The difference between rich and poor

🔸 Plus: The new King Charles bank notes are here 🔸 UK high street chains are increasingly owned by Americans 🔸 One man’s FIRE plan is derailed by house repairs 🔸

Your 2-minute guide to demystifying money and making you richer

The markets, year-to-date

• S&P 500: 5,352.96 ⬆️ 12.86%

• FTSE 100: 8,285.34 ⬆️ 7.30%

• Bitcoin: $71,097.80 ⬆️ 60.84%

• GBP to USD: $1.2787 ⬆️ 0.47%

• GBP to EUR: €1.1745 ⬆️ 0.013%

Wealth comes from assets not wages

I didn’t think much about money in my 20s because I didn’t have any. I graduated from Lancaster University right into a recession, and the only jobs I could get were part-time and minimum wage: I packed boxes at a factory in the mornings and worked behind the bar of a local nightclub called The Sugarhouse in the evening. I didn’t make enough money to pay the rent and at one point I ended up on benefits. 

There was a particularly grim period of several months where I saved money on food by taking a long bath at lunchtime — the pressure of the water on my stomach stopped me from feeling hungry until it was time for dinner.

I realised that staying in a small town with no jobs wasn’t sustainable, so I moved. 

Time passed

I got a proper…