Speaker 1: This series is bought to you by L& G, helping you build a
Speaker 1: future that's a little bit richer.
Iona Bain: Hello, I'm Iona Bain, and welcome to A Little Bit
Iona Bain: Richer, brought to you by Legal & General. Now, as we're
Iona Bain: in the thick of the festive season, I thought we'd
Iona Bain: do something a wee bit different, and dare I say, a
Iona Bain: wee bit Christmasy. Today, we're diving into the 12 financial days of
Iona Bain: Christmas. Yep. 12 quick, simple, feel good money tips that
Iona Bain: we've learned on the show this year to help you
Iona Bain: finish the year strong and set yourself up for an
Iona Bain: even better one in 2026. No partridges, no pear trees,
Iona Bain: just practical bite- sized ideas you can actually use from
Iona Bain: the guests we've had on the show. So whether you're
Iona Bain: wrapping gifts, traveling home, or hiding from your in laws
Iona Bain: with a pair of headphones, we've all been there. Let's
Iona Bain: jump into day one. First up is financial advisor and
Iona Bain: content creator, Rotimi Merriman-Johnson, who shared some great insights on
Iona Bain: building your investment portfolio. I particularly loved his tip around
Iona Bain: the importance of diversifying.
Rotimi Merriman-Johnson: So diversification in simple terms means not putting all your
Rotimi Merriman-Johnson: eggs in one basket. And the reason why we do
Rotimi Merriman-Johnson: this is because different companies will go through different cycles
Rotimi Merriman-Johnson: and will perform differently at different times. And rather than
Rotimi Merriman-Johnson: have a scenario where you're just invested into one company
Rotimi Merriman-Johnson: and you're hoping that that company does well, you build
Rotimi Merriman-Johnson: what's called a portfolio of companies. You can do this
Rotimi Merriman-Johnson: yourself or you can use a fund. So if you
Rotimi Merriman-Johnson: pick the right stock, then you can do really well
Rotimi Merriman-Johnson: off the back of it, potentially. But it also means
Rotimi Merriman-Johnson: that if the company doesn't do so well, your investment
Rotimi Merriman-Johnson: can go to zero. If you were using an index
Rotimi Merriman-Johnson: fund that tracked the UK stock market, the FTSE 100, you
Rotimi Merriman-Johnson: would have 100 companies in that fund. So for your
Rotimi Merriman-Johnson: money to go to zero, it would require a hundred
Rotimi Merriman-Johnson: companies to go to zero, which I think if that's
Rotimi Merriman-Johnson: happened, we have bigger problems to worry about.
Iona Bain: Yes. Our second tip comes from Helen Tupper, author of
Iona Bain: The Squiggly Career and co- founder of Amazing If. Helen
Iona Bain: was full of practical advice, and here she is talking about
Iona Bain: how to tackle the fear of failure when making a
Iona Bain: career change.
Helen Tupper: So there's this fear- based response to change. And then
Helen Tupper: there is a very practical one of, " No, but what
Helen Tupper: if I don't enjoy it?"
Iona Bain: Yes.
Helen Tupper: It's not a fear. It's a real thing. What if
Helen Tupper: I am not good at it? I've not done this
Helen Tupper: before. So I think there are two different things to
Helen Tupper: work on here. So the first one is caging confidence, (inaudible)
Helen Tupper: , and the second one is sort of trying to
Helen Tupper: get some exposure and experience before you kind of make
Helen Tupper: that move so that you mitigate the risk of it
Helen Tupper: going wrong. A lot of that is moving from sort
Helen Tupper: of limiting beliefs like, " What if people don't like me in
Helen Tupper: that team? If I fail, I'm going to be a
Helen Tupper: failure." All these kind of statements that go around our
Helen Tupper: head to more limitless thinking. So when I say limitless
Helen Tupper: beliefs, all I'm saying is change the story. So not, "
Helen Tupper: Well, if I do it and I fail, then everyone's
Helen Tupper: going to think I'm a failure." More, " Well, if I do it and I
Helen Tupper: fail, at least I'm going to learn."
Iona Bain: On our third day of Christmas, let's look at pensions
Iona Bain: and the power behind them. Here I talk to L&
Iona Bain: G's Pete Gladwell, all about how your pension savings can
Iona Bain: be invested to help build better communities, doing stuff for
Iona Bain: the greater good. That sounds pretty Christmasy to me.
Pete Gladwell: Your pension does have a power. It can have real
Pete Gladwell: impact. It is worth thinking about who you're entrusting your
Pete Gladwell: pension pot to, because it might feel like a small
Pete Gladwell: amount to you, but when it's combined with millions of
Pete Gladwell: other people's pensions, it starts to be a game changing,
Pete Gladwell: a town changing, a city, changing a country changing amount
Pete Gladwell: of money.
Iona Bain: Oh, I like that. That's great.
Pete Gladwell: It's true. I mean, you're talking about serious amounts of
Pete Gladwell: money. So think about the impact and the provider that
Pete Gladwell: you're entrusting your pensions and savings to. That's the first
Pete Gladwell: thing. But again, you've got the power to change the
Pete Gladwell: industry. Where people put their pensions is what the industry
Pete Gladwell: then moves to accommodate. So if you have lots of
Pete Gladwell: people telling their providers, " I don't want to be invested
Pete Gladwell: in these sectors and I really care about these things,"
Pete Gladwell: then providers like Legal & General and others will start to
Pete Gladwell: create funds for you to invest in those. So even
Pete Gladwell: within your choice, you can affect what the industry does
Pete Gladwell: in future and affect that trend in the industry towards
Pete Gladwell: being more considerate of the environmental and social impact of
Pete Gladwell: the billions of pounds of money that we steward.
Iona Bain: Next up on our list is accountant, campaigner, and speaker,
Iona Bain: Crystal McGillivray, who joined me to talk about neurodiversity and
Iona Bain: money. Here she is talking about strategies to put in
Iona Bain: place to manage debt. And I think that's something we
Iona Bain: can all learn a lot from.
Crystal McGillivray: First of all, I'd say stop, pause, breathe, and know
Crystal McGillivray: that you can get through. And I think second, just
Crystal McGillivray: take an audit, note down, " Okay, this is what I
Crystal McGillivray: have here. These are the terms and conditions here." And
Crystal McGillivray: then it's slowly working your way through various different methods,
Crystal McGillivray: a kind of avalanche and snowball method, and it can
Crystal McGillivray: be quite fun actually, as you watch that journey of
Crystal McGillivray: your debt reducing and know that you have done that,
Crystal McGillivray: once you're on that journey, the progress that you make
Crystal McGillivray: then becomes very self- motivating.
Iona Bain: 100%. But you have to start that journey in the
Iona Bain: first place.
Crystal McGillivray: You have to start. Yeah. And even starting with five pounds, because what we're doing
Crystal McGillivray: there is we're building this new habit and that's the
Crystal McGillivray: key. You are teaching yourself and learning and building up
Crystal McGillivray: the confidence that I can commit to paying money to
Crystal McGillivray: clear a debt that I have. That's you being responsible.
Crystal McGillivray: And once you start that journey, it starts to snowball
Crystal McGillivray: and you feel really good.
Iona Bain: That's so encouraging and heartening. Let's come to The Mortgage
Iona Bain: Mum, Sarah Tucker next, who guided us through the remortgaging
Iona Bain: process. Sarah had some great advice on checking your mortgage
Iona Bain: deal so you can make sure you're getting the best rate.
Sarah Tucker: What we see is a lot of people don't ring
Sarah Tucker: their bank, they don't switch the rate. They go onto
Sarah Tucker: what's called a standard variable rate. They pay a lot
Sarah Tucker: more money and they don't talk to us because they're
Sarah Tucker: worried. What if I talk to an advisor and then they
Sarah Tucker: tell me I can't have my mortgage and they take
Sarah Tucker: my house away? That is not going to happen. So
Sarah Tucker: my biggest message is go and speak to... Hopefully the
Sarah Tucker: advisor you used in the first place is the one
Sarah Tucker: to contact you six months before your rate ends and
Sarah Tucker: just tell them what's going on right now for you,
Sarah Tucker: what's happened in the last few years and let them
Sarah Tucker: guide you through.
Iona Bain: Yeah, because the standard variable rate is not going to
Iona Bain: be a good deal for you.
Sarah Tucker: It's not. It's the highest option out of the three.
Sarah Tucker: And you can be talking about hundreds of pounds a
Sarah Tucker: month more and so many people are on it. This
Sarah Tucker: is what's crazy. 1. 8 million people coming off of
Sarah Tucker: their fixed rate deals and there will be a huge
Sarah Tucker: number that do nothing. And that is a mission for
Sarah Tucker: us to try and get through to those people and say, "
Sarah Tucker: Don't do nothing because then you're just going to switch
Sarah Tucker: onto the variable rate."
Iona Bain: Because it's crazy, but it's a very, very understandable mistake
Iona Bain: to make whereby you just think, " Hang on a second, I've
Iona Bain: really got no choice but to do this," whereas you're
Iona Bain: making it clear, " No, it doesn't have to be like
Iona Bain: that." We're officially halfway through our 12 financial days of Christmas. And
Iona Bain: on my list next is life admin, specifically combining your
Iona Bain: pension savings into one pot. Yep, you might square them
Iona Bain: at the thought, but actually I had a really interesting
Iona Bain: chat with L& G's Mike Crossley all about this subject.
Iona Bain: He broke it down for us in easy, doable steps,
Iona Bain: and that's music to my ears. Here's Mike talking about
Iona Bain: how you can stay on top of your pensions.
Mike Crossley: If you've got three, four, five different pensions, it can
Mike Crossley: be tricky to understand how much have you saved, are
Mike Crossley: your savings on track to give you what might be
Mike Crossley: a good income in retirement. So bringing them together can
Mike Crossley: be a really positive first step towards getting on top
Mike Crossley: of your retirement savings.
Iona Bain: So it's a question of not forgetting that you have
Iona Bain: pension pots and therefore being able to maximize what you
Iona Bain: have much more effectively.
Mike Crossley: Yeah. So really important not to be one of those
Mike Crossley: people who's lost an old pension. And it can happen
Mike Crossley: so easily. As people move house and stuff, they forget
Mike Crossley: to tell their pension provider. And then when you try
Mike Crossley: and remember, " What was that pension I had 5, 10
Mike Crossley: years ago," really easy to fall into that trap. So
Mike Crossley: bringing them together, perhaps after you've just changed job and
Mike Crossley: you've got a new pension, it's a great way of
Mike Crossley: keeping on top and actually reducing your life admins, you're
Mike Crossley: not then needing to tell five different pension providers each
Mike Crossley: time you move.
Iona Bain: That's a very good point. Often when we are reluctant
Iona Bain: to do something in the short term, actually we're just
Iona Bain: storing up more problems for the long term. It could
Iona Bain: actually save us time in the long run. We're on
Iona Bain: day seven now, and up next is Dr. Eliza Filby.
Iona Bain: Eliza is a historian, author, and generational expert, and we had
Iona Bain: a fascinating chat about inheritance. Here she is talking about
Iona Bain: how some people can only really afford properties if they
Iona Bain: have the bank of mom and dad.
Dr. Eliza Filby: Bringing into the conversation, this bank of mom and dad.
Dr. Eliza Filby: And there was a lot of shame, still is a
Dr. Eliza Filby: lot of shame on that parental dependency. There's a lot
Dr. Eliza Filby: of unsaid, whispered, " How did she afford that deposit," in
Dr. Eliza Filby: friendship groups. There's a lot of silence in families talking
Dr. Eliza Filby: about gifting, dependency, certainly about inheritance. There's a level of
Dr. Eliza Filby: economic infantilization that a lot of people feel when it
Dr. Eliza Filby: comes to their parents. And I think you need to
Dr. Eliza Filby: be much more open, both if you're in a privileged
Dr. Eliza Filby: position of having the bank of mom and dad, but
Dr. Eliza Filby: also if you're not, actually creating a greater level of
Dr. Eliza Filby: empathy amongst your friendship groups and saying, " Do you know
Dr. Eliza Filby: what? I can't spend 2000 pounds on attending your hem
Dr. Eliza Filby: party and wedding because I'm not in the position that
Dr. Eliza Filby: you are." And I think talking about it in your
Dr. Eliza Filby: peer groups, but also talking about it within your family
Dr. Eliza Filby: and also talking about it in society. Because one of the
Dr. Eliza Filby: things that I'm really passionate about is helping people understand
Dr. Eliza Filby: the social and economic forces that actually govern their lives.
Dr. Eliza Filby: And I think basically what's happened since 2008 to 2025 is that the state
Dr. Eliza Filby: has shrunk, the market's become dysfunctional and the parents have
Dr. Eliza Filby: stepped up. Stepped up from a point of love. And
Dr. Eliza Filby: I'm not someone that believes that inheritance should be taxed
Dr. Eliza Filby: into oblivion. It's about creating and having a conversation where
Dr. Eliza Filby: inheritance matters less and an economy where inheritance matters less
Dr. Eliza Filby: because it ultimately is demotivating.
Iona Bain: We're coming up next to my episode with financial advisor,
Iona Bain: Emmanuel Asuquo, and we had a great chat about side hustles.
Iona Bain: And in this clip, he talks about how you can
Iona Bain: make some extra money through passive income streams.
Emmanuel Asuquo: Passive income streams are the dream, they're like Midas' gold,
Emmanuel Asuquo: they're... What we're looking for is basically... Passive income stream
Emmanuel Asuquo: is where you put money into something and then it
Emmanuel Asuquo: gives you an income each month, each year without you
Emmanuel Asuquo: having to go back and work for it. So your
Emmanuel Asuquo: money is working for you. Now, it sounds really difficult
Emmanuel Asuquo: and really hard, but there are some ways that you
Emmanuel Asuquo: can do this. So for example, I meet people who
Emmanuel Asuquo: have a spare room. So you could rent out that
Emmanuel Asuquo: room, no additional work, and every month that room, or
Emmanuel Asuquo: every week, depending on how you rent it out, could be
Emmanuel Asuquo: making you money. So that could be considered passively. Or
Emmanuel Asuquo: you could have a car. Some people get a car
Emmanuel Asuquo: and then they rent out that car. And again, they're
Emmanuel Asuquo: getting income from that car every single month. So it
Emmanuel Asuquo: all depends on what you're doing, but typically, I would
Emmanuel Asuquo: say that most things, although they say they're passive, require
Emmanuel Asuquo: work. Anything that you're making money from needs to be
Emmanuel Asuquo: maintained and tends to need to acquire work. So one
Emmanuel Asuquo: of the big ones people talk about is property. So
Emmanuel Asuquo: owning a property and renting it out. But even if
Emmanuel Asuquo: you rent out that property, even if you get an
Emmanuel Asuquo: estate agent to manage that, there's still work to be done
Emmanuel Asuquo: because they may need to be updating to the property.
Emmanuel Asuquo: There may be times when the property is empty, you
Emmanuel Asuquo: may need to help with the marketing. There's work to
Emmanuel Asuquo: be done to really maintain that income and make sure
Emmanuel Asuquo: that that grows and works on. So I'd say passive
Emmanuel Asuquo: sounds amazing, but the reality is that there normally needs
Emmanuel Asuquo: work to be done.
Iona Bain: We talk a lot on the show about planning for
Iona Bain: the long term and creating that future that you'll be
Iona Bain: thankful for. And with that in mind, here's financial coach
Iona Bain: and content creator, Laura Ann Moore, who gave us a
Iona Bain: genius hack on how to trick your brain into saving.
Laura Ann Moore: So I'm not a massive fan of no spend months.
Iona Bain: Yeah, that feels very restrictive.
Laura Ann Moore: So restrictive. Where's the fun?
Iona Bain: No.
Laura Ann Moore: But no spend zones would be, " Okay, where are my
Laura Ann Moore: biggest triggers with overspending? Where do I spend when I
Laura Ann Moore: look back and go, 'Oh, really wish I hadn't done
Laura Ann Moore: that?'" They're the places that you would put a bit
Laura Ann Moore: more of a rule around. For example, if your weakness
Laura Ann Moore: is after work, tired, can't be arsed to cook, you
Laura Ann Moore: know you're going to be getting a Deliveroo, afterwards you're like, " Oh,
Laura Ann Moore: I could have probably even made that for half the
Laura Ann Moore: price." So if you know that's your trigger, you would say, "
Laura Ann Moore: Okay, I am going to maybe do no Deliveroos during
Laura Ann Moore: the week." Or you can step foot outside in London
Laura Ann Moore: and before you know it, you've spent 100 pounds. So maybe
Laura Ann Moore: you say, " Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, I don't spend before 12: 00
Laura Ann Moore: PM." Just zones of the day, of the week, where
Laura Ann Moore: you just make an active choice to not spend as
Laura Ann Moore: much, therefore allowing you to save a bit more.
Iona Bain: We're on to day 10 now. I'm going to chat about relationships
Iona Bain: because when they go from the fun and frolics of
Iona Bain: dating to having those difficult conversations about your future together,
Iona Bain: let's face it, you've got to be honest and transparent.
Iona Bain: So here's financial advisor Bola Sol on how to have
Iona Bain: that tricky chat.
Bola Sol: Their response is incredibly important. So whatever the situation may
Bola Sol: be when you bring up finances, are they short with
Bola Sol: you? Are they snappy? You have to look at all
Bola Sol: those things. Are they avoidant or do they communicate with
Bola Sol: you and say, " Okay, I can do this next week
Bola Sol: and so on and so on." I think their response is
Bola Sol: very important as well. Having the conversation, even if it's
Bola Sol: not sexy. Sometimes you have to talk about the hard
Bola Sol: things and do the hard things. That's how long- term
Bola Sol: relationships work. When you hear people say, " Oh, we've been
Bola Sol: together 15 or 20 years," and everyone kind of claps
Bola Sol: by hearing that. I'm like, " I'm sure they've had a
Bola Sol: conversation or two about finances," and other things as well,
Bola Sol: relationships in different formats, friendships, professional career and so on.
Bola Sol: So I just say, just see finance as one part
Bola Sol: of that as opposed to all of it.
Iona Bain: Now our 11th tip is about a subject that doesn't
Iona Bain: exactly make our hearts race, but it is a really
Iona Bain: important one. And that's why we did not just one,
Iona Bain: but two great episodes with accountant, Tim Paul. Yep, we
Iona Bain: were talking about tax and he broke down all those
Iona Bain: technical terms that we find a bit scary and showed
Iona Bain: us that tax really isn't as daunting as we might
Iona Bain: think. Here's Tim talking through some quick wins.
Tim Paul: The first thing I would say is checking your tax
Tim Paul: code. For majority of people, this should be 1257L to
Tim Paul: reflect the personal allowance that I mentioned earlier. If your
Tim Paul: code on your payslip is anything other than 1257L and you
Tim Paul: don't know why, then immediately you want to contact your
Tim Paul: employer and get that sorted out. That'd be the first
Tim Paul: thing. The second thing I would say is there's a
Tim Paul: government app now, HMRC have an app, the government have
Tim Paul: an app. Download both because what you can do is you can go on
Tim Paul: the app and you can actually put in your details
Tim Paul: and then it can tell you what benefits and allowances
Tim Paul: you're entitled to, childcare, the child benefits, marriage allowance, those
Tim Paul: kinds of things. So it's actually a very, very good
Tim Paul: app. I've worked with the government a few times to
Tim Paul: promote it and I use it myself and it does
Tim Paul: give you all the information that you need, your national
Tim Paul: insurance contributions, how much tax you're paying, your self- assessment
Tim Paul: record, even your national insurance number, everything like that. So
Tim Paul: yeah, that would be the second thing, see what you
Tim Paul: can get. And then the third thing is the pensions point. Get
Tim Paul: your pension sorted. If you don't know what pots you've
Tim Paul: got where, or if you don't know how much you're
Tim Paul: contributing, if you don't know how much your employer's contributing,
Tim Paul: find that out, find out what the pension's getting invested
Tim Paul: into. Make sure that you've got that sorted because that
Tim Paul: is the quickest win in order to make sure that
Tim Paul: you're not overpaying on your taxes.
Iona Bain: It's a 12th day of Christmas. Hurrah, we made it.
Iona Bain: For our last tip, we're going out strong. We're going
Iona Bain: to hear from Claer Barrett, who I had a great
Iona Bain: discussion with on pensions versus property. Here's Claer explaining why
Iona Bain: most people prioritize one over the other.
Claer Barrett: Ask any young person at any point over the last
Claer Barrett: 20 or 30 years, " Which one are you going to prioritize?" Of course
Claer Barrett: it's going to be property because we want to get
Claer Barrett: on the housing ladder. We've seen what house prices can
Claer Barrett: do and the impact of owning an asset, which could
Claer Barrett: rise in value. No guarantees, of course, that that's going
Claer Barrett: to keep happening, certainly keep happening at the same rate in the
Claer Barrett: future, but it's been a one- way escalator for generations
Claer Barrett: past. And you can also tell your landlord to do one.
Claer Barrett: I think for many people, it's that, that's the motivation,
Claer Barrett: the insecurity of living in rented accommodation as well as
Claer Barrett: the huge cost. Maybe you're living with your parents for
Claer Barrett: longer in order to save up for a property. These
Claer Barrett: are all factors that are pushing young people towards prioritizing
Claer Barrett: property over retirement, which seems like a very, very distant dream.
Iona Bain: Well, that wraps up our 12 financial days of Christmas,
Iona Bain: 12 tiny tweaks that together can make a surprisingly big
Iona Bain: difference to your long- term financial health. If you try
Iona Bain: even one or two of these over the holiday break
Iona Bain: or beyond, let us know. You can get in touch
Iona Bain: with us on TikTok and Instagram @ legalandgeneral. And don't forget, you can watch
Iona Bain: all our full episodes on YouTube. If you enjoyed this
Iona Bain: episode, feel free to share it with a friend who's
Iona Bain: looking for a little festive money motivation. We'll be back
Iona Bain: on January the 1st with a book club special to get your
Iona Bain: new year off to a brilliant start. This podcast is
Iona Bain: brought to you by L& G. I hope you have
Iona Bain: a wonderful Christmas and see you very soon.