Where do You Stand Financially? | Financial Health Check
9 September 2026.
I officially retired.
I was 66.
And I had a problem.
I didn't have enough money to stop working.
I have no SIPP.
No substantial private pension.
No investment portfolio waiting to fund my retirement.
My main retirement income is my State Pension of around £1,054 a month.
So, despite officially retiring, I still need to work.
And that's one of the reasons you're reading this.
I've spent a lot of my life doing things I wanted to do.
I've travelled the world.
I've run pubs.
I've run marathons for charity.
I've had some really good times.
I don't regret living my life.
But there is one thing I wish I'd done differently.
I wish I'd paid more attention to the future me.
This isn't a story about telling you how you should live your life.
It's about something much simpler.
What happens when the future you've been ignoring finally arrives?
Nearly 200 years ago, Charles Dickens wrote those words in David Copperfield.
Mr Micawber, one of Dickens' most memorable characters, tells David that a small surplus brings happiness, while spending more than you earn leads to misery.
It's a wonderfully simple idea.
And perhaps that's why it has lasted so long.
The world has changed enormously since Dickens wrote those words.
We have contactless cards, smartphones, online shopping, subscriptions, buy-now-pay-later and credit available at the tap of a screen.
But the fundamental equation hasn't changed.
Money comes in.
Money goes out.
What's left?
The world has changed enormously since Dickens wrote those words.
We now have contactless cards, smartphones, online shopping, subscriptions, buy-now-pay-later and credit available at the tap of a screen.
Spending has never been easier.
You tap a card.
Click a button.
Order something online.
Subscribe to something.
And sometimes you buy something because you're bored, stressed or simply fancy it.
There's nothing inherently wrong with any of that.
The problem is that we don't always feel like we're spending money anymore.
You tap.
You click.
It's done.
The money was always being spent.
You just didn't feel it leaving.
And it's not necessarily the big purchases that make the biggest difference.
It's the small, regular amounts that quietly add up.
A coffee here.
A takeaway there.
A subscription you forgot about.
A little online purchase because it was on offer.
None of these things, individually, are likely to change your financial life.
But put enough of them together and they can start taking money away from the things that really matter.
WHAT IF?
What if, before spending the money, you simply stopped for a moment and asked:
“Do I really want this?”
And then asked a second question:
“What could this money do for me instead?”
You might still buy it.
That's fine.
The point isn't to stop spending.
It's to start spending consciously.
So, who is financially better off?
The person earning £4,000 a month?
Or the person with £400 left at the end of the month?
The answer isn't quite as obvious as it might seem.
The person earning £4,000 certainly has a higher income. But if almost all of it disappears each month, they may have less financial room to manoeuvre than someone earning less but keeping more.
And that's the point.
It's not just what comes in. It's what happens to it.
£400 a month might not feel like a life-changing amount.
But what if you did something with it?
What if you saved it?
What if you invested it?
What if you used it to reduce expensive debt?
That's when a monthly leftover starts becoming an opportunity.
£400 doesn't look like much when you're looking at one month.
But that's the interesting thing about money.
Time changes the picture.
If someone invested £400 every month for 20 years, assuming an illustrative 5% annual growth rate compounded monthly, they would contribute £96,000 of their own money.
The projected value would be around £164,000.
That's roughly £68,000 of illustrative growth on top of the money they put in.
And notice something else.
You don't necessarily need £400.
What if you could find £50 a month?
At the same illustrative 5% growth rate, £50 a month for 20 years becomes roughly £20,500.
£100 a month becomes roughly £41,000.
£200 becomes roughly £82,000.
Small amounts can become surprisingly large amounts when you give them enough time.
Of course, this isn't a promise of investment returns. Investments can go down as well as up, and returns aren't guaranteed. The 5% figure is simply an illustration of what could happen under those assumptions.
And that's really the point.
It's not about finding a huge amount of money.
It's about finding what you can realistically do — and then giving it time.
Which brings me back to me.
Looking back, I didn't need to become a financial expert.
I didn't need to invest thousands of pounds every month.
I just needed to start.
And I didn't.
Sometimes I just spent it.
I've spent a lot of money during my life on things that didn't actually buy me happiness or enjoyment.
Some things did.
Some experiences absolutely did.
I've travelled. I've had adventures. I've enjoyed myself. I've done things that I will remember for the rest of my life.
I wouldn't want to take any of that back.
But there was also plenty of money that simply disappeared.
I spent it without really thinking about the cost.
Or the consequence.
Or what I could have done with it instead.
Sometimes I bought something because I wanted it at that moment.
Sometimes because I was bored.
Sometimes because I simply didn't stop to think.
And looking back, I realise something.
Sometimes I just spent it.
And there is a difference.
What if you stopped for a moment?
I'm not suggesting that everyone should stop buying coffees.
Or stop going out.
Or stop enjoying themselves.
That's not the point.
The question I'd ask is slightly different:
What could this money do for me instead?
What if that £20 went towards something you actually wanted?
What if that £50 reduced an expensive debt?
What if that £100 went into savings?
What if it was invested?
What if it helped you reach a financial goal a little sooner?
And what if, after thinking about all of that, you still decided to spend it?
That's fine too.
The important thing is that you made the decision consciously.
Not automatically.
Not because you always do it.
Not because everyone around you does it.
Because money isn't just about what you spend.
It's about the choices you make with it.
And that's where things get interesting.
Because changing your financial future doesn't always start with earning more money.
Sometimes it starts with understanding what you're already doing with the money you've got.
So, what should be left each month?
This is where things get interesting.
You know roughly what you earn.
You probably know what your mortgage or rent costs. You know what the energy bills are. The car, insurance, council tax, food, phones, finance payments and all the other regular costs of running your life.
But have you ever actually put them all together?
Income − regular costs = money left
It sounds ridiculously simple.
But sometimes simple is exactly what we need.
Imagine you bring home £3,000 a month.
Your regular monthly costs come to £2,350.
That leaves:
£650
Every month.
Now comes the really interesting question:
Where does your £650 go?
Maybe you know.
Maybe £200 goes on eating out and takeaways. £100 on shopping. £50 on subscriptions. £100 on entertainment. And the rest simply disappears into everyday life.
Or perhaps you've never actually worked it out.
And if that's the case, you've just discovered something important.
You may have money left. You just don't know where it's going.
This isn't about cutting everything
I'm not suggesting you should stop enjoying yourself.
The point is to understand your numbers first.
Because once you know what's coming in, what's going out and what's left, you can start asking better questions.
Could I reduce some of my regular costs?
Could I spend a little less on things that don't matter that much to me?
Could I save some of it?
Could I reduce debt?
Could I invest some of it?
Could I put it towards something I actually want?
You don't have to do any of those things.
But you can't make an informed choice about money you haven't understood.
SO, WHERE DO YOU ACTUALLY STAND?
It's very difficult to make good financial decisions if you don't know what's happening with your money.
That's why we've created the Uncomplicated Finance Financial Health Check.
It's not a test.
There are no right or wrong answers.
And it's certainly not about judging how you've managed your money so far.
It's simply a way of taking a step back and asking:
How am I actually doing?
20 simple questions.
The Health Check looks at some of the areas that can make the biggest difference to your financial life.
Money Management
Where does your money come from — and where does it go?
Financial Resilience
Would you have something to fall back on if life didn't go according to plan?
Debt & Commitments
How much of your income is already committed?
Protection
What happens financially if something unexpected happens?
Future & Growth
Are you doing anything today that could make tomorrow easier?
You don't need to know complicated financial terminology.
You don't need to have all your paperwork in front of you.
Just answer honestly.
The result gives you a clearer picture of the areas that may deserve a closer look.
AND THIS IS IMPORTANT.
The Health Check isn't designed to tell you:
“You need to buy this.”
Or:
“You should do that.”
It's designed to help you identify where the questions are.
Because once you know where the problem might be, you can start investigating it.
And that's where the Uncomplicated journey continues.
Find the problem.
Put a number on it.
Find the opportunity.
TAKE THE FREE FINANCIAL HEALTH CHECK →
It takes a few minutes. You might learn something about your money you hadn't really thought about before.
If I could go back to 25...
I wouldn't tell myself not to enjoy my life.
I'd tell myself to enjoy it and think about what comes next.
I'd tell myself to travel.
Have adventures.
Take opportunities.
Have some fun.
Because life isn't supposed to be one long exercise in saving money.
But I'd also tell myself:
Start a monthly investment.
Organise your finances.
Know what comes in and what goes out.
Keep an eye on where your money is going.
And every now and then, stop and ask:
“What could this money do for me instead?”
Because one day, tomorrow becomes today.
And when it does, you don't get to negotiate with it.
I can't go back.
I can't change the financial decisions I made when I was younger.
I can't go back and put money into an investment account that I never opened.
I can't recover all the money I spent without really thinking about it.
But perhaps I can do something useful with that experience.
Perhaps by being honest about where I ended up, someone else might start thinking about their own future a little earlier than I did.
You don't need to become obsessed with money.
You don't need to get everything right.
You don't need to stop enjoying yourself.
Just start paying attention.
Find out where you stand.
Look at your numbers.
Ask yourself some uncomfortable questions.
Explore the possibilities.
And then decide what matters to you.
WHAT IF?
What if you saved a little more?
What if you paid down some debt?
What if you found £50?
What if you started investing?
What if you started earlier?
What if you simply understood your finances better?
You don't know what the answer will be until you put your own numbers into the equation.
That's what the Uncomplicated Finance journey is really about.
Find the problem.
Put a number on it.
Find the opportunity.
Make a plan.
And perhaps most importantly:
ENJOY TODAY.
DON'T FORGET TOMORROW.
Final buttons
TAKE THE FREE FINANCIAL HEALTH CHECK →
TRY THE MONEY LEFT CALCULATOR →
TRY THE SMALL CHANGES CALCULATOR →
EXPLORE THE FINANCIAL TOOLKIT →
FOUND SOME MONEY LEFT OVER?
My next blog looks at what you could do with it.
£50 is my example. Your number could be completely different.
Read: You've Found £50. Now Make It Work For You →
Finance doesn't have to be complicated.
Your future self will thank you for paying attention.
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