I’m writing this sat outside in my parents’ garden, in the sunshine! What a difference it makes. Am I finding it difficult to see what I’m writing, due to the aforementioned sun? Yes. Is my hayfever already making itself known, despite the tablet I’ve already taken? Absolutely. Will I concede defeat and go inside? Absolutely not!
It’s been a pretty miserable year, weather-wise, not only in the UK, but also North America which has been colder than usual. And I daren’t think about the catastrophes happening elsewhere in the world.
This weekI was at the UK’s largest ‘net zero congress’ - where governments and companies alike come together to save the planet.
The reality is that they don’t. Exhibitors and sponsors pay thousands of pounds to get their names known, network with a mix of people, drink a lot of coffee and leave feeling exhausted. By contrast (for my job), I’m speaking to people doing very real work to save endangered species, or make their land even more climate-friendly, for whom a few hundred pounds can make a very real difference. It’s hard to square the two realities against each other.
It must be a perfectly normal to feel deflated, despondent -and to just give up. If the people with access to the resources that can make a difference aren’t even trying, why even bother?
I think there’s lots that we as individuals can do. From directing our own resources towards those who are really making a difference, and fighting the good fight, to finding ways in which we can too affect change.
It’s in conversations, in understanding the nuances of different arguments, of understanding different lived experiences.
Some things I’ve comes across this week that bring me hope:
Savimbo - which works with indigenous people across the planet to encourage them to do more conservation work, by getting money directly to them (the founder, Drea, is one of the most incredible people I’ve ever had the privilege of speaking with)
Joy (aketchjoywinnie) on TikTok, who lives in a Ugandan village, and shares insights into her life. I watched her make a fire for cooking, and it’s a much better than any produced piece of content I’ve seen recently1
Will Hutton who gave a lecture at the LSE this week, about his new book, which encouraged hope. He believes that if we can move towards a collective society - where the 'we’ is prioritised over the ‘I’, we can affect positive societal, economic and planetary change2
Simone Weil, who I’ve wanted to read on Patti Smith’s recommendation,3 a French philosopher and mathematician from the early 1900s, who writes about how the working class’ intelligence is overlooked because they don’t have the language to engage with the intellectually superior ruling classes, but how they are the most astute and truthful4
The Conservative government took a big hit in the local elections this week which gives me some hope that the General Election won’t be won by them again - but I’m not being too optimistic, as we know anything can happen between now and then
1. UK house prices have fallen, and mortgages have gone up
The two are linked.
A typical UK home is now worth £11,700 less than it was in August 2022, weeks before Liz Truss’s disastrous mini-budget prompted financial chaos5
The Bank of England is expected to announce an interest rate cut later this year, and while some economists believe this could come as soon as June, many others believe August or September is more likely
Meanwhile, rental costs are also going up - they typically account for 53.7% of renters’ take-home pay, up from 49.1% back in 2015. London figures are something else, however:
85.9% in Camden
85.3% in Hammersmith and Fulham
84.2 % in Islington
And 82.0% in Hackney
2. How to find out if voluntary National Insurance (NI) contributions could boost your State Pension
There’s a new Gov.uk tool that will show people how much their state pension could increase by and details of the voluntary contributions they would need to pay.
As a reminder, National Insurance is basically a tax that you need to pay over the course of your working life, in order to get the State Pension (and other benefits). The amount you’re entitled to corresponds to how many years of NI contributions (NIC) you’ve paid.
So this tool is helpful to understand if you’re in a deficit - as you have the opportunity to top up your NICs - well before you get to State Pension age.
3. How can I be financially secure as a freelancer?
Being a freelancer is challenging since there’s uncertainty around:
How much money is coming in each month
How much to keep aside for taxes
The amount you have available to save and invest (and spend too!)
The advice:
Build up savings so that you can take time off and avoid freelance burnout - aim for 6 months’ worth of expenses
Keep track of every expense that you can use to reduce your taxes (but be careful - not everything is expense-able)
Once you’ve got about 3 months’ worth of expenses saved, start saving for retirement in a personal pension
Keep your “work” accounts separate from your personal accounts, and “pay” myself every two weeks, so you’re not drawing directly from your business’ income
It might also be worth setting up a business for your work, as there can be ways to reduce your tax liability through paying into a pension (which comes out of pre-tax profits), paying yourself a small salary to cover your NICs for the year - and then drawing down dividends. But do your research to see if this is right for you.
A few other things. Does manifesting money work? Yes, it can, but only alongside implementation of financial management tools and techniques. Car insurance claims are being forged using fake engineer reports, and photoshopped pictures. Rising levels of fraud have been one of the factors contributing to higher motor insurance premiums. ‘Shocking’ tech leaves pensions industry in precarious position. It used to be the case that we were guaranteed a pension and didn’t really have to worry about retirement, and now we’re having to take an interest and significant responsibility for our retirements. And the pensions industry still uses faxes?!
Know someone who would enjoy this in their inbox on a Sunday morning?
Including the new not Harry Styles/Olivia Wilde film, starring Anne Hathaway The Idea of You, which I abandoned halfway
This book is on my ‘to buy’ list - I was first introduced to Will’s work when studying Economics at school, and I’ve always enjoyed his writing.
I bought a book this week - it is a collection of her writing - despite the ‘no buy’ rule… But I have no regrets!
How this woman has a book out, and is beyond reproach, is beyond me.