May 15, 2025 • 17 mins
It can be hard to look beyond managing your money from one payday to the next. But if you have dreams for your life in the future, you’ll need a plan on how to fund this.
In this episode our host Iona Bain is joined by financial adviser, author and money columnist Bola Sol to unpack what it really takes to be in the best position to afford it.
From budgeting with purpose, deciding what your work-life balance is, building solid money habits and managing setbacks with compassion, Bola shares her no-nonsense, empathetic approach to long-term financial wellbeing.
Whether you're dreaming of buying a home, starting a family, or simply trying to get your head around credit and emergency funds, you’ll hear practical wisdom to help you turn financial stress into strategy.
You can watch episodes on our YouTube channel
And see behind the scenes content on our TikTok and Instagram
You can play the podcast and find other useful content on L&G’s website:
https://www.legalandgeneral.com/podcasts/a-little-bit-richer
Follow Bola Sol on Instagram @Bola_Sol
Iona and her guests share their own personal thoughts and opinions in this podcast. These might be different from Legal & General’s take on things. They give financial guidance for a UK audience that’s relevant at the time of recording. It’s general best practice, not the kind of personalised advice you’d get from a financial adviser.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Iona Bain (00:01):
Hello. I am Iona Bain and welcome to A Little
Bit Richer, brought to you by L& G. We all
have goals in life, whether it's holidays or weddings, buying
a home, starting a business, having children enjoying retirement, whatever
your milestones are, they need money. And that can be
a challenge when it feels like there's not much to
spare. So what can we do now to help us
(00:23):
afford the life we want in the future? Well, here
to guide us through all this is Bola Sol. Bola
is a financial advisor, money columnist, and the author of Your
Money Life and How to Save It. She's on a mission
to demystify Money Matters with her no- nonsense approach, which
has led to her expertise being featured in Forbes, the
BBC, the Financial Times, and The Guardian. She's here today
(00:47):
to help us build those solid money habits so we
can plan for life's major milestones. Welcome Bola.
Bola Sol (00:54):
Oh, thank you. What a lovely intro. Thank you for
having me.
Iona Bain (00:57):
It's lovely to have you with us. Having goals and
dreams is one thing, but actually being able to afford
them is another thing entirely. So, how can we make
sure that we've got the money that we need to
live the life we want? Where do we start?
Bola Sol (01:12):
I think what's important is to ask yourself questions first,
which is what type of life do you want? And do
you have to realize that that may look different for
everybody? Such as what type of house do I want
to live in and do I want to have a
family in the future and what does that look like?
Does that involve children and how many kids do I
want to have and how do I want to work?
(01:34):
Do I want to be permanently employed? Do I want
to be self- employed? So I think what's key is
that you start with those questions, so you kind of
draw out your particular life and you can use it
as a way to somewhat work backwards. And then from
there you can say, okay, in order to have potentially
that house that would cost me this much, and maybe
(01:54):
to live in that area, once you add in all
the other bills, it would cost that. And once you
start adding in all of those things, you can start
to say, in order to live that life I would
need about this much a month and this is how
much I'd need a year and so on. And then
you can build your life that way.
Iona Bain (02:10):
How do you know what your goals are and what
you're maybe just aspiring to because your family and your
friends and society tells you that you should have them?
Bola Sol (02:20):
Do you know what? As the youngest of six children,
it's taken me a lot to say what life I
want for myself. I tend to observe them and I
look at, oh, I'd like this, I wouldn't like that.
Not from a place of comparison, but just from a
place of observation. For me, for example, am I willing
to work let's say 60 to 100 hours a week at a
(02:42):
particular job where I'm making good money in order to
have the house that I've never had? Or would I
be willing to take something a bit more humble for
the sake of, should I say, my sanity or my
peace of mind?
Iona Bain (02:54):
So if you have certain goals that you want to
achieve, but you are on a particular salary or you
have a particular income, shall we say, how do you
square those two things? Because sometimes we can have quite
out there goals and ideas. How do we make sure
that we dream big, but that we're also realistic?
Bola Sol (03:14):
The first thing I think we need is patience. Even
I'd say patience before we have a plan because at
times we have ideas, but we don't factor in how
long it's going to take. If it's things like I
want to buy a particular house. And then of course
I'd say plan financially where you are right now, even
income wise isn't where you'll be in a few years.
(03:35):
So hopefully you are looking at could I make more
money and what does that look like and what skills
do I need to do that? So for example, maybe
at work you could start saying, could I get more
training on particular things because you now know you can
add that to your CV. So I'd definitely say patience
and planning. And also as well, don't exchange time and
energy for money constantly. It's really important that you learn
(03:58):
to work smart and not just hard. Nothing wrong with
working hard, but at the same time it can't always
be the only option.
Iona Bain (04:05):
Yeah, you can work really hard and earn a really
good income, but if you spend all that money on
the stuff that doesn't really matter to you, it's not
going to count for very much.
Bola Sol (04:14):
Yeah.
Iona Bain (04:14):
So how can we build up those really solid money
habits in our day- to- day life to help us
achieve those milestones that matter to us?
Bola Sol (04:23):
I think a great daily habit is to check your
bank balance. It just gives you a good refresher of
where you are. Also, budget. Budgeting is extremely important. No
two budgets are the same, I always say that. And
what's key is that you are looking at what you've
budgeted versus what you actually got.
Iona Bain (04:40):
Well, let's get into that because the word budget means
different things to different people and it's got this quite
kind of fluid definition sometimes. What does budgeting mean to
you? How would you define it?
Bola Sol (04:51):
Oh, so I always say a budgeting forecast is a
bit like a weather forecast. Meaning, the whole point is
you can prepare as much as possible and it gives
you a sense of direction as to which way your
money's heading. However, you also know that there might be
outliers, for example, where you could get a parking fine
if you drive and you didn't expect that to happen,
(05:14):
but you now know, okay, I can reprioritize my finances
accordingly, which is why I always tell people in your
budget have a miscellaneous section, could be 50 pounds, could
be 100 pounds for things that you didn't expect to cover.
Iona Bain (05:26):
So understand what your money is doing. But are there
specific tools and techniques that you would recommend in terms
of how you actually go about organizing your finances?
Bola Sol (05:37):
Oh yes. So there's the budgeting rule, 50, 30, 20, which is
50% on your needs, 30% on your wants, and 20%
on your savings, investments and so on. That's a rule
of thumb. Everyone doesn't have to cover it in the
same ratio. But the whole point is you are able
to know the difference between your wants and needs. And I think
(05:57):
putting it into a budget will really put things into
perspective. So for example, I need to pay my mortgage
this month, do I need a new pair of trainers?
I'd like a new pair, but I don't need it
and I think it's important to differentiate.
Iona Bain (06:09):
But it's really tough because we're not really incentivized by
the culture around us to think about those longer term
gains In that way. You're not going to be encouraged
to make over- payments on your mortgage or to put
more money into your pension necessarily when you're going about
your everyday life, but you certainly are going to be
encouraged to go and spend money on clothes or go
(06:30):
traveling or do all the things that are fun in
life and that we want to create space for. So
how do you try to keep those longer term goals
in mind even when they're not really sexy and celebrated
in our wider society?
Bola Sol (06:41):
People think because I speak about money that I must
be so excited to go all the time. Yeah, let's go.
And I'm like, no, some parts are not sexy at
all. Some parts are very mundane. But one of the
things I tell myself is there's going to be a
reward at the end of this particular season. It could
be a quarter, for example. And I'm like, I'm going
to do something really fun to celebrate that. And I
(07:03):
think we all need things to look forward to.
Iona Bain (07:05):
Treat yourself within reason.
Bola Sol (07:07):
Exactly. Because I constantly have this feeling of what does
the future look like and have I prepared for it?
When you are younger you hopefully have people guiding you
to say, have you done this? Have you done that?
But as you get older they get quieter and there's
a sense of trust. So part of me always says
I don't want to let them down but I don't want
to let myself down. So sometimes I'm like, Bola, what
were you doing?
Iona Bain (07:27):
You've got to be the grown up in your life.
Bola Sol (07:30):
I love that. Literally, you have to be the grown
up in your life because no one's now marking you.
It's just you.
Iona Bain (07:35):
Yeah. And if you don't get things right, the only
person who's going to suffer is you.
Bola Sol (07:39):
Exactly.
Iona Bain (07:40):
And Bola are there practical things around building up an
emergency fund and looking more closely at your income and
managing your credit that will help with you achieving your
longer term goals?
Bola Sol (07:54):
So everyone needs to have an emergency fund no matter
how much money they make. And what we classify as
an emergency varies person to person. It could be a
family bereavement, it could be a job loss. But having
three to six months of expenses is imperative because it
stops you, in my opinion, from panicking. It allows you
(08:14):
space to think and to say, right, okay, this is
what I'm going to do first, but at least I
know I can cover this for this amount of time.
And then review your outgoings. Sometimes we don't know how
many subscriptions we have or what we're paying for, or
sometimes we realize, look, we don't really need that, but
we're still paying for it because we can afford it.
Just because you can afford it doesn't mean you should
(08:37):
pay for it. Ask yourself what's the use there? And
of course, managing credit is vital. It's good to show
that you could manage different forms of credit as well.
Iona Bain (08:47):
Because actually you need to show that you can borrow
smartly so that you can do things like take out
a mortgage in the future. But people can develop credit
phobia, which is very understandable.
Bola Sol (08:57):
Yeah, absolutely. But go into anything with discipline. Some people
can say, oh, I'm going to spend 15K on a
credit card because I know that I'm being paid 5K
a month for the next few months. And I'm like,
do you? Things change. And when they do, whether that's
through your work or through life circumstances, so don't throw
caution to the wind when it comes to credit, but
(09:19):
I believe how you manage 25 pounds is the same
as how you manage 250 and 250,000. And of course those seem
like, oh, at 250, 000 I'd manage money differently. But it's
about the habits that you set and what's important.
Iona Bain (09:37):
How does our money mindset play a role in creating
our habits for better or for worse?
Bola Sol (09:45):
I always say it's important what you tell yourself about
money internally and also externally, what you say to other
people. I try to tell people all the time, do
not have negative self- talk when it comes to your
money. It does two things. One, it may make you
less confident with how you use your own money, but
it also can give you an excuse to continue to
(10:07):
make bad mistakes, knowing you could make better suggestions and
solutions to your own life and money. So even if
you're not having the best time with your money, you
can say, I'm getting better with my finances every day.
And getting better doesn't necessarily mean that you never have
a debt or anything like that. It more means that
you are now making better conscious decisions. So I think
(10:29):
how you talk about your finances in relation to yourself
is incredibly important.
Iona Bain (10:33):
I completely agree. But when we are thinking about the
future, we can get quite anxious about how much things
will cost, which is very understandable in this world where
everything is incredibly expensive seemingly, and sometimes those goals and
dreams that we have can seem impossible. So how do we
reduce that anxiety that we might feel around money and
(10:54):
the future?
Bola Sol (10:56):
Start with good habits, which is budgeting. But also if
there's someone who can hold you accountable, whether it's a
friend, a partner, maybe someone that you speak to finances
about on a regular basis, so you can say, oh,
how's that going? Another thing, I actually think more people
should look into coaching. Sometimes just talking to someone can
really make the difference. If we had a fitness goal
(11:17):
and we felt we couldn't get there on our own,
maybe we'd get physical trainer. I think the same needs
to be done with our goals. I have clients where
we work together once and that's all they need. Maybe
they'll be back in a year or a year and
a half or never. But the whole point is that
conversation has now given them a sense of direction. Again,
the budgeting is great, good habits are great, and so
is accountability, but don't be afraid to have a conversation.
Iona Bain (11:41):
So it's also about accepting that you can't necessarily do
it all on your own. There's a lot you can
do, but actually you don't have all the answers. You
need to know where to go to get the answers,
and that could be a coach or it could just
be going online and getting more informed that way.
Bola Sol (11:55):
Yeah, absolutely.
Iona Bain (11:56):
And also people who have been in debt or are
still in debt can feel a lot of shame. How
important is it to try to strip that back so
that you can start to make more positive decisions?
Bola Sol (12:06):
Debt is a part of your finance journey, it's a
part of life for many people, and I think there's
too much shame around it. This idea that we should
always have everything together and have no debt, especially in
an ever- changing economy, is really hard. But it's about
how does it make you feel and do you feel
(12:26):
bad or do you just feel like, look, I'm going
to get out of this. It's going to take me
a while, but I have a strategy in place and
I think more people need to do that and give
themselves grace.
Iona Bain (12:36):
And compassion.
Bola Sol (12:37):
Yeah, absolutely. But also strategy. You don't want to live
in a state of being in debt either. You don't
want to just say, oh, this is the norm. You
kind of have to find a balance. And I think
what's key is anyone who has any debt, especially debt
that's not, should I say, urgent, try not to build
on that debt. And I speak to many people who
(12:57):
the debt grows and it grows, and I'm just like,
you have to find a way to stop. If you
cut up that credit card, you wouldn't be able to
spend anymore, and that's what you now need to do.
And also maybe you now need to be in a
season of saying no because you genuinely do not have
it, and that's probably better long- term than building up
that debt.
Iona Bain (13:16):
So much of this is about just trying to take
those calculated risks but not do so in a way
that's actually going to put you in a worse position
in the future potentially.
Bola Sol (13:24):
Yeah, definitely.
Iona Bain (13:25):
What are your thoughts on lifestyle creep? Because that is
something that can definitely sabotage our longer term goals. As
our income goes up, then our lifestyle can adapt to
become more lavish and become more expensive with that higher income.
Bola Sol (13:40):
If your income goes up by 50%, could you make
sure that your lifestyle only creeps up by 20? Leaving
a buffer. Some people truly make the mistake of let's
max everything out, but where does that leave space for
the future? Then there's a change in the economy and
it's like, oh my gosh, we can't afford that. So
(14:01):
I would say be aware of lifestyle creep. Doesn't mean
that you shouldn't treat yourself. I'd say always keep things
underneath maybe 40% of the total of what your income
has been raised by because you just don't want to
be in a position where you are essentially then living
paycheck to paycheck again to keep up with that life.
Iona Bain (14:19):
And if we hit a setback in terms of achieving
our goals, how did we bounce back from that? How
do we ensure that that doesn't cause us to spiral
and give up on our future?
Bola Sol (14:29):
I always say, when you are going through a setback, take time
to grieve that setback. Don't go straight into, okay, let's
just move on. Because when you don't process that setback
and ask yourself everything you need to within it, that
setback can happen again because you haven't actually learned from
it. Sometimes you need to sit in that feeling and
sit in, what caused this? If this were to happen
(14:52):
again, would I deal with it differently? And from there,
you can now say, how do I want to move
forward? Because in life, we all have setbacks. No one
is exempt from them. And those people who are willing
to fail and learn, whether privately or publicly are the
ones who are able to dust themselves up and get
up again. But I'd say make sure you deal with
it and realize that that thing was a failure. You
(15:14):
are not a failure. Do not make it so personal
and about you.
Iona Bain (15:17):
Yeah. Whatever your past mistakes are, the most important thing
is that you say, whatever happens, I'll be able to
manage and I will cope with it and we can
move forward.
Bola Sol (15:27):
Yeah.
Iona Bain (15:27):
So Bola, what are your top three tips for staying motivated
and making sure that you are on track to achieve
your goals?
Bola Sol (15:35):
I would say romanticize the discipline, not the dream. Because
so often it's easy for us to think about the
dream and not the discipline that's required to get there.
Whether it's you waking up super early and you're not
a morning person. You have to stay on top of
the discipline and people say, follow the plan, not the
(15:55):
mood, especially with your finances. Sometimes you don't want to
put money away every single month for maybe a debt
repayment or a future financial goal, but it's key that
you do for the sake of where you want to
get to. Number two, keep building good habits and keep
refreshing on those good habits. So just always remember, it's
(16:15):
a marathon. It's not a sprint. It's so important to
keep learning and to keep growing. And my third tip
is understand which season you are in and learn to give yourself
empathy based on that season. You have to be so
kind to yourself when the economy changes or people can
have plans, and then maybe they're made redundant from a
(16:37):
job. People could have plans to buy a house and
maybe they found out that they're with child earlier than
expected and know it will all work out. When you
look back, you'll be like, hey, this worked out. But
it's about how did you treat yourself? Sometimes there's seasons
for you to rest more and there's seasons that you
need to come out swinging and fighting and making sure
you're working hard. But no matter what, give yourself grace
(16:59):
in the season you're in.
Iona Bain (17:00):
I love that message. Bola, thank you so much for
joining us.
Bola Sol (17:03):
Thanks for having me.
Iona Bain (17:06):
Thank you so much, Bola. We got so many good
ideas there for how we can plan our financial futures.
Next time, financial content creator and advisor, Rotimi Merriman- Johnson
will join us to give us some great advice on
how to start building your investment portfolio. I'd love it
if you could follow the podcast, leave us a review
and help others get a little bit richer too. You
(17:28):
can keep up with the show on TikTok and Instagram at Legal &
General, where we'll be sharing loads of behind- the- scenes
content and you can catch our full video episodes on
YouTube. Thanks for listening. Until next time, see you soon.
Hello. I am Iona Bain and welcome to A Little
Bit Richer, brought to you by L& G. We all
have goals in life, whether it's holidays or weddings, buying
a home, starting a business, having children enjoying retirement, whatever
your milestones are, they need money. And that can be
a challenge when it feels like there's not much to
spare. So what can we do now to help us
(00:23):
afford the life we want in the future? Well, here
to guide us through all this is Bola Sol. Bola
is a financial advisor, money columnist, and the author of Your
Money Life and How to Save It. She's on a mission
to demystify Money Matters with her no- nonsense approach, which
has led to her expertise being featured in Forbes, the
BBC, the Financial Times, and The Guardian. She's here today
(00:47):
to help us build those solid money habits so we
can plan for life's major milestones. Welcome Bola.
Bola Sol (00:54):
Oh, thank you. What a lovely intro. Thank you for
having me.
Iona Bain (00:57):
It's lovely to have you with us. Having goals and
dreams is one thing, but actually being able to afford
them is another thing entirely. So, how can we make
sure that we've got the money that we need to
live the life we want? Where do we start?
Bola Sol (01:12):
I think what's important is to ask yourself questions first,
which is what type of life do you want? And do
you have to realize that that may look different for
everybody? Such as what type of house do I want
to live in and do I want to have a
family in the future and what does that look like?
Does that involve children and how many kids do I
want to have and how do I want to work?
(01:34):
Do I want to be permanently employed? Do I want
to be self- employed? So I think what's key is
that you start with those questions, so you kind of
draw out your particular life and you can use it
as a way to somewhat work backwards. And then from
there you can say, okay, in order to have potentially
that house that would cost me this much, and maybe
(01:54):
to live in that area, once you add in all
the other bills, it would cost that. And once you
start adding in all of those things, you can start
to say, in order to live that life I would
need about this much a month and this is how
much I'd need a year and so on. And then
you can build your life that way.
Iona Bain (02:10):
How do you know what your goals are and what
you're maybe just aspiring to because your family and your
friends and society tells you that you should have them?
Bola Sol (02:20):
Do you know what? As the youngest of six children,
it's taken me a lot to say what life I
want for myself. I tend to observe them and I
look at, oh, I'd like this, I wouldn't like that.
Not from a place of comparison, but just from a
place of observation. For me, for example, am I willing
to work let's say 60 to 100 hours a week at a
(02:42):
particular job where I'm making good money in order to
have the house that I've never had? Or would I
be willing to take something a bit more humble for
the sake of, should I say, my sanity or my
peace of mind?
Iona Bain (02:54):
So if you have certain goals that you want to
achieve, but you are on a particular salary or you
have a particular income, shall we say, how do you
square those two things? Because sometimes we can have quite
out there goals and ideas. How do we make sure
that we dream big, but that we're also realistic?
Bola Sol (03:14):
The first thing I think we need is patience. Even
I'd say patience before we have a plan because at
times we have ideas, but we don't factor in how
long it's going to take. If it's things like I
want to buy a particular house. And then of course
I'd say plan financially where you are right now, even
income wise isn't where you'll be in a few years.
(03:35):
So hopefully you are looking at could I make more
money and what does that look like and what skills
do I need to do that? So for example, maybe
at work you could start saying, could I get more
training on particular things because you now know you can
add that to your CV. So I'd definitely say patience
and planning. And also as well, don't exchange time and
energy for money constantly. It's really important that you learn
(03:58):
to work smart and not just hard. Nothing wrong with
working hard, but at the same time it can't always
be the only option.
Iona Bain (04:05):
Yeah, you can work really hard and earn a really
good income, but if you spend all that money on
the stuff that doesn't really matter to you, it's not
going to count for very much.
Bola Sol (04:14):
Yeah.
Iona Bain (04:14):
So how can we build up those really solid money
habits in our day- to- day life to help us
achieve those milestones that matter to us?
Bola Sol (04:23):
I think a great daily habit is to check your
bank balance. It just gives you a good refresher of
where you are. Also, budget. Budgeting is extremely important. No
two budgets are the same, I always say that. And
what's key is that you are looking at what you've
budgeted versus what you actually got.
Iona Bain (04:40):
Well, let's get into that because the word budget means
different things to different people and it's got this quite
kind of fluid definition sometimes. What does budgeting mean to
you? How would you define it?
Bola Sol (04:51):
Oh, so I always say a budgeting forecast is a
bit like a weather forecast. Meaning, the whole point is
you can prepare as much as possible and it gives
you a sense of direction as to which way your
money's heading. However, you also know that there might be
outliers, for example, where you could get a parking fine
if you drive and you didn't expect that to happen,
(05:14):
but you now know, okay, I can reprioritize my finances
accordingly, which is why I always tell people in your
budget have a miscellaneous section, could be 50 pounds, could
be 100 pounds for things that you didn't expect to cover.
Iona Bain (05:26):
So understand what your money is doing. But are there
specific tools and techniques that you would recommend in terms
of how you actually go about organizing your finances?
Bola Sol (05:37):
Oh yes. So there's the budgeting rule, 50, 30, 20, which is
50% on your needs, 30% on your wants, and 20%
on your savings, investments and so on. That's a rule
of thumb. Everyone doesn't have to cover it in the
same ratio. But the whole point is you are able
to know the difference between your wants and needs. And I think
(05:57):
putting it into a budget will really put things into
perspective. So for example, I need to pay my mortgage
this month, do I need a new pair of trainers?
I'd like a new pair, but I don't need it
and I think it's important to differentiate.
Iona Bain (06:09):
But it's really tough because we're not really incentivized by
the culture around us to think about those longer term
gains In that way. You're not going to be encouraged
to make over- payments on your mortgage or to put
more money into your pension necessarily when you're going about
your everyday life, but you certainly are going to be
encouraged to go and spend money on clothes or go
(06:30):
traveling or do all the things that are fun in
life and that we want to create space for. So
how do you try to keep those longer term goals
in mind even when they're not really sexy and celebrated
in our wider society?
Bola Sol (06:41):
People think because I speak about money that I must
be so excited to go all the time. Yeah, let's go.
And I'm like, no, some parts are not sexy at
all. Some parts are very mundane. But one of the
things I tell myself is there's going to be a
reward at the end of this particular season. It could
be a quarter, for example. And I'm like, I'm going
to do something really fun to celebrate that. And I
(07:03):
think we all need things to look forward to.
Iona Bain (07:05):
Treat yourself within reason.
Bola Sol (07:07):
Exactly. Because I constantly have this feeling of what does
the future look like and have I prepared for it?
When you are younger you hopefully have people guiding you
to say, have you done this? Have you done that?
But as you get older they get quieter and there's
a sense of trust. So part of me always says
I don't want to let them down but I don't want
to let myself down. So sometimes I'm like, Bola, what
were you doing?
Iona Bain (07:27):
You've got to be the grown up in your life.
Bola Sol (07:30):
I love that. Literally, you have to be the grown
up in your life because no one's now marking you.
It's just you.
Iona Bain (07:35):
Yeah. And if you don't get things right, the only
person who's going to suffer is you.
Bola Sol (07:39):
Exactly.
Iona Bain (07:40):
And Bola are there practical things around building up an
emergency fund and looking more closely at your income and
managing your credit that will help with you achieving your
longer term goals?
Bola Sol (07:54):
So everyone needs to have an emergency fund no matter
how much money they make. And what we classify as
an emergency varies person to person. It could be a
family bereavement, it could be a job loss. But having
three to six months of expenses is imperative because it
stops you, in my opinion, from panicking. It allows you
(08:14):
space to think and to say, right, okay, this is
what I'm going to do first, but at least I
know I can cover this for this amount of time.
And then review your outgoings. Sometimes we don't know how
many subscriptions we have or what we're paying for, or
sometimes we realize, look, we don't really need that, but
we're still paying for it because we can afford it.
Just because you can afford it doesn't mean you should
(08:37):
pay for it. Ask yourself what's the use there? And
of course, managing credit is vital. It's good to show
that you could manage different forms of credit as well.
Iona Bain (08:47):
Because actually you need to show that you can borrow
smartly so that you can do things like take out
a mortgage in the future. But people can develop credit
phobia, which is very understandable.
Bola Sol (08:57):
Yeah, absolutely. But go into anything with discipline. Some people
can say, oh, I'm going to spend 15K on a
credit card because I know that I'm being paid 5K
a month for the next few months. And I'm like,
do you? Things change. And when they do, whether that's
through your work or through life circumstances, so don't throw
caution to the wind when it comes to credit, but
(09:19):
I believe how you manage 25 pounds is the same
as how you manage 250 and 250,000. And of course those seem
like, oh, at 250, 000 I'd manage money differently. But it's
about the habits that you set and what's important.
Iona Bain (09:37):
How does our money mindset play a role in creating
our habits for better or for worse?
Bola Sol (09:45):
I always say it's important what you tell yourself about
money internally and also externally, what you say to other
people. I try to tell people all the time, do
not have negative self- talk when it comes to your
money. It does two things. One, it may make you
less confident with how you use your own money, but
it also can give you an excuse to continue to
(10:07):
make bad mistakes, knowing you could make better suggestions and
solutions to your own life and money. So even if
you're not having the best time with your money, you
can say, I'm getting better with my finances every day.
And getting better doesn't necessarily mean that you never have
a debt or anything like that. It more means that
you are now making better conscious decisions. So I think
(10:29):
how you talk about your finances in relation to yourself
is incredibly important.
Iona Bain (10:33):
I completely agree. But when we are thinking about the
future, we can get quite anxious about how much things
will cost, which is very understandable in this world where
everything is incredibly expensive seemingly, and sometimes those goals and
dreams that we have can seem impossible. So how do we
reduce that anxiety that we might feel around money and
(10:54):
the future?
Bola Sol (10:56):
Start with good habits, which is budgeting. But also if
there's someone who can hold you accountable, whether it's a
friend, a partner, maybe someone that you speak to finances
about on a regular basis, so you can say, oh,
how's that going? Another thing, I actually think more people
should look into coaching. Sometimes just talking to someone can
really make the difference. If we had a fitness goal
(11:17):
and we felt we couldn't get there on our own,
maybe we'd get physical trainer. I think the same needs
to be done with our goals. I have clients where
we work together once and that's all they need. Maybe
they'll be back in a year or a year and
a half or never. But the whole point is that
conversation has now given them a sense of direction. Again,
the budgeting is great, good habits are great, and so
is accountability, but don't be afraid to have a conversation.
Iona Bain (11:41):
So it's also about accepting that you can't necessarily do
it all on your own. There's a lot you can
do, but actually you don't have all the answers. You
need to know where to go to get the answers,
and that could be a coach or it could just
be going online and getting more informed that way.
Bola Sol (11:55):
Yeah, absolutely.
Iona Bain (11:56):
And also people who have been in debt or are
still in debt can feel a lot of shame. How
important is it to try to strip that back so
that you can start to make more positive decisions?
Bola Sol (12:06):
Debt is a part of your finance journey, it's a
part of life for many people, and I think there's
too much shame around it. This idea that we should
always have everything together and have no debt, especially in
an ever- changing economy, is really hard. But it's about
how does it make you feel and do you feel
(12:26):
bad or do you just feel like, look, I'm going
to get out of this. It's going to take me
a while, but I have a strategy in place and
I think more people need to do that and give
themselves grace.
Iona Bain (12:36):
And compassion.
Bola Sol (12:37):
Yeah, absolutely. But also strategy. You don't want to live
in a state of being in debt either. You don't
want to just say, oh, this is the norm. You
kind of have to find a balance. And I think
what's key is anyone who has any debt, especially debt
that's not, should I say, urgent, try not to build
on that debt. And I speak to many people who
(12:57):
the debt grows and it grows, and I'm just like,
you have to find a way to stop. If you
cut up that credit card, you wouldn't be able to
spend anymore, and that's what you now need to do.
And also maybe you now need to be in a
season of saying no because you genuinely do not have
it, and that's probably better long- term than building up
that debt.
Iona Bain (13:16):
So much of this is about just trying to take
those calculated risks but not do so in a way
that's actually going to put you in a worse position
in the future potentially.
Bola Sol (13:24):
Yeah, definitely.
Iona Bain (13:25):
What are your thoughts on lifestyle creep? Because that is
something that can definitely sabotage our longer term goals. As
our income goes up, then our lifestyle can adapt to
become more lavish and become more expensive with that higher income.
Bola Sol (13:40):
If your income goes up by 50%, could you make
sure that your lifestyle only creeps up by 20? Leaving
a buffer. Some people truly make the mistake of let's
max everything out, but where does that leave space for
the future? Then there's a change in the economy and
it's like, oh my gosh, we can't afford that. So
(14:01):
I would say be aware of lifestyle creep. Doesn't mean
that you shouldn't treat yourself. I'd say always keep things
underneath maybe 40% of the total of what your income
has been raised by because you just don't want to
be in a position where you are essentially then living
paycheck to paycheck again to keep up with that life.
Iona Bain (14:19):
And if we hit a setback in terms of achieving
our goals, how did we bounce back from that? How
do we ensure that that doesn't cause us to spiral
and give up on our future?
Bola Sol (14:29):
I always say, when you are going through a setback, take time
to grieve that setback. Don't go straight into, okay, let's
just move on. Because when you don't process that setback
and ask yourself everything you need to within it, that
setback can happen again because you haven't actually learned from
it. Sometimes you need to sit in that feeling and
sit in, what caused this? If this were to happen
(14:52):
again, would I deal with it differently? And from there,
you can now say, how do I want to move
forward? Because in life, we all have setbacks. No one
is exempt from them. And those people who are willing
to fail and learn, whether privately or publicly are the
ones who are able to dust themselves up and get
up again. But I'd say make sure you deal with
it and realize that that thing was a failure. You
(15:14):
are not a failure. Do not make it so personal
and about you.
Iona Bain (15:17):
Yeah. Whatever your past mistakes are, the most important thing
is that you say, whatever happens, I'll be able to
manage and I will cope with it and we can
move forward.
Bola Sol (15:27):
Yeah.
Iona Bain (15:27):
So Bola, what are your top three tips for staying motivated
and making sure that you are on track to achieve
your goals?
Bola Sol (15:35):
I would say romanticize the discipline, not the dream. Because
so often it's easy for us to think about the
dream and not the discipline that's required to get there.
Whether it's you waking up super early and you're not
a morning person. You have to stay on top of
the discipline and people say, follow the plan, not the
(15:55):
mood, especially with your finances. Sometimes you don't want to
put money away every single month for maybe a debt
repayment or a future financial goal, but it's key that
you do for the sake of where you want to
get to. Number two, keep building good habits and keep
refreshing on those good habits. So just always remember, it's
(16:15):
a marathon. It's not a sprint. It's so important to
keep learning and to keep growing. And my third tip
is understand which season you are in and learn to give yourself
empathy based on that season. You have to be so
kind to yourself when the economy changes or people can
have plans, and then maybe they're made redundant from a
(16:37):
job. People could have plans to buy a house and
maybe they found out that they're with child earlier than
expected and know it will all work out. When you
look back, you'll be like, hey, this worked out. But
it's about how did you treat yourself? Sometimes there's seasons
for you to rest more and there's seasons that you
need to come out swinging and fighting and making sure
you're working hard. But no matter what, give yourself grace
(16:59):
in the season you're in.
Iona Bain (17:00):
I love that message. Bola, thank you so much for
joining us.
Bola Sol (17:03):
Thanks for having me.
Iona Bain (17:06):
Thank you so much, Bola. We got so many good
ideas there for how we can plan our financial futures.
Next time, financial content creator and advisor, Rotimi Merriman- Johnson
will join us to give us some great advice on
how to start building your investment portfolio. I'd love it
if you could follow the podcast, leave us a review
and help others get a little bit richer too. You
(17:28):
can keep up with the show on TikTok and Instagram at Legal &
General, where we'll be sharing loads of behind- the- scenes
content and you can catch our full video episodes on
YouTube. Thanks for listening. Until next time, see you soon.
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