In his late 50s, Doug is a Driving Test Manager in Scotland, where he lives with his wife and daughter.
Learn how Doug has used Moneyhub to build a passive income by keeping track of his rental properties.
““Totaling up all the pensions in one place. Totaling up all the properties as well.
It gives an accurate idea of retirement””
Although he says his days are spent working, he is beginning to think about retirement. Something, he says, Moneyhub has helped him understand how likely retirement is in the near future.
“The net worth is a big help… totaling up all the pensions in one place. Totaling up all the properties as well. It gives an accurate idea of retirement. Something which has come more into focus in the last five years.” He goes on to explain that retirement looks possible to do earlier than he initially thought, and Moneyhub has helped him understand what retirement might look like when it does arrive, “It’s seeing I have the option to retire, not necessarily do it, just understand when I could. I might not want to be fully retired so good to understand different scenarios too.”
Prior to five years ago, the focus was on building a passive income through investing in property that he rents out. Keeping track of the estimated value of these properties via the Zoopla connection is something he finds a lot of value in, “I find it really interesting, it updates once a month and great to get a rough idea of which way they’re going.”
When it comes to managing finances he explains he has always been organised, “I’ve always kept a record of direct debits and total of money going out. Moneyhub’s just made it a lot easier to do. It’s handy cause I can see everything that's been spent and it’s categorised for me. I find spending budgets useful as it gives you a notification when you’ve gone over.”
When asked if his wife and 28-year-old daughter have inherited his organised approach to money management, “My wife's not interested in that side at all, she’s interested in spending money but not in the details of it. My daughter does have an interest and she will track some things if she has a holiday coming up and she’s saving for a wedding now. But not day to day or month to month.”
He goes on to discuss the financial challenges he believes his daughter's generation faces, “I think it’s more difficult as they are trying to pay back university debt at the same time as save for a property. They aren’t then paying as much into their pension and work pensions aren’t as good. They have to work a lot harder.”
And what advice would he give to the younger generation? “Invest 10% of your income from a very early age. Money shouldn’t be controlling you, it should be the result of living a good life but it shouldn’t take up all your time. Make sure you have enough to live but invest for the future as well”.
