I made it no secret: I’ve had struggles with alcohol. I’m much better, but I still do struggle. You never stop struggling. I knew I’d gone too far when my doctor recommended I sought professional help. My initial reaction was: “you what!?”. I didn’t call myself an alcoholic. How could I be an alcoholic? I’m not an alcoholic, am I? I didn’t even see it as a problem: my friends were drinking the same as me. Some were drinking more than me. I reached a point where I could knock back 8 pints on a Wednesday and turn up to work at 8 am on a Thursday. Completely functional & do my job. But I had ..read more

Welcome to our Q3 2021 Savings Report. This month marks two years of straight saving reports. You find find the first being September 2019. But in more important news, this coming month marks the other-MM’s and I’s 20th anniversary together. We’re having a wee trip away, and have booked a plush suite in a posh hotel. Thank you for staying with us over the years. It means a lot. How you are doing? I hope you are keeping well and your personal finances are heading in the right direction. Ours are. Year over Year is looking very healthy, and over two years we’re nearly double our net worth. But t ..read more

Welcome to our Q2 2021 Savings Report. This is the second in a new Quarterly report format. My monthly reports were becoming a bit same-old, and I have had other draws on my time. Slow and steady wins the personal finance race, and this report is no different. The good news is: we are doing well, and our finances are doing very well. I hope you are well, and that your finances are doing well too! Anyway, let’s see how the Money Mage household Saving and Investment performance was Q2 2021 (April 2021 through June 2021). You can get all Savings Reports at the best of Money Mage. April - June 202 ..read more

Welcome to our March Savings Report. It’s been a while. I hope you are doing well. Apologies for being absent without leave - more on that later. Given my absence, this is the first monthly report in over 18 months that I’ve missed. You’ll have to consider this report a quarterly report. This time last year was the peak of the COVID crisis for us. Our networth was down 4%. I was terrified about the other-MM’s health risk. But in good news: we are doing well despite being AWOL. We’re both surviving. The spring air is helping. It can be difficult sometimes to appreciate exactly what you have. We ..read more

Welcome to our December Savings Report. Happy New Year! I hope you had a great holiday. We certainly did. I can’t believe 2020 is over. I also can’t believe what a terrible start 2021 has been for most of us. We’re back in full national lockdown and there’s been a riot at of the seat of power in America. To make matters worse, I’ve also had a bit of a health scare. I won’t go into details yet - but it’s certainly been a bad start to the year. Health troubles are always something I hate. You can have all the wealth in the world but health woes put everything into perspective. December 2020 roun ..read more

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2020 has been quite the year. One like no other. It’s been ride. And then some more. Stay safe & look after those around you this holiday season. We’re on our Christmas break now, so I’ll see you all in 2021. But to end the year, here is a round up of some of the most popular Money Mage posts in 2020. Should I Overpay My Mortgage? Flybe Collapse. How can I get a refund? How Wealthly Am I? 20 Money Tips I Wish I Knew In My 20s Ultimate Batch Cooked Chilli Con Carne 7 Thoughts on Low Cost Living 6 Reasons to Quit Your Job Where Should I Keep My Emergency ..read more

Welcome to our November Savings Report. I’m writing this in December. I can’t believe the end of 2020 is already in sight. This horrible year has flown by. It doesn’t feel like 9 months have passed since work sent us all home to work from home. And the house is bloody freezing in the day, so I’ve had to buy some slippers and put the heating up, like some old man. I haven’t been out for a coffee with friends since March. It’s starting to wear a little thin. But November has been a great month financially. Mostly down to market recovery, stock options and a new stock grant I’ve had. In huge news ..read more

79% of people in the UK are in what’s known as ‘handset and contract’ deals[]. Locked into a monthly payment to a mobile phone operator. Walking around with the latest and greatest handsets. Are you paying £20-40/month or more to O2, T-Mobile, Three, Vodafone, or one of the big telecom operators in the UK for your mobile phone? I pay £8 for my mobile phone. How? I don’t believe in mobile phone contracts. Here are 8 reasons why. 1. The handset is not free Many fans of mobile phone contracts love them because they get the handset ‘for free’. This is far from the case. The cost of the handset is ..read more

Yes, you can save up to 100% this Black Friday! It’s simple. Black Friday is awesome. There are so many deals. So many end-of-line goodies. So many offers. So many emails from Amazon! Can you resist? You need to save up to 100% NOW!! Follow these 3 steps to save up to 100% in Money Mages’ Big Black Friday Sale, and you too can be mortgage free at 35! Big Black Friday Sale1. Don’t go out to the shops this weekend Seriously. Don’t go to any Black Friday Sales this week or this weekend. This is so easy in 2020, as many of us are in COVID lockdown and shops are closed. But if you do physically go ..read more

I recently asked on Twitter what people wish they knew about finance when they were younger. It’s interesting to think about. We’ve always been good with money. If you check our Savings Reports they start when we were in our early 20s. We’ve been saving & investing since then, and doing pretty well for ourselves. We’re mortgage free at 35 and are on track to retire in our early 40s. But you should always be improving. We could have taken a different and more effective path… If we’d have done things differently when we were 20… So, let’s wind back time… And unleash some wisdom… “Wear sunsc ..read more