by Iona Bain

I wanted to do something slightly different this month and publish a speech I recently gave to a group of brilliant young people in Edinburgh. They all participated in the UK-wide Money for Life Challenge, where they were given grants worth £500 to come up with money management projects that would benefit the local community. The most effective schemes in Scotland were shortlisted for the regional final, which took place at the Hub in Edinburgh. At the end of an insightful and very fun afternoon, the competition’s judges picked two groups to represent Scotland at the national final in London later this month. I was very flattered to be asked to speak at this event and share my thoughts on why money awareness is a crucial step towards fulfilment and comfort in life. I have also included photographs taken on the day. Enjoy!

Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. First of all, may I offer my sincere congratulations to all of you who have given this challenging proposal your thought, energy and time over the past year. I hope – and indeed, I’m confident – that today’s events will be fitting recognition of all the hard work you’ve put in. Perhaps not blood, but sweat and tears must surely have been shed!

Further to that, let me start by adding a possibly controversial note to the proceedings, and assure you that the total value of this competition does NOT lie in the fact that it is……a COMPETITION.

That might seem like an odd thing to say, given that you have all made a huge effort to come down here today, travelling from all four corners of Scotland, to present your fantastic ideas to us, and we have just finished the unenviable task of choosing schemes worthy of recognition from an extremely strong shortlist. You might ask yourself just how hard can it be, but at times, I wished I was on your side of the door during the deliberation process. You are the ones who have just finished a long, satisfying journey and can feel immensely proud of your achievements. We have just dropped in at the end, and we had to choose between projects, all of which have been a resounding success, starting from truly ingenious ideas and carried out with commitment, discipline and real class. Yes, the possibility of winning will have been a really useful motivation for you all, something to spur you on when the going got tough. And hopefully, it will have been an invaluable preparation going forward for what we know is a very tough jobs market out there, which can all too often feel like one gigantic competition.

The winners – JWC Money 1 Team – with representatives from the competition

But nobody, I hope, will come away from today feeling that the outcome of the ceremony will determine whether your project has been a personal triumph or not. Because it has. Today presents a priceless opportunity to market yourselves to a much wider audience than ever possible before. You have already made a strong impression on everyone here with your eye-catching stalls, and there’ll be a chance to network with movers and shakers later on, one I urge you to grab with both hands.

So don’t forget – you’re all members of a highly select group now. You’re the ones who had the guts to take this up and see it through. What this competition has done for your employment and entrepreneurial prospects can hardly be put into words. Whether it’s a company or small firm you want to work for in the future, or a financial backer you may seek for a business idea, they can’t fail to be impressed by your experience in having superb brainwaves, working in teams, drawing up plans, promoting products and drumming up interest among the public. It’s all music to their ears.

But furthermore, through this competition, you’ve also all just been admitted into a privileged elite – those in society who have really grasped the key to survival. These folks don’t necessarily have fancy jobs or come from a wealthy background. In fact, it could be because of, not in spite of, those reasons, that they’ve come to understand what really matters. Before I go on to explain why these people have the upper hand in life, let’s pause and ask a question.

How many of you really thought about money management before you entered this challenge? ……

There’s no shame in admitting that it never crossed your mind before you had to sit down and come up with a plan for this competition. Because when I was your age, I was exactly the same. I still obsess about the same things that you guys love – fashion, music, cinema – although somebody near your age told me the other day that I must be way too old to know who Harry Styles is at the elderly age of 25. We’ll let that one slide.

When we’re young, we mostly focus on how we SPEND money. Indeed we’re encouraged to think that way by companies advertising their products. I never stopped to seriously question where all the cash came from, and how hard people have to work for it – not until I left education and was more or less told “You’re on your own now, kid.”

For some children, growing up in a home that’s constantly feeling the pinch, or more seriously on the poverty line, can make them aware of how much money – or the lack of it – affects lives. But many might go through their school days, even having lessons in personal finance, as set out in the curriculum in Scotland, and not be guaranteed to come out at the other end much the wiser. Indeed, I’ve seen numerous examples of young people who just can’t get their head round the concept of budgeting, forget to save what they can, and get into a right muddle with debt, even though they’re perfectly aware that smarter money management would enhance their lives no end. Why is this?

Maybe it’s because being in charge of your own personal balance sheet can seem like such a faraway prospect right now. It certainly did to me when I was younger. Perhaps there’s a lack of dedicated, engaging coverage of personal finance issues that young people can access. It’s one reason I set up a blog and began writing about this stuff for young people online. But there isn’t exactly a huge swathe of similar websites out there that are on the side of young people, or indeed written by someone going through the same things that you are.

Maybe all this bad news about the economy is causing people to give up on the idea that they can lead secure lives, and have enough money for the things they want and need. How much can we possibly affect our own financial destiny, when we always see depressing stories in the media about youth unemployment, the difficulties of buying a home, and the sheer cost of everyday goods?

The finalists used stalls to present their ideas to the event’s attendees

Right now, there isn’t a whole lot we can do to change that harsh reality out there, though making your voice heard – and, when the time comes, making your vote count – is crucial.

It was the Indian legend Gandhi who said “Be the change you want to see in the world”, and I find that inspiring. So if you want your town and country to be a more comfortable and prosperous place in the future, it can’t do any harm to aspire to be more comfortable and prosperous yourself– right here and now! And I think this competition has shown just how much control you really have over your financial situation.

It’s obvious none of us are born with an innate sense of money management . People may think they are “useless” with money but it isn’t a personality trait. Okay, some people have a mathematical brain or have always had good willpower. Others may be better organised or more cautious than others. Good for them. All these characteristics do help, but I’m personally not lucky enough to have been born with all of them, particularly the mathematical brain, and it doesn’t mean those of us may struggle with these things should give up and go home. Much of what we need to know is down to some simple rules and basic common sense. And, in my case, a working calculator.

We acquire attitudes to money as we grow up, taking note of what we see around us, often unconsciously, and then applying it to our adult lives. And that means we can re-think our behaviour if it is no longer working for us, or could get us into trouble further down the line. But the sooner we start questioning how we make financial decisions, the better.

The finalists wait to hear the judge’s decision

But you guys have cause to celebrate, because you ‘get it’. You are now in that privileged elite, the people I described as having the real “upper hand” in life, who have become engaged with money management. So what have you, and I, really learned about money management since we woke up and realised its value? Well, I’ll quickly tell you how it’s changed my life and hopefully my experiences won’t be a million miles away from yours.

Number one – it doesn’t mean cutting back the whole time. In the past, I wouldn’t see my friends as much as I would have liked to because I was scared, irrationally, about spending money. Since starting my blog, I’ve realised we should all be able to make up our minds whether little, or even big luxuries are genuinely worth it. One of the schemes entered into the competition rightly made me question whether buying a skinny latte mocha syrup macchiato frappachino with chocolate flakes on top every day was genuinely a good use of money. Of course, for some people, that insanely complicated cup of coffee really helps get through the day and it’s an area they’re not prepared to economise on. That’s their right and we all totally respect that. The point is that people should, ideally, have their financial house in order to be able to make that decision rationally.

Number two – we no longer have to judge the quality of our lives based on what possessions we have. I now spend more time cultivating the things I do have rather than pining for the things I don’t. We have to decide what’s ultimately good for us, even if we reach the conclusion that those things are cheap or free, as we strive to create and afford that meaningful life.

Number three – being thrifty doesn’t necessarily mean rifling through rubbish bins and skips. It’s also about buying things that last, something even the Royal Family practices when Kate Middleton steps out in dresses and shoes she’s worn numerous times before. It’s about being creative with what we have, as one of the ‘upcycling’ schemes entered into the competition demonstrated, to give things a whole new lease of life.

Number four – high cost doesn’t always equate to high quality. As Dolly Parton once said, “it costs a lot of money to look this cheap”. I now know from experience that rummaging about in charity shops can result in finding an amazing vintage Armani dress. A number of you have highlighted the benefits of looking away from big brands, particularly when out shopping for food, and getting a better deal on economy or just more bog-standard products. I’ve also come to realise that you don’t have to head to the nearest rooftop, get out a loudspeaker and tell everyone how much your food, clothes and everything else costs. A lot of the time, people will never be able to tell, much less care about it.

Number five – being good with money has highly positive effects on other areas in our lives. It might give our health a boost, as proved in the schemes you came up with that incentivised people to quit smoking and get out in the fresh air. Or it might encourage you to be more sociable and enterprising in your community, which was the outcome of all the schemes we saw. You never know – it may even lead you to your real calling in life. It certainly opened up a whole new career path for someone stood on this stage right now.

I could go on and on, but you’ve probably heard enough of my thoughts to last a lifetime! So let me end, ladies and gentlemen, by telling you the most important conclusion I’ve reached, and one I hope the exceptional young people here today will agree with.

The People’s Prize Winners – Glamping on a Budget – with Sarah Poretti from Money for Life

Being savvy takes practice. Practice every day of your lives, because it might not come naturally and at times, it certainly won’t come easily. I said earlier on, if you can remember that far back, that one reason I started the blog was to provide a source of information and solidarity for young people. But another reason was a purely selfish one, I’m afraid. It helped me practice how to be good with money at a time when I was more or less starting from scratch. I wrote and researched my blogs every week, honing them until I thought I’d got the topics down pat. And I’m still practising every day of my life, even though I’m now establishing myself as a financial writer, and I’m getting much better every time.

After quoting Gandhi and Dolly Parton I’m going to finish with Aristotle! The Greek philosopher said 2000 years ago that you learn ‘virtues’, which he believed consisted of things like courage, and self-control, through doing them. Well, if Aristotle was around today, looking at the unprecedented and complex financial pressures we face, I dare say he would add financial shrewdness to that list of virtues. And for that reason, I think he would have been as proud as we all are of these canny young Scots, who have certainly made me feel deeply honoured to be here this afternoon. Thank you very much.

Check out the official Money For Life website for more information

Iona Bain was a judge of this year’s Baillie Gifford’s Young Writers’ Competition and discusses what some of the essays indicate about youngsters’ attitude to retirement.

Would you ever ask a young person when they plan to retire, or how they plan to fund their old age?  It may seem like a drastic proposition, but parents and teachers across the country have taken on the brave and often overwhelming task of tackling our looming pensions crisis, all in the name of the Baillie Gifford Young Writers’ Competition in association with the Financial Mail.

The aim was to concentrate young minds on a range of ominous factors that will determine when today’s workers can retire and how much they can expect to receive from different kinds of pension. If they look at just how much the pensions landscape has been changing (not necessarily for the better), it should help them reach profound conclusions about whether they can afford to fall back on the government and their boss – or whether they need to take matters into their own hands.

As one of the judges, I gained a precious insight into what teenagers aged 13 – 18 are learning about the financial wilderness, and how that is informing their attitudes going forward. Much of what was written was heartening, nuanced and responsible. Hardly anybody disputed the fact that they need to save for their retirement. But the question of ‘how’ could not have sparked a more diverse response.

The vast majority of our young writers knew their generation would live longer than ever before. Many said they were prepared, even enthusiastic about working into their 70s, in keeping with today’s burgeoning army of older employees who either choose to postpone retirement or have to rely on a wage to keep going. One of the winning writers did, however, believe the demanding nature of her chosen profession – medicine – means she can’t carry on past a certain age. That echoed a desire among most of the writers to try and secure a long, active retirement, occasionally studded with round-the-world trips.

Some had meticulously learned the conventional routes to such a retirement; number one of all was a workplace pension. Surprisingly, there were a great number who knew their minds and had already picked out careers (more than could be said for me at that age). Some said they felt safe in the knowledge that they would make contributions to one employer for the rest of their working days. I admired such a diligent ethos, but it couldn’t help but bring me back to a key difference between the generations in terms of their pension outlook. Final salary pension schemes are now on the verge of extinction (something commonly recognised in the essays), defined contribution schemes will yield far less generous benefits, and those signing up to personal pensions have dwindled, partly in response to murky charges and misleadingly optimistic predictions of growth. All told, it’s leading to a startling drop in what workers will now retire on compared to yesteryear.

Meanwhile, there were those entrants who were aware of the serious limitations of auto-enrolment into a pension at work, whilst others adopted a “better than nothing” approach to this important development.

Here are some raw calculations from pensions experts Hymans Robertson. Within the NEST (National Employment Savings Trust) scheme, which takes in those companies without pension provisions, supposing employees could be enticed to make maximum £4,400 a year contributions from age 25 for another 40 years, and suppose too that investment returns merely keep up with inflation.  That builds up to a seemingly grand pension pot of £176,000. But then you have to divide by 20, to work out how big an annual income that would create from an annuity today, and you end up with a rather lame £8,750 per annum. (source: Herald Scotland March 2013)

The state pension on top would most likely double that figure to around £16,000  – still not the windfall you might expect from all that saving.  So will auto-enrolment hypnotise young workers into giving up precious salary for what may be a false sense of security?  Or will many look at the figures and decide to adopt their own strategies, which might involve getting on the housing ladder first, and then thinking seriously about their own long-term investments?

Encouragingly, most of the young writers raved about ISAs (Individual Savings Accounts) as a flexible and tax-efficient way of saving for retirement, though many rightly bemoaned the shocking rates and corrosive effects of inflation. Others displayed a remarkable ease with the notion of investing. Some very thoughtful cases were presented for all kinds of assets and markets. These ranged from the traditional (blue chip equities, property) to the more esoteric (technology and future energy). It appears that young people have a much greater appetite for bold investment enterprises than is expected. However, they don’t have any illusions about the risks these bring (past performance is no guarantee of the future,  capital can fall as well as rise, you may not get back what you put in).

Ultimately, most entries demonstrated a first-rate understanding that you cannot rely on automatically low contributions into Defined Contribution schemes or a state pension to provide the goods. They all recognised that a diverse financial strategy, adapted to suit every stage in their life, would be needed right from the get go. While pensions are the obvious starting point, perhaps this more pressurised generation will be served just as well by the emergence of more accessible corporate ISAs, and the government surely needs to revamp the conditions on ISAs generally, including a higher cash allowance and the ability to swap freely between that and equities.

It’s far from ideal that schoolchildren have to look ahead to the ‘winter’ of their lives in this way but if it gets them thinking about the crossroads we now face, the choice between inactive ignorance and proactive management, it could well save the day.

It isn’t usually my style to break off from financial/economic issues on the blog, but regular readers may know I make an exception for my other big soft spot – music!

I was delighted and very surprised to find out that I was listed as a finalist in the Great American Song Contest recently. I became a slight stranger to songwriting competitions in recent years, having entered quite a few when I left university and hit the musical circuit in Glasgow. I was extremely fortunate to win one just after leaving university – it was called the Great Rock ‘n’ Roll Swindle and I met the incredible guys of This Silent Forest thanks to this experience.

So someone who has always had faith in my songwriting very kindly entered me into the GASC. I didn’t expect much so it’s incredibly gratifying to hear that I was one of ten finalists in a competition that received thousands of entries.

Thanks so much to that person who entered me and the kind judges of the GASC. You can check out the track that got me on the finalists list here. It’s called “Common Sense” and it was the first songs I ever wrote. Due to its pure optimism about the mysteries of love, it’s one I’m still very fond of.

The rest of my tracks can be found at www.soundcloud.com/ionabain.

Hopefully, this pleasant surprise means I’ll be doing a bit more music in the future. I had quite a long break from writing and performing songs to properly establish my blog, then my freelance journalism work. This has all taken quite a while but I’m fairly confident I can multi-task going forward!

Do get in touch if you’re musical and have suggestions about musical opportunities, I’m very open-minded.

ionabain[at]hotmail.com

IONA BAIN

Lloyds Banking Group has finally ditched bonuses for frontline staff based on how many products they sell, on the day the industry’s new consumer regulator takes office.

It follows fresh warnings from the Financial Conduct Authority’s chief Martin Wheatley that banks and building societies must overhaul their incentive schemes to avoid a repeat of the PPI mis-selling fiasco.

From April 1, Lloyds branch staff have been receiving extra pay each quarter based solely on customer feedback.

The changes affect all subsidiaries of the Lloyds Banking Group – Halifax, Bank of Scotland and Lloyds TSB.

“We have moved away from a primarily sales-driven framework to one which is focused on delivering excellent service to our customers and meeting their needs in all aspects of their experience with the group,” a spokesman told The Herald.

“This is the latest change we have made to our variable pay scheme to ensure we are meeting the needs of our customers.

“Before any variable payment is made, colleagues will still need to pass a vigorous set of measures that ensure everything they do generates the right outcome for customers.”

Gerry Kay, chief executive of Scottish Building Society, said: “We have never considered any type of sales-based bonus for our staff.

“The banks are now implementing similar systems to building societies, where our members /customers’ needs have always come first.”

Lloyds has the heftiest bill for PPI compensation out of any provider, having risen to £6.8 billion in the last three months of 2012.

The financial ombudsman upheld 86% of the 42,195 complaints made against Lloyds TSB from July to December last year.

On the same day the Lloyds changes came into effect, the Financial Conduct Authority replaced an old regulatory regime that failed to halt the ruthless sales practices which led to disaster for banks.

“PPI is a £534m-a-month lesson in taking consumers seriously,” Mr Wheatley told a select audience in London last week.

“Public expectations of how our financial services behave are at their lowest ebb.

“We have to move away from a relationship where, frankly, customers are merely treated as a short-term profit centre.”

At the heart of this system were bonus schemes which pushed staff to prioritise the sale of products, something the Financial Services Authority finally tried to address in its last two years as the UK’s banking regulator.

“In many cases, the rewards structure at our major banks was based on a ‘pile it high, sell it cheap’ model,” said Mr Wheatley. A review into such sales incentives has received an overwhelmingly positive response from the main culprits of mis-selling, he added.

Royal Bank of Scotland and its subsidiary Natwest, Barclays, the Co-operative Bank and HSBC, which also owns M&S Bank and First Direct, have already scrapped sales targets for bonuses and now measure staff performance by consumer satisfaction.

Mr Wheatley said: “I have been encouraged by a number of firms that have already overhauled their reward structures, but I want to see others following suit.

“Real cultural change will only happen if attitudes shift throughout an organisation from the CEO to the frontline sales personnel.”

Just six months ago, Affinity, the union that represents staff at Lloyds, accused line managers of bombarding employees with texts at antisocial hours and summoning them to meetings up to 40 miles away from their branches and homes, all so they could be pressurised into meeting sales targets.

Being threatened with dismissal and even locking the bank’s front door until staff secured enough customer appointments were other bullying tactic” used, according to staff members in the explosive testimony.

Lloyds insisted it does not tolerate workplace bullying of any kind and urged those who have suffered harassment to speak to managers or HR departments within the organisation.

Santander said its current system, which has been in place for 18 months, weighs up sales against customer satisfaction when considering extra pay for staff.

A spokesman explained that if, for example, a staff member had only sold five current accounts but each of those resulted in satisfied customers who then opened ISAs or mortgages, they would be in line for a bonus, unlike someone who sells 50 current accounts but receives multiple complaints.

A spokesman for Clydesdale Bank said: “We’ve enhanced and strengthened the focus of our incentive schemes to help ensure staff actions and behaviours are firmly centred on achieving a good outcome for our customers.

“Within the schemes there are also new measures based on monitoring and gathering customer feedback.”

Many hardworking young adults feel their choices over housing have been taken away from them, and it’s a status quo that David Cameron is not happy with – at least, in principle.

In a speech to his party in London on Saturday, Cameron made (what looked like) his most youth-orientated comments to date. Among many other burning issues, he explicitly said that his party “must not let the dream of home ownership die”, adding that Britain musn’t get used to “continental-style renting”.

That attitude means more support for ‘help-to-buy’ schemes, another one of which was unveiled by the chancellor George Osborne in today’s Budget. If households can put down a 5% deposit, they’ll get a 20% loan to help them seal their mortgage. It’s a continuation of what we’ve seen before from the government.

It’s all because of a longstanding attitude that home ownership isn’t just a sentimental facet of our British heritage. There is also the more practical consideration. Generally, mortgage payments are far less expensive than rent in the long run. But actually, could YOUR local area be reversing that trend?
According to recent figures from Zoopla, there are areas in the UK where tenants could well be getting a better deal right now than if they scraped together a deposit for a home.

Rank		Location		Avg. Monthly Rent*		Avg. Asking Price*		Rental Discount**
1		Swansea		£672		£184,658		-12.7%
2		Bournemouth		£789		£207,594		-8.8%
3		Stockport		£559		£141,820		-5.4%
4		Dundee		£533		£130,471		-2.0%
5		Edinburgh		£711		£173,438		-1.6%

You may have little say in whether you want to be part of Generation Rent, but maybe some tenants can seek solace in these surprising figures.

Are you one of the lucky tenants who gets a better deal? Or are you sceptical about the merits of renting? Get in touch!

The happy family from “Knocked Up” and “This is 40”

Vivi Friedgut is the managing director of independent financial education company Blackbullion and author of Money Smarter – a family guide to finances. Here she offers some exclusive suggestions on how parents can encourage saving and budgeting in the home.

Save, save, save!

The best thing that parents can do for their kids is encourage them to think about the financial consequences of decisions they make. Parents can encourage their kids to consider saving some of their pocket money so they can afford bigger ticket items. This can be done off the back of understanding budgeting and demonstrating to kids that what comes in must be sufficient to cover everything that goes out. Finding a picture of the item desired and sticking it to a wall in their room with a target sheet on which they can tally up their savings can act as a great motivator.

Offer money as reward for hard work

Offering additional chores, or providing bonuses for jobs done extra well or extra fast, encourages kids to have a strong work ethic and to understand that those who work harder may see greater results.

Get them interested in the markets

Finally to help children understand the concept of investing sit with the finance section of any paper and let your child pick a share they find interesting. Encourage them to keep track of its performance and analyse simple events which might have an impact on any major movements, e.g. the performance of a competitor, general market moves etc. This is suitable for older kids and gives them an appreciation of interconnectedness of the market as well as the foundations of the stock-market.

by iona bain

This blog has already looked at one offbeat way to see London. But if the East End’s street art scene is a little too unorthodox for your tastes, there is another, more traditional institution that can rival the city’s biggest art galleries – and is totally free.

It’s one of the capital’s best kept secrets, but art lovers on a budget are fast discovering the free joys of 2 Temple Place and its historic surroundings in the heart of London. I was lucky enough to visit on a beautiful March afternoon where a trip around the Temple district, and even a jaunt down Fleet Street, was also possible. Even if art appreciation is not your strong suit, there’s so much you can get out of this atmospheric corner of London.

In total, I spent around £13 on a truly diverse day out, which included a coffee at 2 Temple Place, a pint in a fabulous throwback of a pub and two full-price entrance fees to fascinating yet very different historic sites. This is superb value when you contrast it to the price of a single ticket for a blockbuster exhibition (nudging £15 for an adult) or even a trip to the cinema in the capital (now an astonishing £13).

But firstly, cue the main draw of this area (in my view). 2 Temple Place has a very prosaic name but that belies a very opulent place indeed. It was originally built as the headquarters for the fabulously wealthy William Waldorf Astor. Little wonder, then, that despite a huge amount of damage suffered during the Blitz, it has retained some glorious features. There are technicolour stained glass windows, a gold weather vane and cheeky carved figures from The Three Musketeers that dot the wooden staircase, among many other highlights. The building alone is something to behold but it also  hosts a free exhibition on painters from Cornwall right now. Anybody that’s ever been to this most picturesque of regions will recognise the incredible artistic heritage it has produced. For those who are new to this world, the exhibition provides a lovely introduction to a painter’s paradise. And remember, it is totally free.

The quirkiest part of this trip is finding somewhere to sit in the many rooms given over to  café seating. We ended up sitting behind the building’s huge safe – it’s so rare to see past activity preserved, completely without comment and with the trust that nobody will interfere with it! But you can guarantee enough room to move. Unlike the Manet exhibition at the Royal Academy, where ticket sales entered the hundreds of thousands, 52,000 visited the building’s first exhibition last year (this is its second time).

Then, it’s onto the surprisingly open spaces of the Temple district itself, the legal heartland of London today. The buildings are highly similar to those you’ll encounter in Oxford or Cambridge but unlike those places, you can move freely around the Temple area without needing an inside track, so long as you don’t make a nuisance of yourself. We even had a picnic, in the Spring sunshine, on one of the numerous benches sprinkled around the place. We couldn’t leave the area without peeping inside Temple Church, originally established by the enigmatic Knights Templar and now more famous (or infamous) for its association with Dan Brown’s yarn “The Da Vinci Code”. It costs £4 for full price entry, but it’s an atmospheric must if you’re in the area. There are also regular concerts and services that might provide low-cost ways to absorb the mystery of Temple Church.

We then stepped into a very different universe on Fleet Street, obviously home to many of our newspapers in yesteryear. It’s now more alluring if you’re a fan of archaic and unusual drinking establishments (let’s face it, who isn’t?) Firstly, there’s El Vino, which notoriously banned women from drinking in its hallowed rooms until just thirty years ago, but Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese really takes the biscuit. It has actual sawdust on the floor, the most authentic fireplace you’ll ever see and pork pies still on the menu. It feels almost totally unaltered since the days when Charles Dickens frequented the bar and it is well worth having a drink (very reasonably priced for Central London) to take in the old fashioned lighting and smells of this truly unique pub.

Finally, we wound our way down the backstreets towards Dr. Johnson’s house and find out more about this larger-than-life figure from London’s past. Generously, I got in on a family ticket but for a full-priced entrance fee of £4.50, you get a truly comprehensive overview of this fascinating man’s life, from his epic labour of love (writing the entire English dictionary, no less) to his colourful social life. One of his friends nearly bankrupted himself by attempting to create beer without hops or malt – this was just one of many bizarre facts about the elite London circles that Johnson mixed in.

Whether you’re interested in religion, history, law, literature, the English language or just quenching your thirst in an eccentric location, there is something for everyone, regardless of budget, just a stroll along from Temple Station.

So here are the opinions of Nick Hungerford at Nutmeg, who has written a brief summary of what young people should brush up on if they’re thinking about the daunting world of stocks and shares.

There are few things young people find more tiresome than being told by older, richer people how important it is to save. The savings habit is, of course, rather easier when you’ve enjoyed 30 years of house price inflation, you’re looking forward to a gold-plated pension and you don’t have to pay off a student loan, pay sky-high rents or find a graduate job in a depressed economy.

But just because the advice is annoying doesn’t mean it’s entirely without merit. Here are a few habits young people can get into to give us a half decent chance of a life as comfortable as our parents’.

1. Think very carefully before going into debt. It’s a lot harder to enjoy today and tomorrow if you’re still paying off the high interest on the debt you built up yesterday.

2. Fill up your ISAs. Every year the government gives you a tax-advantageous allowance in the form of an Individual Savings Account – commonly known as an ISA. In the current tax year, which runs from 6^th April 2012 to 5^th April 2013, you can put up to £11,280 in your ISA. You can put all of that into a Stocks and Shares ISA. Or you can put up to £5,640 in a Cash ISA, putting the rest into a Stocks and Shares ISA.

3. Set up automatic savings. Remembering to put money aside at the end of each month is difficult. Setting up automatic transfers so that you never have a chance to squander it in the first place is a lot easier.

4. Don’t forget your pension. You can’t rely on the state pension for a decent standard of living in retirement. Indeed it is not at all certain that there will be any state pension for those who are starting work now. So if your company has a pension scheme, make sure you join it. If they contribute to your pot, you’re essentially turning down free money if you don’t. The earlier you pay into your pension, the better.

5. Don’t be too shy of investing. Once you’ve paid off any major loans and have a decent emergency cash fund (enough to cover at least six months of expenses), there is a lot of sense in exposing yourself to the stock market as young as possible. Your portfolio might well see significant ups and downs but if you’re investing for the long term, you should have enough time to ride out the troughs.

Risk warning;

The views and opinions expressed herein are for informational purposes only. They are not personal recommendations and should not be regarded as solicitations or offers to buy or sell any of the securities or instruments mentioned. The views are based on public information that Nutmeg considers reliable but does not represent that the information contained herein is accurate or complete. With investment comes risk. The price and value of investments mentioned and income arising from them may fluctuate. Past performance is not an indicator of future results, and future returns are not guaranteed.

So many bright young things gravitate towards London. Yet their budgets can severely restrict their ability to sample the city’s often pricey leisure industry. The cost of basic living in the capital can drain most of our income, leaving not much left for what should be a golden priority when we’re young; having fun, being free and preparing to try new things.

The most notable free attractions in the city are the truly world-class galleries and museums (though exhibitions are very expensive exceptions to this rule). Visiting such galleries during the week can help you avoid the masses. Otherwise, it can be a real cheek-by-jowl experience at the weekend, I’ve found.

The Banksy work stolen from East London and withdrawn from a Miami auction last week

So the aptly-named Alternative London, where people can taste the colourful history and street art of the East End, could be a breath of fresh air, not least because it operates on a “pay-as-you-like” system. This is surely in recognition that young people aren’t as wedded to the more elite corners of the London art world and will be open to the more gritty, authentic side of the capital if the price is right (i.e. low!)

I haven’t been on the tour yet, not least because I live worlds away – at least it can seem like that – in West London right now. I rarely get the chance to head East, but will check out this tour when I do. It came to my attention via a surprising inclusion in the Telegraph travel section at the weekend. Those younger readers who buy newspapers (a dwindling number, surely) will often ignore the luxurious appearance of the travel supplement, but they will have missed (potentially) a cheaper gem here.

Tours are around 2 hours and start and finish near Spitalfields Market on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays at 12p.m & 7p.m, Fridays at 12p.m. and Saturdays at 12p.m & 3p.m. Check out the alternativeldn.co.uk bookings page for available dates and bookings.