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Very good video. "What Net Worth Puts You in the Top 10%?" What if we excluded the tiny number of super rich households that skew the real figures? To me, that's the true figure. What is that number??
@@marcus.H Very hard to say because basically the richest do not report their wealth as i tried to show around 800 billion is missing.. Which is this richest cohort and that makes up nearly 1/20th of total wealth in the UK which is AWOL
14:25 I ageee! "The Miracle of Compound Interest." Last 20 years teaching Secondary School Maths I've always tried to slip in as much financial maths as I could get away with, but it should be explicitly taught. Credit, mortgages, pensions, tax, investing. Teenagers are rarely as 'interested' in the lessons as when we cover compounding.
@@SK-kh2rs Sure, money isn't everything, and enjoying life is important. However, money is a great way to help you get what you want and need to enjoy life. As people say, money isn't everything, but without money, you are nothing.
@@stumac869 both maths and personal finance are just as important, but having good basic maths skills doesn't automatically give you good financial skills. I was good at maths in school, I was ok with personal finance, but there were massive holes in my knowledge. I didn't really understand investing until my late 30s when I spent time to study it in my own time.
I am a professional risk manager with experience in risk consultancy, UK government and private sector including banking and defence. The one thing almost everyone gets wrong is that risk is wholly negative and that scares people into not taking any. Risk management should properly be called risk and opportunity management and anyone thinking about risk should focus equally on opportunity. Not just what could go wrong and how can I avoid it, but how can it go right and how can it make that outcome both more likely and more beneficial.
Def needs more education on risk, but also negotiation topics, the value of contracts and what to look out for and some of the pitfalls, also developing a plan if not strategy. It’s never mentioned but there is often a big difference in attitude applying toward ‘own money’ versus company money, I’ve seen people more than happy to go outside of process to obtain goods & services without contractual cover, without negotiating, having work undertaken or software installed then go wrong and in doing so generally opening the company up to massive risk, yet wouldn’t dare be so reckless in their own world.
I work at a big charitable foundation and we are changing terms like ‘Risk Register’ to ‘Risk and Opportunity Register’ to take into account the fact that our grant making has big risks but also big benefits and it has changed the perspective of how we engage with partners
Thanks for this. I’ve been sending your videos to my 18 and 22 year old nieces. They don’t have much yet, as they are both students, but no one in our family has ever talked about this kind of information. They will have resources soon, and I wish someone could have told me about this stuff 35 years ago. I’m also going to be teaching this stuff to my grandson when he’s a little older. This is one way of breaking the generational poverty chain. Thanks again. Keep doing what you do.
I know I'm in danger of being a bit hyperbolic, I've said this on one of your videos last year and I'll say it again: you're gearing yourself up to be my generations Martin Lewis - informing the masses on financial literacy. sorry I'm not subscribed, but the algorithm recommended this which is telling. so you've got the momentum behind you Damien, keep it coming!
Your videos are incredible but the light comedy that you incorporate seamlessly just makes them pure class, the pie references throughout the whole thing had me cackling throughout even though this is a topic that hits close to home as I’m struggling myself. But it really does make your videos a much easier watch as they are so so important for young home seekers like myself!
Loved the personal tidbit at the end! I'm also a Durham university graduate from a few years ago, and I had a very similar experience of having my eyes opened to a world of finances and life experiences that I had never known existed before. Also being the first in my family to go to university, it really opened my eyes as to how little financial education I had received growing up in a working class house. I know investing and saving isn't going to suddenly mean I'll pay off my mortgage tomorrow, but it will best prepare me for my own future, and hopefully the future of my kids as and when I have them. All the best dude!
If you haven’t got the aptitude or focus to start and be successful in business, then at least buy chunks of other peoples businesses, who do have that focus and aptitude.
This was one of the best videos about investing I've ever seen. The factual and sincere information you put out was on point and I think everyone watching this "pause" their life for a few seconds and actually thought about what you said and how you said it. Simply amazing. Just subscribed because of this video and will keep following your videos for sure. Keep it going!
Reminds me of when I had an open day at Durham Uni, and the first thing they said to the room was “I know most of you will have applied to Oxford and Cambridge”. I was moving in different circles 😂
Damien, what a great guy. I used to be in financial services and am well informed, but still love his straight forward, honest and inclusive style. If only more people were better informed and participated in investing, that would be a better situation and Damien is more than doing his part. Investment is for everyone. Start now, however small and drip it in over the long term. Nobody told me this when I was young, but I eventually worked it out and in my fifties, no longer need to work.
Thank you for this enlightening, erudite and articulate presentation. Simply put but pretty easy to understand, at least the most important principles.
When writing this comment, I am 22 and have just started an index fund, and I'm paying into my company pension. One of the problems with people my age is that they aren't looking that far into the future. They see the money that could be used for the company pension as money towards renting a house. This will only change if schools teach this topic in greater detail.
@m4yh3m121 how do parents in the lower percentile, with hardly any disposable wealth, learn enough to teach? Damien said, those in the higher percentiles already pass on their experience and knowledge.
just remember you can move your money around in company pensions, you can move into cash if you think the global market is going to tank. Most people select a fund and never change it. this is a big mistake.
Great video Damien as always! Your experience with uni and mentioned survey about "money talk" with children are reason why I'm much more open to early discussion about these topics with kids (and Junior ISA as example of trust towards them)
Damien, your vids just continue to get better and better, congrats on your success, great to see. The production on your last few has been super slick and really helps deliver the messages. Would love to see something on current ‘retirement’ ages and how people are going to save enough to make even a normal retirement possible, nevermind the much touted FIRE route to an earlier work exit. Feels to me that the current economic climate, inflation, fuel costs and housing costs make saving robustly whilst raising a family and living life only a dream for most.
Damien my story is the same as yours, single parent, council estate, went to top Uni, graduated,couldn’t get a job, couldn’t speak English properly (according to them, had a London ghetto accent), had no internships under my belt. Couldn’t get a job easily, eventually when I did didn’t understand how to get on in a big corporation, left or would have got sacked. Started my own business now I’m in the top 2 or 3 percent. It’s not easy to level up. Having successful educated parents makes a big difference, state school teachers are useless.
The part about your university experience resonated so much with my experience. I'm a second generation immigrant (I was born in France, from Sri Lankan parents). No one in our whole family went to university. My sister and I were very fortunate, as our parents pushed us to study hard. We were able to enter very prestigious universities in France, as education is free. What I realised is that despite being technically open for everyone (since it's free) the vast majority of students accepted to these fancy unis were coming from very privileged families. Not because the families paid for it, but because just like wealth, high education is also inherited. These kids were playing a game I did not even know existed.
Top quality compiled data Damien! You just keep getting better and better. I still have friends who think long term investing is not for them cos they like seeing their money in their bank account. They don't see "depreciation"
Love your channel Damo. I've set up a stocks and shares ISA via Vanguard for my daughter on the back of your vids. Also love the Making Money podcast, I've listed to them all and re-listened to a good few! The Paul Jonson one was so eye opening for me. Please keep em coming Damo and T and Snowball! :)
Excellent video, Damien! Your story of University is very similar to my own (and undoubtedly thousands of others.) I remember sitting at my graduation realising that everyone in that hall was getting the same bit of paper as me and that was happening in more unis than i could imagine. I realised at that moment i'd done uni all wrong. But, i had nobody to tell me any different. I always try to pass that on.
The government of the day doesn't want financially free people, they want a never ending supply of worker ants paying their taxes. This will never change.
@@george6977maybe the odd lesson - but actually ingraining a mindset of wealth creation, understanding risk, inflation, exchange rates, stock markets - these subjects could all be taught in maths at school - yet instead it is all theories and Pythagoras therums
I’ve been following you for a while and I’ve been dipping in an out. But this evening I have binged watched maybe 10 videos of yours and I just want to let you know your clarity and genuine attitude and ethos is bang in my man. Thank you so much for making these videos!
Top work Damo. I grew up in the 90's. Schools didn't address financial education including investing, risk, compound interest or tax. I could've been in a much better place financially if they did. Most people don't learn this stuff until they start thinking about how they can get more out of the money they earn or how can they save more money. By that point there's years of missed opportunity to invest. I know I saved money for years before i invested and lost out on thousands due to it. Also with tax (slightly off topic I know), most people with a normal PAYE job just trust the HMRC to take what they should and wouldn't even know if it was right or wrong. Most people just get bamboozled by tax codes and financial years with little understanding on the repercussions of not understanding what you need to check.
Absolutely fantastic video. The DfE should get you, or your videos, in front of every school in the country Damo. Every child should have the right to learning the basics (compounding, asset classes etc), and how the application of the readily accessible tools (stocks and shares ISAs, pensions etc) can/will impact their lives.
There are tons of investment advice videos out there, but the social/psychological/ethical commentary you fold into yours makes this channel unique--at least from what I've seen. And the little bits about your own life and feelings in there really do give your videos some genuine emotional impact--at least for me. Bravo.
I definitely was subject to the fears of investing. I have been thinking about it since I started University and only finally started investing after leaving uni. Very delayed but I’m here now and I’m glad I’m using these vehicles. There is some serious gatekeeping with the true vehicles of wealth building. Very grateful I now have the knowledge and am sharing it with all those around me.
This is an excellent video. I couldn't count the number of people I've known or seen comment online who say that investing in the markets is no better than going to casino or buying a lotto ticket. That's completely untrue, but I don't completely blame them for thinking this. It takes a reasonable amount of knowledge and a bit of internal fortitude to stay invested while there is turmoil happening, as well as a sensationalist media feeding daily stories predicting doom. Even my own wife, who has been on the investment journey with me, is still skeptical about the wealth building properties of investing in shares, bonds or for that matter starting your own business. This is why I started on the education path early with our kids, like my old man (who had modest means, but the right mind set) did with me. They now understand how wealth is built for regular folks and take more of an interest in it. They're not content to just have their savings from work etc sitting in a bank account not doing anything for them and getting eaten away by inflation. I wish more people thought that way. So bravo Damien for putting the data out there.
@@DamienTalksMoney no worries! The first thing is to teach kids the maths behind compound interest and how it can be your best friend or worst enemy. They learn a bit about this at school, but I like to show them practical examples of it. The second thing is to explain how public companies, ETF's, index funds and bonds (public and corporate debt) work and how you as an average punter can invest in them. The third thing I've taught my kids is the time value of money. All of this should give people a pretty good grounding in the basics.
Away from the technical aspects of investing (compounding etc.) - which I think are more suited to older children in the main - I would suggest the most important thing to teach children throughout their childhood is delayed gratification. Because, without developing that mindset, we will all just grow up wanting everything 'now' and putting 'now' first. Not to be nostalgic, but until relatively recently, we had to wait to buy a record; now we can instantly stream it. We had to wait a week for a next TV show episode; now we can binge the boxset. It's likely harder now than previous generations to 'wait' for almost anything. Without having a delayed gratification built into us, we will find a reason not to invest for our future self ('might as well spend it now' syndrome). Ultimately, the whole foundation of investing is delayed gratification. By displaying from an early age that we, as adults, have to wait for things, as our children do, and that the wait has great value, I think the technical aspects of investing 'make sense' because the context in which investment is made (long term) has been wired into us. It sounds like you learnt 'the right mind set' from your dad, and this has meant the technicality of money/investing works for you, and that you are in a position to pass this on to the next generation of your family. I do believe that, in many cases, it just takes one person in a family lineage to forever alter the financial path of that family. It probably only takes one person to break it though, too!
This is fantastic Damien thanks. The conclusion is powerful, we fail in state schooling to educate on finance, i have never understood why. Very interesting point about the loaded game at class based level, another point that rings true. Fantastic video, its the perfect balance of information, insight and humour. Bravo Sir!
One of the best things I discovered in this 2024 year is your channel, mate. Your videos are just amazing. Thanks for your hardwork and for keeping us informed.
Another killer video Damo, and seeing you levelling up of that editing consistently. These sort of videos are what make YT such a great space for educating yourself, thank you.
Really good video and well done for explaining things so clearly: kudos to you. This highlights a huge difference between attitudes in the the US and UK (admiration of the wealthy versus vilification), and explains a lot of the gulf in fortunes between the two. You are absolutely spot on with risk warnings. They are there purely for covering the asses of banks who are terrified of being sued.
Sorry my wording here is unclear i can see that watching it back. I meant to state that it may or may not remain like that if a new labour government come in as the rumour is they would reinstate it.
@@bigboldbicycle the lifetime allowance was always a stupid idea because it was not a limit on the amount you could put into a pension but instead was a limit on how large your pension pot could grow - it was a tax on investment growth and inflation. We already have an annual limit on the amount you can put into a pension tax free (I think it is about £30k per year). You could have a lifetime contribution limit (or at least contributions which get a favourable tax treatment) of say £750k which would 30 years of contributions at the max annual limit
I’ve always been obsessed with money and understood the value of calculated risk taking. I talk money for a living and this is a great vid btw. I practice what I preach and have been more successful than I could have dreamt. My parents worked as hard, if not harder than I have but they always avoided almost all risks at all costs and I saw how it served them. It’s simple for me; take as much risk as you can afford and wait. People get what they deserve and you reap what you sow.
This is a really interesting video! Effort, hard work and the willingness to educate yourself and take some risk is a vital component of this also as most of your audience are finding out! 🤑👏🏾👏🏾
Yes! People need to learn there's actually far more risk to your well-being by not investing than there is in sensible investing. Many people resist making stock market investments out of fear it's too risky. Sadly, they never experience the peace of mind that comes with having a nest egg of compounding investments, sometimes described as FU Money.
One question - how do you place a value an unfunded pension (e.g. public sector defined benefit, or state pension). Do you try and estimate a number based on comparable commercial products? Or disregard it? (From memory, HMRC uses a nominal value based on 20 years payments. Is that any better?). Would welcome some clarity. Related question - shouldn't these values also show up in the government debt figures?
This is why channels like yours are so important, at least to give people some knowledge to make them think about investing. Also, that pie was making me hungry..
14:25 A very astute (and amusing) comment slipped in almost as an aside. Please keep this sort of detail in your content. IMHO it clearly demonstrates respect for your audience.
Growing up in a pay check to pay check family. Never really thought much about money. Just saw it as a way to pay for stuff you needed. Wasnt until i reached 40 that i start investing. UA-cam has been a great education in terms of understanding financial concepts. Its hard as when you finally get to that realisation you realise that youre already 10-20 years behind better educated people. The matrix term gets applied alot. But this compounding knowledge in familes just seems like an unintended but present issue that keeps people at their level
The difference in disclaimers for credit cards and investments has always struck me as strange. The one *might* lose you some money. The other will almost certainly lose you 20-30% per year (in the form of interest). It’s like putting warnings on health food but not the cheese burgers…
Loving the content right now. I wasn't expecting what you're producing to keep going up in levels but it's great to watch. 🙌 The message on risk is spot on. We need a better conversation around risk as at the moment all that is happening is we're throwing financial jargon out there in an attempt to arse cover. All it does is confuse and scare people into not starting to build wealth. You're doing great work mate, keep it up. 👏
Damian. I have to say this is probably the better video you’ve made so far. I like the new graphics, I love what you are doing, I love your passion you have to guide us. I even felt your emotions, holding back. Wanting to say.. don’t let those rich pr1cks tell us we can’t! Just so they can profit from doctrinarian us. Don’t invest, it too risky, buy a house instead and over 25-30 you’ll own it but, I charge you hundreds of thousands in interest. Don’t do what I do, do what I say. Anyway. On a lighter note. Once again, I love and can’t wait for your next release. Thank you. BhD
In my experience, in so many cases, educating people does not work. I've been trying for years to get friends and family to invest and it's like banging my head against a brick wall. I've pretty much given up. Their loss!
Damien like you I was the first in my generation to go to uni. I paid for it myself. Despite this I remain, like the millions of other people from working class backgrounds, who stay so very ignorant about the things you try to teach on your channel. Thank you for beginning to prise open what in my view has been for so many years a 'secret garden' for all who are willing to try to educate themselves via this wonderful open learning system we now have, powered by the internet and tech like UA-cam. My very best wishes to you in your project. Thank you for helping me.
On point message about investing in ‘riskier’ (or as I prefer to phrase it, more volatile) assets. One just needs to be careful when drawing conclusions about such investment activity by looking at investment in markets outside of a pension. This is because, other than investing in yourself and your own income potential (such as through a business), an optimum approach to such investments, for most people, as clearly demonstrated by your percentiles, is primarily within a pension (preferably, funded via a workplace, matching, and salary sacrifice based contribution, if your not self-employed). Both inside pension and outside pension investments should be the numbers to use when measuring engagement in individual investment in riskier assets compared to income. People in the lower earning percentiles are unlikely to be able to anywhere nearly maximise their annual allowance, for example. If they have income to invest, in that case, a pension is where they probably should be concentrating this.
5:20 my old supervisor used to say wealth should be an iceberg and barely visible above the water surface. 14:27 the National Curriculum is not geared to creating independent thought, analysis or critical thinking. 14:54 cultural capital, the education that happens outside of school.
I've been watching your stuff for a long time and it always refocuses me on my personal finance, so thank you for that. I'm also always amazed at your ability to not just get so angry at our entire system every time you go through this stuff. That pie segment at the start is the best demonstration of the absolute failure of our current version of society that I've ever seen. I'm not a communist, but what we're doing right now can't possibly be the best system.
The video is about net wealth and about wealth distribution. There is of course legal wealth such as a property which wouldn’t correspond to an accountant in terms of net worth because you own 15% of it but are the legal owner. The wealth distribution was based on legal terms and therefore void from an financial perspective.
Pukka video (think you missed that one) Your experience you recounted in the last few minutes, yes same here and the generational aspect of it. I didn't come from a wealthy family but, got to University and had a good career in IT, doing financially well and my daughter benefits from this and from my experience (now at Uni herself) . She'll be way ahead of her peers when she starts on the property ladder.
I've always thought that the idea that your house is your greatest asset and your pension is a backwards way of planning. My house is my home and I'll be damned if I have to sell it to fund retirement. A retirement that would mean I finally get to spend an increased amount of time at home. People really need to wake up to pension saving and good financial planning in a big way. Thanks for all the quality content Damien, you're seriously helping a lot of people!
I totally agree the focus on risk is very detrimental, imagine having the same disclaimer when getting a job. To be honest a job one could seem even more scary, if the business goes wrong for something that will be nothing to do with you. You'll be the first to be let go as you are the newest and if you go into debt that's personal debt, that will stay with you forever and d ying will not even stop it.
Thanks Damien; I have a daughter in private school here in UK and yes pupils have more financial education plus have opportunity to run their own enterprise for a bit; she is going to London to learn and experience business at the Spitalfields market 😮- plus do not forget networking opportunities and personal conversations they all have at school at that level ; we have built our wealth ourselves as we were born in a different country were education was free ( still poor money education though) ; we came to UK worked hard , took risks and here we are ; never had any conversation with my parents about money actually it was always about lack so everything I know I learnt ; we chose secondary school for exactly that ( all rounded life education) but could spend or save money elsewhere and of course spend them on a lot so called status items like car ( we have one 10 year old car 😂)
That you for sharing this! I hope my video did not come across as bashing the rich. That was not the point at all, i get sick of the narrative that the rich are evil some how.. most worked hard for what they have, most are self made and took plenty of risk like you did!
Something I often find myself discussing is the general lack of practical life skills taught in schools. The only lessons related to personal finances I remember were a couple of explanations why it's bad to get in to debt, and repeated assertions of the importance of getting a job and having some money set aside for emergencies. My family were no help there either.
Compare coverage and stay informed on breaking news by subscribing through my link ground.news/damien to receive 30% off the Vantage subscription which is about £4/month for unlimited access to all the important features such as the Blindspot feed.
Very good video. "What Net Worth Puts You in the Top 10%?" What if we excluded the tiny number of super rich households that skew the real figures? To me, that's the true figure. What is that number??
@@marcus.H Very hard to say because basically the richest do not report their wealth as i tried to show around 800 billion is missing.. Which is this richest cohort and that makes up nearly 1/20th of total wealth in the UK which is AWOL
@@DamienTalksMoney I see
I'll ask bing. Brb
@@marcus.H this was 4 hours ago. i see bing is as slow as internet explorer. 🤣🤣
did you take down the video about immigration and house price correlation?
14:25 I ageee! "The Miracle of Compound Interest." Last 20 years teaching Secondary School Maths I've always tried to slip in as much financial maths as I could get away with, but it should be explicitly taught. Credit, mortgages, pensions, tax, investing. Teenagers are rarely as 'interested' in the lessons as when we cover compounding.
You are a hero of a teacher! Why do they not speak to people like yourself and ask what would benefit the kids the most. Thank you for the work you do
@@SK-kh2rsI'll tell that to the bank at the start of next month when they want February's mortgage payment.
Keep it up because without understanding such basic concepts many will get ripped off by the establishment.
@@SK-kh2rs Sure, money isn't everything, and enjoying life is important. However, money is a great way to help you get what you want and need to enjoy life. As people say, money isn't everything, but without money, you are nothing.
@@SK-kh2rstell that to the kids that get kicked out by their parents and need to somehow afford to live.
Another 16 minutes and 16 seconds of education, enlightenment and entertainment, thanks Damo.
Risk management needs to be taught in school. People take huge risks everyday without realising it, and then shy away from fairly minor risks.
Maybe damien could follow jamie's school dinners with damien's school finance if theres a big problem in teaching financial knowledge in schools.
It’s not taught in school so people just take the safe option and work for people rather than working for themselves, making others wealthy.
Basic maths would be a good start because many that leave school don't even achieve that.
@@DavidHewitt-v6x that fucker took my Turkey Twizzlers 😂
What would Damien take from us? Lol
@@stumac869 both maths and personal finance are just as important, but having good basic maths skills doesn't automatically give you good financial skills. I was good at maths in school, I was ok with personal finance, but there were massive holes in my knowledge. I didn't really understand investing until my late 30s when I spent time to study it in my own time.
I am a professional risk manager with experience in risk consultancy, UK government and private sector including banking and defence. The one thing almost everyone gets wrong is that risk is wholly negative and that scares people into not taking any. Risk management should properly be called risk and opportunity management and anyone thinking about risk should focus equally on opportunity. Not just what could go wrong and how can I avoid it, but how can it go right and how can it make that outcome both more likely and more beneficial.
Exactly this! I am glad a professional of your calibre agrees with the sentiment of the video
Great insight..! I'm using that as my reply to every short sighted ney sayer at work next week.. 🫡
What a great point - Risk and Opportunity Management 👍
Def needs more education on risk, but also negotiation topics, the value of contracts and what to look out for and some of the pitfalls, also developing a plan if not strategy. It’s never mentioned but there is often a big difference in attitude applying toward ‘own money’ versus company money, I’ve seen people more than happy to go outside of process to obtain goods & services without contractual cover, without negotiating, having work undertaken or software installed then go wrong and in doing so generally opening the company up to massive risk, yet wouldn’t dare be so reckless in their own world.
I work at a big charitable foundation and we are changing terms like ‘Risk Register’ to ‘Risk and Opportunity Register’ to take into account the fact that our grant making has big risks but also big benefits and it has changed the perspective of how we engage with partners
Loved the 3.14159 reference, very subtle but a stroke of genius 👌
Made my mathematical heart sing.
Thanks for this. I’ve been sending your videos to my 18 and 22 year old nieces. They don’t have much yet, as they are both students, but no one in our family has ever talked about this kind of information. They will have resources soon, and I wish someone could have told me about this stuff 35 years ago. I’m also going to be teaching this stuff to my grandson when he’s a little older. This is one way of breaking the generational poverty chain. Thanks again. Keep doing what you do.
I know I'm in danger of being a bit hyperbolic, I've said this on one of your videos last year and I'll say it again: you're gearing yourself up to be my generations Martin Lewis - informing the masses on financial literacy. sorry I'm not subscribed, but the algorithm recommended this which is telling. so you've got the momentum behind you Damien, keep it coming!
You’ve been killing it with your videos recently, Damien. Top work 👍🏼
For a bit of fun i will give £20 to the first person who can name every pie I mentioned in the video. Just reply directly to this comment.
Mince steak pie, vegan pie, Occu-pie 😅
All of the above and Jonathan Pie😂😂
I need 1 full clear list! lol
Overall weath pie, Vegan pie (minced beef steak), pie chart, Jonathan pie, occupie, magpie, 3.142, pie-vatley educated students, pie in the sky.
Got it, never have I ever listened for the word pie so hard lol @@DamienTalksMoney
That pie bit needs to be a Short, absolutely stellar opening
short crust...
Your videos are incredible but the light comedy that you incorporate seamlessly just makes them pure class, the pie references throughout the whole thing had me cackling throughout even though this is a topic that hits close to home as I’m struggling myself. But it really does make your videos a much easier watch as they are so so important for young home seekers like myself!
Loved the personal tidbit at the end! I'm also a Durham university graduate from a few years ago, and I had a very similar experience of having my eyes opened to a world of finances and life experiences that I had never known existed before. Also being the first in my family to go to university, it really opened my eyes as to how little financial education I had received growing up in a working class house. I know investing and saving isn't going to suddenly mean I'll pay off my mortgage tomorrow, but it will best prepare me for my own future, and hopefully the future of my kids as and when I have them. All the best dude!
I started late in my mid thirties as nobody ever taught me about money, hopefully your videos will reach many and give them the education is needed
If you haven’t got the aptitude or focus to start and be successful in business, then at least buy chunks of other peoples businesses, who do have that focus and aptitude.
This
This was one of the best videos about investing I've ever seen. The factual and sincere information you put out was on point and I think everyone watching this "pause" their life for a few seconds and actually thought about what you said and how you said it. Simply amazing. Just subscribed because of this video and will keep following your videos for sure. Keep it going!
Some of your best work Damien. This is to cover you buying a paper FT as a prop which made me LOL
You are too kind! Thank you very much, actually quite hard to track down a copy of the FT nowadays!
Reminds me of when I had an open day at Durham Uni, and the first thing they said to the room was “I know most of you will have applied to Oxford and Cambridge”. I was moving in different circles 😂
Damien, what a great guy. I used to be in financial services and am well informed, but still love his straight forward, honest and inclusive style. If only more people were better informed and participated in investing, that would be a better situation and Damien is more than doing his part. Investment is for everyone. Start now, however small and drip it in over the long term. Nobody told me this when I was young, but I eventually worked it out and in my fifties, no longer need to work.
Thank you for this enlightening, erudite and articulate presentation. Simply put but pretty easy to understand, at least the most important principles.
Thank you for always explaining everything understandably
Damien, what is the answer to the title of the video?
What sum places you where?
When writing this comment, I am 22 and have just started an index fund, and I'm paying into my company pension. One of the problems with people my age is that they aren't looking that far into the future. They see the money that could be used for the company pension as money towards renting a house. This will only change if schools teach this topic in greater detail.
Surely the parents should be responsible too?
@m4yh3m121 how do parents in the lower percentile, with hardly any disposable wealth, learn enough to teach?
Damien said, those in the higher percentiles already pass on their experience and knowledge.
just remember you can move your money around in company pensions, you can move into cash if you think the global market is going to tank. Most people select a fund and never change it. this is a big mistake.
Great video Damien as always!
Your experience with uni and mentioned survey about "money talk" with children are reason why I'm much more open to early discussion about these topics with kids (and Junior ISA as example of trust towards them)
Damien, your vids just continue to get better and better, congrats on your success, great to see. The production on your last few has been super slick and really helps deliver the messages. Would love to see something on current ‘retirement’ ages and how people are going to save enough to make even a normal retirement possible, nevermind the much touted FIRE route to an earlier work exit. Feels to me that the current economic climate, inflation, fuel costs and housing costs make saving robustly whilst raising a family and living life only a dream for most.
Damien my story is the same as yours, single parent, council estate, went to top Uni, graduated,couldn’t get a job, couldn’t speak English properly (according to them, had a London ghetto accent), had no internships under my belt. Couldn’t get a job easily, eventually when I did didn’t understand how to get on in a big corporation, left or would have got sacked. Started my own business now I’m in the top 2 or 3 percent. It’s not easy to level up. Having successful educated parents makes a big difference, state school teachers are useless.
As always, thank you for a wonderfully organized and edited video. Well done.
The part about your university experience resonated so much with my experience. I'm a second generation immigrant (I was born in France, from Sri Lankan parents). No one in our whole family went to university. My sister and I were very fortunate, as our parents pushed us to study hard. We were able to enter very prestigious universities in France, as education is free. What I realised is that despite being technically open for everyone (since it's free) the vast majority of students accepted to these fancy unis were coming from very privileged families. Not because the families paid for it, but because just like wealth, high education is also inherited. These kids were playing a game I did not even know existed.
Top quality compiled data Damien! You just keep getting better and better.
I still have friends who think long term investing is not for them cos they like seeing their money in their bank account. They don't see "depreciation"
Love your channel Damo. I've set up a stocks and shares ISA via Vanguard for my daughter on the back of your vids. Also love the Making Money podcast, I've listed to them all and re-listened to a good few! The Paul Jonson one was so eye opening for me. Please keep em coming Damo and T and Snowball! :)
Excellent video, Damien! Your story of University is very similar to my own (and undoubtedly thousands of others.) I remember sitting at my graduation realising that everyone in that hall was getting the same bit of paper as me and that was happening in more unis than i could imagine. I realised at that moment i'd done uni all wrong. But, i had nobody to tell me any different. I always try to pass that on.
At school we were never taught about even the basics of personal finance, let alone investments.
You probably were in Maths: interest, compound interest.
The government of the day doesn't want financially free people, they want a never ending supply of worker ants paying their taxes. This will never change.
@@george6977maybe the odd lesson - but actually ingraining a mindset of wealth creation, understanding risk, inflation, exchange rates, stock markets - these subjects could all be taught in maths at school - yet instead it is all theories and Pythagoras therums
You and I weren’t but you can bet those at the likes of Eton were
I’ve been following you for a while and I’ve been dipping in an out. But this evening I have binged watched maybe 10 videos of yours and I just want to let you know your clarity and genuine attitude and ethos is bang in my man. Thank you so much for making these videos!
Top work Damo. I grew up in the 90's. Schools didn't address financial education including investing, risk, compound interest or tax. I could've been in a much better place financially if they did. Most people don't learn this stuff until they start thinking about how they can get more out of the money they earn or how can they save more money. By that point there's years of missed opportunity to invest. I know I saved money for years before i invested and lost out on thousands due to it. Also with tax (slightly off topic I know), most people with a normal PAYE job just trust the HMRC to take what they should and wouldn't even know if it was right or wrong. Most people just get bamboozled by tax codes and financial years with little understanding on the repercussions of not understanding what you need to check.
Absolutely fantastic video. The DfE should get you, or your videos, in front of every school in the country Damo. Every child should have the right to learning the basics (compounding, asset classes etc), and how the application of the readily accessible tools (stocks and shares ISAs, pensions etc) can/will impact their lives.
There are tons of investment advice videos out there, but the social/psychological/ethical commentary you fold into yours makes this channel unique--at least from what I've seen. And the little bits about your own life and feelings in there really do give your videos some genuine emotional impact--at least for me. Bravo.
I definitely was subject to the fears of investing. I have been thinking about it since I started University and only finally started investing after leaving uni. Very delayed but I’m here now and I’m glad I’m using these vehicles. There is some serious gatekeeping with the true vehicles of wealth building. Very grateful I now have the knowledge and am sharing it with all those around me.
The difference between the median and mean (and the change over time of these two metrics) is often neglected. Good that you mentioned it.
This is an excellent video. I couldn't count the number of people I've known or seen comment online who say that investing in the markets is no better than going to casino or buying a lotto ticket. That's completely untrue, but I don't completely blame them for thinking this. It takes a reasonable amount of knowledge and a bit of internal fortitude to stay invested while there is turmoil happening, as well as a sensationalist media feeding daily stories predicting doom. Even my own wife, who has been on the investment journey with me, is still skeptical about the wealth building properties of investing in shares, bonds or for that matter starting your own business.
This is why I started on the education path early with our kids, like my old man (who had modest means, but the right mind set) did with me. They now understand how wealth is built for regular folks and take more of an interest in it. They're not content to just have their savings from work etc sitting in a bank account not doing anything for them and getting eaten away by inflation. I wish more people thought that way.
So bravo Damien for putting the data out there.
Thank you! Also your kids are lucky to have you and I would love to hear any tips you may have on teaching them about this stuff
@@DamienTalksMoney no worries! The first thing is to teach kids the maths behind compound interest and how it can be your best friend or worst enemy. They learn a bit about this at school, but I like to show them practical examples of it. The second thing is to explain how public companies, ETF's, index funds and bonds (public and corporate debt) work and how you as an average punter can invest in them. The third thing I've taught my kids is the time value of money. All of this should give people a pretty good grounding in the basics.
Away from the technical aspects of investing (compounding etc.) - which I think are more suited to older children in the main - I would suggest the most important thing to teach children throughout their childhood is delayed gratification. Because, without developing that mindset, we will all just grow up wanting everything 'now' and putting 'now' first.
Not to be nostalgic, but until relatively recently, we had to wait to buy a record; now we can instantly stream it. We had to wait a week for a next TV show episode; now we can binge the boxset. It's likely harder now than previous generations to 'wait' for almost anything.
Without having a delayed gratification built into us, we will find a reason not to invest for our future self ('might as well spend it now' syndrome).
Ultimately, the whole foundation of investing is delayed gratification. By displaying from an early age that we, as adults, have to wait for things, as our children do, and that the wait has great value, I think the technical aspects of investing 'make sense' because the context in which investment is made (long term) has been wired into us.
It sounds like you learnt 'the right mind set' from your dad, and this has meant the technicality of money/investing works for you, and that you are in a position to pass this on to the next generation of your family.
I do believe that, in many cases, it just takes one person in a family lineage to forever alter the financial path of that family. It probably only takes one person to break it though, too!
@@adrianl5899 sound analysis and I agree
Damien, another fantastic video. You educate, inform and keep it far from boring which is a massive achievement. Keep up the flawless work buddy
Your voice is music to ears, very soothing!
Secondly as always top notch content ! Thanks.
This is fantastic Damien thanks. The conclusion is powerful, we fail in state schooling to educate on finance, i have never understood why. Very interesting point about the loaded game at class based level, another point that rings true. Fantastic video, its the perfect balance of information, insight and humour. Bravo Sir!
Exactly. We don’t know the game, the rules of the game, or even who is even in the game. We were never taught.
Someone’s been on the Art Attack archives.
Great job as always. Thank you!
Thanks Damien, very helpful and will make me look at risk differently.
One of the best things I discovered in this 2024 year is your channel, mate. Your videos are just amazing. Thanks for your hardwork and for keeping us informed.
You legend! Lovely comment this thank you
One of your best Damo, thanks very much as always, loved the Pie references, hope I spotted them all!
I have to say, the practical pie illustration really helped me understand your point 😂 Great video. 👍
Great video, very well put together
Smashing it out of the park with these recent videos. The delivery was spot on and everyone loves a pie 🥧
Another killer video Damo, and seeing you levelling up of that editing consistently.
These sort of videos are what make YT such a great space for educating yourself, thank you.
This is a profound video, really good stuff Damien.
A lot of your videos are so sharable with even people who have barely any interest in finance. Good work!
Your videos are pure fire!!!!! Love it brother
Really good video and well done for explaining things so clearly: kudos to you. This highlights a huge difference between attitudes in the the US and UK (admiration of the wealthy versus vilification), and explains a lot of the gulf in fortunes between the two.
You are absolutely spot on with risk warnings. They are there purely for covering the asses of banks who are terrified of being sued.
Damo is king of the puns! That 3.14159 reference was genius 😂
5:59 I thought the Lifetime Allowance had already been scrapped?
Sorry my wording here is unclear i can see that watching it back. I meant to state that it may or may not remain like that if a new labour government come in as the rumour is they would reinstate it.
I think they should should increase the cap rather than scrap it. The super rich should not be allowed to use pensions to stash away another £150m.
@@bigboldbicycle the lifetime allowance was always a stupid idea because it was not a limit on the amount you could put into a pension but instead was a limit on how large your pension pot could grow - it was a tax on investment growth and inflation. We already have an annual limit on the amount you can put into a pension tax free (I think it is about £30k per year). You could have a lifetime contribution limit (or at least contributions which get a favourable tax treatment) of say £750k which would 30 years of contributions at the max annual limit
I’ve always been obsessed with money and understood the value of calculated risk taking. I talk money for a living and this is a great vid btw. I practice what I preach and have been more successful than I could have dreamt.
My parents worked as hard, if not harder than I have but they always avoided almost all risks at all costs and I saw how it served them.
It’s simple for me; take as much risk as you can afford and wait. People get what they deserve and you reap what you sow.
Killing it with the videos this year Damo!
Great video Damien, agree 100% this stuff should be taught in every school
Everytime you upload a new video i think.. that, that is the best one yet. Then you knock it out the park! Brilliant content yet again.
This is a really interesting video!
Effort, hard work and the willingness to educate yourself and take some risk is a vital component of this also as most of your audience are finding out! 🤑👏🏾👏🏾
Yes! People need to learn there's actually far more risk to your well-being by not investing than there is in sensible investing. Many people resist making stock market investments out of fear it's too risky. Sadly, they never experience the peace of mind that comes with having a nest egg of compounding investments, sometimes described as FU Money.
5:58 I thought the lifetime allowance had been scrapped.
Great video! Well put as always!
Such a powerful visualisations ❤ thank you. It starts in childhood 💯
One question - how do you place a value an unfunded pension (e.g. public sector defined benefit, or state pension). Do you try and estimate a number based on comparable commercial products? Or disregard it? (From memory, HMRC uses a nominal value based on 20 years payments. Is that any better?). Would welcome some clarity.
Related question - shouldn't these values also show up in the government debt figures?
Subscribed because of how long it took you to put together the "equally sized boxes" ;)
This is why channels like yours are so important, at least to give people some knowledge to make them think about investing. Also, that pie was making me hungry..
14:25 A very astute (and amusing) comment slipped in almost as an aside. Please keep this sort of detail in your content. IMHO it clearly demonstrates respect for your audience.
Growing up in a pay check to pay check family.
Never really thought much about money.
Just saw it as a way to pay for stuff you needed.
Wasnt until i reached 40 that i start investing.
UA-cam has been a great education in terms of understanding financial concepts.
Its hard as when you finally get to that realisation you realise that youre already 10-20 years behind better educated people.
The matrix term gets applied alot.
But this compounding knowledge in familes just seems like an unintended but present issue that keeps people at their level
Outstanding Damien … 👏👏👏👏 your content is in a class of its own buddy
Your experience at university completely resonates with mine albeit in a different institution!
Very deep and informotiv keep up the good job👍🏻
Love the motivation for the channel Damien, keep it up.
The difference in disclaimers for credit cards and investments has always struck me as strange. The one *might* lose you some money. The other will almost certainly lose you 20-30% per year (in the form of interest).
It’s like putting warnings on health food but not the cheese burgers…
Loving the content right now. I wasn't expecting what you're producing to keep going up in levels but it's great to watch. 🙌 The message on risk is spot on. We need a better conversation around risk as at the moment all that is happening is we're throwing financial jargon out there in an attempt to arse cover. All it does is confuse and scare people into not starting to build wealth.
You're doing great work mate, keep it up. 👏
Brilliant video. Thank you Damien!
brilliant video. the generational knowledge gap is something i have thought about often. greetings from Dublin
Damian. I have to say this is probably the better video you’ve made so far. I like the new graphics, I love what you are doing, I love your passion you have to guide us. I even felt your emotions, holding back. Wanting to say.. don’t let those rich pr1cks tell us we can’t! Just so they can profit from doctrinarian us. Don’t invest, it too risky, buy a house instead and over 25-30 you’ll own it but, I charge you hundreds of thousands in interest. Don’t do what I do, do what I say.
Anyway. On a lighter note. Once again, I love and can’t wait for your next release.
Thank you. BhD
In my experience, in so many cases, educating people does not work. I've been trying for years to get friends and family to invest and it's like banging my head against a brick wall. I've pretty much given up. Their loss!
Great video Damien, as we head towards the end of the financial year could you do a video on sipp carry forward with some examples?
Damien like you I was the first in my generation to go to uni. I paid for it myself. Despite this I remain, like the millions of other people from working class backgrounds, who stay so very ignorant about the things you try to teach on your channel. Thank you for beginning to prise open what in my view has been for so many years a 'secret garden' for all who are willing to try to educate themselves via this wonderful open learning system we now have, powered by the internet and tech like UA-cam. My very best wishes to you in your project. Thank you for helping me.
Another banger, as always!!!
Your experience at uni is exactly what I went through. I didn't know the rules of the game at all.
Damien can you do a video short about the compounding effect of being well informed, shown at the end of the video please?
On point message about investing in ‘riskier’ (or as I prefer to phrase it, more volatile) assets. One just needs to be careful when drawing conclusions about such investment activity by looking at investment in markets outside of a pension. This is because, other than investing in yourself and your own income potential (such as through a business), an optimum approach to such investments, for most people, as clearly demonstrated by your percentiles, is primarily within a pension (preferably, funded via a workplace, matching, and salary sacrifice based contribution, if your not self-employed). Both inside pension and outside pension investments should be the numbers to use when measuring engagement in individual investment in riskier assets compared to income. People in the lower earning percentiles are unlikely to be able to anywhere nearly maximise their annual allowance, for example. If they have income to invest, in that case, a pension is where they probably should be concentrating this.
5:20 my old supervisor used to say wealth should be an iceberg and barely visible above the water surface.
14:27 the National Curriculum is not geared to creating independent thought, analysis or critical thinking.
14:54 cultural capital, the education that happens outside of school.
Getting creative Damo with your pies! 😂 love it
I've been watching your stuff for a long time and it always refocuses me on my personal finance, so thank you for that.
I'm also always amazed at your ability to not just get so angry at our entire system every time you go through this stuff. That pie segment at the start is the best demonstration of the absolute failure of our current version of society that I've ever seen. I'm not a communist, but what we're doing right now can't possibly be the best system.
your message is way deeper than what your title says; make revisions, or seek reviews; good luck with your service !
The video is about net wealth and about wealth distribution. There is of course legal wealth such as a property which wouldn’t correspond to an accountant in terms of net worth because you own 15% of it but are the legal owner. The wealth distribution was based on legal terms and therefore void from an financial perspective.
Very interesting take. Risk is very interesting thing, sometimes not taking risk is most risky of all.
Damn! That was a nice rant their at the end! Loved it!
Thank you for this video I took a similar path to you to University
It would be nice to have a breakdown by age. Obv net worth is dragged up by older people.
It would be nice to know where I stand
Pukka video (think you missed that one) Your experience you recounted in the last few minutes, yes same here and the generational aspect of it. I didn't come from a wealthy family but, got to University and had a good career in IT, doing financially well and my daughter benefits from this and from my experience (now at Uni herself) . She'll be way ahead of her peers when she starts on the property ladder.
Great video again! Well done with the channel - couldn't be hap-pie-r for you
I've always thought that the idea that your house is your greatest asset and your pension is a backwards way of planning. My house is my home and I'll be damned if I have to sell it to fund retirement. A retirement that would mean I finally get to spend an increased amount of time at home. People really need to wake up to pension saving and good financial planning in a big way.
Thanks for all the quality content Damien, you're seriously helping a lot of people!
I totally agree the focus on risk is very detrimental, imagine having the same disclaimer when getting a job. To be honest a job one could seem even more scary, if the business goes wrong for something that will be nothing to do with you. You'll be the first to be let go as you are the newest and if you go into debt that's personal debt, that will stay with you forever and d ying will not even stop it.
Thanks Damien; I have a daughter in private school here in UK and yes pupils have more financial education plus have opportunity to run their own enterprise for a bit; she is going to London to learn and experience business at the Spitalfields market 😮- plus do not forget networking opportunities and personal conversations they all have at school at that level ; we have built our wealth ourselves as we were born in a different country were education was free ( still poor money education though) ; we came to UK worked hard , took risks and here we are ; never had any conversation with my parents about money actually it was always about lack so everything I know I learnt ; we chose secondary school for exactly that ( all rounded life education) but could spend or save money elsewhere and of course spend them on a lot so called status items like car ( we have one 10 year old car 😂)
That you for sharing this! I hope my video did not come across as bashing the rich. That was not the point at all, i get sick of the narrative that the rich are evil some how.. most worked hard for what they have, most are self made and took plenty of risk like you did!
Something I often find myself discussing is the general lack of practical life skills taught in schools.
The only lessons related to personal finances I remember were a couple of explanations why it's bad to get in to debt, and repeated assertions of the importance of getting a job and having some money set aside for emergencies.
My family were no help there either.