The gulf in class between the rich and the poor has always been unequal but that gap has been increasing at a significant rate over the past 40 years.

While the poor are getting poorer albeit the occasional testament of an overnight success, the rich somehow get richer.

What then caused this Nile long gap in wealth between the rich and the poor? The answer isn’t that straightforward but can be chalked up to rising inequality in income, wealth and taxes.

Income vs. Wealth vs. Tax

Robert Manduca, a PhD student in the Sociology and Social Policy degree program in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences carried out a study that proved that there has been an increase in the number of people living in communities at the extreme ends of the income scale.

His study also claims that the majority of this change is due to increases in income inequality at the national level.

The study was also described in Social Forces, a journal published by Oxford University Press.

“Only about 12 percent of the population used to live in places that were deemed especially rich or especially poor back in 1980, ,” Manduca said.

“By 2013, the number was over 30 percent. So what we’re seeing is a polarization, where people are increasingly living in places that are either much richer or much poorer than the country overall.”

Manduca attributed part of that shift to “sorting” – an idea that high-earning individuals and high-paying jobs have become more geographically concentrated. He claims this was as a result of rising inequality.

It is believed that since the 1970s, the richest people and communities have seen a significantly higher income growth than the poor and modest communities. This inequality has led to a glaring difference between regions.

This perceived inequality led Oxfam, a UK-based non-governmental organisation to publish a report titled ‘Time to Care’ showing that the gap between the rich and poor is increasing globally.

Amitabh Behar, Oxfam Chief Executive Officer described the uneven distribution of wealth and income as problematic and a major player in increased poverty across the globe.

The Government Accountability Office in the US also carried out a study proves that the widening gap between the rich and the poor not only affects income and wealth. The study showed that the rich also tend to live longer than struggling.

Their study proved that about three-quarter of rich Americans in their 50s and 60s in 1992 were still alive in 2014. While just over half of poor Americans in that age bracket in 1992 were still alive in 2014.

Not everyone is against inequality though; some will argue that it’s a good thing. Some will argue that it motivates people to work hard.

And while it’s true that the poor tend to be very hard working to make ends meet, it must also be argued that a lot of factors works against them to make them magically become rich from working hard.

There is no such thing as equality of opportunity, it’s a myth. The rules are rigged against everyone but the wealthy.

Quoting a sentence from George Monbiot, a writer and activist. he said, “every woman in Africa would be a millionaire, if wealth was the inevitable result of hard work and enterprise.”

It is also important to know that this inequality is a result of years of deliberate policies and rules that were put in place to favour a few – the rich. So at the moment, you can say it is what it is.

Inequality has always been on the rise in Britain. In fact, income gains have been split among the top 1% since the 1980s. The richest 10% take about a third of all income and own about two-thirds of the wealth.

Britain experienced significant growth in wealth by 13% between 2016 and 2018 to reach a record £14.6tn. During this period, the richest 10% households have also experienced an increase in wealth almost four times that of the poorest 10%.

Office for National Statistics (ONS) also published a study which found that for the poorest 10%, they had debts three times greater than their assets. While the richest 10% had a wealth 35 times greater than their total debts.

What this figure shows is a growing disparity between the haves and don’t have. This disparity can also contribute to some economic factors like standard of living, pension rights, property values, taxes, health care rights and so on.

In fact, many of those up the wealthy ladder have retained much of their property values and pension rights since the 2008 financial crash.

The Resolution Foundation ‘thinktank’ also suggested that the wealth of the richest 10% increased by 11% between 2016 and 2018 while it increased by only 3% for the poorest 10%.

Perhaps the most amazing thing about all this is that very few citizens share these concerns. Surprisingly you’ll feel people should be more awake to issues such as this.

I took a while to ponder upon this fact and it struck me that a lot of this negligence might have to do with our upbringing. Many of us come from homes where we were told success comes exclusively through nothing but hard work.

While this is true, I believe it is now becoming clear to the younger generation and some of the older generations that success requires more than just hard work. Success requires a plan.

You can now see more and more people now picking up side hustles and getting that extra skill. These two acts are ways you can increase your income and potentially your wealth.

We have a very useful article on 10 Side Hustle Ideas for you.

I don’t think you can get a proper understanding of the situation of inequality in the 21^st-century without understanding the difference between wealth and income.

Income is the money an individual or business receives for work done or providing goods or through investments or assets. Income is used to fund day-to-day expenses.

Wealth is the total valuation of all the financial assets or physical possessions owned by an individual, community, company, or country. Wealth is calculated by the gross calculation of all physical and intangible assets owned minus all debts.

To get a proper understanding of this, let me give you an example.

Let’s say you earn £30,353 (median salary for full-time employees in the UK) a year, the calculation for your income here will be your average salary subtracted by associated taxes. What this means is that you are left with about £24,000 before other expenses.

The ONS pointed out that the normal household in the UK had a disposable income of £28,400 in 2018 which was unchanged when compared with 2017.

2019 saw a stagnation of income rise of the typical household after a period of consistent increase for almost 6 years while there was a rise for the top earners.

However, let’s say you have a wealth accumulation of £1,000,000 and it’s put into a savings account paying 2% interest. You will receive about £20,000, which later becomes about £18,000 after taxes.

It is important to note that this is the money you earned by just saving your wealth and doing nothing else.

It is also important to know that this growing trend of inequality is a reversal of the trend experienced in the past decade when income inequality reduced.

This is also backed up by reports published by the ONS that the richest fifth saw their incomes rise by 4.7% in 2018 while the poorest fifth saw a shrink in their income by 1.6% during the same period.

The ONS blamed benefits freeze for the rise in inequality and it makes sense too. They explained that although there is a rise in earnings which is due to an increase in employment, the loss of value for benefits might be responsible for a falling income for the poorest.

The income gap between the rich and the poor has been growing for a while now. But it seems a lot of people either do not notice or just do not see this as a problem.

This growing disparity between the rich and the poor has some consequences. It is not uncommon for the haves to live in locations of considerable social distance to the have nots. What this causes is social divide into the rich communities and the poor communities.

Thinking about this further, you will see that this divide affects more than just workers and employers alike. It goes as deep as children in schools. Very rarely do you see a poor man’s child in a rich man’s school and vice-versa.

Even in situations where both manage to attend the same school, it is often observed that they are still divided into rich and poor social classes.

It’s almost like there is an unspoken mutual understanding between the individuals of both parties that each has its own position and must stick with it.

The same segregation can be seen in the highly competitive job market. It is almost like some job positions are reserved for the rich and some for the poor. What the rich get with minimal effort and connections the poor must work extra hard to attain.

The same realisation is also evident in our social circles. The rich befriend the rich and the poor befriend the poor. The rich marry and grow family trees with the rich and the poor do the same with their social class.

I am not trying to fault anyone for being rich or poor but instead trying to point out the consequences of this growing inequality. But the truth is that it has always been this way and it takes great mental fortitude, planning and hardwork to break into the circle of the rich.

It also takes your belief that no matter your background, race, or social class you can become successful and rich. You can beat the odds of the growing divide between the rich and the poor. Your poor can become richer.

Living on a small income is one of the challenges a lot of people face in the UK. The question “how to live well on a small income in the UK” is the question a lot of people ask because of the constantly rising cost of living.

If you ask me how to live well on a small income in the UK, I will say it is possible through being clever and making wise decisions with your small income.

The median average annual income in the UK is around £28,677. A lot of people earn far less than this average.

The cost of living is not very prone to fluctuation. If you know what inflation is, you possibly understand that it is one of the reasons why a lot of people struggle financially because income does not keep up with the rising in cost of day to day expenses.

Increase your income

This is counter-intuitive. I do not want to lose anyone here. I am going to give you a lot of useful suggestions in this article about living well on a low income.

However, I want to address the root of low income first. I like to believe that anyone on a low income if giving the option will like to increase their income.

That is the reason why the first thing I will suggest to you is to think about ways to increase your income. With the internet these days, it is possible for anyone living in the western world to start a side business separate from their normal source of income.

Starting a side hustle is one of the best ways to increase your income. Another option to increase your income is to significantly increase your value in the marketplace by improving your skills or learning new skills that relate to your current profession.

An example is someone who currently works as a care assistant in a care home or hospital, you could go and train to become a nurse, by doing this you will be able to earn more.

Another example is a software tester, you could take some time to learn programming and become a software developer.

Shop around for everything

This may sound obvious, but the truth is, not a lot of people shop around when they want to buy household things. There is no point in being loyal to a shop or service provider. By being loyal you will be giving money you don’t have away.

I always shop around for things like car insurance, home insurance, gas and electricity.  It is very simple to use comparison websites to get a lower price for a lot of things.

In my household, we are not loyal to any particular supermarket. We shop at various supermarkets. One great tool that we’ve found very useful in my household is the mySupermarket app.

The mySupermarket app can be downloaded from the app store or google play. The app will help you see the current price of a particular item from the big supermarkets.

There is always a price war between the supermarkets like Tesco, Asda, Salisbury, Aldi, Lidl and the others.

You can also use mySupermarket on desktop. You can fill up your basket online and you will be able to see which of the supermarkets will be the cheapest to buy from.

This helps you to compare the price of items from the big supermarkets.

For example, instead of buying a large detergent from the supermarket you usually shop from, you can check on the app, you could find it cheaper in another supermarket.

Make use of free things

Before you spend money on anything, always think about if it’s something you could get for free first.

A very good example is buying books for yourself or for children. In my household, we make use of the library a lot. Whether your income is big or small, everyone pays tax, your tax is used to provide a lot of services that are free for the public including you.

So why not use your local library instead of buying books? You can keep the money in your pocket.

There are a lot of websites or apps you can use to find something free instead of paying for it. The most popular one is Facebook Marketplace where you can find items for free. It doesn’t take long to quickly check whether an item you want to buy is being offered free by someone on Facebook from your local area.

You could find a local group in your area where people give things they no longer need away for free. One of those websites you can use is FreeCycle.

Aside from free stuff, you might be able to buy some items at very cheap prices from church sales or car boot sales. There is no point paying a lot of money for gardening tools when you can get them at cheaper rates from car boot sales in your local area.

Rent or Mortgage

Accommodation cost is one of the biggest expenses for most people. Whether you are renting or paying a mortgage. There are ways to reduce your accommodation cost.

What we’ve done regularly in my household is to look for new deals whenever the deals we have on our mortgage ends. By doing this, we usually reduce our monthly mortgage repayment. A very important website that has been very useful for us over the years is MoneySavingExpert

As a homeowner, you can also consider having a lodger if it’s not going to be a problem for your household. If you are a family with kids this might not be something to be considered. If you are single this might earn you extra income monthly.

For someone who is renting you might consider renting a smaller apartment instead of a big house to bring the cost of your accommodation down.

Council Tax

There are various ways to save money on Council tax. However, this depends on your status. I remember when I was a student living with my sister. We were able to ask for a reduction from the Council because of my students status. Sometimes if you don’t ask you won’t get it.

Some of the people that can get a reduction on their Council tax apart from students or someone living with a student are:

• some low-income earner
• people living alone or are the only adult in the house

There is a good resource on the Money Advice Service website you could explore.

However, the best way to find out if you qualify for a reduction is to contact your Local Council

Shopping, Eating Out and Day Out

Depending on which organisation you work for. There are a lot of incentives that most employees don’t know about.

When I was working for the Local Government. It wasn’t until about 5 years later that I found out we could register for an organisation called CSSC as a Council employee.

CSSC is not only for Local Government workers, but most public sector employees can also use CSSC. I used to save money on fuel buying from Tesco using the CSSC card.

With CSSC you get a lot of discounts from a variety of shops from fashion, groceries, homes and dec, holiday, day out, eating out and a lot more.

Another one I found out about recently is the Blue Light Card which is a discount service for the Emergency Services, NHS and Armed Forces.

You just need to ask your employer about any incentives they have that you can sign up for which will help you save money on shopping, eating out and day out.

There are a lot of websites that will help you find discount codes. One of such website is Dealslands and VoucherShops.

I have been able to save a lot of money over the years using cashback websites. There are few of them which you can use.

I mainly use Topcashback and Quickco which are the two most popular ones. Instead of buying online directly from an online shop, you can go via the cashback website.

By doing this you will be getting some cash back, therefore, saving money.

Gas and Electricity

There are a lot of savings to be made from your utility bills. A lot of companies charge far too much.

For most of these big companies who charge too much, a lot of their running cost comes from advertisements and paying dividends to their investors.

There are other smaller energy companies that have much lower tariffs. If you are on a small income, you should consider switching to smaller energy companies that can save you some money.

A company we found recently that we switch to is bulbs. If you are considering switching for a lower bill, I would recommend bulb and they will give you £50 for switching to them.

You could also use a comparison website like uSwitch or Switchcraft to find good deals.

Water

Water supply is one of the areas where there are not a lot of competition because a particular water company is the only one supplying a particular area.

It can be a bit difficult to switch to another water company. You might consider checking that you have a water meter so you can only pay for what you use and not estimate.

You could ask your water supplier if they can install a meter for you if you don’t already have one.

Another way to reduce your water bill is to check if you qualify for assistance from WaterSure.

WaterSure is a scheme put in place to help people with their water bills. According to WaterSure, to qualify for their scheme, you must be on benefits and need to use a lot of water either for medical reasons or because your household has a certain number of school-age children.

Subscriptions and TV License

The human being can survive without entertainment and this is the truth. However, entertainment is now a fundamental part of our lives. But seriously, entertainment doesn’t have to cost a fortune.

As someone on a low income, there is no need to have Sky and Netflix at the same time. You might consider just having one of the two to save money. What about Amazon prime? I made a video on my YouTube channel where I discussed the benefits of amazon prime that a lot of people are not using.

If you are a prime member, Prime TV might be enough to entertain yourself. If you are a football fan like me, Amazon Prime does have some Premier League fixtures.

For people that are Sky fans, you can subscribe to the only thing you need and not have the full package.

People are now watching less of the traditional TV channels like BBC, ITV and Channel 4. If you don’t watch TV channels, you don’t need to pay a TV License. That is some savings for you because it costs around £150 a year. I still watch some documentaries on catch from TV channels so I am still paying for it. For some people, they might save money if they don’t watch TV channels.

Transportation

This is one of the expenses that can take a large percentage in most people’s budget. Moving from point A to B doesn’t have to cost a lot of money and doesn’t require a new car. If you are on a small income, you need to understand you can save money by not driving a new or expensive used car.

In my household, we use the approach of going for a functioning car, not an expensive car. We’ve been able to save a lot of money over the years because of driving an older car.

You might want to consider an electric car when next you want to change your car. Electric cars are gaining a lot of popularity because they are cheaper to run.

Nissan Leaf is one of the electric cars that started the electric car revolution in the UK. You might want to try it out.

Mobile Phone

The cost of a monthly mobile phone contract can put a hole in your finance if you are not careful. For a number of years, I have used Mobiles, a cashback website for mobile phones to secure cashback on my mobile phone contract deals.

Another trick to reduce your mobile phone contract bill is to ring your provider when your contract is nearing its end.

You could say you want to switch to another provider. Usually, they will try and give you a cheaper offer to let you stay.

This has happened to me many times. These companies always try as much as possible to keep the customers they have.

Broadband

Personally, I have been using cheap broadband without a landline.

I have been using the broadband for a few years and have been happy with their service. Again, Money Saving Expert is a very useful resource where you can see current information related to Broadband Deals.

Car and Home Insurance

The most important rule here is never to auto-renew your home or car insurance. The insurance company always reward new customer not an old customer.

I remember a few years ago, I rang our home insurance provider after we received our home insurance renewal letter. The premium was £115. I rang to check if they can offer a better deal. They offered me £93.

There are two things to note,

First, if I didn’t ring I would have paid £115, that’s loosing £22. The second thing, I shopped around and found a deal with another provider for £71 which was even cheaper.

The point is, always shop around, there are a lot of comparison websites that you can use to find a good deal for your home and car insurance.

I have been able to find good deals for my car insurance. My car insurance is very cheap at £271. This is because of a long number of years of no claim bonus and also the fact that I always use comparison websites to find deals.

Some of the comparisons websites are CompareTheMarket, Confused, GoCompare.

Exercising and Gym Membership

Part of my values is exercising and I like to do it on the cheap.

For people that like to keep in good shape or want to lose weight. It is important to note that there is no magic formula or trick that will do it other than eat less and move more.

Moving more for me doesn’t have to cost more than a pair of trainers and cloth to put on for running or walking out.

I am in good shape and I have never registered for any gym membership in my life.

I am not saying it is wrong to register for a gym membership. For people that are on low income, I think it might be a way to save money.

Personally, I like going for a run because I have the opportunity to enjoy the natural fresh air and also I do not need to pay anyone to do it.

What if you are on low income and you need to register for a gym membership or you enjoy a particular activity or sport which you need to subscribe for?

if you are one of those people who like to go to the gym but you don’t regularly go, you might consider a pay as you go option like Hussle, The Gym or Anytime Fitness

A lot of gyms have day pass which could be as cheap as £4.50. Instead of a monthly subscription, you do not use, you could consider day pass which means you can go any day you feel like.

You must know by now that saving money is an important skill to learn. No matter how much you earn, you will always wallow in debt if you don’t learn to save. So I will be telling you the quickest ways to save money by breaking Parkinson’s Law.

Of course, you must have a source of income before even thinking about saving as you cannot save that which you do not have. You should read up how to start selling online with little or no money and side hustle ideas for you in 2020.

What is Parkinson’s Law?

Parkinson’s Law was coined by an English writer C. Northcote Parkinson in 1955 and it has become popular ever since. The law states that work expands to occupy the time available to complete it.

The law makes sense no matter how you look at it. How many times have you spent more time completing a task than the duration you had in mind?

Or how many times have you left a project untouched until the last minute? That’s Parkinson’s Law.

You are probably wondering how this applies to your finances? Well, it does.

Let’s imagine your £1500 a month salary was raised to £3000. You then upgraded your lifestyle as a result of this bump in earning.

As a result, you moved into a better house, go on chilled vacations, buy fancy designer clothes and go clubbing more.

What you will notice is that your increase in earning coincides with an increase in your expenses. So at the end of the day, you are earning more but also spending more.

In fact, contrary to your intentions when you got the raise, you are not saving a penny more than you used to.

That is how Parkinson’s Law affects your finances. The more you have the more you’ll want to spend.

How then can you break Parkinson’s Law to improve your life and finances by saving more?

The first step towards a solution is identifying the problem. And thanks to Parkinson’s Law, this problem has been narrowed down.

The simplest way to beat Parkinson’s Law is to “set limits”.

• Set a limit for your spending
• Set duration for the time required to complete a task

Before I proceed, I want you to remember a quote as you embark on your savings journey;

“To save more you must live below your earnings.”

That’s confusing I know. You are probably wondering, why earn more when I can’t spend more?

Well, it’s not that you cannot and must not spend more if your earnings increase but be wary. You can easily get distracted by your increase in earning.

In fact, I would advise that you come up with a plan on how you want to spend that extra money. Check out this article on how to save more.

Set a limit for your spending

What Parkinson’s Law basically teaches is ‘DISCIPLINE’.

To save more, you must be prepared to break this law (and not the lesson). Sometimes you get tempted to spend above your means but it’s important to stay disciplined.

In fact, no one sums this lesson better than Brian Tracy, a motivational speaker and author. He said:

Parkinson’s Law says that expenditures will always rise to meet income. This means that the more you earn, the more you are likely to spend. Even if you can manage to double or triple your income, your expenses will eventually double or triple and end up no further ahead.

Financial success is gotten from breaking Parkinson’s law. You can only attain financial success when you  your expenditures is not increasing at the same rate as your income.

Here is a rule that can guarantee you wealth over the course of your working lifetime:  Save and invest 50 percent of any increment in salary or compensation for the rest of your career.

The remaining 50 percent of the increase can be spent in improving your standard of living. But make a pact today to save half of every increase for the rest of your career. Even with this discipline alone, you can achieve financial independence several years before your intended target.

Write down this simple five-word formula for financial success somewhere: Spend less than you earn. Spend less than you earn and then invest or save the balance.  This formula can make you rich.

Another person that sums up how to effectively break Parkinson’s Law is David Bach. I would suggest you investigate his values-based finance system. He views money as a tool for realizing dreams rather than a means towards your retirement funding.

Conclusion

I want you to always remember this paragraph from Brian Tracy’s blog:

Parkinson’s Law explicitly explains the trap majority of us fall into. This is why many are in debt, have money worries and financial frustration. But when you develop sufficient willpower and resist the powerful urge to spend all that you make then you can begin to accumulate money and move ahead of the crowd.

One of the quickest ways to save more money is by breaking Parkinson’s Law. Breaking Parkinson’s Law will teach you discipline and that is its main lesson. Unlike most laws, this one is meant to be broken.

Are you ready to sacrifice to save more?

The first time I thought about ‘how to teach children about money’ was when my first son was about 7 years old. Even though he is now over 10 years old, I still teach him various life lessons including how to manage money for kids.

One of the most important principles you can teach your children is the principles of managing money wisely.

Teaching children how money works is an important part of their development in becoming a secure adult. Money is important and irrespective of your financial status currently, it is important to teach your children the rules of money.

Some people say money doesn’t matter and cannot buy true happiness. It is true. However, money is a means of exchange.

Most of the things that will help us to live a fulfilled and happy life will be bought with money.

The Importance of Teaching our Kids about Money

The traditional school system is great because they teach children a lot of life lessons.

However, there are a lot of things still missing in the traditional school curriculum. Money is one of the subjects that no school will teach any child.

In order for our children to live a life without worrying about money, it is important we teach them how money works and the value of money.

The messages you pass to your children about money will shape their beliefs and behaviour around money when they grow to become adult.

How to teach your children about money

Start from being a good example

Our children watch everything we do without us knowing. It is important to set a good example for them in the way we manage our own money. If we cannot track our own spending and knowing what we spend our money on, there is no way we will be able to teach our children effectively.

To make the job easy for us in teaching our children about money, we need to first understand the basics. Saving money and spending money wisely will filter into our children’s attitude towards money.

Part of our children’s money story will definitely come from what they hear from us, the way they see us use money. We will be instilling belief in them as they see us.

How much things cost

When you go shopping with your children, look for opportunities to show them how much things cost. This will help them as they understand the number and they will know the value of money.

Simple lessons about how much one can earn in one hour and how much a particular item cost can be very useful in understanding money.

When I go shopping with my children I do give them cash sometime and ask them to pay. If we are to get some change back, I ask beforehand how much change we are expected to collect back.

Something I also do is let them keep receipts and we sometimes look at the receipts together when we arrive home.

Contentment

We now live in a world where many people are not happy with their life and their financial situation. It is important to teach your children the value of contentment and what it means to be contented.

I teach my children this amazing value especially in relation to money.

Alfred Nobel, the founder of the Nobel Prize, once said, “Contentment is the only real wealth.”

Practising gratitude can help teach a child contentment. At the dinner table or during prayer time, speak to your children about the experiences they’ve had. Being thankful can help them to be content.

Children can easily fall into the trap of chasing toys and gadgets because they’ve seen it with their friends. As a parent, you must teach them to be happy with what you have provided for them. If there is something they want that it is so important and will bring them value, they can have it.

However, things are not to be bought just because someone else has it and they think they should also have the same thing.

There is a good way to teach them how money is earned and the work involved to earn money. You could give them chores to do around the house. Give them money as a reward and when they need to buy things let them use from their money.

Another good strategy to teach kids contentment is letting them share some of the things they have with others. Like taking from the monetary reward they receive for doing chores and give to charity.

Seeing how money can decrease when taking from what you have can help them learn contentment. They will be able to appreciate and be happy with what they have.

Giving

My children already know that part of any money they receive through labour or gift is to be given to charity.

Children need to be thought that there are some people that are less privileged than them. People in the same country or in other countries of the world who through no fault of their own cannot help themself. Giving to such people is a good thing and it’s one of the ways to find happiness in life.

As Christians when we go to church we give our boys some money to put in the offering basket. By doing this they are getting into the habit of giving money.

Giving could also be by giving or sharing some of their toys with other kids.

Piggybank saving

This for me is the first step towards teaching children about money.

It is a very simple yet powerful way to teach your children about money and the concepts of saving money.

Our two boys both have piggy banks in each of their rooms. They use these to save all monetary rewards as gifts from chores they did at home.

You will be teaching your children one of the most valuable lessons in life by this act.

Twice in a year, we open the piggy bank to collect the money they’ve accumulated. We go another step further with our kids by putting the money in their Junior Stocks and Shares ISA Account for investing in the stock market.

Opportunity cost

Kids are not too young to be thought about what opportunity cost means.

It is as simple as letting them understand what they might be loosing if they make wrong money decisions.

For example, you might let your kids know that instead of buying that new toy, the money could be used to buy their shoe or bag for the next school term. Or even better, the money could be put in their investment account and the money can grow.

Please, don’t get me wrong. I am not saying it is wrong to buy a toy or gadgets for your children. It’s just good to use a minimalist approach sometimes. These children have a lot of toys and gadget anyway. So, instead of buying the latest or a new version, maybe let them continue to use the one they already have and wear them out and use things to maximum level before getting a new one.

How to earn money

One of the valuable lessons about money that we teach our children is that money is just a symbol and medium of exchange.

The real money is in the skills they learn. When they continue to learn and acquire important skills, they will be in a good position to offer valuable products and services that will benefit other people.

Money is a net result of providing valuable products and services into the market place.

A very specific example I give our children is when we visit the dentist. We let them know that the dentist is solving a problem of looking after our teeth so they don’t go bad. As a result of this, we pay the dentist for his help and service provided. The money we pay the dentist is a reward to him for serving us.

The dentist will be happy about collecting the money and we also feel happy that our teeth are in good condition.

That is an example of how money is an exchange and how money is used.

My final thought

If you make it a duty to consistently pass the positive message about money to your children. They will form very valuable money habits and these habits will stay with them as they grow older.

As they grow up and form their own money philosophy, part of what you taught them will become part of their belief about money.

Your children’s behaviour around money will be influenced by what they learn from you.

If you do not teach them anything, chances are they might end up in a bad financial state in the future through bad money decisions.

If you want to earn Amazon cashback, then the cashback website you might want to register for is topcashback.co.uk.

TopCashback Amazon has enabled me to regularly recoup some of the money I paid while shopping on Amazon.

The concept of cashback is not a new thing and it’s been around for a very long time. I have benefited immensely from cashback earnings on topcashback websites.

If you do not already know what cashback is as it relates to cashback websites, you can read the article I wrote about the cashback website by clicking here.

I have found it very rewarding to earn Amazon cashback as it’s always nice to get part of the money you pay for product and services back.

I don’t only use cashback websites for physical products, I also use it for services like insurance or buying a train ticket.

The other day I was going to Lincoln for a meetup.

I bought my train ticket via topcashback.co.uk. As well I booked my Travelodge hotel room via topcashback.co.uk.

These means that I was able able to get part of the money a paid for those services back.

Unlike a lot of merchants who have the same cashback percentage for all their products, Amazon has different cashback percentage for different categories.

It’s worth mentioning that Amazon through topcashback does not offer cashback from all their categories.

It is important to note that the percentage change from time to time.

As a guide below is the different cashback percentage for different amazon categories on TopCashback.

As you know there are always terms and conditions or sometimes called ‘good to know’.

I have some of those good to know that I have extracted from the TopCashback website.

Please see them below. You can earn Good to know Amazon.co.uk cashback by clicking through to the merchant and shopping as normal. Amazon.co.uk.

You can get cashback through TopCashback for every genuine, tracked transactions completed online be it immediately or wholly .

After logging in to your account, you will see the rates above include a bonus relevant to your membership level. This is typically 5% for Plus members and 1% for classic.

When logged out of your account, the rates shown will be the Plus member rates. You have to login to see the relevant rates applicable to your membership level.

Cashback rates are often subjected to both up and down changes. It will be paid if gift cards are used to purchase.

Cashback will track the day after purchase. Sometimes, the information displayed here may be out of date.

Please see TopCashback’s full Terms and Conditions page for further information.

Recurrences on the number of purchases that you can make while earning cashback may be limited.

VAT, delivery and any other charges are excluded from the cashback calculated by the merchant.

The merchant’s transaction will appear as pending within 24 hours.

This status is maintained until the retailer confirms that we’re eligible for cashback.

After this, you then reach the confirmation stage of your account.

When we are paid the cashback by the merchant we then remit the amount payable to your account.

You can sign up to start earning cashback from Amazon through TopCashback by clicking here.

If you have some money and have no idea what to do with it, this article gives you some ideas on how you can either invest or spend £1000 or $1000.

The first thing I will do is to remove 10% of the $1000, which is £100. The reason for this is because of my generosity mind-set. I believe whatever I have is not only for me but for everyone.

There are always going to be people who cannot help themselves because of reasons beyond their control. So I will give the £100 to church to administer it or I can just give it to one of the charities I support.

After deducting 10% to give as a charity. I’m now left with £900.

7 Smartest Ways to Invest or Spend £1000

Here are some of the ways to spend the remaining £900 (in my case). Perhaps this will give you some ideas on how to invest your money wisely or how to spend your money.

1. Index fund investing

When it comes to investing I usually do it for the long run and I don’t like individual stocks because it’s too risky for me. Especially if you are a beginner in the world of investing in the stock and shares.

It makes sense for you to start with the safe way of index funds as this will help you to invest in a low-risk way while you are learning.

You might consider investing in the Vanguard platform. Vanguard has a lot of funds that are performing well. And as a beginner, you might consider one of Vanguard’s Life-Strategy Fund.

Vanguard is one of the most trusted investment platforms because of its history and good reputation. Vanguard’s platform is user friendly and to crown it all, they have one of the lowest fees in the market.

2. High yield savings account

Traditional savings accounts no longer pay good interest for savers. Many savers are frustrated because of the lowest interest banks pay for savers.

If you shop around you might still be able to find some savings accounts that pay good interest on savings account. These are accounts that have up to 5% interest.

The best way to find such deals is to try websites like Which? for up to date information regarding accounts that can pay good interest on your savings.

3. Invest in yourself

Personal development is something that I take seriously. I usually do not depend on my employer alone for education that relates to my career.

Every year I set aside money that I use for my self educations. Over the years I have acquired certifications like PRINCE2, ITIL, SAS and some other ones. The funding for all these came from my personal money and not from any of my present or previous employers.

As an entrepreneur, I have also spent money on training programs that helped me in my business. This is because I believe improving your skills is very important.

I am conscious of the importance of learning new skills and like to get my brain working in the right direction. I like adding to my skills set.

The £900 could be useful for learning something new as part of my personal development.

4. Pay off your mortgage early

If you have a mortgage, you can use it as over-payment on your home loan. If you are like me who will like to pay a mortgage early.

You might consider this money as over-payment on your mortgage. A 25years mortgage doesn’t have to be paid over 25years. You can decide to pay it off early if it’s allowed in your terms and conditions.

Don’t get me wrong, this money might be too small but surely it can be part of your over-payment and it will be helping a bit to reduce your home loan.

5. Pay off Consumer debt

If you are paying interests on consumer debt you are making the bank or lender rich and you are getting poorer. If you have a credit card or loan you can use this money to pay all or part of it back.

6. Start a business

If you already have a business idea, you can use the money to implement it.

For example, if you were thinking about an online-based business that will require a website set up. You could use part of the money for buying a domain, hosting and set up the website.

It’s important though to make sure you’ve done proper research and also approach with due diligence.

Or perhaps you already have a business like me. I can use the money to buy stocks that I can resell on Amazon or eBay for profit.

7. Enjoy life

Life is not just all about investment and savings. You also need to enjoy life. In fact, I like to spend my money on new experiences.

The time you spend with your family and loved ones will also be in your memories. Experiences have a huge impact on happiness. If you are not struggling financially, you could treat yourself to a nice holiday to relax.

Look for a nice place where the whole of your household will enjoy good family time. Changing the environment can also unlock your creativity.

Money is the source of all our anxieties, the major reason behind the general heater-skeeter madness in our world. You don’t have to love money, but you will surely need money. But money just like everything that makes up our world also has its do’s and don’ts.

Before anything else, let’s quickly get a misconception out of the way.

Money is a tool and not the root of all evil. It is the human activities that can be classified as evil. Think of it this way, during the trade and batter era, there was no money right? The things closest to money were your goods of exchange. So let me ask you a question. Will people not do anything to acquire the goods to be exchanged? The same goes for money, human actions

Most people are so insecure when it comes to talking about their earnings. They are either too embarrassed or too protective to talk about it. If you ask me for example what my salary is, I will not be comfortable giving you an answer.

If you lend a friend or family member some money, if they refuse to pay you back on time you are likely to feel reluctant to ask for your money from them. It isn’t you, it just the way it is.

Look, we are all generally uncomfortable talking about money. We are bolder to talk about our problems and issues in relation to money but don’t like to talk about ideas and opportunities for creating wealth that can solve some of our problems. Do not get me wrong, I am not saying the money will solve your entire problem but it will solve some of it.

Why then are we all uncomfortable to talk about money?

I think the answer is simple, we have not been brought up to do so. Except let’s say your dad or mom is a debt collector, I don’t believe you’ll ever be so comfortable talking about money. Don’t get me wrong, people brag and argue about money, some even fantasize but when it matters like collecting back a debt, most will shy away from it.

It takes a lot of self-development to overcome this bad habit.

Money is important in the society because it cost money to feed yourself as well as others. It takes money to make and maintain a living.

This is the reason why you need to work towards being financially independent.

See, I am not a millionaire or a billionaire or an expert that knows all about money. I am a work in progress and constantly learning about how money works. I think financial literacy is lacking in society and it is the reason why a lot of people are in debt or even poor.

Listen, people are usually stupid with money. I used to be stupid with money until I understood the psychology of money. Money is a force of its own, if you’re not careful, it’ll drive you. That is the truth.

Let me give you a quick tip.

Do you spend all your income when you get paid? If you do not save and invest at least 10% of your income every month you’re a thief. You are stealing from yourself. My advice to you is to pay yourself first before anyone if you want to become wealthy. This is the first step towards building wealth. Always learn to pay yourself by investing in yourself.

One of the reasons why saving is important is that the money you are saving is a seed that can be planted and will later grow into a tree to yield fruits for you. The seed could be planted in form of a small business venture, or an investment in stocks and shares, bonds, real estate, and so on. Just make sure you plant that seed.

If you come up with an idea or an opportunity surfaces, your savings could serve as initial capital to initiate that idea.

Start saving today, you have your income as a tool. Wake up and use the most powerful tool you have to build wealth.