Daniel works full time as a Commercial Manager. He lives in the South-West of England and is in his 30s.
He loves eating out and has had to learn to live within his means. Daniel uses Moneyhub to set budgets and track his spending to stay in control of his money.
““I control my money, my money doesn’t control who I am””
“I’ve always been interested in personal finance”
This Moneyhubber explains, “I love spending money… But on the flip side of that, I don’t want to go into debt, I want to make sure I manage my money.”
For this Moneyhubber, balance is key and it was this need to maintain some balance that led him to Moneyhub, “I quite like eating out and treats every now and again, so you create a budget and then review in six months and see where it all went wrong. The thing I like about Moneyhub is it can give me real-time information. I suffer short-term memory loss, I think I haven’t been out for a meal in ages but then I can quickly check where my eating out budget is for the month.”
When asked where this all began, he explains, “I finished University with the usual overdrafts and tuition fee debts and wanted to work through it as quickly as possible. So I got a job and learned to live within my means. I found the frustration of not having the money more painful than the pleasure of going out for a meal.”
When asked what financial wellness means to him, he says it comes down to one single world “control”.
“I control my money, my money doesn’t control who I am. If I think back to my post-student years, I don’t want to get halfway through the month and realise I don’t have enough left and have to take out a payday loan. That is not wellness for me. If I put something aside for a rainy day, I can go for a meal or get a shiny toy… I know what I should be doing, it’s just a choice of whether I do it or not. It’s like having that extra glass of wine on a Saturday night.”
Moneyhub helps him understand where he is financially at the end of the month and what he can stow away, something he explains doesn’t just help him work out where he is in his monthly ‘Chinese takeaway budget’, but also helps him understand the bigger picture, “I always try and put a little away ether in my stocks and shares ISA or pension. The more I put aside in long term savings, I know that maybe I can retire early, maybe I can go on an around the world trip when the kids have left home, it’s about experiences at the end of the day rather than acquiring material things which soon wear out.”
On the subject of security, he says that many people he knows are wary when using Open Banking or third parties such as Moneyhub to help manage their finances, “people share information on social media all the time without thinking about it...because open banking is regulated by the FCA that ticks the box for me".
