My safety net? It’s a pension
He’s an expert on risk but stuntman Nicholas Daines is safe with money
Q What did your parents teach you about money?
A TO SAVE and not get into debt. It was always drummed into me how much things cost and how important money was. My father was a commercial pilot and my mother was a stay-at-home mum. There were four of us kids and although we always had what we needed, we did not get everything we wanted. Money was tightly controlled. There was not a lot of it to spare.
Q How much pocket money did you get as a child?
A THREE pounds a week, from the age of nine until I could get a paper round. My parents were keen I worked for any money. I was also acutely aware my gymnastics training was costing them a lot so I wanted to earn my own spending money as soon as I could.
For about three years, from the age of 11, I got up ridiculously early and did at least one four-mile paper round every morning. Because I am small, sometimes on a Sunday I would actually fall off my bike with the weight of the papers.
Then after school, I would do gymnastics training for three-anda-half hours every day. I would get home at 8.30pm or 9pm and be up again at 6am for the paper round. It taught me to be disciplined.
Q Have you ever struggled to make ends meet?
A YES, when I took myself off to Hollywood when I was 21. I had always dreamt of being in the movies so I went there without much money, not realising how expensive it would be. I ended up homeless. I did not sleep on the streets – I would stay in hostels or sleep on friends’ couches. I did that for five months. It was a tough period.
I used to survive on Doritos, which cost 69 cents. That was the cheapest food I could buy and two bags of those would fill me up. Well, not really. I was always hungry.
Then I got lucky. A friend of a friend offered me the empty basement of his property to live in for free while it was being renovated. It was a wreck, full of rat traps.
Sometimes there would be this strange, horrendous smell where I was sleeping. Then I would wake up and find a dead rat. But at least my housing crisis had come to an end. All I cared about was that I was in Hollywood with an agent, going to auditions. It was exciting.
Q Have you ever been paid silly money for a job?
A YES. I have done lots of commercials over the years. If you add up all the fees and royalties I get paid, it is crazy money. It is not unusual for me to earn £3,000 an hour. The one that really stands out is a Burger King commercial. I got paid £20,000 for running across some desks and diving through a plategl ass window with a burger. The idea was t he burger was s o cheap it was a steal. Admittedly, it was a dangerous stunt. If you do not detonate the glass with explosives at just the right time as you jump through it, you will just smash into the win- dow. Luckily it all went well and I only had to do it twice.
Q What is the most expensive thing you have bought just for fun?
A A £6,000 trip to the Galapagos Islands and the Amazon in 2005. I stayed in a five-star luxury resort in the middle of the jungle in Ecuador for a week. Normally, I rough it in the jungle so it was a real treat for me.
Q What is the biggest money mistake you’ve ever made?
A NOT buying a ten- bedroom property in Cape Town in 2000 for the equivalent of £95,000.
Every bedroom had either a mountain or a sea view. It was a nobrainer but the rand was so volatile at the time I decided not to go ahead.
Today, that place is probably worth £1.7 million.
Q What has been your best money decision?
A BUYING my t wo- bedroom home on the Welsh Harp reservoir in North London. I love living there. It is private, I have a roof deck with a Jacuzzi where I will sit and watch the sunset, overlooking the water. I bought it off plan four years ago for about £300,000. Judging by how prices have gone up since then, it could well have more than doubled in value.
I knew it was going to be a good investment. It was offered on one of those ‘first come, first served’ sales from Barratt, so the night before the sale I put my sleeping bag on the pavement and slept outside the gate to get it. That is how much I wanted it. I was the first one there. Recently, I bought a onebedroom property in the same development as a long-term buy-tolet investment.
Q Do you save into a pension or invest in the stock market?
A I STARTED saving into a pension when I was 28 because my dad kept nagging me to do it. I invest a small percentage of my income every month into a low-risk balanced fund. I am too busy to invest in stocks and shares outside of my pension. I sometimes think about getting into it, but right now, I do not have the time.
Q What is your one little luxury you like to treat yourself to?
A MY WORK is physically demanding so I will have a £ 60 massage once every fortnight.
I also love South African red wine and will often treat myself to a £20 bottle of wine from the Meerlust Estate and drink it sitting in my Jacuzzi.
Q If you were Chancellor of the Exchequer, what is the first thing you would do?
A I WOULD double the money we currently put into educat io n a nd t he Nati o nal Healt h Service.
I think educating the next generation and investing in doctors are the most valuable things we can do as a society.
Q Do you think it is important to give to charity?
A YES, everyone can do their bit. I am an ambassador for cons er v a t i o n ch a r i t y Orangut a n Appeal and getting involved with it has been the best thing I have ever done.
I drop everything when they call and help in any way I can. I recently helped release two rehabilitated orangutans back into the wild. I am about to go to Borneo again to support the charity.
I donate at least a month of my t i me every si x months. It is rewarding.
Q What is your number one financial priority?
A TO BUILD up my savings for when I retire. What I do in my work is dangerous. Knowing I have got a pension and some property gives me peace of mind. Nicholas Daines was talking to Donna Ferguson.