In our How I Manage My Money series we aim to find out how people in the UK are spending, saving and investing money to meet their costs and achieve their goals.
This week we speak to George Tuttle, 29, who lives in London with a flatmate. George, who works in the finance team of a catering company, used to spend every penny he made, but now puts £1,000 a month into investments. He thinks income tax thresholds need to be raised and doesn’t believe he could survive solely on the state pension.
My monthly income: I take home £2,800 per month from my job as a senior business partner, working in the finance team of a procurement department of a catering company.
My monthly outgoings: Rent, including water, gas, electric, council tax and internet, £850; groceries, £250; mobile phone, £23; transport, £120; subscriptions like Netflix and Sky Sports, £61; gym, £41; money into investing, £1,000. The amount I spend on clothes and sundries varies, but can be about £200, though this isn’t every month. I spend around £200 a month on going out and eating out.
I grew up in a village in Hertfordshire with my parents and three siblings. My dad has been a gardener his entire life and my mum stayed at home until all four children were teenagers. They don’t own their own home.
I went to university to study maths at the University of Bath, but failed. I don’t have a degree, but I do have the student debt. After failing my degree I worked in Tesco and self-studied to get into an accounting career.
I started work as an accounts assistant in 2018 for a small accounting firm in my local town and worked up the ranks while studying. I now earn £45,000 a year before deductions working in the finance team of a catering company.
I also run a YouTube channel, where I talk about personal finance and investing. I used not to be good with money and wanted a way to keep track of my spending and investing goals. Sharing my experiences and forcing myself to put money aside every month has drastically improved my relationship with money.
I’ve been tracking my expenses and balances in my bank accounts and investments for four years. Before doing this, I had £5,000 in short-term debt and would spend all my income every month.
I now put £1,000 into investments each month. This seems very high, but I want to put as much money into investments as possible while I’m young. I invest in All World and S&P 500 ETFs, as well as some individual UK and UK stocks. I’ve also got £3,000 in cryptocurrency. I have around £25,000 tied up in investments.
My best investment to date has been in big tech companies when they had a big sell-off in 2023. I doubled my money in a year. However, I once invested in a FTSE 100 ETF which returned next to nothing for nearly a year. I’m glad I sold that. I’ve also lost money in a tobacco firm I invested in. While perhaps not an investment, I also once purchased a Vauxhall Corsa for £10,000 and sold it for £5,000 two years later!
I have £6,000 in a cash savings account but I’m not adding money to this. I’m slowly moving the money from it to the stock market in order to maximise my ISA allowance. I plan to leave between £2,000 to £3,000 in the savings account.
I’ve got a Help to Buy ISA with Nationwide with £30 in it. I’m aiming to put more money in it to maximise the 25 per cent bonus available via the government. I am frustrated by the poor communication surrounding ISAs and Lifetime ISAs. Even though the rules have changed and been relaxed, I used to think that you could only invest in one of these accounts at a time, so I stopped putting money in my Help to Buy ISA when I wanted to open a stocks and shares ISA.
When it comes to investing, retirement is my main objective. I add £150 a month to my workplace pension and currently have about £12,000 spread across two pension pots. I am considering increasing my contributions to reduce my tax obligations. The state pension is not enough to live on and I could not rely solely on it in later life.
I think income tax thresholds should be raised in line with inflation. This would encourage people to want to earn more money. To be taxed 40 per cent on your income above about £50,000 is insane. I think the yearly ISA allowance should also be increased.
I’m currently renting and although I would like to own my own home, I can’t see this happening any time soon. House prices and inflation are high and it’s hard to save enough. I assume my income would need to be higher for me to be able to afford a mortgage. I haven’t tried to contact any lenders to check my affordability credentials, but I know I wouldn’t be able to afford much.
I think my salary is good and I’m comfortable, but I always try to get paid more each year. If I made more money, I would invest and save more. If I made an extra £600 a month I could maximise my annual ISA allowance, which is what I’m aiming for.
Ultimately, I want to own a home, get married and have children. I will need to earn more money to be able to afford all of these things. I can’t see myself making any of these milestones within the next three to five years. I’d like to be able to make enough money from my social media work to be able to do it full time and quit my job, but there’s no certainty this will happen.
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