At university, I studied journalism, so working in finance wasn’t something I felt destined to do. In many ways, I knew nothing about money before I started working in this world. But I also minored in psychology, which has turned out to be more useful than I ever imagined. It just goes to show that studying something specific doesn’t have to mean working in that exact field. Also, while I’m in finance now, my job mainly centres on creating content for Charles Stanley , so in many ways I still draw on the things I learnt at journalism school. The most important thing is to pay attention to things in your life that don’t feel like work and try to make a career out of them. It doesn’t have to look like what you originally anticipated – as you get older, you realise there are so many jobs out there. It’s also completely okay to change your mind and do something different if it’s not what you expected.
The psychology part of my degree has been invaluable – especially when it comes to interviews or getting to know new people. Interviews can be one of the most daunting parts of working life, but I’ve found mirroring people’s energy or way of thinking is a sure-fire way to succeed. In the best scenarios, that means being as warm and friendly as they are, and the result should be vice versa. But it’s also a theory that extends to starting a new job. If you go to the office in a bad mood, or you’re cold or snappy, you’re only going to get that in return.
To this day, I still wouldn’t call myself a financial expert. I learn something new every day, but when I was in my early 20s getting my first pay cheques, I was like anyone else. I spent the majority of my first pay cheque on a really expensive leather jacket I’d had my eye on for months. Hindsight makes it easy to say I should have done something more responsible with that money, but I firmly believe that working life needs to have its rewards – back then, I was working really tough hours and long days across different time zones, and that leather jacket was my treat.
In a financial sense, I spent most of my 20s just surviving. It was all about working as hard as I could to climb the ladder. If you’re in a creative or passion-based career, a lot of those early jobs are poorly paid at the start, so to stick with it, you might need a side hustle to supplement your income. I was a part-time nanny to make sure I had enough money to keep a roof over my head, while also progressing in my day job. As young women, we don’t talk about how hard this period is –nothing is going to happen overnight, but it hopefully makes for some good stories along the way.
Asking for pay rises or promotions is a tricky business, but I’ve always subscribed to the idea that if you don’t ask, you don’t get. There is a delicate balance to be struck – you need to go to the table with lots of evidence to support your achievements. But my experience is that young people don’t understand the leverage they accumulate quite early on – or how lowly paid those first jobs really are. From day one, it’s important to think about the experience you’re building and how to use that to your advantage.
I knew I wanted to start INVESTING before I turned 30 – one of the things that surprised me most was how EASY it was to start.
I knew I wanted to start investing before I turned 30. It was always a goal of mine. One of the things that surprised me most was how easy it was to start. You don’t need to be an expert to work towards a more secure financial future. That said, there are some steps worth taking before you start investing. For example, you want to make sure you’re contributing to a pension plan at work. Try to maximise any work benefits on offer and pay off any high-interest debt – credit cards or loans – then build an emergency fund to cover three to six months of bills. All these things need to be in place before you even step a foot into the investing space. Financial literacy is the key to financial freedom – […]
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