Your saving and investing efforts can be given a serious boost if you can benefit from free money in the form of bonuses and tax reliefs. Here are four key saving incentives available to UK tax residents.

Pension

Employees under age 75 and who are not members of a defined benefits pension can attract a bonus payment from their employer and the government that has the effect of increasing their own contribution by at least 108%. Higher bonuses are available to higher and additional rate taxpayers, and from certain employers that pay more than the legal minimum.

A healthy relationship with money means that you can balance your immediate and longer-term lifestyle desires and needs, the most expensive and non-optional of which is financial independence – that stage when you have enough money to make paid work optional.

The key variables that will affect your ability to build financial assets are the amount you save, the returns you achieve on your money and the period of time your money is invested.

Barely a day goes by without something in the media or online about the financial challenges facing young people. Whether it’s the spectre of leaving university with massive student debt, the high cost of housing, or the impossible task of saving for older age, the narrative is the same. A sense of unfairness, future hardship and impossible barriers to high financial wellbeing.

When you are faced with what looks like an impossible task, it’s easy to get overwhelmed and feel powerless to improve your situation.

In a 2003 study called “Do Pretty Women Inspire Men to Discount the Future”, young men and women were asked to choose between a cheque dated tomorrow, versus a cheque dated for a larger amount that could be cashed at a later date.

Each participant was asked to rate photographs of people and cars. The pictures of people were taken from hotornot.com, the website where people submit photos of themselves and are rated for attractiveness on a 10-point scale.

If you’re not yet financially independent, and you have dependants, you’ll need to ensure that you have enough life insurance to support them and to repay any debts if you die prematurely.

A policy which pays out a lump sum is usually best to pay off any debts like a mortgage. If you are an employee you might have life insurance provided by your employer, known as ‘death in service’ benefit. But if you don’t have such cover, or it isn’t enough for your needs, or you are self-employed you’ll need to take out extra life cover.

We all want to worry less about money, be able to cope with any financial shocks, to afford treats and fun things now and to be financially secure when we finally stop working and earning.

Conventional advice is that to achieve anything, you should have a written goal, a plan for achieving it and regularly monitor progress to check that your daily habits and actions are getting you nearer to your goal.

situation, as well as a tool to help you work out the value of professional advice.

Understanding Money

Finimize (in which I am an investor) provides millennials the financial news in < 3 mins in the form of a daily email or via their interactive app. Visit their website or the app store.

Having high financial wellbeing means money doesn’t cause you stress and worry, you can make choices to enjoy life from day to day and you are financially secure when you can’t or no longer wish to work for money.

Here is my 5 point checklist of actions you can take to maximise your own financial wellbeing in 2019 and beyond.

My daughter fell in love with Latin when she was just 11 and won her school’s Latin scholar prize most of her later years. When we discussed whether she should go to university and if so what she would study, it became clear that studying Classics would feature in her decision. 

The British Library describes Classics as:

What’s the most valuable asset you own? Is it your house, your car, or perhaps the value of your pension scheme? 

Unless you are approaching retirement, the most valuable asset you own is likely to be you! Or to be more precise, the cumulative value of your potential future income from working – your human capital.

Wealth is created by gradually converting your human capital into financial capital whether that’s in the form of investments, property, pensions or physical capital.

How much of your monthly income do you spend on living?

Beyond the essential living costs like housing, food, energy, clothes and transport, there is also likely be the ‘extras’ that make life both comfortable and enjoyable, like socialising, hobbies, designer clothes and holidays.

Where some people get into a problem financially is that they spend too much on the lifestyle ‘extras’ so they never manage to build much in the way of a short-term cash reserve or long-term wealth.

In summer 2015 I purchased a new Ford Fiesta car for £11,500 cash, to use for local trips and also for my eldest daughter to learn to drive in.  We have been very pleased with the car and have kept it in good condition.

I was recently contacted by the local main dealer who supplied the car, suggesting that they could offer me a great deal on a new Fiesta, at a slightly higher trim level than our current car.

Out of interest I asked the dealer to let me have his best deal, including taking my existing car in as part exchange.

Many people dream of winning the lottery and receiving a life changing lump sum. But large lump sums can also arise from winning on Premium Bonds, negligence compensation, redundancy, sale of a business or, most commonly, from an inheritance.

But while receiving a financial windfall might sound appealing, making good financial decisions can be a real challenge for the recipient. The media is full of stories of lottery winners who ended up penniless and lonely within a few years, or a business owner who slipped into depression within a few years of selling their business.

Throughout most of my adult life I’ve always strived to improve or maintain my life. Whether it’s maintaining good physical and mental health; cultivating my intellect and knowledge; building income and wealth; or developing personal and business relationships, I’ve always tried to be the best version of me.

A key part of my approach has been to set and write down a number of goals using the well-known SMART mnemonic acronym:

One of the central themes of my new book – Money Moments: Simple steps to financial well-being – is that we can all be better at managing our money if we really believe we can.

But it’s not just personal finance that this applies to, it applies to anything in life.  The term “turn your mind to” is often used to make the point that with determination, focus, effort and discipline we can master, or at least improve, any skill that we wish to.

Learning to cope with disappointments, setbacks, challenges and failures is an essential life skill to develop.

Few people have meaningful achievements, lasting success and life satisfaction without a fair degree of mistakes and mess ups.

My eldest daughter had set her heart on going to Durham University to read Classics and knew that they would probably require her to achieve three A grade A Levels.

My brother-in-law has a very eclectic and bohemian group of friends. “Mad” Mikey was one such friend who got his nickname because he looked like something out of a Mad Max movie — shaven head, piercings and tattoos everywhere and an enormous motorbike.

Mikey lived with his long-term partner and their two young children in a small rented rural home and he held down a job as a building site foreman. Mikey’s lifestyle was simple and modest, but he seemed happy and he was great fun.

I got speaking to a man called Albert in the changing room of my local gym the other day. I mentioned to him that I enjoy keeping fit and healthy, but as I’ve got older, I get a few aches and pains. He replied that although he has had to modify his fitness routine given his age, he still felt as fit as a fiddle.

In this live interview on Sky News in May 2017, I discuss the role that money plays in making us happy.

Video interview. I visited Coventry University on 21st March and in between giving several lectures to the students, I gave a short interview. There are several important and timeless messages in this 2 min video, so if you know a young person, ask them to watch it. It might inspire them to greater things.