. She got engaged earlier this year. And so we'll be making her document and share what she does

so that we can all learn from that and, you know, think about how we feel about that. But what you talked about is a proportionate wedding expense to kind of your life right now. that you have some consumer debt you're about to you've had some spending issues in the past that you're overcoming and and you're about to get married and start new financial life which is your combining finances on some different levels with with someone as you know legally as well as practically and and it's okay to pause a debt-free journey for such a big and important moment in your life you have it seems like to me from your language picked a budget and an amount of money that is worthy of of of of spending and it it can it's okay to do it is absolutely okay and i know you said i

think in your language you say you know should i how can i avoid delay my debt-free date too much while still paying for the wedding i think picking the the goal part the wedding part of money that you need and understanding that and getting that ready and looking at your budget and going okay, how quickly can we hit that goal and pay you minimum payments on that? So I think I would set that, I'd set it, be really strict about it, and pay minimum payments on your debt and see how quickly you can hit that wedding goal. Because once that's hit, you will then can go back onto your debt journey. And I would do it that way around because I think the worry is that if you go

overpaying debt, overpaying debt, overpaying debt, and you've not got enough money for the wedding, then that causes extra stress on what is meant to be a very important part of your life. So pick the wedding pot that you need, go all in, squeeze that budget, do the money MOT in the app, build up your income if you can get it, do some bank switches, do some referrals, do some customer research calls that might get you bit of extra cash, and cut the expenses lean. If you are passionate about being debt free, then get that wedding pot filled as quickly as you can because as soon as you've got it ready, it is there.

And imagine what like feeling that I'll bring to the wedding prep and the being engaged and the engagement, you will be cool as a cucumber, you'll feel so in control, you'll feel so excited about getting married and you'll be able to jump straight back into paying off debt in an aggressive way. You also asked about sinking funds. When people are in survive and you're in the survive space, you're in the survive stage, sinking funds should be lean but necessary. So making sure they've got like, you know, a home and garden fund that's like small and because this is if you've got a place, but like if, you know, you needed to buy new lights or if you needed some batteries or if you needed like a, maybe I'm over-exaggerating this

one because maybe that's not essential because actually you could use your emergency phone for that. So I might wind back a little bit for that, but you need pots of money that you need. So if you're going to spend an amount at Christmas, if you're going to go on a trip on a holiday, all of those decisions should be proportionate to the goal that you're working towards. So every time a sinking fund is too bougie, it delays your debt for. date and you are clearly so passionate about being debt free and so having a look and building a proportionate sinking fund budget so car insurance if you decide to pay for car insurance annually Christmas if you want to pay for Christmas that way MOT car maintenance what I sometimes say

about those is like I said you might have an emergency fund and making sure you've got that by the way that's an absolute no-brainer but an emergency fund may do it for now while you're being super intentional about the wedding fund and then becoming debt free And but I think that's what I do. I think you're entering an extremely exciting part of your life. You're going to have the best and most intimate and amazing wedding. You're going to be proud of the fact that you don't come out with lots of debt because lots of us in this community, you know, I know lots of people that have and are, you know,

navigating that in my life. And it's just part of one of the things that they've just going to do. You are coming at this the right way. And then the last point of your question, which I think I'm just going to finish off with that for you is setting a budget that's manageable that allows you to spend where you want to spend means that you won't derail the goal. We always talk about this. If the budget is too tight and there's a moment of weakness and there's no room to know where to go with it, we derail the goal. Whereas in the budget, if we incorporate free spending, if you think about what your weak

points were and what can kind of placate that or keep it manageable or keep it, you know, keep you on track, then include that in the budget. identify, we've said this before, but times of the day, month, year, what are the things that trigger you that make you want to spend? And share that with your partner, like you're about to start an amazing journey with your partner. You may already budget together, but if you don't use this opportunity to share your weak points. Like I've said, we call and I do this all the time, like, if we're trying to be on a health kick, if we're trying to be good at fitness, we're both like, let's both get an early night, let's both set our alarms. You go to the gym first, I'll go to the

gym first, or we'll say like, we're not getting a bottle of red wine in because if the bottle red wine is in the house we will want to share it and we that messes up our um well not might mess up our diet it might mess up for the gym early um it may give us a bit of the head actually now if we shared a bottle of wine like maybe it would all those things we go that if that's in that's my weak point so let's both not do it and let's both help each other and again it's spending it might be like at the till um the middle aisle at alde or it might be at the till as you're about to pay turning your head away and not buying like the panic buying things not taking children shopping out of this all the time oh my god if i take the kids like ali wants to

go to the toy shop in the village which i love because i love the lady in there and we always want to support her but like he'll just say oh i want this toy i'll hold it you know like and it's like four weeks before christmas i know not to go in there because if i go in there the mum jean kicks in and i'm like oh but it's been good and it is a cute toy and i'm awful so you know um strategy over willpower. I don't go. So that's how we keep on top of our spending. That's how we keep on top of our weaknesses. That's how we navigate it because we're all human. There's nothing right or wrong, but we can have these hacks and strategies that help keep us on track. And that's how you're going to do it. And you're not going to be perfect. And you're going to have little blowouts here and

there. But ultimately, doing it with someone else and building a plan with someone else can really help. So congratulations. I think pick your budget, fill that pot for the wedding, then go ham on these debts and make it a game. You know, do it with your fiance, go after it, see how close you can get. And I don't think you'll, I think what you'll find is you don't delay your debt-free date by too much. And everything should just be in proportion. So listen, let me close by saying, thank you so much for sharing your goals with us. If you want to continue doing that, put it in the community because other people have so many refreshing views and perspectives.

They may have walked exactly what you've walked before. You may inspire someone else if you share your goal. I asked you last week, message the goals and keep them coming. The vault at financial.com. Just because we'd love, if you just write it down, send it to us, you've put it down and you've made a bit of a commitment and been a bit intentional about it. But I hope you've enjoyed it.

this series and I hope you've enjoyed this particular episode where we've brought to life three genuine goals. So exciting, life-changing goals that people are picking. I can't wait to hear the progress. So if we have shared yours, please do let us know, you know, what you do about it. But ultimately, modelling out your goals is the next step, getting that piece of paper, getting the spreadsheet, doing the budget in the app, making it very real, bringing it to life, building up a practical plan to get you there. And as I said, show me your budget. Once you've set that in place, is it in your budget? Because if it's, if those, if the plan, if the plan to there is not in your budget, it's not going to happen. So I'm going to challenge you to

that, see if you can do that. Thank you so much for listening. And obviously don't forget to tune into the regular The Vault that's out every Thursday and with the girls and I on the couch. And just remember the Vault unlocked is a chat about life and money. I'm not giving financial advice. Bye-bye.