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"Action is the foundational key to all success." Pablo Picasso.
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At Vestpod, we want to empower you to take control of your finances. We understand how daunting it is to dive into the unglamorous world of pensions, savings and ISA’s, but we are confident that with the right resources and a friendly pointer in the right direction, you’ll come out of this smarter and more confident. We’ve taken a pledge not to sleep at night until you’ve achieved your financial goals, so stick with us, keep on reading and before you know it, you’ll be living your life debt-free and retirement-ready.
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On us: Why Vestpod? Why women? Why now?
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We’ve got the ambition. We’ve got the brains. We’ve got the motivation. So what exactly holds us back from achieving our goals? Too often, we see women that simply lack the financial education and confidence to make informed decisions. It doesn’t help that having an honest discussion about money feels awkward. On top of it all, the personal finance industry is difficult to navigate and resources are hard to digest. This is why we created Vestpod. We want to empower 1 million women financially.
You can read about our mission here.
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On women and finance: Women are engines for growth.
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So why exactly is it a win-win to empower women financially? Why are economically empowered women so-called ‘engines for growth’? Sallie Krawcheck, the founder of US digital investment platform, Ellevest Women, discusses just that. She skillfully argues that, actually, men are not “just better” at making money and investing than women. Women control $5 trillion in investable assets in the US. If a mere 5% of that found its way to the stock markets, it would represent $250 billion pouring into the capital markets. And all that money would be available to fund more companies and their growth. Pretty impressive, no?
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On savings: The 8th wonder of the world according to Einstein.
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Truthfully, we had no idea that Einstein wrote about finance, either. Is there anything that man couldn’t do? The moustached genius made a pretty solid point: “Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. He who understands it, earns it… he who doesn't… pays it.” Indeed, Albert couldn’t be more right - compound interest is a key concept in personal finance, and you’ll hear us talking about it - a lot. The whole beauty of compound interest is that it is “interest on interest”, and makes a deposit or loan grow at a faster rate than simple interest. Ok, you say, so what does this mean in practice? The author of this piece argues that saving for 10 years can pay more than saving for 40, but the key is to start saving early. Are you really gonna argue with Einstein? Go start saving!
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On something that’s super easy to do: ISAs are actually cool.
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You’ve probably heard about ISA’s by now - that’s because making contributions to an ISA is simple, smart and we can’t think of a single reason why you wouldn’t have one. What exactly is it, though, and how does it work? ISA stands for Individual Saving Account that you never pay tax on. Following an overhaul of ISAs in 2014, the annual ISA allowance became more generous, which means you can now take advantage of some impressive tax savings. Told you it was simple. Ka-ching!
Get the complete low-down on ISA’s at the Money Saving Expert: The Full ISA Guide
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And, before you go... Have you heard about the ISA millionaires?
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There are around 200 ISA millionaires in the UK - but how long do you have to wait until you’re part of the club? It’s hard to say, mostly because of the intricacies of fiscal framework and market performance, but Fidelity Personal Investing did some calculations for you. They basically say that, based on the assumption that you invest your full ISA allowance every year, the allowance will rise in line with inflation of 2% each year. Your investments will achieve 5% annual growth but cost 1.1% a year in charges. Cut to the chase - you would have £1m in your ISA after 27 years and 10 months. We think it’s certainly worth a try.
Tempted? Learn more from The Telegraph: How to join Britain's '200' Isa millionaires
Not quite sold? Take Lord Lee as an example. In 1987, he invested £150,000 in a diversified portfolio of stocks, today his ISA portfolio is valued at £4.5 million. That’s 30 times his original investment.
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