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In our How I Manage My Money series we aim to find out how people in the UK are spending, saving and investing money to meet their costs and achieve their goals.
This week we speak to Mat Gay, 27, who lives in Rugby with his fiancée. Mat, an automotive technician and online content creator, purchased his first home when he was 22 and is passionate about personal finance. He’d love to be the next Martin Lewis. Mat wants to retire in his fifties and would like to have £2m stashed away for later life.
Monthly budget
My monthly income: The take-home monthly pay from my main job as an automotive technician is around £3,393 per month.
In the last tax year, I made just shy of £20,000 from The Quid Squid and my social media work. My income from this is variable.
My monthly outgoings: Mortgage, £783; groceries, £218; council tax, £165; gas and electric, £180; water, £40; broadband, £26; mobile, £22 – but less with cashback; home insurance, £22; car insurance, £44; petrol, £305; Nationwide Plus account, £13; gym, £22; money into stocks and shares ISA with InvestEngine, £305; work pension, £200; SIPP, £200; paintings, £196. Other discretionary spend for the month usually comes in at around £305.
I was a chronic overspender when I was younger! I didn’t realise it was happening until my dad, who worked in insurance, sat me down and told me I hadn’t been saving as much as he thought I would. I wasn’t buying anything in particular or anything luxurious. My habit of overspending had just crept up on me.
I didn’t go to university and began an apprenticeship when I was 18. Starting work from a young age helped me start to appreciate the importance of saving. I knew I wanted to buy a house by the time I finished my apprenticeship, and became fixated on this goal. It’s fair to say I was a recluse during my apprenticeship.
I did manage to buy my first home when I was 22. It’s a three-bedroom terraced house and cost £240,000. I saved up a healthy £35,000 deposit. I believe the house is now worth over £300,000. The mortgage rate is 0.99 per cent, but this deal is coming to an end in November, so I am expecting the rate to rise significantly. I plan to use a mortgage broker to help me find the best deal, but will also bring the deals I’m able to find myself to the table.
By day, I now work as an automotive technician, specialising in prototype software development. I earn over £50,000 a year.
I started posting personal finance content on TikTok in May 2022. In my first year, I made around £700 from my social media work. I’ve since expanded my online content and run The Quid Squid website and social media channels. I made nearly £20,000 from my social media work last year, with brand partnerships proving helpful.
I became really keen on investing after reading a book by John C Bogles titled The Little Book of Common Sense Investing. This helped me understand the need for solid long-term returns. I invest small amounts each month to utilise dollar cost averaging and keep my money in accounts with low fees.
I put £305 a month into a stocks and shares ISA with InvestEngine and am aiming to start maxing out my £20,000 a year allowance. To date, the return on my stocks and shares ISA stands at 36 per cent and I have £7,737 saved up in it. I’m keen on their low fees and know that signing up to the wrong provider can cost people thousands in fees over a lifetime.
I also have an easy access cash ISA, which I keep as an emergency fund. I try to keep about three to six months’ worth of my monthly outgoings in this account. I am not worried about this eroding in value as I try to keep my investment portfolio diverse.
I enjoy investing in paintings and typically spend just under £200 a month on them. I am buying them as investments, but some would be difficult to part with. In 2020 I purchased a painting by Bob Dylan for £4,000. I purchased the painting using a zero per cent finance deal, which I’d only recommend people use if they can afford to pay for the item outright and ensure it won’t affect their credit score. As well as Bob Dylan paintings, I’m buying collage work by Tom Butler.
I recently opened a self-invested personal pension (SIPP) with Vanguard, and have started adding £200 a month to it. I don’t want to be a financial burden on my family in future and am planning to slowly increase how much I add to my pension pots, focusing largely on my SIPP. The tax benefits of a SIPP are good and I’m not too worried about the fees. What’s more, the current state pension is extremely small and I don’t think people should rely on this to support them in later life.
I would like to retire in my fifties and would like a retirement pot of around £50,000 a year, coming from investments and pension pots. A pot of £2m by the time I retire would be optimal for me.
My wedding in the Midlands is just under a month away. In total, it’s costing us about £20,000, and we’ve had some help from family. We’ve also been putting £200 a month into a separate account to use as a wedding fund. Our wedding venue is reasonably priced and I feel like we’ve managed to keep costs down while not detracting from the day.
While it may seem surprising, I am not really motivated by money any more. I didn’t start The Quid Squid as a side-hustle, it was just supposed to be for sharing some knowledge and having some fun. It has now turned into a side-hustle, which is just a bonus to me.
I am not driven by the prospect of having a huge mansion and a super expensive car. I just want enough to support my lifestyle, with a few nice things, a holiday or two a year and having a safety net so that if and when things go wrong, I am financially prepared for them.
I’d like to be able to invest enough money to ensure I can enjoy a carefree retirement, and maybe a 1996 Ford Mustang at some point if I’m lucky. I’m extremely happy with the amount of money I’m earning now, but it’d be good to be on £80,000 or £90,000 a year.
I’m passionate about personal finance and would like to be the next Martin Lewis, particularly when it comes to his reach and ability to get people talking openly about money. I want to build a community which enables people to talk about money freely and be more aware of things like using credit wisely, saving and budgeting.
Want to take part in How I Manage My Money? Email money@inews.co.uk
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