My family never had much money. Did paper rounds, worked in shops, warehouses when I could to help my mum/dad out with bills. We had a large family. My dad survived WWII, but his parents didn’t, orphaned when he was 10. My mum lost her mother when she was 4 yrs old. Consequently they instilled me a need for reading, education and practical skills. Be independent. Material things are not important at the end of the day, they would say. Good memories and experiences will always stay with you, and cannot be taxed, stolen or taken off you by the government or anyone.

Well as a student who worked weekends and holidays to pay themselves through uni. Lived in shared houses to save money until I graduated. Fortunate those years ago that I got a sponsorship with an international company who paid me a grant my last year based on my results. Got a great job, travel and all expenses..but sadly got married early. The ex would rack up GBP £3,000-£5,000 on credit cards monthly (clothes, shoes, eating out, drinking, shows, makeup, and spa’s). I never really spent money on myself. But maybe that’s because I never had any money at the end of the day, she spent it and I was too busy working. When I left that job and bought a house in the UK (because she was homesick), had even less money (and lower salary). Had to take out a bank loan.

Well after she left and we separated, I got rid of the large saloon car (on loan), sold the bike, and bought a little second hand car which I maintain, cut out eating out often, cooked at home more often, grow more in the greenhouse. Stopped spending on credit cards (to the point that my bank decided to cancel it because I never used it for 2 years). I worked freelance then and gave up my 9 to 5 job, and tried to take the best paying jobs available, wherever in the world and worked all the hours they could give to pay off the debts she racked up.

I have paid off my mortgage, avoid using credit cards, live more simply, don’t have cable tv, have internet, a laptop, mp 3 player, but that’s it in terms of luxury items. I follow the mantra, if I need it, I make it or buy it.

I have stopped paying into my pension when I went freelance, mainly as in the UK, a friend who is a independent financial advisor said, that once you put money into the pension, you can’t get at it until you retire. In the UK, the government has raided these schemes (by one off taxes) to point people retiring now are getting less money out than the capital they invested. His advice was not to put it in, unless you were a high band tax payer. Sure you get no tax relief, if you invest in other things, you keep the capital and decide what to do, when you want it.

But the advice that my father gave me was, spend less than what you earn, and you will accumulate.

I have a surplus in my account, because I earn and spend less than what I earn. I am happier because I went MGTOW. I have paid off my student loans, paid off my small house, no loans on a car or anything.

Work unfortunately is getting harder to come by. Most of my clients have laid off between 30-60% of their workforce. Salaries and benefits have been cut. Being freelance, I didn’t get that, but it taught me to save money because a period of unemployment could come at any time, even when times were good. My married friends aren’t so lucky. Most are close to bankruptcy.

The UK economy is pretty f*cked at the moment. We have 40% of the population on welfare. Most of our industry has been outsourced and hasn’t been replaced. The government thought financial services would replace it, but that’s concentrated in a small part of the country to a select few. The corporations that employed UK employees, increased their market capitalization i.e. value/worth by outsourcing to places like China etc but they avoided tax on that increase in wealth, so the government lost revenue, so they increased taxes on ordinary people…consequently it doesn’t pay to work in the UK in an ordinary job. Companies are cutting salaries, so people have less disposable so don’t spend in shops/going out. Consequently, they cut staff even more. The government gets even less taxes….and meanwhile the corporations are sitting on piles of cash….global capitalism at its best.

Go MGTOW. Live simply, work hard as you can, avoid debt, avoid material possessions which are not necessary. Learn practical skills, be independent. Be kind, seek knowledge, DGI, and be happy and stress not. its only a short time on this planet and best to live it with a smile.