I’ll save cash in 2021 – by shopping the old fashioned way
Our team of money experts reveal their New Year’s resolutions
Save and save some more
LOCKDOWN caused me to reset my savings dial. Unable to go out and do the things I love – listen to live music, go to the cinema and travel the country watching West Bromwich Albion Football Club – I went into squirrel mode and saved.
It is a habit I want to continue in 2021, although of course I would love to once again attend Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club in London – and spend a damp Saturday somewhere in the North West watching WBA getting thumped again – and again.
So my mission is to keep saving and investing – building a Prestridge fortress, strong enough to protect me from whatever is thrown at me.
Less West Brom, more bricks for my fortress.
RACHEL RICKARD STRAUS
Support my local high street
MY AMBITION for next year is to shake off for good the shopping habits I had prior to lockdown. Easier said than done, though.
At least twice a week, I used to do a vacant-eyed zombie walk around Tesco Express before commuting home. I would gormlessly wander around the aisles, texting my household’s WhatsApp group to say: ‘Any idea what I should get for dinner?’
Eventually I’d pick up a few bits and pieces – often pre-packaged for convenience – and head home. Inefficient, expensive and not particularly healthy.
Since March, our household’s shopping habits have been transformed. We’ve been making shopping lists, doing weekly shops and supporting local businesses.
We shop the old-fashioned way: bread from the baker, veg from the greengrocer and meat from the butcher. I’m now a regular at our local Grey Goose bakery in East London.
Once the economy reopens next year (fingers crossed) and I’m able to commute more, it could be easy to revert to bad old habits. After all, there’s a reason they call those small supermarkets ‘convenience stores’. But, I’m determined not to.
Eat healthier in 2021 and support my local high street. also in the firing line – costing me a total of more than £150 a year for lazily binging on movies and television.
As for my son Harrison, now at university, I’ve just discovered that I’ve been paying £25 a month for contact lenses he doesn’t wear.
The year 2021 will be marked by the culling of subscriptions.
Invest more for the future
FOR me, a financial New Year’s resolution is not about sacrifice. So I’m not going to stop ordering occasional takeaways, buying wine or treating myself to a mocha from Costa Coffee.
Instead, my big ambition is to invest more. I’m cautious – overly so most of the time.
Whether I’m forming a safety net with my hands when my daughter scales a climbing frame at the park, or choosing a home for my savings, I’m not known for my risk-taking.
Yes, I invest, but a laughably small sum. My mindset needs to change. Next year is when I vow to become serious about starting to build a nest egg for the future. Not investing enough of my money is a greater risk in the long-run.
SARAH BRIDGE Speculate to accumulate
NEXT year I plan to strike a balance between playing it safe financially and having a little fun.
If I’m financially cautious 95 per cent of the time – keeping control of my spending and working hard to maximise my income in these difficult times – I can afford to have a little more risk in my life with the remaining 5 per cent.
I’ve never seriously invested, but two big ‘misses’ mean I’m keen to not to make it a hat-trick.
In 2004, I interviewed the management team behind posh mixer company Fever-Tree and I was bowled over. But I never invested in them when their company was floated on the stock market in 2014 at £1.34 a share. The shares are now more than £24.
Similarly, 12 years ago, I spoke to The Hut’s Matthew Moulding. It didn’t prompt me to investigate the possibility that the British e-commerce group would become a £6.8billion company.
So next year I shall open a share dealing account and pick ten stocks which I think have a chance of being the Fever-Tree or The Hut of the future.
Anything technology or healthcare related seems high risk, but high reward. Perfect for my 5 per cent.