Take Control of your Finances!

Where did you learn to manage your money? School? Books? Family?  Did you ever learn?

I don't remember learning anything particularly useful about finance at school.  I did economics at college but that didn't teach me anything I could particularly apply to my personal finances.

How good are you at managing your finances? Does it feel like you just burn through money faster than it comes in?

I use supply and demand theory in my business to this day ​but no one taught me about personal finance. I learnt through books, courses that I paid to go on and through trial and error; the good old fashioned way.  I have paid a high price for the skills I have developed and I think it is time I gave it all away for free...…...

I have been doing that with entrepreneurship for the last decade now. Giving away the course I wish I had when I was launching my business.  Katie and I have decided to do this for personal finance next. 

Free personal finance course

Katie is 36 and I am 41.  We never have to work again if we don't want to.  We have taken care of finances so that we can focus on other things that are more important to us.  It took us countless hours of study, discussion and head scratching to learn how to master money, finance and investing.  You would not believe the number of long walks we have been on around Basingstoke talking about investment strategies and tax!

Having started my blog a year ago and written more and more frequently about personal finance and financial independence I am ready to give away what we have learnt.    This is our way of giving back and passing on the knowledge, habits and beliefs that we have spent years cultivating. We are launching Rebel Finance School (RFS).  RFS is a personal finance course to help you get control of your finances and set yourself up for the future. 

​If you want to sign up and join us on the course there is a little form to put your email address in at the bottom of this page.  Want to know more first?  Keep reading

What are we planning?

​We are planning an 8 module personal finance course called Rebel Finance School, to give you everything we wish we had known about financial independence and personal finance when we started.  We are going to do it via zoom so that if we ever get to continue our nomadic adventures again we will still be able to run the course wherever we are in the world. 

I have regularly run sessions for Rebel Business School on business structures & personal tax and for the last few years a few sessions on financial independence. Katie and I have never written and run a course together but we are excited to share what we have learnt.   Plus I get to work with my lovely wife!

We mind mapped out everything we have learnt across the last decade of pursuing financial independence and have condensed it into a course.  The modules are:

1. Net-worth: how much are you worth and where is your money? The first step to taking charge of your finances is to take a good look at your current position.  Do you know what your net-worth is?
2. Cashflow: Where does all the money go? Do you have money left over at the end of the month? Could you write down where it all goes?  Let's start thinking of your personal finance in terms of monthly cashflow and how much you are saving to invest
3. Money Beliefs: Society and culture teach us a huge amount about money such as "Money is the root of all evil" and "it takes money to make money".  If you don't take control of your beliefs about money you will never take control of your finances
4. Debt: This is the biggest drag on family finances.  We need to take care of this early and eradicate it. Is there such a thing as good debt and bad debt?
5. Couples & Family Finance:  Money is one of the biggest reasons for divorce and managing your finances as a team or a family is critical to your financial well being and can strengthen family relationships.  Money ripped apart my family and I want to help your avoid the same fate
6. Investing: You've taken control of you spending.  You've built up some savings but what do you do with them?  The banks give you almost zero interest so how do you invest your money?  What are the options and how to do you start?
7. FIRE Principles: Financial Independence/Retire Early (FIRE).  What are the principles behind early retirement?  How do you know how much to save? Can you retire early or even at all?  We'' help you work all this out.
8. Planning for your future:  No matter what age you are right now you should be developing the habits and strategies that will set you up for the long term.  We will show you how to model your financial future and if you will have enough for retirement. 

Each module is going to be a 90 minute zoom call and there will be homework in between!  If you want to take control of your finances then you need to do the work!

Who is this for?

Can you answer these questions?

• How much am I spending each year?  What is my annual spend?
• How much am I saving? What is my percentage savings rate?
• When can I retire and will I have enough money to live?
• What is your investment strategy for retirement?
• What is my net-worth?   Can you confidently say how much you are worth?

If the answer to any of these questions is "I don't know" then this course is for you.  We want to help you get to grips with your finances and get on top of them. 

Most people's financial plan is to bury their head in the sand and ignore it.  They think "it's ok there will be a government pension for me when I retire!"

This is not a strategy for long term financial stability let alone success!

This might be uncomfortable but we are going to help you take a good look at your finances and help you take control

Everything you want is outside your comfort zone; otherwise you would already have it!

Katie and i don't care who you are as long as you have a desire to take control of your finances and do the work to build a bright future.  This course is designed to help you even if you are a complete beginner and have no financial knowledge at all.

Let's get uncomfortable together and start the conversation about money 

What are the course objectives?

We have some big objectives for this course.  Maybe we are being bold?  We don't know!  This is the first time we are doing this.  These are the course objectives:

• Get a grip of your spending - know how much you spend a month/year
• Work out your savings rate - % you are saving
• Cut out spending that isn't adding value to your life (subscriptions etc.)
• Have a clear plan to get out of debt
• Understand how to invest in low cost Vanguard index funds
• Get your first £100 into a Vanguard index fund
• Project your own retirement date
• Uncover any beliefs or mindset about money that is holding you back 
• Get on the same financial page as your partner/family
• Know your net-worth
• Have a clear financial goal for your future 
• Develop the financial habits that will set you up for the future
• Learn about the FIRE world and other ongoing recourses. Who are the FIRE characters and what can you learn from each?

If any of that sounds interesting then sign up and get involved!  Katie and I are excited to help you with all this.

What do we want from you?

We are going to be writing the course, organising everything and delivering it but this is a long, long way from a one way street.   There is going to be work for you to do as well.  The course is completely free in terms of £££s or $$$s.  We just want to give away what we have spend a decade learning. 

But there is a cost in time and effort from you.  If you sign up we expect the following things from you:

1. Open Mind - some of the things we are going to teach and give you are against conventional wisdom and we just ask that you are open and listen.  You don't have to follow the advice you just have to be open minded. 
2. Engagement - the more engaged you are the more impact the course will have for you!  We want you to get engaged on the zoom calls, ask questions, give energy and do the exercises
3. Homework - we are going to set you homework!  From working out your net-worth to tracking spending and predicting retirement dates there is going to be homework to do!  This course is a bit like a refrigerator; you only get out what you put in!  Are you willing to put in the work to sort out your finances and build the future you want?
4. Feedback - we are genuinely interested in your feedback.  We will send you a survey at the end of the course and 1 year after the course to find out if our advice worked for you and what happened.  All we ask is that you tell us what you think; good or bad.  Please commit to filling out our short survey at the end and after 1 year to tell us what you think

Why learn from us?

We get excited about finances and money!

We have never run a course like this before, we aren't trained professionals & we aren't financial advisors!  Are you put off yet?  

​What do we bring to the party?

Katie and I achieved financial independence at the ages of 35 and 40 years old and have had a huge amount of fun over the last nearly 2 years travelling the world and enjoying our time doing cool things with cool people.  

We learnt about financial independence 6 years ago but have been working on making money and self-development for 2 decades.   Katie was an actuary before she retired and I ran Rebel Business School.  I have spent 12 years writing courses on presenting, presence, starting businesses and more and delivered them for companies like Microsoft, Westminster Council and Henley Business School.

Over the last 5 years we have been to courses on Financial Independence, read all the books, blogs and listened to all the podcasts.  Not only that we have applied the techniques to our lives and have figured out what works and what doesn't.  We have also learnt how to translate American to British English as most of the resources are from America. 

Using these techniques we were able to retire 25 years earlier than average in the UK.  We bought back 25 years of our lives so that we can travel, explore and do good.  

We actually don't want you to trust what we are saying.  We want you to learn from us, then do your own homework and take action.  The best way to learn is to take action. 

Disclaimer

We are not financial advisors.  We are not trained professionals.  We are running this course to share what we have learnt over the years managing our own finances and to help you make better financial decisions. 

You are responsible for your own financial decisions and no matter if you are taking advice from a trained professional or someone giving you a stock tip down the pub you need to do your homework!  Please take control of your own financial future and do your own research.  

We will share what we have learnt and our opinions but it is up to you to make your own decisions and do your own research.

Any advice we give on this course you follow at your own risk.  We will ask you to sign a disclaimer at the beginning of the course to make sure that you understand that we are not trained professionals and you are taking this advice and implementing it at your own risk. 

How to get involved

If I haven't put you off; then all you need to do is use the form below to sign up to the course.  We will then send you an email with a short survey to fill out before the course so we know what you want us to focus on and links to the zoom meetings where we will holding the course.

For more information, follow the link below:

See here for more info

Frequently asked questions

Do I have to attend every session?
No you do not.  Katie and I understand sometimes life gets in the way, but to get the most out of the course you should come to as many as you can.  If you are really serious about managing your finances then come to every single one

​Can I bring a friend?
Of course you can.  The more the merrier!  Katie and I go on all training courses together so that we both get the advantage of the information, we can discuss it and implement it together afterwards and it makes it more fun!  Bring a friend, partner, son, daughter, niece or nephew with you!    Please feel free to share this page with people that you think will need the course!

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I have to fill out a survey after the course?  What are you going to do with my data?
The survey will be anonymous and this is for our use to understand if the course helped or not.  As this is the first time we are running the course Katie and I are very keen to learn how best to help you and other people.  We want to learn as much as you do!  We will never share your email or data with anyone.  We use Mailchimp to store the data so that we comply with GDPR regulations.   

What if I am on government benefits?
Katie and I are not experts on benefits and will not be able to help you in this area. We will help you get good with money and have sound financial plans but the specifics of government benefits are outside our area of expertise. 

Are you going to sell me something at the end of the course?
We aren't going to sell you anything at all.  We are doing this to help and give back.  The only thing we ask for in return for the course is your participation and filling out the feedback forms. 

I have no idea what a index fund is or how to work out cashflow! Do I need to understand finances before the course?
This course is designed to help you from the start.  You need no prior knowledge at all and we will do our best to explain all the terms as we go.  Come along, get involved and ask questions!