Uncommon Sense

"Again, it’s another way of understanding the value of money. Mark Homer runs Progressive Property investment courses with Rob Moore. He will do things like bulk buy to save money that can then be used to enjoy life. There’s more to life than just saving all the time, you’ve got to see some benefits, a reason for the sacrifices you are making. That comes out on a bigger level with this book. Support Five Books Five Books interviews are expensive to produce. If you're enjoying this interview, please support us by donating a small amount . It’s about understanding the system which you work within to make it work for you, including the tax system. I always ask my students, what works for you more: a pound earned or a pound saved? If you can save a pound, you’re making more from it to do what you want with your life. It teaches young people to be smarter in the way that you shift things around, look at discounts, life hacks like that. I want to give my students facts that they can go out and use in life straight away, and share with their parents to make their lives better. I teach in a really good school, but we deal with social issues, it’s a working-class area. Sign up here for our newsletter featuring the best children’s and young adult books, as recommended by authors, teachers, librarians and, of course, kids. With a book like this, kids can learn to see the potential opportunities. Instead of worrying about saving money here and there and inflation, they can think about where might be a better place to go and get a job now. It can make people think about how to maximise the system for their own benefit and create an optimistic attitude. Instead of complaining about the government, teenagers reading this book will see the benefits of setting up their own business—you pay yourself, you pay your tax at the end—so it encourages entrepreneurship , or even just a side hustle. I think we are moving into a time where you can have a need of a side hustle as well as your main job, and the important thing is making sure that side hustle is something that you really enjoy doing. Like with the Whateley and Beckbessinger books, it’s about doing stuff that you want to do, how to earn money and enjoy life at the same time. It comes out in this book as well, that it’s not at the end of life you enjoy it, it’s through life: you can enjoy it along the way. When it comes to investing, you don’t follow the crowd. You start looking and you start seeking opportunities. If you do your research well enough, you can trust your research and trust the fundamentals that you go in with. If you can get ahead of the game, that’s another benefit because by the time you’re following the herd, everyone else has done it. I do teach the kids that risk is reduced is when you have more knowledge of the item. So when people ask whether cryptocurrency is really risky, I would say that it is if you don’t know exactly what you’re doing. That goes with any kind of asset, that the risks are heavily reduced the more knowledge you have. But people need a framework in which to research, and I don’t think all of my students have that. You need some education in how to assess when an opportunity is an opportunity, and how to identify early on when it is not. Raoul Pal’s podcasts are good, although quite technical at times. Andrew Craig has written a book called How to Own the World , and there is a podcast episode with him with the same title. Similarly, Morgan Housel has written a book called The Psychology of Money and there is a podcast episode with him about that. Naval Ravikant is probably more accessible for young people. He is an angel investor on the West Coast of the US who puts out loads of tweets about how to get rich without getting lucky, like “seek wealth, not money or status”. Yes, we should talk about that. Finance still seems to be quite a male domain. I went to an investment conference in the US recently and only met a handful of women out of several hundred participants. But actually, I think women are better investors, as a group. Men are sometimes all testosterone. They tend to take on higher risk, so a few will be very successful, and they can learn from making more mistakes. This is a massive generalisation, obviously. Sign up here for our newsletter featuring the best children’s and young adult books, as recommended by authors, teachers, librarians and, of course, kids. There is a book by Mapalo Makhu called You’re Not Broke, You’re Pre-Rich . This author (like Sam Beckbessinger) is a South African who highlights the importance of personal finance principles, but this book goes more into advising young women in particular. Some of it, like prenuptial contracts, is maybe more relevant in South Africa . But in a way it just reinforces the message that it doesn’t matter what gender you are or where you’re from, the principles for managing money remain the same. And really, you do not need to be interested in money, it doesn’t have to be your best subject, but you do need to address it. Like the other books we talked about, this one makes the assumption that you earn money but you need to take responsibility for managing it better. We can get into the mindset where what we have is not enough because there’s always someone who earns more, but money is not the only factor. If you get to the point where you do have what you need, then it becomes more about purpose in life, what experiences you have and what you live your life doing. The opacity of the finance system really frustrates me, and that’s why I’m a big advocate of financial education. Once you get through that first technical layer, it’s almost like opening a door to The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe . I think young people who read these books, or some of these books, and gain the fundamentals from them can use that knowledge as a framework for whatever they invest in, and make their decisions from there. I want to help give people the confidence to make financial decisions that are right for them."