In our How I Manage My Money series we aim to find out how people in the UK are spending, saving and investing money to meet their costs and achieve their goals.
This week we speak to Chris Palmer, 35, who lives in Wrexham with his partner, Zara, 28. Chris, a YouTube content creator, has been passionate about investing since he was 18. He’s putting as much money as possible into a private pension and is a fan of the Financial Independence, Retire Early (Fire) movement. He maxes out his annual ISA allowance and wants to retire by the age of 60.
Monthly budget
My monthly income: This can vary, but I currently earn around £6,000 per month from my YouTube work and freelance website design business before tax. Most of my income comes from YouTube.
My monthly outgoings: Some are shared with Zara. Rent, £600; council tax, £140; groceries, around £450; gas and electric, £150; water, £50; broadband package, £46.50; mobile phone, £15; subscriptions like Netflix and Amazon Prime, £30; car insurance, £33; gym, £25; day trips, £100; clothes, around £50. For a meal out, we’ll typically spend £40 to £50 a time. The amount we spend on holiday varies, but if we’ve got a big trip planned it can be between £500 and £800 in a month. The amount I put into investments varies, but came in at around £40,000 last year.
I enjoyed computer games from a young age and studied graphic design at university, but couldn’t see myself doing it for a career. There seemed to be little money in it. Over time, I taught myself to code websites.
I launched my business working as a freelance website designer in 2010. Three years ago, I started making YouTube videos talking about investing. Many people are still so shy when it comes to talking about money and I want to change that. I don’t remember being taught anything at school or university about money, budgeting or investing.
YouTube is my main source of income. I make around £6,000 a month before tax from my YouTube work and website design business.
My passion for investing stemmed from my love of video games. One of the games I used to play was all about making money. Later on, I had a friend who was really into investing and we’d talk about it a lot. I read about compound interest and discovered how much money could potentially be made from investing. I’ve been investing since I was 18, but have had ups and downs along the way.
I have a stocks and shares ISA with InvestEngine, which has a current value of around £131,000. Within this ISA, I have two Vanguard index funds.
I started putting money in a Sipp with Vanguard when I was 31. I didn’t open one early enough. I put a lot of the money I make from YouTube into my Sipp, which has around £85,000 in it. The amount I put in varies, but is typically around £2,600 per month at present.
My investing journey hasn’t all been plain sailing. I invested in a Russian index fund in January 2022, just before Russia invaded Ukraine. I lost about £21,000 from this investment. My risk appetite used to be higher than it is now.
I am very interested in the Fire movement. From a tax perspective, governments want people working for as long as possible. I don’t want to be 68 or older by the time I retire. I want to retire as soon as possible, ideally by the age of 60. I want financial independence so I can stop working and retire as early as possible. I would like to have around £750,000 in my Sipp by the time I retire. Across all my accounts, I’d like around £1m.
I don’t think people my age will be able to rely on the state pension when they are older. I think the state pension age will be increased to 71 and I think it will be means-tested in future. It’d be a “nice to have”, but I won’t be able to rely on it. It is scary how many people I know who think they will be able to live off their state pension.
I have around £40,000 in a cash savings account and £50,000 in premium bonds. This money will be used for a deposit on a home. I also have a Lifetime ISA with Hargreaves Lansdown which has £12,800 in it. At the start of a new tax year, I max out my £4,000 Lifetime ISA allowance first. As I’ve purchased a home before, I’m now using the Lifetime ISA to help save for my retirement.
I don’t think the proposed UK ISA is a good idea. The ISA system is complicated enough as it is. Plus, the UK market doesn’t perform as well as the rest of the world. I think it will benefit people who are already well off, but be of little use to those who aren’t. For it to work, I think an extra incentive should be added, in a similar vein to the 25 per cent bonus used for the Lifetime ISAa.
As soon as I started working, my priority was to buy a house. I saved up non-stop in an ISA and managed to put together a £100,000 deposit. In 2015 I purchased a three-bedroom terraced house in Wrexham for £258,000. I sold the house in 2020 for £268,000. I’m currently renting and am looking to buy another house, ideally a renovation project. Our budget is around £450,000. I’ve got no desire to become a landlord and have some concerns about how people make money from property.
I enjoy spending money on travel and want to see as much of the world as possible. I am motivated by money in the sense that it gives you freedom and time. I want to retire early and enjoy financial freedom. In the interim, I plan to travel as much as I can, inspire more people to invest and buy a house to do up.
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