How Westlife star lost £1 million in property crash
Q What did your parents teach you about money?
A NOTHING really. We did not talk about money. My father was a sales rep for a pharmaceutical company and my mum was a teacher.
We were not super rich but we had a holiday every year and my parents provided everything we needed.
Q What was the first paid work you did?
A DELIVERING leaflets to people’s houses for a penny per leaflet. I was 14 or 15. I did not enjoy it. It would take me half an hour to make 30p.
It actually made me realise that I needed to work harder at school so I did not end up working for that kind of wage for the rest of my life.
Q Have you ever struggled to make ends meet?
A NO. I was only 17 when I auditioned for Westlife and we were pretty much making millions within the first six months of our careers.
Since then, doing concerts and gigs has always paid my bills. I have never struggled all the time I have been making music, which is about 20 years.
Q Did you anticipate making millions as a pop star?
A NO – and I would have been a pop star for free. Making albums was always my dream.
I never thought about the money. None of us ever imagined we would make money on the scale that we did. Our first seven singles all went to number one all over the world. We did not get much chance to enjoy the money we were making at the time though. We were working too hard. It was a crazy time.
Q Have you ever been paid silly money?
A YES, when I was a judge on Australia’s Got Talent. I was paid an extortionate amount of money for that, for the little amount of work I actually had to do. When I think about the fact that we did about five days of sitting behind a desk watching people sing, then judged six or seven live shows – I was paid way too much for that job. The fee was not far off £1million.
Q What was the best year of your financial life?
A IT was 2004, the year after I left Westlife and started my solo career. I got a massive record deal as a solo artist and received a lot of money upfront for that. My first solo single went to No.1 all over Europe and I went from sharing the money I was earning five ways to all of a sudden having it all to myself.
Q What is the most expensive thing you bought for fun?
A A RED Ferrari F430 for 250,000 Australian dollars (£138,000), when I was living in Australia. I have always loved cars and bought it just because I could.
Q What is your biggest money mistake?
A GETTING married – because you lose a lot of money when you get divorced. No, I am only joking. The biggest money mistake I ever made was buying properties in Ireland around 2000. Within two years the housing market had crashed and they were probably worth only half of what I had bought them for. I think I lost close to £1million in total.
Q Do you save into a pension or invest in the stock market?
A NO I do not. I have never been focused on making money that way. As far as I am concerned, I work and get paid, and that will do for me.
Q Do you own any property?
A NO, not any more. I live with my partner. She has got her own house. Too many times in my life I have bought a house and moved out six months later.
Over the years, I have bought in Los Angeles, New York, Sydney, London and Manchester. I have now decided I am not going to buy another property until I stay in the same place for a long time.
Q What little luxury do you treat yourself to?
A A NEW £500 golf club every three months. Every time a new driver comes out, I want to buy it.
Q If you were Chancellor what would you do?
A I WOULD be the worst Chancellor ever. I would stop everyone paying taxes until they sacked me. It would turn the country upside down but at least everyone would have a few extra quid in their pocket for a year.
Q Do you donate money to charity?
A YES I do, and I am the president of the Bubble Foundation, which raises funds for children born with no immune system.
Q What is your number one financial priority?
A MY children. I want to make sure that my kids get a good education and have enough money to buy homes for themselves when they are adults.